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Apr 17, 2011

Emotional: Overcoming Emotional Barriers


If weight loss wasn't already an over-the-top, emotional journey, being a woman makes sure that the journey is emotion-filled. By learning how to deal with your emotions, you will be able to avoid becoming overwhelmed or, at worst, discouraged completely from losing weight.
Everyone these days seems to be trying to lose weight, from teenagers to young adults and even elders. However, losing weight isn’t as simple as it seems and can actually be quite a challenge. We live in a fast paced world that is filled with stress and worry around every corner. Leading stressful, anxiety and frustration filled lives often leads many individuals to resort to indulging in comfort foods to help them deal with their problems. While this has temporary emotional benefits, it is detrimental to a person’s physical health and makes losing weight all the more difficult.
Losing weight can be an emotional rollercoaster with your emotions flying all over the place and getting in the way of everything. These same emotions are most difficult to fight off too. That said, there are steps you can take to ensure that you do not ''emotionally'' overeat. By following the strategies below, you’re not only avoiding comfort eating, but you are taking proactive steps towards better managing your weight too.
  1. The first strategy is to keep track of how hungry you really are. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being extremely hungry and 10 being completely full, ask yourself exactly how hungry you are at any given moment. If your hunger level is anywhere between 3 to 10, avoid eating. Only eat when your hunger level reaches 2 or 1. This way, you avoid unnecessary eating and only eat when your body really needs the food.
  2. The second strategy is to keep yourself company. If you’re sitting around at home with nothing to do night after night, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you when you pack on the pounds by finding solace in your food. Instead of pouring your emotions out on eating, find other activities that you can do to relieve your anxiety levels. Some activities you can participate in include: listening to music, hanging out with friends, dancing, sports, and going for a walk.
  3. The third strategy is to make exercising a daily routine. It’s no secret that exercising helps you lose more weight, quicker, with long-lasting results. But that’s not all. Exercising can also help you deal with  stress and anxiety. By being able to better deal with your emotions, you can avoid the risk of over eating due to a pack-on of negative emotions.
  4. The final strategy you can use to lose weight is to use the 3 food interface. This method is accomplished by eating three kinds of healthy food before giving into your unhealthy food cravings. Common healthy alternatives include fruits, vegetables, yogurt and so on. This method will eventually allow you to eat your unhealthy choice, but only after you pass through three healthy alternatives. More often than not, people find themselves full after the healthy alternatives, thus avoiding the unhealthy foods and packing on unnecessary calories. Emotionally, this method works a lot better than having forbid yourself from indulging in unhealthy food cravings completely. Your mind works in a strange way, but knowing that nothing is forbidden (think ‘the forbidden fruit’), puts your mind and body at great ease.

Having troubles sticking to your diet plan? Need some help setting your plan up? Looking for an extra pair of ears or some extra support and motivation? I’d love to hear from you! Let me know how your weight loss plan is going, how many pounds you’ve lose to date and anything else you want to share with me. Please don’t hesitate to contact me or leave a comment here with your questions or comments and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

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