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Weight Loss Exercise

How to Stop Emotional Eating




Emotional eating is something that we can all get hit by and is something that we need to understand the triggers of and how to deal with. I tend to be a pretty emotional guy but I never seem to fall into the trap of emotional eating which can involve people eating large amounts of food to comfort themselves and get rid of the bad or tough feelings and situations that we can run into in everyday life.

The trouble is that often emotional eating can be caused by bad feelings about our weight and self image and we sabotage ourselves using food as a short term fix.

How Does Emotional Eating Start?

There are really five kinds of situations where we can get triggered emotionally and that may lead to emotional eating. (Thanks to medicinenet for these). Knowing the causes can really help us learn how to stop emotional eating.

Social – Eating when around other people. For example, excessive eating can result from being encouraged by others to eat; eating to fit in; arguing; or feelings of inadequacy around other people.

Emotional – Eating in response to boredom, stress, fatigue, tension, depression, anger, anxiety or loneliness as a way to “fill the void.”

Situational – Eating because the opportunity is there. For example, at a restaurant, seeing an advertisement for a particular food, passing by a bakery. Eating may also be associated with certain activities such as watching TV, going to the movies or a sporting event, etc.

Thoughts – Eating as a result of negative self-worth or making excuses for eating. For example, scolding oneself for looks or a lack of will power.

Physiological – Eating in response to physical cues. For example, increased hunger due to skipping meals or eating to cure headaches or other pain.

And what do many people do? Grab a tub of ice cream or cookies or other comfort food to try to make feeling bad feel better. If you are not in the situation this can seem crazy but in the situation and doing this emotional eating will feel really natural. Trying to fill a void with the great feelings of yummy food.

Trouble is yummy food can not fix a problem.

How to Stop Emotional Eating

How to Stop Emotional Eating

How to stop emotional eating

OK, now that we know the why it is much easier to figure out the how to stop emotional eating. So the best and really only thing that you can do is to distract yourself. I have found myself that there is no talking yourself or reasoning yourself out of an emotional problem or issue so a good distraction until your emotions go away and you can reason things is much better. Here are a few things you can do:

Watch some light TV – Get yourself out of the thought pattern that is causing your emotional distress

Talk to a friend about their problems – problem solving not your stuff but someone elses will get your mind fixing something else

Go and exercise – This can be a crutch in itself but really if you can concentrate on the issue of the exercise hopefully it switches the emotion to another issue

You can see from above that these are just a few things that you can do, there are a multitude more but the real idea is to get away from what is causing you pain right now. and then a few minutes or hours later you can revisit the problem in a detached way and find real solutions to your problems.

We all get too close to our own issues emotionally and blow them up so that they are insurmountable. By breaking away from our emotional explosions we can get some distance and avoid the emotional eating that can be so dangerous to our psyche and our eating goals.

How to stop emotional eating all comes down not to controlling your emotions but getting a distance from them until you can deal with the underlying problem.


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Weight Loss Exercise

Are You Burned Out?



Burnout is the term used for a state of exhaustion; mentally, physically, and emotionally. Who gets burnout? It can be young mothers or busy volunteers who try to be everything to everyone with no time left over for themselves. It can be employees who are doing the work of many with no end in sight or an employer who has a lot of pressure to show results. It can be you. Take a look at these possible symptoms to see if you might be suffering from burnout:

Apathy in all areas of life.
Unsociable – unwillingness to socialize with others. Withdrawn.
Chronically fatigued or exhausted.
Poor sleep patterns or insomnia.
Weight gain or weight loss.
Possible depression.
Anger.
Low tolerance for others’ comments or behavior. Irritable and on edge. Overreact.
Physical symptoms – headaches, other aches and pains, constantly sick.
Forgotten how to have fun.
High level of criticism of self.
Self medicating with food, alcohol, or drugs.
Feelings of powerlessness and low self image.
Do things out of sense of commitment, but begrudgingly.
Mood swings.
Anxiety.

If you recognize many of these symptoms of burnout, don’t brush them aside. It’s time for you to take positive steps to stop the burnout. If you don’t, you may continue on with further physical or mental problems. There is no quick fix to relieve burnout, but there are steps you can take that will slowly guide you to a healthier, happier life.

First off, you need to explore what is causing your burnout and address the source. Options then are to get away from the stress, minimize the number of occurrences or the degree of stress, or learn how to change your attitude towards the stress. Think of some positive triggers that sound pleasing to you:

* Take a vacation to distance yourself from the stress and to relax.
* If your job is a bad fit or you’re to the point of feeling physically sick when you think about your job, you need to take positive action towards finding a new one. Don’t make excuses about the downturn of the economy, company layoffs, not qualified, etc., take action anyway.
* Start saying “no” to others who demand more of your time than you are willing to give. There should be no guilt because if you don’t take care of yourself first, there will eventually be nothing left for you to give.
* Learn to routinely treat yourself to relaxation, even if you don’t want to or feel too busy. Pick what works for you – a bubble bath, a good book, an all time favorite movie.
* Rediscover a passion. Once upon a time you liked to do ______________. Start doing it again, even in small doses.
* Seek help from a counselor, medical doctor, or mental health professional.

Burnout can happen when you’re overcommitted and overworked. If you’ve taken a look at the list of possible symptoms above and feel like you have burnout, take steps now to get back on track and love life again.


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What I Need

I’ve come to realize that what I need in life to be happy, is much different than what I always thought I would need. For most of my life I believed that hard work and sacrifice meant pain, uncomfort, and burnout. I would avoid these feelings  by quitting. This isn’t to say that I wasn’t a hard worker or a good employee, student etc. I just never applied myself, as they say. I knew how to complete a task for something else, but not for myself. I would get so far as the first or second bump and decide it wasn’t for me. Move on and continue the cycle.

Coincidentally, my adult life has been filled with bouts of anxiety, depression and insecurity. Just a slight feeling of unease that I was always trying to suffocate with excesses. Material items, food, and neediness have all been the way that I would cope. Often I would just hole up and wish the pain away. I thought these feelings were a result of what I was missing in my life, rather than what I wasn’t doing.

But lately, as in, the past couple of months. This course has changed. I’ve come to realize that my past actions of inactivity made the feelings worse. And thus the cycle of never being fulfilled. What makes me happy now is so far removed from what I wanted to believe would make me happy. Shopping or a pint of ice cream. They are like alcohol to the flame. They are good in the moment, but never filled the gap.

Today, as I write this, I’ve found that completion makes me happy. If I set out to do something in a day, I’m not content until it’s done. Inactivity makes me anxious. I notice that when I slide out of my good habits, old feelings begin to creep up again.

The funny/weird thing about all of this, is that I’ve rejected the notion that energy=energy. I always thought that I needed to reserve my energy to gain it, but I only get positive energy when I put it out there.

Today happiness looks like this to me:

– A balanced diet. This means eating when I’m hungry, stopping when I’m full. Eating what I only truly love to eat, not because I used to think it was indulgent, but genuinly enjoying the meal. Vegetables and fruit are also very important for this balance.

– Exercise. Any sort of movement is absolutely neccessary for me to deal with stress and anxiety. Even if the movement is cleaning the bedroom, clearning off the deck, or washing a load of dishes. Movement in all forms makes me feel better.

–Focused work. Everyday I have a set list of tasks. I’ve gotten in the habit of setting a timer for 30 minutes just to get started. If I am overwhelmed with projects I say to myself “just do something–anything”. Checking off items on my to-do list brings me so much pride and contentment.

– Time to relax, alone. I find that my work/life balance is only in harmony when I have time to do absolutely nothing. It feels better and is more appreciated when it’s earned. I have never been bored a day in my life. I could sit on the couch and read for hours and be totally happy. I could sit with a notebook and pen and write and draw until my hearts content. I look forward to doing nothing, I cherish the art of inactivity only when it’s balanced with work.

– Making things happen. I’ve always struggled with the notion that things just happened. Growing up we are sent to school, then we are sent to high school and then, sometimes we make our way to college. This course is set out for us. And the whole “making things happen” idea missed me. I had no concept of making my dreams come true. When there wasn’t a clear path or map to my destination I got lost. I didn’t understand how the world worked, how businesses were ran. I just assumed that I was destined to follow course and just move on to a normal job with a steady paycheck. And then I woke up and realized that everything is totally up to me. And I was scared, am still scared, but figuring it out anyway.

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