What Now?

I never realized how much i used food to comfort me until i had this surgery on 5/18! Never having dealt with a truly stressful situation prior to this i want to know what to do now! How do all you former "emotional eaters" deal with stress now? Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this. It's been (8) weeks and i'm hoping this gets easier soon! Be Well and Be Healthy, ANDI I posted this in a few venues to get the greatest cross section of answers.

Me too! Take a long walk to vent those emotions or do some sort of exercise. Maybe be more vocal instead of shoving all those emotions down deep. Dar

Hi Andi! I'm so glad you posted this ... I have those same feelings and am wondering how in the world I'm going to deal with them! I'm trying to busy myself with organizing closets, cupboards, etc. But that can only last so long! After that I don't know what I'll do. I still feel that urge to eat when I put the kids to bed at night ... I used to always sit and watch TV and eat! That urge is still there and I'm having a heck of a time working through it. But I'm a huge emotional eater so I really do understand your fears because I have them too! Deanna

Thank you so much for validating my feelings, so often i feel alone in this journey. I am very very vocal and I don't always hold all my emotions in but I can't tell everyone everything on my mind, people will be hurt and it won't help the situation. Thank you again, ANDI

Hi Andi - I've had the same experience - I've found that at times I've been very irritable and angry, and those are the emotions I used to stuff. I almost told off my boss! Fortunately I censored myself in time...

*WHEW* talk about a close save on telling off the boss! It's not that i'm not vocal with my emotions but sometimes you just can't say what's on your mind...such as wiht your boss,,,those are the times when i need the most help. Thank You, ANDI

I type, talk, I vent. when I can't take it anymore, I go shopping. ;) at least window shopping. I can not say it will or will not be easier, however, I am also working through my own issues. on a daily basis. mostly it is a slow process. my doctor started me 81 days before surgery on my eating, so I have actually be at this for 20 weeks, and it is similar to my 'solutions' for my kids. they constantly said, I am bored. and I would say, is your room clean. is your toys picked up? is your homework done? is your laundry put away? read a book. play a game on the computer. go for a walk. feed the cat. mow the lawn. at one point I even made a generic list of what they could do rather than bug me that they were bored. so make your list. what can you do instead of eating. because stress is an emotional response. so find something to do. mow the lawn, ride a bike, do something other than vegging in front of the tv or dwelling on what is stressing you out. ;)