Mindset, Emotional Eating and Weight Loss

How you think and feel about food and your body has as much influence on weight loss as any diet or medicine. Most people eat for comfort at times, and that is not a disorder. But when eating feels out of control, or brings strong guilt and shame, it may be binge eating disorder, which is a treatable mental illness with specific support available through Medicare.

This topic is also in our free guide, Losing Weight Well. Get it emailed to you

Emotional eating

Emotional eating means eating in response to feelings rather than hunger: stress, boredom, loneliness, tiredness or sadness. Food changes how we feel quickly, so it becomes a familiar way to cope. Over time the pattern can become automatic, and it often surfaces during a plateau or a hard week, when motivation is lowest.

A person writing in a notebook with a cup of tea

Some practical starting points:

  • Notice the trigger. Before eating outside a planned meal, ask what you are feeling. Writing it down for a week or two often reveals a clear pattern.
  • Have another option ready. A walk, a phone call or a shower will not suit every moment, but having something to reach for makes a pause possible.
  • Do not skip meals. Long gaps make it harder to tell emotional hunger from physical hunger.
  • Drop the all-or-nothing rules. One unplanned meal does not undo weeks of progress. Treating it as a failure is what tends to turn one meal into a lost week.
  • Look after sleep and stress. Both shape appetite and food choices.

When it may be binge eating disorder

The Butterfly Foundation describes binge eating disorder as a serious mental illness characterised by regular episodes of binge eating. A binge involves two things together: eating a very large amount of food in a short period (for example, within two hours), and a sense of loss of control, such as feeling unable to stop. Guilt and shame are common afterwards, and, unlike bulimia nervosa, people do not use compensatory behaviours such as vomiting or over-exercising.

Butterfly reports that binge eating disorder is the third most common eating disorder in Australia, affecting 21% of people with an eating disorder, and occurs in men and women in roughly equal numbers.

The difference from emotional eating is one of degree and control. Occasional comfort eating is common. Regular episodes of eating large amounts while feeling unable to stop, followed by distress, need professional assessment, and they are best treated before or alongside any weight-loss program, medication or surgery.

A free, private first step

The InsideOut Institute offers a free online eating disorder screener. It is a short, validated set of questions that points you towards suitable resources. It does not give a diagnosis and does not replace a health professional, but many people find it a helpful way to start the conversation with their GP.

Getting support

Eating Disorder Treatment and Management Plan

For people diagnosed with an eating disorder, including binge eating disorder, Medicare provides an Eating Disorder Treatment and Management Plan. The Department of Health fact sheet explains that it covers up to 40 psychological treatment services and 20 dietetic services over 12 months. Eligibility depends on meeting set criteria, including a score on a standard questionnaire, how often binge or related behaviours occur, and additional clinical indicators. Your GP usually assesses eligibility and prepares the plan, and may involve a psychiatrist or paediatrician. Butterfly has a plain-language guide to these plans.

Mental Health Treatment Plan (Better Access)

If you are struggling with low mood, anxiety or your relationship with food but do not meet the eating-disorder criteria, a Mental Health Treatment Plan under the Better Access initiative provides up to 10 individual and 10 group sessions each calendar year, starting with an initial course of up to six. Since 1 November 2025 the plan is prepared by the practice where you are enrolled in MyMedicare or by your usual GP.

Body image after major weight loss

Many people expect to feel completely different once the weight is off, and are surprised when their body image does not keep pace with the scale. It takes time for your sense of your own body to catch up with its new size, and some people continue to see themselves as they were.

Loose skin is a large part of this. In a Swedish study of people after bariatric surgery, 91% of women and 67% of men said excess skin made them feel their body was unattractive, and the more excess skin people had, the more discomfort they reported (Staalesen et al., Obesity Surgery 2013). Feeling this way after working hard to lose weight is common, and it is not ingratitude or vanity.

Surgery to remove loose skin can address physical problems such as rashes, hygiene and fit of clothing, and many people find it changes how they feel. It does not resolve every concern about body image. Plastic surgeons look for realistic expectations as part of deciding whether surgery is suitable, and if emotional eating or body image concerns are significant, working on them first with a psychologist leads to a better footing for any operation. Read more about loose skin after weight loss and the risks and considerations of surgery on drkumar.com.au.

Medication and mood

If you are taking a weight-loss medicine, be aware that the Australian consumer information for one GLP-1 medicine lists depression and suicidal thoughts among the effects to report to your doctor, particularly if you have a history of them. Talk to your prescribing doctor about any change in mood; decisions about your medicine belong with them. For more on emotional health across every stage, see mental health and weight loss.

Where to next

If you are still losing weight, the patient resources are a good place to continue. If your weight has settled and loose skin is now affecting how you live or feel, the readiness assessment can help you decide whether to book a consultation with Dr Kumar. Individual results vary.

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