I exercise every morning, I'm at work for 9 hours and when I get home I'm exhausted. The evening is usually the time I will give into cravings, especially if I'm upset about something or stressed out. Besides physical things (like I said, I'm exhausted after work) what do you do to distract yourself from over eating?

Bad answer but true. I drink beer.

But I also listen to music and post on this forum. That helps a lot.

An early night always helps too because you can't eat while you are asleep.

First of all, I know how you feel! When I was working I felt the same way. It was as if I felt like I had the right to eat whatever I wanted, doggone it - I deserve it!

That said, it's still a struggle for me. Nighttime eating has always been my downfall. Since I stopped drinking wine in the evening, the corresponding snacking has also gone away. But every once in a while I still succumb to that occasional snack in front of the TV, and it is PURELY emotional eating, as I eat plenty to keep me satisfied.

Believe it or not, I find coming here and reading the posts helpful! I see others having the same struggles, and it makes me realize I'm not alone. And it really does distract me as well as remind me that others have come SO far and been so successful that I just need to SUCK IT UP!

Most importantly, if you do succumb to your emotional eating, please don't let guilt derail you from your ultimate goal. EVERYONE does it from time to time; consider it a learning experience and move on. For example - last night I ate a small bowl of potato sticks that I didn't need and wasn't hungry for; I just wanted them and I knew what I was doing. In the past I would have eaten most of the box, but this time I was able to stop myself. I am practicing intuitive eating and I did two things contrary to the concept; I ate when I wasn't hungry and I ate in front of the TV. But that's all I ate, and I just said, "Okay, you're finished now. You don't need any more." And that was that. NO GUILT. Don't fall into the Last Supper trap - you know, "well I blew my diet so I'll eat whatever the h*** I want and start over tomorrow." It's easier to stop myself now because I'm not ON a diet. I can "start over" in the next minute, which is what I did.

I hope this helps!

I am currently going through a period of extreme stress so I can relate to your post. Some strategies I have come up with are to have a big jug filled with cold water and drink that during the afternoon/evening - water fills me up. Put a good movie on, chew some chewing gum, do some crochet, write a page of my book and go to bed early. Doing something relaxing is really important when you are super stressed so you can bring down your cortisol levels and they don't affect your weight/appetite.

I'm mean to everyone around me.

Really. But, I try to sleep it off, most times.

I'm sorry you're dealing with this. Being an emotional eater is a tough battle. **HUGS**

Go to bed early!

I've determined that the time between lunch and dinner is just too long for me to go without food. So I plan a small snack around 4, when I'm heading home from work. That allows me to get through that hungry time between meals so when I do get home I don't just start Hoovering up everything in sight.

I eat a big 16oz salad with my dinner and when I'm done with that...food is the last thing on my mind. I'm stuffed full of fresh veggies and not interested in anything else.

Things I have tried because I am very much an emotional eater, boredom eater, late night eater, whatever eater! I come to this site. I post about it. I read what others have posted. You can get a free blog on here so I also have blogged about it. Cried and even just went to bed! I have struggled with being overly emotional this week as this is my first week trying (again) and it is TOM so I have just really hard to confront my emotions instead of eating.

Read, music, bubble bath, sleep normally in that order if one doesn't work I go to the next sometimes internet surfing, 3FC or facebook.