Emotional over eater. How can I change my ways? Anyone had any success?

[YourHandInMyHand]

I am eating way more than I should, and way more rubbish food than I should. I eat when I'm bored, sad, angry, anxious etc. I crave food especially things like white bread, sweets, chocolate etc and eat a lot.

I suffer with anxiety and depression, have a child with special needs and a stressful job.

I need to get a handle on my eating as my weight is going up and up.

I've tried slimming world but I always feel so overwhelmed I end up emotionally running away from it, quitting and carrying on as I am.

I don't know what to do or where to start.

I'd really recommend going to an Overeaters anonymous meeting. There you'll get the help you need and lose weight!

Slimming world would not help because that's a diet and it is not dieting that you need but to "re-wire" behaviours. One thing you could do is read a few books on the topic (I won't suggest any but if you search for emotional eating on Amazon, quite a few will come up and reading the synopses and reviews you could decide which one(s) would "fit" you most).

Another thing would be to try and replace eating with some other activity when you are not hungry. The usual suggestions are hobbies, a bath, something that keeps your hands busy (painting your nails?), etc.

And finally, not keeping junk food in the house (there is only so much fruit you can eat...).

I avoid sugar, I start emotional eating but then get caught in the sugar highs and lows that it's hard to know if I am comfort eating or sugar chasing or bloody both.

As a binge eater of many years, I have found great success with the no s diet. I know a diet is not recommended with binge eating, but what no s does is provide structure without dictating what your meals should consist of. There is no restricting of food groups, or counting calorie, syns etc. We have an active group on here with lots of support, come and have a look.