Lesson 3 answers from kel x

Here Goes

1. Can you identify a time when you began to seek food for comfort? What was happening in your life at the time? If you can't remember when you started using food for comfort, try to describe time when this habit intensified or became more severe.

I’ve never really understood this as crappy as it sounds I had a really happy childhood with no issues to speak of so I don’t know what the big trigger was or why I overate. I lived in a house with lots of people and little money so it was every man for himself. I guess we ate cheap food, chips with everything so that’s how I got chubby but I was never really fat.

Okay ignore all that cos I think I’ve just realised.

It started when I was a 13 I had shall we say an unwanted sexual experience and because of that I became promiscuous which I thought was the only side effect but actually this is when the weight crept on I think maybe I was trying to make myself unattractive to avoid further sexual advances but then if this the case why was I promiscuous it doesn’t really make sense I don’t get it. So at 13 I kind of went up stone by stone from what I can remember so like at 13 I was 13 stone and so on. The weight just crept up and up and I don’t know why. At 16 I got in a serious relationship with someone who worshipped me and did not care about my size and then in my 1^st year at Uni I was so lonely and so far away from home I think it probably got worse.

Its funny because I thought that none of these things affected me and I still don’t feel like I had a specific reason to comfort eat as emotionally I felt fine and have always though I got fat because no-one told me not to.

2. How would you feel if you had to give up the habit of eating when upset emotionally? Describe what your life might feel like. Part of you probably says that you'll be fine, but what does the other part say? What does the part of you that's scared of giving up emotional eating say?

I do have to give up emotional overeating there is no doubt about, its incredibly scary like giving up any crutch or habit such as smoking (which as you know I’ve managed to do) so you would think it would be easy. Its very daunting especially when even though I’m exploring the reasons I cant see them as being why I overeat now my life has never been more on track but I still cant stop. I cant wait for the day I can fancy a bar of chocolate and have one guilt free because I’ve not had one all week instead of not being able at all to have one like now or having 3 a day like before.

3. What part of your relationship with food are you in denial about? Which part would you rather not know about? How might you get this out in the open to yourself? What would happen if you did this?

For years I was in complete denial I even had a problem and I’ve only just come round to the idea very recently.

4. Which of the 12 types of emotional hunger do you suffer from most? What are some ways you could begin to change your habit of eating when faced with emotional hunger like this? I’m sure I’ve probably suffered from most of these types of emotional hunger at one time or another but right now I think it’s Type 1 which is learned behaviour, Type 7 and maybe 2 but embarrassingly the main one I suffer from is type 11. Will have to get back to you about why and its probably to long a story.