37 weeks sober but can't control eating
 

Hi, I'm looking for feedback if any of you have experienced this...
I was a bottle of wine a night steady drinker; had to finish the bottle once it was open. Once I made up my mind to quit, I managed to do so without major dramas, just on my own and by joining SR. I really looked forward to losing some weight after eliminating approx. 750 calories a day.
The thing is I've replaced drinking with eating. I've always associated consumption with comfort, starting with food, and then later moving on to wine. It seems like an inborn trait. I can't understand those people who can eat or drink just a little of what they like, be satisfied, and stop. If I have say, a box of chocolates in the house I won't stop until it's empty, even if I feel sick. I manage my weight by not having even mildly tempting food in the house.
I'm not denying I had problems with alcohol, but it seems that if I could overcome the food compulsion, I might have a chance with moderate alcohol consumption as well.
I don't want to side-track this into a discussion of whether I can manage alcohol again - I won't be trying to find out.
Does anyone else relate to what I'm saying? Has anyone managed to make basic changes to emotional eating? How did you do it?

Good Morning Australia! We have the same story it seems! I believe the switch from consuming wine (compulsion) to consuming food is based on obsessive / compulsion. The trick is to look deeper into why we have this need and fight through it. Ask yourself while eating if you are truly hungry or are you feeding / numbing something else? It is not easy. I joined a workout group and always have a liter of water with me.......

Eating disorders can be triggered by ingesting sugar and white flour. The sugar in the chocolate will set you up for more cravings. So first eliminate sugar and then look at the emotional state that precedes wanting to use sugar.

First of all just like alcohol if it is not readily available, it is less likely that you will consume, then over consume. Keep healthy snacks available instead and start getting exercise. Stopping drinking will not fix everything. Changing our lifestyle will and that will in turn make it much easier not to return to drinking.

(As soon as I get my wife out of bed...) we are going for a walk in the park, for the first time in YEARS!

Instead of drinking at night, my wife has been making cookies. And ice cream always seems to be "on sale." But as with my alcoholism, I really know what needs to be done about my weight gain... Just Do IT!

I eat a lot when I'm not drinking too. Personally, I don't worry about it. If that's the thing I need to temporarily satisfy myself instead of drinking, then I consider it a small sacrifice. I just figure I'll put some extra work at the gym, then when the immediate desire to drink is more under control I'll work on food cravings. I think it's just all about not overburdening yourself with massive lifestyle changes and becoming overwhelmed. Focus on the major issue first and then once that's under control, go from there.

I consider myself to have a food beast as well as an alcohol beast (or maybe they are the same thing).... so in order to take out the food beast, I have to watch it in the same way I do the alcohol beast (i.e like in Allen Carr book / Rational Recovery / AVRT type techniques...

I dropped 4kg in my first month off the booze...

Thankyou everyone for your posts. I think I'm going to have to delve into AVRT a bit more with a view to the eating. For as long as I can remember I've been a sugar addict, and stopping drinking has just highlighted it for me.
I think if I could solve the emotional eating puzzle, I would be a long way towards the drinking solution as well.