Emotions

Thetrigos

Silver Member
I am realising since trying to seriously lose weight how much my emotions affect what i eat and how much of an urge i get to eat when i am stressed or unhappy.

I have a poorly toddler at the moment and have just had to tell work (where i'm relatively new) that i need to take the rest of the week off to look after him (having gone home early yesterday after just returning from the long bank holiday weekend). It didn't go down well (although i work in HR so we all know that there's nothing i can do about it!) and now i'm sat at my desk, worrying about work, and worrying about my son, who's with my husband today, and all i want to do is go down to the shop and buy a huge chocolate muffin and eat it. That or cry! It's such a strong urge and even though i lost 3lb last week and i wont give in to the temptation (today anyway) it makes me realise what an emotional crutch food is. :sigh:
 
First of all, hugs to ya and I hope your littlun is soon feeling much better.

What you say rings many bells with me.

I've been hanging out on the "Bring your head inside" board on Minimins. Lots of food for thought and insightful posts over there about emotional eating.
 
It really is an emotional crutch for lots of us!! But yet we all start off merrily on our diet journeys without thinking about how we will replace that crutch now that 8 mars bars and a pizza is not on the menu lol :) I've also really realised how much I prop myself up with food in times off stress and am trying to work out how I'll manage without it!!!

I'm finding a bit of pampering is working really well tho! Bought a load of goodies from Lush and just try and soak all the stress away instead of cuddling up to a multibag of maltesers!!

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Big hugs to you - I hope you and your little one both feel better soon! I know what you mean about emotional eating - I'm trying to replace food with other little treats (Lush goodies, just like Legomom!) but it is hard.
 
forest_rose said:
Big hugs to you - I hope you and your little one both feel better soon! I know what you mean about emotional eating - I'm trying to replace food with other little treats (Lush goodies, just like Legomom!) but it is hard.

Lush goodies are just amazing!!! Expensive but as I'm telling the hubby they are cheaper than a takeaway!!! Lol

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Oh, I can sympathise with you! Stress is a real trigger factor for me and being over tired too. I think we need to work on instant non food (and drink) treats to help us along but up to now I haven't found any that quite hit the spot like a biscuit!! I'm working on it though.
Hugs,
SilverS
 
Hey, control your emotions. Be happy and healthy. Anxiety, stress and worry are the factors that affect your health.


Ha ha yes - cos it's soooooooooooooooooooooo easy to control emotions!

We all know it's emotions that are the problem. Dealing with emotions is easier said than done.
 
Definitely. When I am feeling stressed or down about something, that's the time when I'm most likely to give in and eat things I know I shouldn't. It's a pain!
 
I agree with you, food is an emotional crutch.

Foods, especially carbs and junk food temporarily make you feel better, but after consuming the extra calories the problems that cause the emotional eating remain.


Here are a few tricks you can use, if you do over indulge:​

• Learn to rationally respond to negative thinking. For example, instead of saying, “I’ll never meet my weight goals, I’m just worthless,” one might say, “Just relax and be patient, Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

• Identify cognitive distortions such as castastrophizing, labeling, personalizing, and black and white thinking. An example might be, “If I can’t lose 5 lbs. this week I might as well give up” (black/white thinking).

• Instead of being unkind to yourself, talk to yourself the same compassionate way you would to a dear friend who is experiencing the same weight problem.

• Instead of assuming your negative thoughts are accurate, examine the evidence that supports your conclusions. “If I don’t lose 15 lbs., will people really think I am hopelessly obese?”

• Instead of taking full responsibility for your weight problem, you can assess the many factors that may have contributed to it and address those issues with the support of others.

• Set a realistic agenda. Ask yourself, “What would it be worth to me to stop my unhealthy eating? How hard am I willing to work on a rational solution?”

• Evaluate weight maintenance progress based upon the process – the effort you put in – rather than the outcome. Your efforts are within your control, but the outcome may not. Be patient.

• Substitute language that is less emotionally loaded. “I shouldn’t have eaten that extra helping” can be redefined as, “It would have been preferable if I hadn’t eaten more.”
 
I rarely get angry, but the day I started my diet, 2 weeks ago, I got really angry at someone and I went to just binge on food, but just before I went to I thought to myself, 'Is this really worth it?' 'Is this 2 minutes of food really worth it?'. I put the food down and had some grapes instead. :)
 
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