Stop Binge Eating - Stop Overeating

What triggers your Emotional Eating?

Growing up I had very weak personal boundaries. I had a very hard time saying no to others requests or demands. This initially started with my parents where in many ways I was basically trying to live my life in a way that would please them. And I think every child does this to some degree however I think I did it too much. And most of the blame for this falls on to me, I can’t blame my parents for wanting to raise what they would think of as an “ideal” son. They are just regular loving parents. So what did I do?

As soon as I could afford living on my own, I moved out. Did this solve the problem? yes and no. I no longer had to worry about pleasing my parents yet I still had weak personal boundaries with others in my life. I still had a hard time saying no to anyone. For example, the other day I get a knock on my door. I answer the door to find out it’s my neighbor, who wants to hang out and is asking if she can come in. This wasn’t a good time for me, since I was in the middle of working on a really important project. However I said “sure”, and in many ways that was my natural unexamined reaction. I did hang out with my neighbor for a couple of hours.

After my neighbor left, i started feeling a really strong temptation to snack, even though I wasn’t physically hungry. When I paused and examined previous events/emotions/thoughts I had I realized that I should of said “No” to my neighbor. And that I was disappointed about the fact that she wasted my time, and that I’m too weak to say no. And now I was basically trying to resort to food for comfort. This is when I started thinking back to other times I’ve done this in my life, and realized that this was a pattern for me growing up, etc.

Next time I’m in a similar situation, I will be more aware of what’s going on in real time, and will probably be able to say “No” and set clear personal boundaries.

To find your emotional eating triggers, think back to the last time you overate. Think of the events/emotions/thoughts you went through before overeating. If you can’t remember, then be aware of the next time you are tempted to overeat, and examine previous events/emotions/thoughts you had earlier. Leave a comment below with any findings

This entry was posted on Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 12:25 pm and is filed under Stop Emotional Eating.