Emotional Eating

So this topic is not a new one.  Emotional eating.  How does it always sneak up and bite you in the ass right when you think you've got things under control?  It so easily hides itself under the guise of a delicious "cheat" from your usual healthy eating pattern and then oozes into a weekend binge of cookies, bread and beer.  I swear I was eating paleo 4 days ago.  Doing great.  Paleo, really briefly, is eating nuts, fruits, vegetables and meats.  No dairy, added sugar (or HFCS), grains, alcohol, soy, or beans (legumes).  This sounds strict, but is extremely satisfying and delicious.  I love to eat this way because I don't have energy highs and low crashes, I feel full and satisfied all day long, my skin looks better, and my workouts are stronger.  This is an aside, though, back to emotional eating.  Basically, I was eating really healthy a few days ago.  Then I wanted a beer.  I'm a lady who doesn't restrict herself for the sake of restriction.  My whole point of eating healthy is to be healthy.  So when a strong urge kicks in, I indulge.  I believe that you should eat healthy most of the time, but then when you really want that fudge brownie or Guinness, well, by all means, enjoy it.  Don't just enjoy it, savor it.  So I bought some beer.  But, oh, one beer is never enough.  One beer became beer and cookies.  Which became beer, cookies, and 2 more beers.  And then I felt awful the next day.  Welcome, emotional eating.  I think this is why sugar is so addictive.  You enjoy a beer or large portion of cake or cookies, or whatever and then feel like crap the next day for various reasons.  The actual physical effect is pretty strong for me, but there's also the guilt.  Oh, I fell off the wagon again.  I ate too much last night, I was doing so good!  And so on and so forth.  Which for some reason invariably leads to finishing off the six pack the next night.  Because you're not feeling good.  And you want to feel better.  And beer makes you feel better!  And so does chocolate ice cream!  And then the next day you feel like crap, and round and round we go.  Oy vey.  Can't a girl just enjoy a beer? 
Well, I am eating healthy again today and enduring all of the physical setbacks that come with eating crap for 4 days, the bloated belly, the gas (holy moly!) and the headache today when I didn't scarf down any carbs for breakfast.  At least I know now that these side effects are short-term.  I know that by tomorrow's evening workout I will begin to feel healthy again. 
A few things I am going to do to get myself back on track:
I am going to start up my food journal again, I find that when I start to go on a bender, it helps steer me back.  I'm not going to get a new one, I'm just going to pull out the old notebook that I used last time.  I am not going to use it to count calories though, I'm going to document what the feelings and thoughts are that are driving me to want to drink beer and eat high carb stuff. 
I am paying to start TKD officially tomorrow.  That should get me a book and then I can have a fitness goal to work towards.  I am going to work to test for the next belt as soon as I'm ready for it. 
I am going to plan my meals better this paycheck period than I did last time.  Last week was the end of the month and because I hadn't planned out my meals very well, it gave me an easy excuse to resort to what was already in the fridge.
I weighed myself this morning: 132.  That helps give me a goal to work towards.  With TKD I might be able to get down to a healthy 125.  If I feel like I have lost fat and have gained muscle and don't get below 127, I know that's fine too.  127 seems to be where my body rests these days.  I think 125 would be fun to work towards though, only because that would mean some really vigorous workouts in the next few weeks, and I love a vigorous workout.  Maybe I'll do some Insanity with my friends this week or next.