Are you an Emotional Eater? I didn't know I was either!:)

I learned most of this from reading Chalene Johnson's book PUSH along with personal experience and helping others in my Challenge Groups. 

People always talk about 'messing up' with their diet and then it spirals out of control. Let's talk about that.

The difference between a SLIP and a SLIDE. If you mess up on your diet it’s a SLIP. Oops, dang. What should you do? Stop it, and restart. Forgive yourself and do better the rest of the day and recommit yourself to doing better each day. If you 'mess up' or SLIP, don’t SLIDE. A SLIDE is when you SLIP and get mad at yourself and then punish yourself by eating crap the rest of the day, and maybe the next day and then the whole week!!! And tell yourself “I’ll start again on Monday”. Then you've not only had a bad snack/meal/day but a WHOLE WEEK of setbacks. And believe me, a whole week of bad eating will REALLY set you back. So if you have a SLIP, don’t let it SLIDE. Catch yourself, forgive yourself, and restart your commitment right then and there to do better the rest of that day, and recognize how you feel. Do you feel good when you ‘punish’ yourself? Do you feel good when you eat junk? How do you feel when you stick to the plan? How do you feel when you prepare healthy meals, eat them, and stop when you’re done eating what you planned to eat. Don’t go back for seconds or rationalize that it’s ok to have dessert. Stick with your commitment! Make yourself proud and how amazing will you feel? You will be so proud of yourself and your confidence in yourself will improve every day. Your will-power, control, confidence, and commitment will continue to improve as you take responsibility for what you put in your mouth and stick to the meal plan. When you eat what you know you shouldn't, you might feel crappy, depressed, bummed out, loathe yourself, physically sick, out of control, off the wagon etc. So what feeling are you really getting?

You can do this. You are strong. You have GOALS. Remember WHY you committed to this in the first place. Remind yourself of WHY you are doing this each time you are tempted. Is it those pants you want to fit into? Why are you really doing this? How bad do you want it? How hard are you willing to work? Are you committed?? 

Emotional eating is EMOTIONAL, it doesn’t make sense, it’s NOT RATIONAL, it’s EMOTIONAL. When you are ‘FEELING’ like you want to eat something, and you do, it’s not cause you’re HUNGRY is it? It’s cause you’re looking for a feeling or trying to fill a void. What is that feeling you’re looking for? Happiness, comfort, something to do??? Are you feeling bored, are you doing it cause you want to soothe some negative feeling? Are you doing it cause it helps you to feel good?? Does it really help you to feel good? How do you feel after you eat randomly, or to try and fill some emotion. Does it work? NO. It doesn’t. FOOD doesn’t not feed feelings. So why do we do it??? 

OK. So first you need to identify what feeling you are looking for. Then realize it’s not hunger. Then tell yourself you’re not going to eat in order to make yourself feel a certain way. Think of 5 other things that can help you to find that feeling you’re looking for. For example sometimes when I random eat it’s cause I want to feel happy and social. Well, what else can I do to help me feel happy and social? What things help me feel happy and social? PEOPLE make me happy. Spending time with those I love, playing, laughing, quality time….Ok so 5 things I can do when I need to feel happy and social are: call a friend, spend time with loved ones, play a game, go shopping, read a good book, check FB and connect with friends or read blogs. Ok so these are my 5 things. Next time I want to eat when it’s not meal time and I am going to eat to try and fulfill a lack of happiness/socialness, I’m gonna go to my list of 5 things and pick one. Does this make sense?? Try it.

Food in our culture is very tied to happiness or social events. No wonder we are all emotional eaters. We want to eat to feel good. But it never works. Food is FUEL. We need food to live. Don’t LIVE TO EAT. EAT TO LIVE!! Feed your body what it needs to function at its peak and perform the way you want it to. When we put junk in our bodies, we feel like junk. We have less energy, feel sluggish, bloated, and sick. When we put in what our bodies need to live and perform we have energy, feel great, feel balanced, and healthy! So don’t make it personal! Take the emotion out! When it comes to food, be a ROBOT. Let the clock tell you when it’s time to eat. Let your menu tell you what to eat, and let your mind tell you what you need. Don’t listen to those FEELINGS when it comes to eating. Don’t say “What am I in the MOOD for?...What do I FEEL like?” Just tell your body what it needs and eat that, and I guarantee you will be making healthy choices and be very proud of yourself, not to mention you WILL FEEL GREAT!! Which is what you’re looking for right?? :)