Emotional Eating

Do you engage in Emotional Eating? I know that have. That's part of got me to the point that I need WLS to get my life back. Much to my distress ... pardon the pun... I have found that now that they honeymoon period is over and on top of that some serious stresses have landed square on my shoulders, I have found myself engaging in Emotional Eating. I define Emotional Eating as eating to soothe or comfort myself, instead of eating to fuel my body or quell true hunger. I find that often if I'm engaging in emotional eating, I feel out of control. I often am not waiting until a planned meal and that I'm not following 'the rules' ... I generally will partake of something that is higher fat and higher carb, and it's usually not high protien. So.... what to do?

I realized that I need to do some things to protect me from me...

-   Review my list of reasons for losing weight and maintaining the loss. This sounds simple and even silly, but I find that my reasons for doing this in the first place, along with a before photo can be very powerful.
-   Determine if I'm 'hungry'... physically hungry, or having a craving...
-   Try distraction ... I have found that often if I can distract myself for at least 15 minutes with another activity that the craving will subside. I have a list of distraction activities and refer to it.

If I'm going to to eat, then...

-   Plan what and when I'm going to eat.
-   Eat at the table... even if I deviate from my planned eating, I find that I'm more mindful if I put whatever 'it' is on plate and sit down at the table to have it.
-   Eat protien first... even if I am going to indulge, if I have protien first, I find that I don't do as much damage.

So... Did you or do you have issues with Emotional Eating. If so, how do you tackle them?

Ive been focusing a good bit on how those old demons can rise up so easily again.  IMHO the "easier" part of WLS is over for us.  We have lost that weight and feel great.. now the journey starts to maintain.  I am sure you feel the same way I do and do not want to be another statistic.  I do not want to gain any weight back and work hard at monitoring it and being conscious about what I eat.  I do not want 2009 to be the only year I start healthy and thin.. I want it to be like that every year from now on!  Just remember Barb that emotional eating is only temporary satisfaction.  I saved a pair of my old size 24 jeans and anytime I feel the urge to overindulge I go look at them and stand in one leg or put them beside of my size 4s.  It really brings reality home.  Good luck girl!

I absolutely agree with you that the 'easier' part of our WLS journey has past and now the 'hard' work begins. This is not to say that the first year post op is easy, as we both know WLS is not the easy way out. But once the weight is lost, we have only one a battle, not the war and it conquering issues such as emotional eating, mindful vs. mindless eating, etc... that are the battles we much wage and win. I think having the size 24's is a good reminder of where we have been, where we are and where we want to go from here.

Wishing you continued success my friend,

Fabulous post Barb and reply Jennifer.  This subject is especially timely for me.  I have been in a very happy and festive mood this year, especially compared the last 4-5 years.  So I think emotional eating can come from happy emotions as well as unhappy emotions.  I also found myself cooking lots more goodies this Christmas, most of which was given away as gifts, but still there are many goodies sitting around the kitchen that I find calling my name when I walk by.  Most of the time, I ignore them, but not always.  I made a promise to maintain, not gain through December and so far, I've done so, but it's time for this stuff to disappear, just like the Christmas decorations! 

I found that I'm able to have small portions of sugary treats and not dump.  I am happy that now I can have a treat and enjoy just that little bit, but I worry that in the future it may get out of control again, especially if I find myself in a negative emotional state again like I was for many years. 
I KNOW that much of my emotional eating was connected to my DHs prior alcohol abuse, which is no longer a problem (Thank God!).  Still, other life cir****tances may trigger those old emotional eating habits and we have to find other ways to deal with the problem not the symptoms!

Here's to a Health and Happy 2009!  Alice

Hi Alice,

I too am maintaining my weight, but with the stress cir****tances of late, I have become keenly aware of my compulsion to comfort eat. While I don't control it as well as I'd like, I know that I now control it much better than I have in the past and hope to improve on that in time. I also agree with you and Jennifer that celebration eating is another form of emotional eating that can easily get away from us, but so far, I've done okay with that by planning it in to my eating. I think it's the comfort eating that I find so challenging because it's not something that I 'plan' for.

I'm so very glad to hear that you are doing so well and look forward to a healthier and happier new year in 2009 for all of us.

Wishing you all the best and continued success,