I've been feeling discouraged because I've been overweight for the past six or seven years, and really want to trim down and get healthy. My main goal in losing weight is to get healthy again-- I have high cholesterol and really want to get my cholesterol down, but of course looking and feeling good are important too. My main problem is overeating when I am feeling sad, upset, or emotional for whatever reason-- I tend to like comfort food and that hasn't really worked in my favor. Would anyone have any advice about how to get motivated to lose weight and what to do when I hit problem areas of overeating when feeling unhappy? Thank you so much!!

The best advice is just to do something. Anything. If you have to just start with a healthy breakfast, do that for a week or two. After you've got breakfast down, work on routinely eating a healthy lunch. Plan your meals ahead. Exercise every day that you can. Exercise when you feel like binge eating. Exercise stimulates endorphins and regulates neurotransmitters to help with depressive thoughts. Set yourself up for success, and realize that only you can accept failure by not continuing to succeed. If you give up, you have failed. Get going and don't stop. Come here every day if you need to, and post often-rant, vent, etc. In a year, you will be glad you started today. Take care.

Thank you so much! What do you do when you don't really like eating breakfast, though?

I used to think I had a problem with emotional eating, but I discovered that WHAT I was eating was the biggest problem. Not only because high-fat/carb "comfort foods" were high in calorie, but because the high carb diet was actually exacerbating the emotional issues. I wasn't just eating high carb foods because I was an emotional wreck, I was an emotional wrek because of the high carb diet.

When I switched to a relatively low-carb (not zero carb), whole food diet, not only did I have more control over my eating, I had more control over my emotions as well. I wasn't so easily irritated, angered, upset, worried.... all the emotions that triggered overeating.

None of this may be true for you at all, but it's worth considering and you might want to consider experimenting with different carb levels and/or eliminating/reducing processed foods and see if you notice a difference.

For me, the effects were initially subtle, but I was keeping a food and symptom/mood journal so after a few months I could go back and look over my journal pages and look for patterns (PMS also has it's own emotional/carb craving issues so I had to look for those patterns as well).

If I eat very low-carb, hunger is almost nonexistent, but I get headaches and other nasty symptoms, so I don't go "super low." But if I go too high, the hunger is constant and I have a hair trigger on my emotions.

Hubby and I calll it my "werewolf" (because it's especially bad around PMS/TOM).

I never knew that high-calorie foods could trigger negative emotions!! That is so good to know. I will definitely stick to a medium to low-carb diet of whole foods. My emotions do tend to get a little out of sorts when I overeat come to think about it. Thank you so much!!

Well, I'm the opposite, if I don't eat enuff carbs (I try to focus on complex carbs), then my sugars dive and I feel like i'm starving (very hungry). Hormones fluctuate monthly, so that can make you emotional and hungry too. One the best strategies is using "distraction" when you are upset, unhappy, etc. Go for a walk, listen to soothing music, read, talk to a friend, work on a hobby, get some exercise -- all these things can help you feel better until the mood passes.

This is a very common problem, but it can be managed better with some practice. Life stressors come up all the time, so it's good to have some stratregies in place, just in case. And, on those days when we slip up -- that alone can upset us, so it's best to learn to forgive ourselves, and just keep going.

Frizzo, I know how you are feeling-I too am feeling a bit discourage at my inability to lose weight. I am also nursing a knee injury which makes physical activity difficult-also laying on the couch icing my knee is inducive to eating snacks. However-being discouraged is a negative feeling-get rid of them and replace them with positive thoughts and actions. You can do it

whenever i feel discouraged (which is pretty often) i turn those bad vibes into energy by going out for a walk. i HAVE to separate myself from the food in the house. i have realized that exercise makes me much happier then a brownie will. instead of sitting at home depressed, then eating to fill the void, and getting more depressed because i overate, i get moving and ALWAYS come home in a great mood and food is the last thing on my mind

Thank you everyone for the amazing advice!! I've been doing good lately with the emotional eating, trying to stay away from those comfort foods that trigger those negative emotions and trying to stay positive and happy so I won't fall into patterns that make me turn to comfort foods. I went to a street fair over the weekend and wanted to drink all those yummy lemonades and iced-teas, but I had enough will-power to stay away from them They were also way overpriced for a very small drink of lemonade, for example, so that helped me to stay away too!! Being positive and being in control of what you eat is probably the best way to stay on the path to losing weight. Thank you so much everyone!! I know I am on the right path!!