By the time you reach maintenance, eating can feel less straightforward, especially if there’s less external structure guiding your choices. For example, you may decide not to count calories as strictly or to follow fewer rules. For many people, this is when emotional eating becomes more noticeable again. That doesn’t mean you’ve fallen back into old habits or that you’re failing in any way, it’s a sign that you’re becoming more aware of how food fits into your life beyond weight loss. If this is something you’re noticing now, it can help to know that it’s very common, even if it wasn’t something you expected to think about again.
What emotional eating can look like
Emotional eating doesn’t always come from strong emotions or stressful events. While those can play a role, in everyday life the triggers can be much more subtle.
It might show up as:
eating automatically at certain times of day, regardless of hunger or because it’s “what you usually do” in that moment
wanting food for comfort, distraction, or a break rather than because you’re physically hungry
using food as a way to manage stress, tiredness or to soothe yourself during a busy or overwhelming day
craving something specific shortly after eating, even though you feel full
eating foods you’ve previously told yourself you “shouldn’t” have and then feeling guilty afterwards
These moments are very common, particularly in the evenings or during quieter parts of the day. It’s important to know that they’re not about a lack of control or willpower. We often reach for food to meet a specific need, whether that’s for comfort, routine, stress relief, distraction, reward, or a way to switch off after the day.
Noticing these patterns isn’t about stopping them or “fixing” them. It’s about understanding what role food is playing in that moment and how it is helping you to deal with certain emotions, so you can respond in a way that feels more supportive over time.
Why this may feel stronger in maintenance
During weight loss, eating is often supported by structure which can look like routines, tracking or clear boundaries. In maintenance, that structure may naturally change and as it does, emotions, habits, and old coping patterns can come back into focus.
For some people, this shows up as more food noise. For others, it shows up as a stronger urge to eat in certain situations. Food can feel comforting, familiar, and easy to reach for, and it may help you relax, switch off or soothe difficult emotions.
There’s nothing wrong with that. The aim in maintenance isn’t to remove food as a coping tool or to never eat emotionally again. When food is taken away without understanding what role it’s playing, we can find ourselves thinking about food more, not less because we haven’t found another way to deal with the emotions.
Why Letting Go Of The Pressure Can Help
This is where it can really help to adjust our expectations. A common reaction is to try to stop emotional eating completely. For most people, that just creates more pressure and can actually make food feel more stressful. A more helpful goal is noticing:
when these moments tend to happen
what’s going on around you at the time
what you might be feeling or needing in that moment
This isn’t about analysing every choice. It’s about recognising patterns, without judgement or urgency to change them straight away. Once you start noticing these patterns, it becomes easier to pause before acting on them. That pause gives you a chance to check in with yourself and that can give you more choice in how you respond.
The Power of the Pause
Here are two, simple but highly effective ways to help manage emotional eating.
Tool 1: HALT
HALT is a simple check-in to help you understand what might be driving the urge to eat at that moment.
Step 1:
When the urge shows up, ask yourself:
Am I hungry?
Am I anxious?
Am I lonely or bored?
Am I tired or tense?
Step 2:
If something stands out, name the emotion:
“I’m stressed.”
“I’m lonely.”
“I’m exhausted.”
Step 3:
Ask yourself:
Will eating right now nourish me or punish me, nutritionally and emotionally?
How do I want to feel afterwards, not just immediately, but later on as well?(think instant vs delayed gratification).
There’s no right or wrong answer here. Sometimes eating is the most supportive choice. HALT isn’t about stopping yourself from emotional eating, it’s about understanding what you need in that moment. Sometimes the answer will still be food, and that’s okay. Other times, it might be rest, comfort, reassurance, distraction, or a change of pace or location.
Tool 2: The pause (and the 3 Ds)
When you feel the need to emotionally eat, pause. Start by taking three slow, deep breaths. Slowing your breathing can calm the nervous system and reduce urgency, making it easier to respond rather than react.
You can then use the 3 Ds, delay, distract and decide:
Delay for a few minutes
Distract yourself or do something different
Decide whether to eat
You may decide that you are still going to eat and that’s absolutely fine. The aim is to do so slowly and without guilt. Try to notice the taste and texture of the food, and how your body feels, rather than eating on autopilot.
When to seek extra support
If emotional eating feels out of control, distressing, or hard to manage, please know that you’re not doing anything wrong, but seeking advice from your GP can help. Your GP can provide appropriate advice and guidance or refer you to more specialist support.
Looking ahead
If you find that emotional eating continues to come up for you, it can help to look a little wider at what’s going on, rather than focusing only on food. Some questions that can be useful to reflect on over time include:
Where is joy or pleasure showing up in my life at the moment?
What non-food strategies do I have in place to help me cope with stress or difficult emotions?
Am I eating regularly and enough during the day? (For some people, episodes of overeating can be linked to hunger caused by restriction.)
What messages about food, weight, and body image am I surrounded by, and how might they be influencing me?
Understanding your triggers and responding with self-compassion is often more helpful than trying to control behaviour through rules or willpower alone. Managing emotional eating isn’t about control or perfection, and it isn’t about removing food as a source of comfort altogether. It’s about understanding when food is helping, and when it’s being asked to meet a need that might be better supported in other ways.
With time, these patterns usually become easier to recognise. For now, noticing patterns can be enough. You don’t need to rush this or get it right straight away. Awareness is the first step towards making different choices, and for many people this is a gradual, ongoing process not something shifts overnight.