3 Amazing Things That Happen When You Stop Emotionally Overeating

Overeating is a coping mechanism that some of us have developed to help us deal with our lives and feelings. Why? Because life can be hard, and feelings are scary! Using food for this actually did help me for a while-before I had the strength to deal with all the drama in my house during high school, but it quickly outlived its usefulness, and the bingeing started harming me sooo much more than it helped.

There are many reasons I wanted to get better, of course, but these are the ones that have really hit home for me-and they keep me working on it and wanting to get even healthier about food! Let me know if they ring true for you:

3 Amazing Things That Happen When You Stop Emotionally Overeating

1. Your mind gets clearer! Seriously. It’s weird, but there’s something about all of that extra food, sugar, fat, whatever, that clouds your thinking and makes it hard to stay on track. Before I really tackled my bingeing problem I would miss classes, forget work deadlines, mess up times of meetings, show up late to nearly everything. (Just ask my friends…and boss.) I’m so much more successful than I thought I could be now that my brain has the right amount of fuel, not too much.

2. The self-loathing goes away. It’s easy to hate yourself when you feel so out of control. What kind of person can’t control what they put in their mouth?! You feel hopeless, and worthless—and wow, does that hurt. But, guess what? One of the first things to go when you start getting better is that horrible hate. I see myself in a much more understanding light these days and haven’t felt that meanness in years.

A squirrelized version of me and my husband on our honeymoon in Greece. Nice to feel good in your body on vacation!

A squirrelized version of me and my husband on our honeymoon in Greece. Nice to feel good in your body on vacation!

3. Your weight stabilizes. Dude, I never knew I could feel so comfortable in my body! I never knew I’d be wearing from season to season. Shorts I wore one summer rarely fit the next-usually they’d gotten too small, but sometimes they were too big if I’d gone on some Atkins diet or something. But now? I’ve worn basically the same size for more than two years. It’s really comforting to know that your body is in a good place. It seems mine’s pretty happy with the way I’ve been feeding it.

There are so many more reasons to start getting better. Feel free to share some of your own.

xo…Sunny

2 Responses to 3 Amazing Things That Happen When You Stop Emotionally Overeating

  1. Katie says:

    You are so right about the clothes thing! It seems silly, but it’s such a relief to not have to go on an emotional rollercoaster every time the seasons change (or every morning!) wondering what will and won’t fit.

  2. holly says:

    this website is amazing, i felt so alone! thankyou it has given me more strength to recover. i have struggled with my weight for as long as i can remember! i think i have hit my lowest with binging now though :( so thank you, im so happy i found this website!

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Sunny Sea Gold

About the Author

Sunny Sea Gold is a media-savvy advocate and commentator specializing in binge eating disorder, cultural obsessions around food and weight, and raising children who have a healthy body image.