Exercise to exorcise.....and what else I'm learning

One area I need to improve upon is emotional eating and mindless eating.  Strangely enough, being more mindful of when I eat and why I eat has made me think about food a whole lot more than before.  So now instead of eating mindlessly or emotionally, I'm worrying and fussing about eating in general.   I think this is just a temporary thing - something for me to sort thru as I tear down my old food habit fortress and rebuild new practices for sustaining myself.

Exercise - not a fan.  Let's be clear right there.  I have to make myself get off my butt and haul my carcass around to get in my daily exercise.  I'd much rather flop on the couch than get in 45 minutes of walking or 10000 steps a day.  BUT - I know that the walking I do does more for me than improve my heart/body health.  My walks clear the cobwebs and bullshit from my brain so that I can get and keep my head on straight.

(Pain & Panic from Hercules by Disney)

WALKING AS EXORCISM:  Seriously, when I walk to clear my head, the demons that typically chase around in there go away. I think they are allergic to the amount of oxygen and serotonin that surges through my brain when I'm walking and focusing on keeping up the pace.  DAMMIT! The experts are on to something with this idea of doing something active when head hunger it telling me to eat eat eat.  Seriously, though, I do find that I am calmer and more rational after I have taken a walk.   That desire to eat with reckless abandon goes away - either because it feels good to accomplish the walk or because I am too tired after to drag my butt off the couch in search of food.  The point is, it helps.

I'm trying some different things with eating these days.  First of all, I'm being very conscious of what I bring to work with me to eat. I've got chicken salad kits (one a day), 2 protein bars from Aldi - I eat one as breakfast and one as a snack, a grapefruit, an apple, and cheese sticks.  When it's gone, it's gone.  I don't go to the snack machine or get a soda.  I try really hard to drink over 100 oz of water every day as well. It keeps me full and makes me aware of when I am truly hungry vs. being bored and thinking eating will occupy my time.  Maybe it sounds like not enough food - it does to me, but I do manage to get plenty of calories and protein in by the end of the day.  The hardest part of this is that when I get home from work I am hungry enough to eat my own foot.  So, the last few days I've been eating protein and a veg when I get home and calling it supper.  That means that my son has to fend for himself, but if I cook for him I will eat that meal as well and that just can't happen.  Later in the evening I'll have a fat free yogurt and call it good for the day.  Part of my mindset is to eat 200-400 calories under the 2000 I am allowed so I don't go over - which happens way too often if I'm not mindful.

So why isn't the scale moving?  I dont' know.   We'll write it off to a few things - I'm walking and building muscles that weigh more than fat; I'm taking vitamins that are encouraging growth of these muscles; my thyroid condition makes it hard to lose weight.  The scale hates me is my favorite.

I know I am doing the right things right and that results will follow. In the meantime, I walk and remain focused.  What else can I do?