Well I am feeling quite low today - and will be restarting phase 1 to try and get back on track - not that I really appear to have been on track!

I am really struggling with emotional eating.. I am exercising almost every day, eating on plan - and then it all comes unstuck with emotional eating. I don't recover well from a binge, it seems to last for a few days. So any weight loss I experienced it totally undone. I don't find the SBD hard at all - I rather enjoy all of the vegies and getting creative with them... so it isn't a restrictive problem. But I will experience a bout of depression and off I go... ahhh I am just so tired of it, and myself.

Marianna, sometimes you gotta just look ahead and just take things one day at a time when it comes to the emotional eating. Don't beat yourself up for the past eating and just try to move on to the next day and trying to stay OP.

Emotional eating has been my problem the whole time I have been overweight. I take comfort in food like a drug and it's a bad addiction at times. It really doesn't make you feel better but it is a comfort zone. Recently I just hit bottom and I had to figure out why I was doing this to myself. What were the triggers that were making me want to binge and eat stuff Iknow I shouldn't. I'm still having some bad days but when I have them now I don't go directly for the food. I can't say I won't have those that will drive me to the nearest cake or chocolate but when I do I'll just start over the next day and move on. I'll try to keep in mind how wonderful it feels to be eating right and I'll think of the positive reinforcement I'll get from those around me as I continue to lose.

Ok, well this may not really be any help to you but I mainly just wanted to let you know that you are not alone. I think all of us do our fair share of emotional eating when we are down. If there is anything we can do to help you out -- make you laugh or smile in any way -- just let us know!!!

((((Big Hugs))))

You are so very sweet Hugs to you - this emotional eating is such a bugger!!! I do know my triggers, but they just jump up at times and catch me unawares... and thank you for making me smile!!

Try checking Dr. Phil's book out - 7 Keys to Weightloss Freedom or some such title. He does a great job of covering this, as well as some other psychological weightloss factors. I thought his diet was too restrictive, but I loved the other 6 keys!
I have a problem with it too, and although I'm not "cured" I am better now, at least more mindful of what I'm doing which helps me stop.
Kim

Marianna, like Sweet Tea, I'm not able to help out much, as I have the same problem. sigh. But I just wanted to give you a big hug... Hang in there, sweetie.

Oh Dear! Marianna, I think a lot of us are overweight and unhealthy because of eating to sooth an emotion, fill up emptiness, shelter or hide us,, or are conditioned to think of food to "celebrate" to "mourn" or it's a "holiday" or its.. well , you name it! Do you realize how far you've already come by recognizing your demons? Give yourself a pat on the back for that! But you and I and lots of others have miles to go to dealing with our issues..It's one day at a time..one emotion at a time... but the point is to think before, during and after.. and hopefully, with each new temptation.. we get stronger in our understanding and resolve ..

I can definitely relate to having a problem with emotional eating. I swear, I struggle with this every day. I try to tell myself that eating will only make me feel better for a few minutes but then I end up feeling guilty and angry with myself. It's never worth it. I try to stay focused by thinking about my children and wanting to be healthy for them. I think about how wonderful it will feel to have more energy and to feel healthier. I think we all deal with similar issues as we struggle with weight loss. Just don't give up on yourself or your goals. If you have a setback, just try to forgive yourself and get back on the program the next day. Good luck to you.

Marianna, I don't know if I can help you or not, but to you regardless!

I used to be an emotional eater, but I'm not really any more. Hormones, sometimes, but that's not really the same thing. What I did was just try to find other ways to cope with the emotions. I know that sounds pretty basic, but it's also really hard to find a whole new coping mechanism - the old one is so comfortable, and comfort is often what we need for coping. I try to stop myself before eating and decide if I REALLY am hungry or am I just depressed/angry/hurt/lonely/anxious/whatever? If I decide it's emotional, I try to consciously decide to do something besides eat: listen to music, call/im/email someone to talk to them, write a letter, go somewhere, or even (in true desperation) clean! Actually, cleaning while listening to some really upbeat music is an excellent way to cope with negative emotions while avoiding the munching blues (you can't eat a pint of Ben & Jerry's while scrubbing the toilet!). The music will help perk you up, and then, after you've cleaned, you have the satisfaction of a clean house (or part of it)! Another thing that really picks me up when I'm down is to go do something nice for someone - visit someone who can't get around too easily, write letters to those far-away relations you KNOW are dying to hear from you and missing you terribly, take something nice (flowers, food, or whatever) to an elderly neighbor, clean out your closet and take the clothes you don't wear or fit into anymore to a charity, or something along those lines. Doing things for others focuses our minds on other people instead of ourselves, taking us out of ourselves and our moodiness, and it makes us feel good to do things for others, especially those in need. And there's no shortage these days, sadly.

Good luck!

Thank you for all of the replies... it is very humbling.

I have struggled over the past few years with some big health issues and I have worked really hard to overcome the emotional eating and the depression, but sometimes it is a sneaky thing...

I have realised that my eating isn't about the food - it is about my mental fitness.

My weight is partly induced from health poblems, but compounded by the - put weight on - depressed - eat more - put more weight on spiral... Now that my health problems are pretty much fixed and I am feeling healthier - I have these residual habits to overcome... thank you for all of the ideas.

Wow.. what a personal thread... I would just like to thank everyone for providing me with such a safe place to take about my feelings... it is very heartening indeed.

Hi Marianna

You've had some great responses here and, like Ellis, I cant really offer any practical suggestions, as I have problems with emotional eating binges too.

What is so good to see is the support we have, and as you said, being able to feel safe here. I completely identify with the put weight on/get depressed/eat more/get more depressed spiral you mention. I'm sure many others here do too.

I needed some support one day last week. Took a deep breath and posted here to ask for it and was so heartened by the reponses I almost started to cry !


I came off the eating plan about 5 weeks ago and have yet to be able to get back on track firmly. I stopped beating myself on the head, have now got my eating under control (ie not bingeing but not sticking to SBD strictly either) and will start again when the time is right.

The result is that my weight loss has stalled, but at least I'm not gaining!!

So, I can only offer a virtual hug and re-assurance that you really are not alone.

Here is the cliche (I tried to resist but I cant!) - "this too will pass". As we know, it always does, but when its happening it always feels like it will not pass!


I hope you're soon feeling better.

This is such a great thread! I think the majority of us are here because of this very issue. Food has become an addiction to make us feel better, which in the end, only makes of feel worse.

I have really struggled with this one. I've gone so far as to put a sticky note on the fridge that says "the answer is not here", and one on my tub that says, "the answer is here".

I've explored the issues that helped create this addiction for me, which was good, but not enough. What I've noticed is that when I'm in an emotional eating or mindless eating state I need to be really conscious about it. I need to be in the moment and really realize what I'm doing. Then, I just have to walk away and do something else. For me, I really had to keep repeating the new behavior of walking away. The more you walk away, the easier it gets. It may never be second nature, but at least I'm walking away more than giving in.

I am well aware that this is my lifetime struggle and it will probably never be easy. But, I could have worse issues...

I think eating to "feel better" is learned. How many times do you see the commercial on TV for some ice cream where the little girl is sad because she had a bad day at school, and for each thing she makes up, her mom gives her another scoop of ice cream in her bowl?

I thought I read somewhere that it has something to do with the release of seratonin in the brain or something. I don't know if it's purely psychological or not, but Lord knows that I sure feel a lot better after I have something fattening. (Comfort food.)

But then I think that the comfort food will make me fatter and then I'm not as willing to wolf it down. (Key words: "as willing.")

Good luck.

I think that you are right... it is learned behaviour... having not always had an eating problem or a weight issue, it feel like I can clearly see the development of the problem.

Here is a buddhist verse that I find really helpful to read at times.. not just with eating, but a few other things. It is about changing our patterns of behaviour.

Autobiography in 5 Chapters.

1. I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in
I am lost... I am hopeless.
It isn't my fault.
It take forever to find my way out.

2. I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out

3. i walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in... it is a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am
It is my fault
I get out immediately

4. I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I walk around it

5. I walk down another street.


I like to read through it and see what chapter I am at... it usually works to pull me out of how I am feeling.

I totally get this like we all seem to. One of the things that I am trying to do at the urging of a friend of mine who was a recovering bulemic is that what really helped him was to start thinking like how a person with a healthy relationship with food does. Then I had to realize that I had no idea what he meant.

Then I did read Dr.Phil's book and began listening to Oprah and how she has really retooled her relationship with food. She still loves it but she has worked very hard to alter her relationship with it. I am still in the "working out" part of this process so I don't have any answers, but I do know that I am feeling better approaching this issue from this angle right now...

Hugs to us all for being here and trying....it is important to know that we are not alone...Yeah!!!!