When things go wrong all I want to do is eat

[PurplePlain]

I've lost weight recently and am happy with my current weight, though I'm still a bit flabby. On a normal day I think about food a lot but can make do with a cup of tea until it's a meal time, and I'm enjoying my food more when I do eat.

BUT as soon as anything goes wrong, however minor, I get really stressed and snappy and I get an overwhelming urge to stuff myself full of chocolate or cake till I'm full and too sleepy to care - just found out this is called a carb coma, which seems about right.

I've resisted the temptation tonight but can see why I put on weight when going through stressful times and I cope by overeating day after day to calm myself down.

Does anyone else get this? If you do, have you found a good way to deal with it?

Try different calming outlets.

Last time I was incredibly angry, frustrated at someone and stressed. I just wanted mega large kebab.
Then I had an epiphany. It will do absolutely nothing to that bastard. Just me. It was like a light. It still fascinates me.

I had given myself a face massage instead while watching super bad movie and eating kohlrabi.

I had counselling which helped majorly. Ress as losing you’re doing it is a huge step in the right direction. It’s called emotional earring and it’s very common.

What helped me was understanding what I was chasing. You know that super satisfying feeling of being hungry, and eating exactly what you fancy in the right quantity? You’re not overly full/still hungry - just satisfied by what you had? It’s a great feeling and when I’m emotional I chase that feeling to soothe myself. Realising that if you’re not hungry/binge on anything - that feeling won’t come - has helped me reduce how much I do it. It’s a work in progress.

As @SchrodingersImmigrant says you need to find other ways to self soothe. I often have a bath now in the evening but i haven’t found a practical way for when this feeling hits in the middle of the work day for example.

*realising you’re doing it
*emotional eating

I think delaying rather than denying is helpful. If you try and force yourself not to eat something, you want to rebel. Instead, tell yourself that you'll have that snack etc in half an hour or an hour if you still really want it, then go and do something else to keep you busy.

I really sympathise with this but i've not found the answer yet.

There have been a couple of times that i've bought myself some flowers or a couple of magazines rather than food. I tell myself that they'll last longer and will cheer me up more after a few hours than the sight of the empty wrappers.