Emotional eaters, how do we break the cycle?

[Mumtumtastic]

Hi, I started a different thread this evening but wanted to start this one too.

Textbook emotional eater, always been. Yo-yo dieting has gone hand in hand with it, with fantastic losses ( can do it when really focussed) followed by fantastic gains with little successful maintaining in between.

Are there any other emotional eaters out there?

Has anyone been able to break the cycle, if so how??

Oh yeah me. I've been an emotional eater since my teens. I have lost weight several times when I've been really focused but it always piles on again. I'm currently the heaviest I've ever been, and desperate to lose weight.

No answers to breaking the cycle but happy to attempt to be a weight loss buddy with you.

I'm also trying to break this cycle. Think I have probably developed a binge eating disorder at this stage! Found journalling when I am tempted to binge helps, but maintaining it is difficult.
Lockdown has been a killer as without the enforced physical activity due to commuting it has been even harder to reign it in.
The irony is I am well aware of the underlying causes and I know what I should do instead!

I completed the Wildfit 90 day challenge this summer. Completely changed my relationship with food. Food psychology, biology and nutrition all covered with brilliant coaching.

The focus is on optimal health but I lost 2.5 stone over the 3 months (and more since) and completely changed shape.

Just spotted this thread @Mumtumtastic!

Clearly I don't really know - I think I've cracked it but then a few months down the line things follow a familiar pattern. I'm really trying to sit with that now and focus on why.

Intermittent fasting (reducing eating window down to 4-6 hrs) really seems like a keeper to me - there are a few other things that work in terms of what I eat (working with body rather than against it) but the wine habit I sink into at times completely throws that out and then I spiral-down in a self sabotaging way. Despite what I said earlier addressing the root cause of the wine habit is where my work is now I think - things have shifted.

I really want to overcome this too.
I’ve been dieting and binging for 15 years.
I feel low so eat but crap food also affects my mental health hugely so I get stuck in a vicious cycle.
I’d love help to break this behaviour.

What also confuses me is all this stuff I see saying don’t diet it’s messes with your metabolism etc but then if I don’t diet how on earth do I have a chance to get to a healthy stable weight?

I'm an emotional eater. In my teens and 20s this meant starving myself, and now I comfort eat.

I lose a stone every spring very quickly (blood sugar diet) and then put it all back on in December. I hate it. I can also only really control what I'm eating when I'm single and can be really strict about my food.

I've signed up for the six pack challenge in the hope of learning better habits, but I know I need to get to the root of why I emotionally eat.

I'm not huge, but I feel bloated and horrid. Half my clothes don't fit. I don't know whether I look okay or disgusting - I just can't tell anymore. I wish I could yhink about food and weight normally.

@Bobbinsbop

I really want to overcome this too. I’ve been dieting and binging for 15 years. I feel low so eat but crap food also affects my mental health hugely so I get stuck in a vicious cycle. I’d love help to break this behaviour.

What also confuses me is all this stuff I see saying don’t diet it’s messes with your metabolism etc but then if I don’t diet how on earth do I have a chance to get to a healthy stable weight?

See above. Wildfit is truly a lifestyle, not a diet. Yes, you cut out non-functional foods but those foods aren’t doing you any good anyway, causing bloating and inflammation. It’s focus on health rather than weight loss means you never see it as dieting. It’s genuinely changed my life.

I lose a stone every spring very quickly (blood sugar diet) and then put it all back on in December. I hate it. I can also only really control what I'm eating when I'm single and can be really strict about my food.

The BSD absolutely fucked my metabolism.

The Paul mckenna thin app works really well to stop emotional eating it helped me lose 3st.

Hi everyone, thanks you for your replies, lots of us in this boat. I find it hard not to eat the (unhealthy) foods that are easy to grab when tired/stressed/ ill/ run down/ sleep deprived!

For me, following a stressful house move, difficult pregnancy and new baby sleep dep am again facing a mountain of weight to lose. I don’t even know where to start this time. Can’t do VLCD/ LCD’s due to breast feeding, am so time poor and energy poor for food prep with looking after baby & toddler full time. End up often grabbing snacks or missing meals then being starving when I do get a chance to eat a meal and probably overdo it. Apart from my full term pregnancy ( and nearly 2 week overdue at that) am currently at my all time heaviest.

Joined Slimming World (again!) early Dec, started well but hit a wall 3 weeks in and totally lost motivation. Am still meant to be going but have just lost interest in the whole thing, group Image therapy thing, counting ‘syns’ the lot. Feels like a chore going and juggling a tired/ hungry baby before or during group is also tricky. Think am going to quit and try something different, something I can manage from home, just not sure what!

Do you think there are such things as weight loss coaches out there? Like personal trainers?

Hi Crepusculum, thanks for joining here! Yeah would totally agree about intermittent fasting, it’s a great managing tool and helped me in the past, I can’t do the short window like you right now but hoping to try it again when baby is older and feeds reduce ( to maybe morning feed & bedtime feeds). Have you managed to lose much with IF?

I used to comfort eat, eat when bored, basically if I wasn’t doing something I was eating. The thing that worked for me was to get therapy. I had to pay privately but it was the best thing I ever did.

You could describe Gillian Riley as a coach, her approach is set out in her website

https://eatingless.com

There is also a TED talk to explain the approach, also online sessions to introduce and make sure it all works for you.

Sorry meant to say also well done for identifying the wine habit, and hope you find a way to divert/distract/ replace that helps you

Sorry should have added, now I no longer comfort eat, apart from the odd day, I’ve lost 2 and a half stone, still got 14 to go but it’s a start and a bloody good start. I calorie count, means I can eat whatever I like but within reason. It can be done, I hope you all find success whatever that may be.

Hi! I found intermittent fasting didn't lose me any weight. I just ate my usual calories. I'm going to Google this Wildfit

I have a weight loss coach!! She runs a weight loss program that is high protein and low carb (I’ve lost 3 stone since August) and she has an emotional eating program too called Emotional Eating Solution. The two combined have helped me so much!

If you can afford a coach I think it’s a great step to take. She’s been worth every penny and more to me.

Thanks NavigatingAdolescence, I had a quick look at the Wildfit challenge though I think as this involves food group restrictions I would have to wait until I stopped breast feeding to try this

This podcast is fantastic in general and has an episode on food addiction / emotional eating.

It really helps see the root causes of using food to deal with emotional pain. The podcast uses the theories of Carl Jung, a psychiatrist who was friends with Freud for some time. It’s depth psychology, and so really tries to get to the root cause of issues, very much the opposite of CBT type approaches which just try and change the surface behaviour. I’m only saying this as you’ll probably find it a bit ‘woo’ when you first hear it, but I think this is the level you need to get to to start overcoming emotional eating

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/this-jungian-life/id1376929139?i=1000422978292

Ah great that therapy helped you Wombatsandstuff, and FinallyHere with a coach.

LadyCampanulaTottington she also sounds good - do you see her virtually or in person? What does her coaching involve and how does it help you?

I lost 3 st whilst doing IF - but I don't put that down to IF, it just made it much easier for me to stick to controlled calories and make healthier choices and feel more satisfied whilst doing that.

I've never managed to do well on SW so I hear you there. I know more than one person who has though (one lost 7 st about 7 years ago and has kept it off). I guess different things work for different people at different times.

With a toddler and a BF baby I would just try and not gain weight/lose

My easing on is working - 3 days with no alcohol and came in just below maintenance calories today. If I just stick here for a while than that is a success.

oops - deleted a load of the third paragraph! Mean to say...lose slowly and be kind to yourself. Get easy healthy things in.

@Mumtumtastic

Thanks NavigatingAdolescence, I had a quick look at the Wildfit challenge though I think as this involves food group restrictions I would have to wait until I stopped breast feeding to try this

As you’re only cutting out food which isn’t optimal for humans I can’t imagine it’s a problem for breastfeeding. But worth checking out, definitely.

I can't say I've broken it, but I've certainly weakened it.

What I do:

1. Found a way of eating that worked for me, that I liked, that was not punitive. For me that means low carb.

2. I never beat myself up or blame myself for falling off the wagon or for eating in a disordered manner. Because negative feelings breed more negative feelings, and emotional eating is a response to negative feelings. I accept that it happened, I make sure that I understand what triggered it and I forgive myself.

3. When I'm pulled towards eating in a way that is unhelpful, again, I don't get negative with myself about it. Instead I say to myself "I'm looking after myself."

This really helps.