comfort eating

[lost_in_a_fairytale]

any tips on how to stop or just cut down some?

I'm so annoyed with myself, I look worse than ever, I've put on 2 & a half stone the past year & a half and I barely fit into any clothes anymore and I feel bad seeing more stomach flab etc. I want to feel good about myself. It's all down to comfort eating from being so depressed. Even more annoying is that I never used to comfort eat when I was depressed, I used to be the opposite - eat a lot less from not being in the mood to and in turn losing weight, and now I have to be the opposite and do the one where I gain weight rather than lose it I already feel bad enough as it is, I dont need my weight adding to the pile of things upsetting me.

I don't really know how to cut it out though without life in general being happier which circumstance-wise is mostly out of my control. Sometimes junk food is one of the few things that make me feel better for a bit, a quick fix, so I turn to it. I did start using a calorie counting app recently and am trying to exercise more but its hard to keep up with. I end up getting lazy with it or feeling too miserable to have the willpower to keep tracking my food intake. I did manage to lose a few lbs through tracking my calories but once I lost the willpower I just put it back on again.

 

[richard 1998]

hey
I eat a lot each night... I wake up and then I go stuff my face. I'm not even sure why... I'm not hungry.. perhaps I just want the feeling of emptiness to be gone?
Anyway,
I dont really have a tip on cutting down. But I can recommend trying to eat more healthy stuff:
Dark bread instead of white bread
You could prepare some vegetables or a fruit bowl in advance
Exchange normal softdrinks for zero sugar variants or even better: water or tea. (not ice tea tho)
Instead of normal milk chocolate you could try chocolate with high (70%+) cocoa share...

I also skip breakfast (since most breakfasts are way too sugary anyway, but I dont know if this is advisable or not)

I think that exercising sounds like a good idea... Less because of the losing weight component, but more because it might help distract you from the urge to eat more...

 

[TheWretchedOne]

Drink lots, I find it hard to drink a lot of water so I drink squash, most are no added sugar these days so around 4-8cals a glass. I also use sugar free sweets to try and satisfy cravings, sometimes I've just eaten and I'm full but still want something else, so I have those. They are fairly low calorie. Just don't eat more than about 4 in one go, leave it a few hours!

 

[seabird]

Sorry this particular thing has you.
I hesitate to write all the usual stuff about comfort eating. The tricks and lifestyles work differently for different people. This response is subjective; I don’t know what’ll work for you. There are some fantastic memoirs about people who became runners. They have good wisdom tucked into their stories.

As for what works in the food dep’t: I eat protein & fats & fresh vegetables. At the grocery store I do not purchase any snacks or prepared food. No cereal, no bread, no cookies, crisps or biscuits. If I want that stuff I make it at home, freezing it in small portions.

For the comfort part: substitute something you really enjoy. I am weird and have to also keep something as a sucks but is good for me category. When I catch myselt feeling really awful (this is the weird part) I make myself feel even worse by doing a workout. Simple but hard stuff like planks and push-ups and squats etc.
When I am done and take a shower the senses are less empty less craving of food. i have some small protein meal after, like peanut butter on carrots. The crunch is so helpful. Anyway that is how I guide myself.

 

[may71]

Is it mostly sweets that you have a problem with, or other kinds of junk food?