How To Overcome Emotional Eating And Lose Weight

Posted on: 5 January 2015

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While medical weight loss can usually produce results, this is only if you can also overcome the emotional reasons for why you are eating. Emotional eating often sabotages efforts to eat more healthy because those who perform this action do so with high-calorie foods. You might find yourself eating when you're not hungry even when you are not enjoying it. This is a major mistake, because by doing so, you are empowering your vices by giving them new purposes. Now, rather than simply being enjoyable, your vices have become destructive coping mechanisms.

Emotional Eating and Triggers

Before you can overcome your emotional eating, you will first need to understand the emotions you experience when you engage in emotional eating. Once you have identified the emotions that lead to you eating, you can begin to counter those emotions. Also, pay attention to the emotions that you experience after you have eaten. Often, you will not only experience the negative emotions, but also the guilt over having overeaten.

The act of eating does not solve the emotional problem, but only creates temporary feel-good emotions. Paying close attention to your emotions also helps you get into the habit of stopping yourself and assessing whether you would really like to go through with eating.

Coping with Your Emotions

Not only is emotional eating bad for your weight, but it will also cause you to not face those things that are causing the emotions in the first place. For example, if you are experiencing depression as a result of loneliness, the best course of action would be to seek counseling and psychiatric treatment rather than relying on the temporary pleasure of food.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Through techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy, your therapist may be able to teach you ways to cope with difficult emotions. Oftentimes, you are able to ride out the storm of emotions. After they have passed, you'll be able to continue with your healthier lifestyle. Allowing yourself to feel the negative emotions will cause them to eventually subside without the need for you to turn to treatments.

To better cope with negative emotions, think about positive actions that you can take whenever you are feeling negative emotions. Sometimes, going for a walk and getting fresh air is all you need to cope with emotional difficulties. If you have someone to talk to who is not judgmental and will not invalidate what you, you may find it easier to cope with negative feelings.