Just had a really stressful day at work. Had to terminate a staff member and the person flipped their lid on me. I made it through the day just fine, but on the way home I stopped at the grocery store to buy my drug of choice, bite sized red velvet cupcakes. I had eaten nearly all of them by the time I arrived home.

I have my surgery scheduled for June 23rd, but clearly I need to start addressing this type of unhealthy coping sooner then later.

Have others had this emotional eating issue and how did you deal with it?

Best,

Kellie

Hi Kellie,

You will find many of us have serious food issues on this site! I didn't stop binge eating until I got my surgery date. Then, somehow the hope that I felt at the knowledge that I would be sleeved soon helped me a lot in the two weeks prior to surgery. Once sleeved, I really had to start focusing on alternative coping mechanisms when I'm stressed, because eating isn't exactly possible, especially at first. I didn't feel the urge to reach for junk for several months, which was great. Then the urges gradually started to return, and I'm having to focus on getting to the gym, breathing, stretching, even a little meditation/prayer at times to deal with the cravings when my head hunger hits. Going to this site is also great! There is so much support here!

Best to you!

start googling, "dealing with stress drug free" "healing anxiety without drugs" "overcoming emotional eating." start reading about how you can cope without eating, you will have a better idea of where to start... too many people say, "i need to stop emotionally eating" without having any plan of what to do instead.

you may want to start seeing a therapist too. a book that i found very helpful was "instinct to heal."

the first step to overcoming emotional eating is becoming aware of it, so its good to keep a food journal, (just for yourself, so you can be totally honest) and note how you are feeling before you eat anything. once you start to understand what kinds of thoughts and feelings you have before you overeat, you can start to change it.

btw, in the magazine forum, there is an article called "escaping the trap of emotional eating." its a really good article... i cant link to it cause i am on my ipad!

Edited May 24, 201412 yr by moonlitestarbrite

Just try not doing it. You had to make a conscious effort to drive to the grocery store, park, get out, go inside, pick out the cupcakes, wait in line and pay for them and then go back out to the car, open the package and eat them. Next time just keep driving past the entrance to the store.

I'm not saying this to be a smartass. It's basically what I did when it came to destressing with a cocktails every night after work. I can count on one hand how many days in the last year and a half prior to surgery that I didn't have a cocktail after work. (Usually involving whiskey or vodka) Once I started my preop, I never touched a drop. About 3 1/2 months out I caved once after a bad day at work...had to call the cops for an escort because of a violent client with a recent concealed weapons charge making repeated threatening phone calls. I stopped for a bottle of wine, went home and poured a glass. Got halfway through before I realized this was a dumb thing to do and poured the glass and entire bottle down the sink. I have since had two half glasses of wine socializing with friends, but to drink it because of a bad day at work would be restarting a bad habit so I am choosing not to do that.

I'm not saying you shouldn't take all the advise above, but I am saying It can be that simple. Once you get through a few rough Patches without your crutch, you may discover you really don't need it and you are stronger than you thought.