Stop Emotional Eating. Motivation for Weight Loss.

Emotional eating is a sure ticket to unhappiness and fatness. Sorry if that sounds insensitive, but it's true. I've struggled with food addiction long before I knew there was such a thing. If you've ever thought (or acted) like food was your friend, you might want to examine your habits.

Uncontrolled eating, food addiction, and sugar addiction are a common problem. So common, in fact, they seem "normal." De-stressing by wolfing down some chips or McDonalds, eating tons of sweets during down times, and believing in the pseudo-power of the chocolate/love relationship is NOT NORMAL. There is another way!

My years of yo-yo dieting were simply the result of emotional eating that I couldn't control. I never even knew it was a problem. I would go to the kitchen for snacks when I wasn't even hungry, or have a binge after diet stint and I would think to myself, "I was just stressed. I'll do better next time." But the diet stints became shorter and the binging periods became longer, until I was eating crap all the time. I couldn't see the cycle I had created. I couldn't understand why I just couldn't control my eating, when it seemed everyone else in the world could.

Finally, one day, I decided to just sit for a few moments and get down to the deeper part of me. I asked myself why chocolate mattered so much to me. I asked myself if chocolate served some purpose for me, or if it was symbolic of anything I needed. I just got quiet and listened. And, lo and behold, the answers came.

For me, chocolate was the first issue I had to deal with. And it was even difficult for me to admit it was a problem. What I learned about myself is that chocolate was love in my subconscious mind. My grandparents comforted me with chocolate as a child. My husband used it to woo me. I would eat it when I went out with my friends to share some laughs. I would use it as a pain reliever during my time of the month. When my husband started working tons of hours, I used chocolate as my company at night.

Hitting rock bottom with the yo-yo dieting forced me to look for permanent solutions. I just got over having to deal with the struggle all the time. It was sucking the life out of me.

I firmly believe the solution to every problem is already within us. We just have to ask, be still, and listen. The first step in stopping emotional eating is to go within and find out the reason you're self-sabotaging. What emotions or situations are you using food or sugar to cover up or soothe? Once you know why, you can begin to deal with the actual issue, instead of putting a band-aid over it.

For me, I had to admit my loneliness and find ways to constructively deal with that. I also had to train my mind to believe that food does not equal love and is NOT a necessity to have a good time. I can go out and enjoy life without a crutch.

Food truly is fuel, not comfort, and I have made that my mantra. Food is fuel. Food is fuel. Sure, crappy food would taste good, but it'll make my machine run and look like crap. If I sincerely love and care about my well-being, I'll take care of myself and strive to live a free and healthy life.

This is a simple, but not easy process. Self-discovery and actual transformation hurts a little - all growth does. But, if you truly want to be free, you've got to do it. Here are the six steps to overcome emotional eating, put as simply as I know how:

1. Ask yourself "why"
2. Be still
3. Listen to the answers
4. Understand the deeper reasoning
5. Deal constructively with the underlying issues
6. Live in freedom

Too simple, you're thinking? Yeah, no one wants it to be that simple. They want it to be complicated, to help them hide behind labels, excuses, and disorders. But the truth, the real truth, is always simple. Just like no one wants to accept that eating healthily and exercising is the only way to permanently lose weight.

Go within, find your answer.
Know that you have the power to overcome your issues.
Believe you can succeed.
See you on the other side!

 

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