Emotional Eaters Regain Weight
How to Stop Gaining Weight Even If You’re Unhappy or Stressed
If you're an emotional eater, you eat to avoid feeling your feelings: stress, sadness, anger, hurt or frustration. Here's how to stop emotional eating and stay healthy.
Researchers found that emotional eaters – those who eat in response to emotions – are more likely to regain weight than people who eat because of external factors. External factors include the holiday eating season (Thanksgiving and Christmas for some of us) and celebrations.
On November 9, 2007, ScienceDaily’s “Emotional Eaters Susceptible To Weight Regain” quotes Dr. Heather Niemeier as saying, “…amongst successful weight losers, those who report emotional eating are more likely to regain.” The majority of people who lose weight regain it within three to five years, says Dr. Niemeier.
Now that you know this, you can stop emotional eating.
Emotional Eating: How to Stop It!
The first step is to be aware of your emotions. Let yourself feel your anxiety at work or anger at home. Face your feelings, no matter how difficult or disgusting. Go for a walk and let your heart mourn for your losses or disappointments. Cry. Be afraid.
Instead of eating to avoid your feelings (emotional eating), take time to admit how you really feel. Accept your emotions. Admit them to yourself, and to trusted friends.
Maybe you need help with this – a counselor or mentor. They often put things into perspective by showing you you’re not alone in your feelings; they can help you feel normal again. Consider seeing someone who specializes in emotional eating or eating disorders.
The second step is to distract yourself. When you’ve cried your eyes out or screamed in horror for hours and you still crave a carton of mocha fudge ice cream, distract yourself with things that stop you from eating. Do something that doesn’t easily involve food.
Emotional eating distractions include tasks that keep your hands busy: knitting, crocheting, or needlepoint. Emotional eating distractions include tasks that keep your body active: biking, yoga, bathing, running, or walking. Emotional eating distractions include things that distract your mind: listening to music, doing crossword puzzles, writing, or painting. If it's the holiday eating season, go out and build a snowman or make snow angels in the park.
The third step is to find an emotional eating buddy. You may be able to overcome your emotional eating tendencies alone, but your success rate may be higher if you’re in it together. Your emotional eating buddy is someone to call when your craving for a bucket of fried chicken is impossible to ignore. Your can cry on your emotional eating buddy’s shoulder, or go for a walk, or go to a movie. You may need more support during certain times, such as the holiday eating season or a loved one's death. Your emotional eating buddy can call you when she’s is in the same place – or when she fought a craving and won!
These steps may seem like hard work at first, but they’ll become habit before you know it. Then, you’ll be in the headline called, “Not All Emotional Eaters Regain Weight Even During the Holiday Eating Season!”
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