Emotional Eating

[Timewilltell22]

How do I stop emotional eating? I eat when I'm stressed, lonely, frustrated, how do I stop this? I've done it most of my life, but it's getting out of control.

I'm having great success with a hypnotherapy recording that I listen to every night. It has turned off the food noise' like the injections apparently do.

I think you need to identify what you’re eating for by slowing down that moment when you reach for something to eat — where exactly are you feeling that urge to eat in your body? What would that sensation of wanting to eat say, if it had a voice? What would you be doing if you weren’t eating?

Deal with the emotions. The eating is a symptom rather than the cause (one of the reasons diets don't work). I only figured this out in Overeaters Anonymous oa.org/ - it certainly helps me label my emotions and talk about them honestly. Sadly it doesn't stop life being life-y, but it does mean that I no longer eat on it.

As @StMarie4me has suggested, hypnotherapy can work wonders. Or try Allen Carr's EasyWay to Quit Emotional Eating.

Could you say who made it/where to find yours?

Following as have had a lifelong struggle with this and don't know where to start.

I’ve only just started this, but I’m keeping a very loose food diary each day. No calorie counting and not changing my behaviour in the slightest but I write down what I eat and why I ate it e.g. breakfast, genuine hunger or sugary snack, because my child annoyed me.

The idea is I observe my own eating patterns for a few weeks to see what my triggers are and chip away at them over time. I expect progress to be very slow going though and the focus to be only on how I relate to food instead of on weight loss (although I hope that will be a side effect!)

@OnlyheretovoteonAIBU this sounds a good idea - how did you get on with doing it ?

This, I was advised by a bariatric team dietician to keep a diary of what I eat all day with how I'm feeling, moods etc. It's a good suggestion

I used my December food journal to see where my unnecessary eating was and it showed the pattern of overeating in mid afternoon and early evenings, when I start to get tired and have to make kids’ tea while peckish.

When the new year arrived I actively took notice of those urges and lost 5lbs pretty easily between 1st Jan and 1st Feb, which is nice! Only weigh myself once a month though so I don’t get fixated on it. Just back from all inclusive holiday though where I didn’t track what I ate so need to get back to logging again!

Well done @OnlyheretovoteonAIBU on your loss. I need to do the same. I am constantly eating and hunger has nothing to do with it!