Emotional Eating/Binges

[spiitze]

Food has always been a problem for me, and lately school and relationships have been really stressful. When I am stressed/bored, I eat.

I was doing fairly well with my weight until Christmas break, and right now, I'm 3 pounds under the highest weight I ever was.

Do you have any tips for dealing with emotional eating/avoiding binges?
What are some good motivators to start exercising again?  

[Sephiroths samurai girl]

Coping with stress is really split into two areas; mediators and moderators. Things like eating (also smoking, drinking etc) are only stress mediators, they do nothing to help remove the stress but give you that short term fix so you don't have to worry about it. Basically it masques the problem like anti-depressants do but long term the problems are still there.
Obviously the best method is to remove the stress or the things causing the stress. Talking about it with a friend or family member that understands may help to reduce stress as you don't feel so alone and stuck with the problems, this would be your moderator. Actively trying to fix the relationship and school problems would be the best but not always possible method.
If you don't feel that you can talk to anyone either then the best option would be to find a more healthy mediator. Taking up a new hobby, going for a walk or just a nice day out with friends or family can all help to take your mind off the problems at hand until they pass.

For boredom it really is the same method. When we're bored our mind wanders and if there's something we're worried about, we usually focus on that. Keeping yourself active and keeping your mind occupied stops you from returning to those thoughts. It works well during a diet too as it stops us from thinking about the fact that we're not eating as much and that we may be hungry.

As for motivation, try to find an exercise you enjoy or something to work towards. We all have our different likes and that includes sports. It doesn't have to be a conventional method either, going to a climbing wall for a few hours will give you a great workout, challenge yourself and tone all at the same time. A reward method works well too. Pick some clothes or a place you rarely get to go to as your reward. Set a target like losing a set amount of weight or doing so many hours at the gym a week, if you reach your target you get your reward.
Motivation has been one of my biggest problems for losing weight, few of us enjoy dieting despite knowing it'll make us slimmer so the key is finding something to work towards other than weight. My dress is my motivation, I've tried clothes in the past but I've never been overly bothered about clothes so it didn't really work for me until now.

Try not to let school and relationships get you down too much. You said yourself that you were doing well with your weight before, you know that you can do this! It's just a matter of getting past this slip and getting back on track. ^^  

[Stars in my Pocket]

→ Seph is absolutely right. I chew gum instead of eating, because sometimes I won't even remember that I ate all of the things I did. When I chew gum I have to CONSCIOUSLY take it out of my mouth to put food in, so it makes me think twice. Half the time I just want something to do with my mouth anyway, and chewing gum helps with that.

I'm also a really bad boredom eater. If I'm not doing something I go crazy, and even doing something sometimes isn't enough to keep me from just wanting to eat even if I'm not hungry at all. For this, I've done a few things. I'm going to Austria this summer and it's a sinnnn to eat food with your hands, everything is knife+fork or wrapped, so I've been eating everything (even hand foods like french fries or candies, even though they're bad examples) with utensils. You'd be surprised how much it slows you down and makes you think about eating! If I have to eat something when I'm stressed or bored I usually go for fiber cereal like "Fiber One" because a half cup is only 60 calories and fills you up. (:

I'd talk to someone about your stress, sometimes it helps to confide in a friend or even a stranger as odd as it sounds. If you want to talk I'm always willing to listen, you can IM me or PM me whenever, my contact info is in my journal in the subforum for diet journals.

I wish you the besttt. <33
-Star