Day 7 Emotional Eater

As I mentioned before, my husband and I are health coaches for this great health program that has done wonders for us.  Tonight we had a health coach training and I was reminded of one of the reasons it's so hard for us to lose weight.  I am going to call it the Emotional Pit.  This is the pit we get trapped into by emotional eating.  Here's a little diagram of what it looks like.  {My e-drawing skills aren't amazing.  Don't judge.}

And now a simple step-by-step to explain the Emotional Pit:

1. We experience an Emotionally Difficult Situation.  These situations could be anything that is upsetting or difficult.  Some examples could be stress at work or school, money problems, a new pimple, sick child, someone cuts you off on the road, etc, etc, etc.  It could be anything that would make you feel bad, the next stop on our journey.

2.  We often find ourselves Feeling Bad when difficult things happen.  Sadness is a natural emotion and we have to experience to understand happiness.  We all go through it.  Don't beat yourself up because you feel bad.

3.  When we feel bad, we try to feel better, Seeking Emotional Relief.  We all have different ways to cope with how we feel.  Many of us are not aware of what we do (I wasn't until I started reading the Habits of Health).

4.  Many of us resort to emotional eating, finding Comfort in Food.  Why do we do it?  We associate those delicious high calorie, high fat, high sugar foods with feeling good.  Perhaps we received recognition or awards in the forms of food ("If you clean your room, you can have a treat" or "If you get an 'A' on your report card, you get a free donut").  Maybe that good feeling comes merely from the burst of energy from the high calories.  Whatever it is, it makes us feel good temporarily.

5.  If we are not mindful of our emotional eating, we will inevitably Gain Weight.  When we are consuming an excess of calories that we are not using, our body stores them to be used later.  That storage is known as fat.  Having a little fat is okay, but too much is unhealthy.

6.  After we have put on weight, we start Feeling Bad about how we look and feel.  We are right back where we started, circling down and down, getting deeper and deeper into our emotional pit.

Even if we are able to climb out of the pit {lose weight}, if we haven't addressed the issue of emotional eating, any Emotionally Difficult Situation can throw us back in, causing us to gain back the weight we just lost.  

So how do we address the issue?  We have to find Positive Ways to Seek Emotional Relief.  Here are some examples of activities that may be helpful (note that we are all different and you have to find what will work for you):

go for a walk - write in a journal or blog - talk to a friend - go to a counselor - exercise - visit someone who is in need - write an uplifting e-mail or letter - read a good book or scriptures - pray - listen to uplifting music - participate in sports or dancing

These are just a few example that might help you get out of the Emotional Pit.  The key to overcoming emotional eating is being aware of what your triggers are.  Learn to recognize what makes things make you want to overindulge.  Decide, ahead of time, to participate in one of the positive activities above, instead of resolve to eating.  That will help us move out of the cycle and move forward to healthy happy future.

What other positive activities have you found helpful?  Comment below.

Current Total Holiday Weight Loss {6.4}