After being dumped, I've been using food for comfort...

[ingridh]

Mostly fried foods, pasta and chocolate, all of which I hardly ate before the break-up. NC 9 weeks now, I think I must have gained 10-15 lbs

 

And I can't stop. Whenever I am sad, lonely and don't know what to do, I go find things to eat/munch. Food is constantly on my mind as of late. I eat when I read, when I am at the movies, even when I go for a walk I bring snacks.

 

My ex dumped me for a prettier and much younger girl. I should be doing the opposite: lose weight, exercise, make myself look better. I didn't. Now I feel ashamed, hopeless and unattractive.

 

Has anyone had a similar experience? Is this just a phase? How do I get out of this?

[Pedigree]

Not that I'm a girl who's been in your situation, but yeah, I have had rough patches where the only solace is unhealthy food.

 

My solution:

1. Force yourself to exercise. If you can get angry at your situation, that's a good thing because that'll get you to train harder.

2. Think beyond the however many seconds it will take you to finish your unhealthy snack/meal and realize that it's not worth it.

[cuppa]

I don't remember if I ever in that phase but everyone has different way of coping or some people say escapism.

 

Some people find solace with music, hard workouts (me), online games, works (used to be me), food, etc. You happen to find comforts with food (unhealthy ones at that).

 

The obvious reason will be to solve your problem but this will take time to heal. You will obviously hit some low points in your life before you can bounce back. Another way is to find other things to help you coping. I found it through my workouts and doing mixed martial arts.

 

try to think things that you love or you want to do, try to focus & excel at it. Look for comfort through friends or family, ask them to help you or find some support system that encourage you to live healthy and exercise.

 

Or another thing, be bold. do couch to 5 k program or walk for charity, try to have a small goal to keep your mind off things. good luck.

[Lauriebell82]

Oh yeah, I've been there. It was in high school though when my first love and the guy I lost my virginity to dumped me for another girl. I was devasted and gained a ton of weight. I felt like the food was comfort and made me forget about the pain..temporarily.

 

Eventually I got over it and lost a little weight but I really wasn't able to take the weight off for good until after I broke up with my boyfriend in college. He was motivation to lose it for good..which I did.

 

My advice is to force yourself to go exercise. Join a gym. Once you start working out you will transfer the comfort you get from food to the comfort you get from exercising.

 

Also throw out the junk in your house..if it's not there you won't eat it. Don't keep a lot of snack food. Just small healthy foods like fruits, veggies, ect. I generally do not feel the need to binge on carrots!

[PWSX3]

Have you thought of seeing a counselor to help you figure out why you are using food as medication????

 

I understand going to the gym is hard, you want to just set at home, but at least try & get out & walk even if it's around the block to start.

 

When you go to the store, make a list of food & don't buy ANYTHING that is not on the list. If you don't have the junk food in the house, it makes it a lot easier not to eat it.