If you conquered your emotional eating habits

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Forum -> Health & Wellness -> Healthy Lifestyle/ Weight Loss/ Exercise

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amother

Thu, Oct 20 2022, 6:06 pm

Please tell me how?? I’m so so sad about my weight. I have one big challenge in my life that puts me under constant stress. I always rationalize my snacking/overeating/bad food choices telling myself that I deserve to feel better and food is so so soothing! Does anyone in a similar situation have tips for overcoming this enormous challenge?

amother

Royalblue

Thu, Oct 20 2022, 8:07 pm

Focus on alleviating the cause of stress,
Whether it’s ways for you to calm your emotions or ways to stop triggers or ways to avoid triggers or deal with them
Stop thinking about your “food problem” because it’s just a symptom

amother

Banana

Thu, Oct 20 2022, 8:10 pm

There's a study that shows that people do better at losing weigh by going to therapy than by going on a diet.

amother

Thu, Oct 20 2022, 8:39 pm

amother Banana wrote:

There's a study that shows that people do better at losing weigh by going to therapy than by going on a diet.

so smart I absolutely believe it!

amother

Chestnut

Thu, Oct 20 2022, 8:58 pm

Supporting your adrenals and regulating your blood sugar can help.

amother

Jean

Fri, Oct 21 2022, 2:36 am

amother Royalblue wrote:

Im not the OP, but for some of us, the cause of stress is not going to be going away any time soon and so that is an unrealistic idea.
For me, I live with a mentally ill husband. This makes me emotionally eat often. Its not an easy life with him, Ill put it that way. And so, Im not leaving my husband and he isnt leaving me, so what do you say then? The cause of the stress is not going anywhere. Can change it.

imaima

Fri, Oct 21 2022, 4:34 am

amother Jean wrote:

First of all you can yes, leave him.
And second of all you can try therapy for yourself. Third of all you can send dh to therapy.
But yes you can choose to stay and self-sooth with food or leave. Of course you might change one sort of stress for another but a difficult husband is not the same as some inevitable stress like trauma in the past or missing limb.

amother

Rainbow

Fri, Oct 21 2022, 4:34 am

Recognize that your need for a coping mechanism is a legitimate need. As such, if you want to quit an unhealthy coping mechanism, you need to replace it with another.

imaima

Fri, Oct 21 2022, 4:47 am

amother Rainbow wrote:

Recognize that your need for a coping mechanism is a legitimate need. As such, if you want to quit an unhealthy coping mechanism, you need to replace it with another.

Yes!
Forgot to add these.
There are healthier coping strategies

amother

Royalblue

Fri, Oct 21 2022, 6:39 am

amother Jean wrote:

For me, joining a 12 step program and going to therapy to learn tools to manage the stress in my life, to put boundaries into place, all helped alleviate the physical and emotional and mental stress I was under. No, my actual situation didn’t change, but I did. The cause of stress (trying to manage others, eating my heart out when others caused me pain, etc) disappeared as I learned healthy ways to care for myself.

amother

Jean

Fri, Oct 21 2022, 7:54 am

imaima wrote:

Im starting therapy soon. Tried it in the past, did nothing.
Dh had been in therapy forever.
Not leaving. Under all the mental herh issues, he is still the man I chose to build a life with.
So, no, the stressor in my life is not leaving. Meaning im here and so is my husband.
And unless you have a spouse with mental illness, please dont compare to a difficult husband. It is so much more than that.
Please dont compare.

Surrendered

Fri, Oct 21 2022, 8:17 am

It's easy to say- run away from your problem and all will be fine. Divorcing or running away from your current issue is not always the solution. By trying to run from your problems, You're just trading one issue for another.

The trick is to learn coping skills to manage your emotions and stresses better, instead of turning to food.
Therapy isn't always the solution (you gotta be lucky to find the right one). Though it is a good idea to find a mentor to guide you. A mentor can be a good friend, a person you admire, or a person who went through challenges in life.

imaima

Fri, Oct 21 2022, 9:47 am

amother Jean wrote:

I don’t compare, I call him a „difficult“ husband as an umbrella word for any spouse who is a stress factor.

I am a spouse with mental illness myself, thankyouverymuch, that’s why I have to disagree with you. You can pick some people in your life but not what happens to you. You can even cut contact to family if necessary.
Choosing to stay and self-soothing is a choice even though the alternatives are much harder, they are available.

amother

Ultramarine

Fri, Oct 21 2022, 9:55 am

I started on this book a few days ago and love it!

Check it out https://www.amazon.com/Beck-Di.....31913

amother

Blue

Fri, Oct 21 2022, 10:40 am

hey - are you me?

signed
overweight emotional eater with a mentally ill spouse

FULLY AGREE
if you dont LIVE with a mentally ill spouse please - just thank the One Above

amother

Aquamarine

Fri, Oct 21 2022, 10:54 am

My sponsor in OA told me I would never ever lose weight until till I worked through my childhood/teen years of growing up with an alcoholic/addict older brother. She dragged me to an Alanon Meeting and I havent stopped going for nearly 13 years every week 2 meetings.

This past June I finally have a shift in my thinking and started working out and losing weight.

THIRTEEN YEARS.

When you work a 12 step program with a sponsor you can get the help and support you need to work through anything.
Some people get recovery faster I am the slow and steady variety.

The scale is slowly moving down.
I am down 3 sizes.

I feel amazing.

It was a lot of work.

amother

Junglegreen

Fri, Oct 21 2022, 1:24 pm

amother Aquamarine wrote:

What food did you cut out to lose weight?
I tried OA based on the miracle of recovery but really the miracle was my cutting out sugar and flour. When I relapsed and picked up sugar and flour no recovery in the world could stop the bingeing or my regaining of the weight.
OA works bc it is based on abstinence and the fear of picking food up. The recovery tools are amazing but they do not work on the actual food issues. It would be dishonest to claim that the 13 steps are weightloss tools. They are coping tools and the fellowship, and accountability to a sponsor and the be all end all above all attitude to maintaining absitence otherwise you'll be like a drug addict (fear based) is the part that works. But it is like every other diet, when you eat the wrong foods, it stops working. Ie you need to diet forever.
OA did not prevent me from my binge restrict pattern. To my body it was literally the same as any other no carb diet.

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