If you are an emotional eater, how do you control the urge to eat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does this thread make it seem like most of you just drink liquids all day to distract yourself from eating food? It's not emotional eating if you are hungry - it's just nourishing your body. Surely some of you need some amount of food? Very odd.

This poster asked explicitly about emotional eating. I posted about matcha tea above. No milk. No sweetener. The ritual of tea distracts me from eating a bunch of random sh!t from my cabinets. I eat normal, healthy meals and am a normal, healthy weight. And this way I don't binge on junk I'm not actually hungry for, but I sure used to -- and it really sucked feeling out of control like that.

+1 I drink tea, too, albeit mostly herbal so I’m not totally wired on caffeine. I substitute tea for randomly snacking on cold pizza at 8:30am which I want to do to avoid a challenging work thing and/or because I’m feeling like a bad mom for some reason. I will happily eat the same pizza at 11:30 without overanalyzing why I want it. I don’t diet or count calories but I know perfectly well I don’t need a full meal between my hearty breakfast at 6:30am and my lunch at 11:30, so I mostly drink tea instead. Still a little overweight from pregnancy since I don’t have time to exercise with with my toddlers around but not gaining anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does this thread make it seem like most of you just drink liquids all day to distract yourself from eating food? It's not emotional eating if you are hungry - it's just nourishing your body. Surely some of you need some amount of food? Very odd.

This poster asked explicitly about emotional eating. I posted about matcha tea above. No milk. No sweetener. The ritual of tea distracts me from eating a bunch of random sh!t from my cabinets. I eat normal, healthy meals and am a normal, healthy weight. And this way I don't binge on junk I'm not actually hungry for, but I sure used to -- and it really sucked feeling out of control like that.

+1 I drink tea, too, albeit mostly herbal so I’m not totally wired on caffeine. I substitute tea for randomly snacking on cold pizza at 8:30am which I want to do to avoid a challenging work thing and/or because I’m feeling like a bad mom for some reason. I will happily eat the same pizza at 11:30 without overanalyzing why I want it. I don’t diet or count calories but I know perfectly well I don’t need a full meal between my hearty breakfast at 6:30am and my lunch at 11:30, so I mostly drink tea instead. Still a little overweight from pregnancy since I don’t have time to exercise with with my toddlers around but not gaining anything.

How do you calm the impulse to eat the pizza long enough to make the tea? I have difficulty controlling the urge to eat the pizza/candy/whatever long enough to make the tea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does this thread make it seem like most of you just drink liquids all day to distract yourself from eating food? It's not emotional eating if you are hungry - it's just nourishing your body. Surely some of you need some amount of food? Very odd.

This poster asked explicitly about emotional eating. I posted about matcha tea above. No milk. No sweetener. The ritual of tea distracts me from eating a bunch of random sh!t from my cabinets. I eat normal, healthy meals and am a normal, healthy weight. And this way I don't binge on junk I'm not actually hungry for, but I sure used to -- and it really sucked feeling out of control like that.

+1 I drink tea, too, albeit mostly herbal so I’m not totally wired on caffeine. I substitute tea for randomly snacking on cold pizza at 8:30am which I want to do to avoid a challenging work thing and/or because I’m feeling like a bad mom for some reason. I will happily eat the same pizza at 11:30 without overanalyzing why I want it. I don’t diet or count calories but I know perfectly well I don’t need a full meal between my hearty breakfast at 6:30am and my lunch at 11:30, so I mostly drink tea instead. Still a little overweight from pregnancy since I don’t have time to exercise with with my toddlers around but not gaining anything.

How do you calm the impulse to eat the pizza long enough to make the tea? I have difficulty controlling the urge to eat the pizza/candy/whatever long enough to make the tea.

For me the making process is distracting enough that I stop wanting pizza until I’m actually hungry. But in the summer when I don’t want to drink hot tea, I tend to make a pitches of iced tea (mint or mugicha so no caffeine) in the morning when I’m making breakfast and just pour myself a glass throughout the day. When I’ve had my water out I’ve also had days where I fill a thermos with boiling water and just pour that into my cup when I want tea. So those could be solutions if making tea takes too long.

[Anonymous]

How do you calm the impulse to eat the pizza long enough to make the tea? I have difficulty controlling the urge to eat the pizza/candy/whatever long enough to make the tea.

Try setting a timer for 5 minutes and walking away. I do this and believe it or not by the end of the five minutes I often forget about the food that I was having an intense craving for. You can also try placing your hand on your heart, taking a deep breath, and saying "I'm okay" or something similar (this idea is from the Losing 100 Pounds with Corinne podcast). It helps sometimes.

[Anonymous]

A piece of chewing gum goes a long way. Long workout to regulate emotions.

[Anonymous]

I wish I knew. For me it's stress related and with teens I am ALWAYS stressed. I will be normal again when they are in college, the way I was when they were little.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Zepbound

DP-I have a friend who likes this. I have a family history of medullary thyroid cancer. So I can’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Drink a lot of water. Don't keep much food in the house. Go on 5 mile walks.

Do you work? Have children? When do you have time to walk 5 miles? How do you break it up?

[Anonymous]

I had to eliminate eating completely from the majority of the day. I eat for about 8 hours per day and I fast for at least 16 (often more like 17-18).

I'm still overweight but my "fat" pants are getting too loose again. I'm on my way down.

This is the best way I've found to curb my eating. I eat whatever I like during my eating time, but when it's over, I abstain completely except for herbal tea and water (lemon slices allowed).

[Anonymous]

You deal with emotional eating by dealing with your emotions. Acknowledge them. Allow yourself to feel them. Work to understand the basis for them - are they there because of something current or are they being triggered by something in the past? If the former, try setting a timer for 10 minutes to journal about the situation and promise yourself that you won’t think about it afterwards. If the latter, mindfulness such as mindful meditation can help keep you in the present.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had to eliminate eating completely from the majority of the day. I eat for about 8 hours per day and I fast for at least 16 (often more like 17-18).

I'm still overweight but my "fat" pants are getting too loose again. I'm on my way down.

This is the best way I've found to curb my eating. I eat whatever I like during my eating time, but when it's over, I abstain completely except for herbal tea and water (lemon slices allowed).

I don’t want to get too far away from the emotional eating questions, but what do you have for your first meal of the day? My normal eating time frame is 9 am - 7 pm. I’ve tried to stretch it to 12:12, but find myself cranky, short tempered and overeating everything by 3:00. It’s also the time my kids get home from school, so it’s not a good combo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had to eliminate eating completely from the majority of the day. I eat for about 8 hours per day and I fast for at least 16 (often more like 17-18).

I'm still overweight but my "fat" pants are getting too loose again. I'm on my way down.

This is the best way I've found to curb my eating. I eat whatever I like during my eating time, but when it's over, I abstain completely except for herbal tea and water (lemon slices allowed).

I don’t want to get too far away from the emotional eating questions, but what do you have for your first meal of the day? My normal eating time frame is 9 am - 7 pm. I’ve tried to stretch it to 12:12, but find myself cranky, short tempered and overeating everything by 3:00. It’s also the time my kids get home from school, so it’s not a good combo.

I do 6 to about 1 or 2 pm. I’m a teacher and all the mental work I do early in the day requires fuel.

Night eating for me was about emotions so eliminating food from that time is working. I’m usually not hungry before 7 or so so it’s three hours and then I’m asleep.

I still eat a lot of calories though as I’m pretty overweight and willing to lose slowly. I think I’m losing about 1/2 pound per week.

Trying to feed the kids and myself filled me with anger fueled overeating. I’m able to handle this period of the day so much better off food completely.

[Anonymous]

I drink green tea, no sweetener.

Also…and this feels silly to write out, but as a kid, I loved my Flintstonems vitamins, and they always felt like a treat… I would even sneak them when my mom wasn’t around

So, I even now still take my vitamins in chewable form. I take biotin (2 gummies), vitamin c (1-2 hard wafers), licorice (3 tablets, twice daily). I also sometimes have magnesium as a gummy.

So when I wander into the kitchen to fill my water glass between meals and find myself looking idly for a snack, I’ll have one of my vitamins. Sweet treats but not something I would ever binge on and keeps me from grazing.

[Anonymous]

* Flintstone’s *

[Anonymous]

Masturbate. Seriously.