Struggling a little

[Clinicalgirl]

Hi all, I have increased my exercise, which is good & am trying to be sensible with my diet, but work is a bit crazy at the moment & I have found myself slipping into old comfort eating habits.

Any suggestions please to help me overcome those moment? Thanks!

[nteapea]

Are you using a calorie counter? I like my fitness pal. I find it easier to keep track with this

[Clinicalgirl in reply to nteapea]

Thank you. , I'm using the nutracheck app. I've been quite diligent at updating it, but not always sticking to my limit. I gained half a pound this week but have lost 6lbs over the past month.

I'm planning to get a Fitbit, I think I can sync it to myritness pal. 😀

[Hidden in reply to Clinicalgirl]

Hi

Fitbit does link to your Nutracheck. ☺

[Clinicalgirl in reply to Hidden]

Thank you! 😀

[dish70]

I have been there too at some point , think most people have ,so don't despair. If you have a biscuit at work or chocolate the world does not end just don't eat the whole packet. You have lost 6lb and that it great !!!! I have tried having some mints instead of biscuits or grapes if you can be good. The longer you are on this new regime the less likely you will feel you need to comfort eat especially if you are exercising as it makes you feel good. I was out at a special do on Friday and there were 3 desserts ,I had a bit of them all and thought well that's the first since March ,but i don't feel guilty. They were lovely but i can draw line under it and be good till Christmas now. Hope this was helpful and keep going .

[Clinicalgirl in reply to dish70]

Thanks dish70. Yes it does help thanks. Believe it or not, I have been savoury comfort eating, something like cheese on toast. On the whole I'm not bad with sweet things unless they are under my nose. I have been gluten free for a long time & pretty much stopped eating biscuits etc. Though I do have occasional chocolate cravings. My OH is currently cutting sugar, and has gone from up to 5 bars of choc in a day & 3 super heaped teaspoons of sugar in his tea, to no sugar and two squares of 70% dark chocolate.

Keep my eye on Christmas... Good plan, thank you for your reply!

[albinohedgehog]

I struggle with comfort eating sometimes too. I havent found anything that completely hits it on the head but i do find self compassion helps. A member recommended Tim Van Ordens vids on emotional eating on youtube and i learnt this from them.

If i am having an urge to comfort eat now, first i notice how i am feeling, which is normally stressed or overwhelmed. Then i kind of think to mysel 'i notice you are feeling overwhelmed atm. I know you want to eat X and think this will help, but how about trying something else first? Lets try eating a bit yogurt and fruit ( or a cup of tea etc) and see how we feel. ' you can try all sorts of things, like baths etc, if you keep putting off comfort eating, sometimes the urge goes naturally, or you feel better due to having a snack or a bath. The key is to be really gentle and nice to yourself, because the primitive part of the brain that wants to comfort eat is a bit like a upset child thats had enough.

Also theres practical things like not keeping addictive foods in, and ive just stopped eating sugar as this is supposed to help reduce cravings.

Hope this helped a bit.

Hedgehog xx

[Clinicalgirl in reply to albinohedgehog]

Albinohedgehog, you are absolutely right. I need to have more compassion for myself! I am often told that compassion for others is one of my qualities, but I am also often told I am too hard on myself.

I think going cold turkey on sugar would be a good idea, I mainly just have sugar in the form of fruit, but if I have it in a processed format, I tend to get a rash across my cheeks!

I'll check out YouTube thanks, everything you have said makes sense. Thank you for your reply. 😀

[albinohedgehog in reply to Clinicalgirl]

Youre welcome, glad it was helpful ☺

Xx

[nteapea in reply to albinohedgehog]

This is very interesting I will watch too