I've been struggling financially and emotionally for about a week or 2 now.. I gave in today and ate a fun size pack of m&ms and I ate maybe 10 French fries that my friend left behind at my house today...

Food has always been my coping skill.. so, my question is.. how do you cope with this kind of stuff now? Thanks.

I've been struggling financially and emotionally for about a week or 2 now.. I gave in today and ate a fun size pack of m&ms and I ate maybe 10 French fries that my friend left behind at my house today...
Food has always been my coping skill.. so, my question is.. how do you cope with this kind of stuff now? Thanks.

....with grace towards myself. Absolutely we need to be vigilant in trying to avoid these pitfalls, but we also need to be kind to ourselves. I dunno about you, but when I had an emotional week pre-sleeve, I would eat a pint of Ben and Jerry's, or a large fry, double cheeseburger and a coke. You had what, 15 m&ms and 10 fries? Be nice to yourself.

On a practical side, I like to do those adult coloring books when I'm anxious/stressed out. I also will sip hot tea (my fav is Good Earth sweet & spicy. It has a hint of sweetness and then yummy spices that tend to ward off the munchies), or put on inspiring/fun music.

Hang in there!

I think we could make a million bucks if we knew the different ways to not
Ever turn to food. !!Especially when the hunger is intense.
Many times I'm ok with being a little hungry, but if I wait too long or have poor planning, I don't choose well.
It has been many years, but I am still kinda arguing with 10 pounds....
If I keep my routine I seem to do better. Going out to eat... vacationing.... cocktails .. a dessert... those sort of things throw me off track . However. Life is still better at a lower weight!!

10 hours ago, baribriana said:

I've been struggling financially and emotionally for about a week or 2 now.. I gave in today and ate a fun size pack of m&ms and I ate maybe 10 French fries that my friend left behind at my house today...

So?

Don't beat yourself up over this. I personally think we have to remind ourselves of a few things when it comes to using food as a coping mechanism:

1) everyone does it (yep, even those skinny normal eaters).

2) food is meant to give us pleasure. If eating was a chore only we would have vanished from this planet long ago.

3) it will happen again. For sure. Really. It will. Guaranteed. Might get used to it as soon as possible and learn to tame and ride this particular dragon instead of running from it and find yourself posting a thread like "HELLLLLP!!! I fell off the wagon (again)!!!!!!!" in 1 or 2 years.

"Using food for fuel only" is IMHO an unattainable ideal many people seem to run after. Don't believe it? Browse around a bit and read all the threads with titles like "HELLLLLP!!! I fell off the wagon (again)!!!!!!!"

There are lots of good self-help books or homepages about eating as a coping mechanism. It's worth reading and working with them.

Food was always my coping mechanism too. No one could be more surprised than me to learn that exercise is the most unbelievably effective way to burn off the crazy. I know, right? I always thought that exercise was about my body, but it turns out it's actually about my mind. Good luck finding what works best for you!

On 9/2/2017 at 11:03 PM, SippinAintEasy said:

....with grace towards myself.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this answer.

Wait, you only ate the M&Ms and french fries? A fun size M&M and 10 french fries??? It just doesn't seem like that much of a fall off the cliff. However I do think that you need to look at the situation from an emotional eater standpoint, if you keep it up you could have a problem. Have you read the books that are suggested here on the site? I just ordered them from Amazon and I'm hoping they helping to deal with my emotional eating quandary prior to my revision surgery. I hope to get to appoint one day where food is no longer my comfort, my friend, my Confessor, or my lover! You hang in there my friend you didn't eat that much and you don't have to beat yourself up over it! I would kill for the days that I can only eat a fun size M&M again. I have days where I would eat the whole bag right now and we're talking that big bag sucker! So smile, put it behind you, and start to deal with the demons that cause you to turn towards food. I'm afraid it's the same demon that many many many of us have and if it was easy to defeat him we wouldn't be here would we!

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