Question:
HOW CAN I STOP THIS TERRIBLE EMOTIONAL EATING????
Hello fam, i have been eating alot and nothing good for the past week or so i am a military wife and i have been waiting to hear if my hubby will be deployed, well he got orders a few days ago, i am an emotional wreck and eating uncontrollably i am 5 months post op and i had no idea i could eay like this i don`t know how to get it under control please help, and please pray for my family and all the families who may face hard times in the comming weeks:( love, me — nice n sweet B. (posted on January 22, 2003)
January 22, 2003
Hi! I'm very sorry to hear of your husband's deployment but also very
proud that he is willing to defend our wonderful country. I think we all
go through stages of emotional or "freak out" eating. I
experienced one particularly bad episode of it but thanks to the advice of
good folks here I was able to wrestle it under control. The first thing I
did was accept that I could just stop everything in the blink of an eye - I
had to take a balanced approach to getting back in control. The first
thing I did was up my protein supplements. Fortunately I had some that I
really like and I actually looked forward to them. The next step was to
rid my house of all the food that was really bad for me and stock up on
compromise foods such as fruits, atomic fireballs (I love them and they're
great as a candy attack substitue. One piece has 20 calories and lasts 20
minutes!), my favorite flavors of Propel or Crystal Lite, etc. Then the
final step was to emotionally prepare myself to get back in control. The
whole process took about 10 days and I have to say it went hand in hand
with accepting the emotional issues that were worrying me. I know you
can't possibly just accept that your husband may go to war. However, you
may consider getting your bad eating habits in order as your way of
honoring his sacrifice and heroism. You are facing a difficult time and
you are reacting as many of us do - fortunately you now have a tool to
prevent you from really undoing all the good you've done so far. Just try
to take some time for yourself and make a plan to bring your eating under
control. I will pray for your husband and your family that God will watch
over them as they are watching over all of us. Best wishes to you, honey.
— ronascott
January 22, 2003
**Correction - - I accepted that I COULD NOT stop my emotional eating in
the blink of an eye. Sorry.
— ronascott
January 22, 2003
hi there cherice :) my prayers and thoughts are with you and your family.:)
i know what you are going through, im afraid it is and will be an ongoing
struggle for alot of us amos fam. i had one incident when i was very new
post op where i had a lousy night at work and wanted to pasify myself with
food, i was able to stop myself then and hadnt dealt with it for a while
until just the other night the damn furnace went out and i was all stressed
and the first thing i wanted to do was shove something in my mouth. i
started munching on popcorn as that is actually one food i can eat more of
cuz it melts to nothing by the time it gets to the pouch. i thakfully got a
little queasy . i did that cuz i needed something to keep my hands and
mouth busy while i was stressin. i realize that muncing on the pocorn wasnt
ganna make the furnace problem go away. i felt bad but have forgiven myself
and moved on. hang in there and your not alone.i have managed to load my
pouch with fluids instead of food before but this time i just didnt.we all
fall from time to time.best thing to do is stand back up, brush the dust
off and get back in the game! im cheerin for ya! :)
— carrie M.
January 22, 2003
Actually expressing my emotions has helped me alot! If you feel that you
cannot express yourself because of your husband or children, take some time
to get with people you can express yourself to. Go to a support group, or
just get a few folks you can talk to on the phone. Your friends are your
support, not food. The other thing you need to do is be objective about
your emotional eating. Really look at what is 'out of control' and compare
it to what you could eat pre-op. Even on my really hungry days I couldn't
BEGIN to do the damage I could pre-op! Finally, realize that when this
stress passes, your surgery will still be in place, waiting for you to do
your part. This is not the same game we have been playing all our lives.
You WON'T gain everything back in two weeks. Good luck to you and your
family.
— Cara F.
January 22, 2003
Writing in a journal can sometimes help when you're feeling emotional. You
may not even know what you're feeling and how to express it at first, but
if you keep with it, you will begin to understand your own feelings and to
deal with them, instead of pushing them down with food. I tried this years
ago on one of my diet attempts (I'm pre-op), and it was very helpful to me.
I would grab something non-harmful to eat, like carrots or celery, and
munch on that while I sat down with my journal. Amazingly it helped me
identify lots of emotions that I didn't even know I was feeling. Even
though I am still MO, I'm not as much of an emotional eater as I used to
be, and I think it was because of the journaling. I still do it from time
to time when I'm going through a rough patch. You and your family are in
my thoughts and prayers. Best wishes and hang in there!
— Carlita
January 22, 2003
Hi there Cherice, not only are our names somewhat similar, but so are our
circumstances. I dropped my husband off at 4:30 this morning to leave for
the impending war. We have no idea where he will be, if he will have
access to email, or how long he will be gone. We had 24 hours to get loose
ends tied up and had no family time before leaving. And I'm pretty good at
emotional eating myself. I find myself wandering around in the kitchen
looking for something to make me feel better, a taste of this, a taste of
that, don't want the protein shake, don't want more water, I'm sure you
know the drill. I really don't have much as far as advice, just wanted you
to know that you are not alone in these troubled times.
— Cheri M.
January 22, 2003
Hi- Im also a Military spouse and having a hard time dealing with it right
now- Understand how you feel- right now we are waiting to find out if hubby
is going to be deployed or sent to Korea, those are his only options.Feel
free to email me if you want.Im trying to get back on track by drinking
more water( pick up the water bottle instead of the candy bar) this is my
first day of trying to get back in control.
— msski
January 22, 2003
Thank you for asking this question. I just have come upon an emotional
eating crazy binge myself...so far it's lasted a good 2 weeks and I'm doing
my best to control it. My plan is to kick up the protein shakes (I just
stopped drinking them while I was on vacation recently), drink my water,
rid my house of those pesky emotional eating delicacies.............and
remember why I had this surgery in the first place. I've been so paranoid
about getting on the scales...afraid that I've gained weight, so I'm going
to give myself another week (of strict adherence) and then face the scales.
I would tell you the same thing I'm telling myself (my husband's not being
deployed but I lost my father last year and am JUST now finishing up with
the "holiday" company): You're going through a lot and you need
to realize that you, too, are only human. Be kind and gentle to yourself.
I believe in the ol' "two become one" theory of marriage and it
IS like you're losing half of you off to battle. Keep yourself occupied
and again, BE KIND to you. I'm actually considering taking up meditation.
I'm not Eastern-religion type, but believe that meditation has been proven
to be a great antidote for all the stress that ails us in this modern
world. I don't know about you--but I've turned to food SO LONG for
comfort, I find that I'm often at a loss when it comes to what to do with
emotions....so I'm going to try the meditation route. Maybe it'll work for
you as well? Either way, I wish you the best AMOS sister............God
Bless you the best. Karen
— Karen K.
January 22, 2003
Here are my 2cents, I can't even phathom what you are going through, so, I
won't try! My only suggestion, seek some prof help. You have made a giant
step with WLS to take back your life, don't hurt yourself and fall back
into the trap of emotional eating. The first 4-8 mos are your windows of
opportunity! Please take care of yourself . Good Luck! Heather (Open RNY
8/15/02 - 305/218/150)
— heathercross
January 22, 2003
Cherice, you are not alone. So many of us are emotional, stress eaters.
You have to find some coping tools to get past the eating binges. Try
phoning a friend that likes to talk for a good hour or more-a buddy that
will agree to talk to you until the urge to eat goes away, or take up cross
word puzzles (thats my favorite) or knitting-anything to keep the hands
busy. If you have to eat, munch on something that you can eat alot of that
won't do damage, like sunflower seeds in the shells. Eat one at a
time-takes forever to eat 1/4 of a cup yet you feel like you have been
eating for a while. Get a treadmill and jump on the treadmill whenever
stressed or go for a walk if you can. Anything to keep you busy and get
your mind off of food. If you have a chapter of Overeaters Anonymous, you
may want to try that. They deal with this issue all the time.
— Cindy R.
January 23, 2003
i just wanted to say thank you for all your responses i am working hard to
get back on track and focusing on praying instead of worrying about what
lies ahead for our us troops again thanks:)
— nice n sweet B.
January 23, 2003
Hi, I too have done emotional eating at the times in my life when things
were out of control, things I could do nothing about. In a 4 year period I
lost my dad to alzheimers, my job to plant closure, my fiance to alcohol,
my brother to a brain tumour, my mom to cancer, my 16 yr old feline buddy
to old age. During this time I was in a fog of sorts and don't recall how I
gained 90 pounds. I guess I must have overeaten for 4 years LOL
Emotional eating can get hold of us hard, real hard. During the last
couple of years, the emotional eating has really slowed down for me, my
life is way more stable but the damage is done. I am MO and a preop for
RNY.
I can only imagine what it's like to send a spouse off to war. I had always
hoped I would never see it in my lifetime. I am a Canadian living in
Ontario. I watch ABC news everyday (have since the Vietnam era) and I see
the war effort gearing up in the U.S. I feel stressed just listening to the
talk of war. I pray for all of you Americans who are being sent to war and
for the spouses left behind. Ladies, love em up in the hours you have left
together and after they leave, get out of the house everyday and keep as
busy as you can. God Bless.
— mary ann T.
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