Maybe you’re up to your elbow in the popcorn bowl every time you have a bad day at the office. Or you just enjoy nestling in front of the TV at night with a plate of cookies. Besides hunger, people eat mainly for comfort and to distract themselves from other feelings such as boredom, anger, and frustration, says Toronto psychotherapist and weight management coach, Rob Sugar. If you think you might be eating for the wrong reasons, Sugar says you need to identify the emotion that triggers your eating. Then you can work on resolving those feelings without turning to food. Here are the emotions that triggered overeating in our weight-loss winners and how they dealt with them.

I read a book called The Dance of Anger and it explains how we swallow our anger. I realized I bottled up my anger and ate my way through it. Now I’m more outspoken and I’ll talk about my feelings instead of eating.
Dottie Kettle, 32, lost 103 lbs

I was an only child and when no one was around I’d eat for comfort. As an adult, when I was lonely I’d eat out of habit. Now if I’m feeling lonely, I go to the Weight Watchers online message board. There’s always someone on there. You can post a message if you need some advice and someone will usually get back to you within 30 minutes.
Shelley Moulton, 36, lost 117 lbs

I wrote down what I ate and realized I was eating because of stress. Now if I feel stressed, I go to the gym because what I eat won’t make a difference to how I feel. 
Lisa Greenburg, 41, lost 80 lbs

I eat when I’m happy, sad, or stressed. And I don’t care what I eat. I just have to stuff my face. Before it would be whatever was in the cupboard—usually chips or cookies. Now I make sure I have baby carrots and tomatoes in the fridge so that I can stuff my face with foods that don’t do any harm.
Linda Knight, 58, lost 108 pounds