"Emotional" Eating

Does anyone do this? On The Biggest Loser, they're always blaming emotional eating for so many of the weight problems. Well, I'm not sure if I do or not. Last night, for instance, I had a bowl of ice cream. It had been an AWFUL night. (Today is following suit...) By the end, I was exhausted, physically, mentally, emotionally. I wanted a bowl of ice cream. I wanted it to taste good, to calm my nerves, to sit in my stomach and take the energy from my brain. (Alas, it didn't. This is why I usually don't buy chocolate chip ice cream. I opt for the good stuff when I buy ice cream, like Denali Peanut Butter Cup, or Andes Cool Mint... However, it's for Mitch's birthday party tomorrow, so he got to choose.)

Often at night after the Boys have gone to bed, whether or not it was difficult, I feel a need to eat something. A few months ago my first food of choice would've been a bowl of cereal, but I'm sick to death of Raisin Bran and Froot Loops, but that's often what we have lately because it's the cheapest stuff at Foods Co. So cereal's out for my After-the-Boys-are-Down food (though, when I do have a bowl of cereal, that's often all I'll need. I love cereal.) We have had granola bars (Golden Almond and Oats & Honey from Sunbelt) the last few days, so I often go for one of those, but that doesn't quite fit the bill, so that's when one more gets eaten. We have pretzels on hand all the time, but I hardly ever "crave" those, and after eating a few it just makes me want something completely different even more. Which is usually when I grab a few Guittards. But this eating isn't "emotional" for me, I don't think anyway. It feels instead like my body telling me, "Hey, you only ate a bit at dinner, I need more to keep functioning!" even though I'm not anorexic or anything. Do I just need to fight through this, perhaps this is why I've plateaued the last few months, because my body is still trying to adjust to a new weight and a lower caloric need? Or is this some sort of "emotional" eating that I just don't recognize because denial is the first step? In the above paragraph, about last night's ice cream, I could see how that would be emotional, but last night was really rough. So what about all the other times? Any thoughts?