Emotional Eating Exercise...

Emotional eating for me brings up so many... well... emotions. LOL It makes me embarrassed that I can’t control what I eat. Let me rephrase that... It makes me embarrassed that I CHOOSE not to control what I eat. There is anger, guilt, resentment, embarrassment, and shame all associated with that decision. All these emotions do is hold me hostage. They prevent me from going forward. So how do we change this?

First, we need to take responsibility for our own actions and start using “I” in our thinking instead of things like, the gym is to far away so working out is difficult, or stress from work and home makes it impossible to eat right, or my personal excuse right now .... Exercising would be easier for me if I had someone to work out with on a regular basis. The article states that This is “victim” thinking.

(Check out the full article here: www.sparkpeople.com/resource/wellness_arti
cles.asp?id=690&page=2 )

Thinking like a victim denies us the ability to take self-responsibility for our actions. If you change that thinking to something like this, “ I don’t eat right because I don’t make planning ahead a priority before I go grocery shopping” It makes the problem clearer and makes finding a solution to it easier to see. It brings real problem solving skills to the table for the first time for many of us. It brings into focus that only YOU can solve the problem.

This won’t happen overnight and it will take some practice... but try this little tool to help make it a little easier for you.

Try journaling the next time you have an issue with your weight loss journey.

Pick any issue you are having problems with.
write freely about it and try to define the problem. JUST WRITE. DON’T WORRY ABOUT SOLVING THE PROBLEM HERE.
Then, take a few minutes and go back to it and re-read it...
Are you in charge or is it in charge of you? Are you the victim?
Then go back and change passive verbs to active verbs - ex. Change, “ eating right is difficult because home and work issues get in the way,” to “I don’t plan ahead when grocery shopping so I don’t make wise food decisions later”
NOW... go back and find solutions to the problem. Now that the problem is defined you can solve it... “What can I do to plan ahead?”

If you do this whenever you are having a problem It won’t take you long to change your pattern of thinking and do it automatically.