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High Calorie Emotions
I have most likley been through the hardest month i have had for the longest time, i have had to face some hard truths and face secrets that have burried for 30 yrs. During this time i have also been on a journey of discovery and i have always denied being an emotional eater, but i discovered not eating is just as damaging as eating to much,
This is long but well worth a read,for me the protection and sexuality parts are playing major rolls in my weight, now i know i can dealwith the issues,WHAT PLAYS A PART IN YOUR STRUGGLES?
High Calorie Emotions
Permanent weight loss is not just about Diet. unless you address the cause and the truth about your eating habits, you will end up on the merry-go-round again. All of us know a lot about food and calories we all know how to lose weight. We have all lost weight and regained it a number of times. This, we refer to as the ‘yo-yo syndrome’.
Beyond Diet
Your weight can be about many things or a combination of many things. Overeating may be part of the problem, but what is the cause of overeating? Your reasons may be unique, but many of the common causes are:
Boredom,Depression,FEAR,Tiredness,Loneliness,Tension,
Many facets are related to body image, self-esteem, and even sexual issues.
Eating Emotions
Some people find that they have an emotional attachment to food due to childhood associations. If you were rewarded with sweets for good behaviour or sent to your room without dinner for bad behaviour, you may very well be treating food as a reward or a punishment. Your eating habits may have become confused with approval or disapproval.If your family was poor you may equate food with being prosperous or successful.
For many people, the stomach area is the emotional centre of the body. Stress, worry, fear and unhappiness will create tightness there. Often overeating is an automatic response to releasing this tension. Observe yourself for a few weeks and you will probably notice how common It is for you to push food down into the tightness of your stomach area when you are stressed.You may find that you use food to release and stretch the area - this is particularly obvious in a binge eating session. Food can nurture and food can provide comfort. Watch yourself without judging yourself for a few weeks and you may be amazed at how often you are feeding your emotions.
By understanding your eating behaviour you will be in a better position to bring about permanent changes and lose weight without great effort.
There are some basic principles that need to be addressed and explored if you sincerely wish to lose weight and keep it off.
PROTECTION
Some people feel safer or stronger by being bigger and may panic or feel insecure when they have lost weight. Sometimes weight can be thought of as being ‘big’. If you have a history of being bullied or made to feel small in some way you may use your weight as a way of feeling bigger, stronger or in someway more protected.
SEXUALITY
Being overweight can often be used to repress sexuality. sexual advances can be intimidating and they may sub-consciously put on weight as a barrier to them, which continues throughout life. If your sex life is unsatisfying, you may use your weight as a turn off. Maybe you are so self-conscious about your weight that you deny yourself your sexuality. Some women who have experienced sexual abuse will use their weight as a sexual defence or as personal armour. You may on a very logical level desire a thinner body. However, sub-consciously you may feel that being too attractive projects the wrong image or gives out the wrong signals.
Pre-Menstrual Syndrome
This can cause women to be emotionally fragile. Their thinking can be fuzzy. Their body may retain fluid, meaning that they feel fatter or bloated. There is discomfort in the stomach area and sugar cravings are common. If you are serious about long-term weight maintenance you must be prepared for these things. You must plan alternative actions; like being kind to yourself, more flexible, self-loving and forgiving. Keep a calendar and be prepared before you hit crisis point. Ah! ‘That time of the month’ can create the monster that some women become and they may go through hell at this time. You must tune-in to your body and get to know the signs. Some women have a little discomfort for only a day or two before a period. For many women, it can bring about a week or more of emotional chaos as well as pain.
Fluid retention (bloating)
This is very common and extremely frustrating to a dieter. Often, you may lose weight, but because the body retains fluid at this time, you may find the scales are reading higher. Many women break their diet at this time. Imagine following a diet for 2 weeks and finding that you have put on 2 lb. Be prepared for this, you may lose 2 lb of weight and hold 3 lb of fluid. Don’t panic, expect it and ignore it, it will fall off the next week This is the time when you feel fat, your thinking is scattered or you may feel emotionally touchy. Little annoyances become major frustrations, your face breaks out, your hair is lifeless and you're craving sugar, bread and salt. Headaches and stomach pain are common, muscles feel achy, feet swell and you feel tense and stressed out. Please keep a calendar and mark in your cycle. Prepare in advance and make allowances for this time. Make time for yourself, plan your month in advance, and avoid having stressful or busy appointments at this time. Use this time to do something special or simply pull back and only do the absolute necessities. Pamper yourself a little (or a lot). If you break your diet, be kind, gentle, and forgiving.
Motivation
Big hurdles to overcome are the feelings of punishment, guilt, or resentment. If you feel you are starving yourself to please other people, you will hold anger and resentment. If you feel your new regime is a punishment on any level, you will become rebellious. Although these motivators are inspirational, they will not go the long haul. Do not start your diet without self-love. Even if you postpone starting for a week or so, it is vitally important that this new habit starts as a gift to yourself.You may initially feel deprived or concerned that something important is being taken away. If there is even a hint within your own mind that you are bad, naughty, weak, unworthy, or unattractive, then you are doomed to fail, as the whole new regime will be a punishment and a hardship. Sub-consciously, you will be looking forward to the day when you can return to ‘being normal’.
If you lose weight for your own reasons, with your own values and within your own truth, it will be easy. When losing weight becomes a gift you give to yourself, because you love yourself, it will be achieved effortlessly and with pleasure.
In summary, I would like to simplify the most important aspects of permanent weight loss maintenance:
1. Make your decisions based on your own truth
2. Choose foods based on high nutritional content
3. Breathe deeply and often
4. Practice creative visualization daily
5. Eliminate or minimize fear, stress and worry
6. Replace eating with the pursuit of other pleasures
7. Observe your emotional responses and habits
Stress needs to be addressed at the onset, not swallowed at the crisis point.
This is long but well worth a read,for me the protection and sexuality parts are playing major rolls in my weight, now i know i can dealwith the issues,WHAT PLAYS A PART IN YOUR STRUGGLES?
High Calorie Emotions
Permanent weight loss is not just about Diet. unless you address the cause and the truth about your eating habits, you will end up on the merry-go-round again. All of us know a lot about food and calories we all know how to lose weight. We have all lost weight and regained it a number of times. This, we refer to as the ‘yo-yo syndrome’.
Beyond Diet
Your weight can be about many things or a combination of many things. Overeating may be part of the problem, but what is the cause of overeating? Your reasons may be unique, but many of the common causes are:
Boredom,Depression,FEAR,Tiredness,Loneliness,Tension,
Many facets are related to body image, self-esteem, and even sexual issues.
Eating Emotions
Some people find that they have an emotional attachment to food due to childhood associations. If you were rewarded with sweets for good behaviour or sent to your room without dinner for bad behaviour, you may very well be treating food as a reward or a punishment. Your eating habits may have become confused with approval or disapproval.If your family was poor you may equate food with being prosperous or successful.
For many people, the stomach area is the emotional centre of the body. Stress, worry, fear and unhappiness will create tightness there. Often overeating is an automatic response to releasing this tension. Observe yourself for a few weeks and you will probably notice how common It is for you to push food down into the tightness of your stomach area when you are stressed.You may find that you use food to release and stretch the area - this is particularly obvious in a binge eating session. Food can nurture and food can provide comfort. Watch yourself without judging yourself for a few weeks and you may be amazed at how often you are feeding your emotions.
By understanding your eating behaviour you will be in a better position to bring about permanent changes and lose weight without great effort.
There are some basic principles that need to be addressed and explored if you sincerely wish to lose weight and keep it off.
PROTECTION
Some people feel safer or stronger by being bigger and may panic or feel insecure when they have lost weight. Sometimes weight can be thought of as being ‘big’. If you have a history of being bullied or made to feel small in some way you may use your weight as a way of feeling bigger, stronger or in someway more protected.
SEXUALITY
Being overweight can often be used to repress sexuality. sexual advances can be intimidating and they may sub-consciously put on weight as a barrier to them, which continues throughout life. If your sex life is unsatisfying, you may use your weight as a turn off. Maybe you are so self-conscious about your weight that you deny yourself your sexuality. Some women who have experienced sexual abuse will use their weight as a sexual defence or as personal armour. You may on a very logical level desire a thinner body. However, sub-consciously you may feel that being too attractive projects the wrong image or gives out the wrong signals.
Pre-Menstrual Syndrome
This can cause women to be emotionally fragile. Their thinking can be fuzzy. Their body may retain fluid, meaning that they feel fatter or bloated. There is discomfort in the stomach area and sugar cravings are common. If you are serious about long-term weight maintenance you must be prepared for these things. You must plan alternative actions; like being kind to yourself, more flexible, self-loving and forgiving. Keep a calendar and be prepared before you hit crisis point. Ah! ‘That time of the month’ can create the monster that some women become and they may go through hell at this time. You must tune-in to your body and get to know the signs. Some women have a little discomfort for only a day or two before a period. For many women, it can bring about a week or more of emotional chaos as well as pain.
Fluid retention (bloating)
This is very common and extremely frustrating to a dieter. Often, you may lose weight, but because the body retains fluid at this time, you may find the scales are reading higher. Many women break their diet at this time. Imagine following a diet for 2 weeks and finding that you have put on 2 lb. Be prepared for this, you may lose 2 lb of weight and hold 3 lb of fluid. Don’t panic, expect it and ignore it, it will fall off the next week This is the time when you feel fat, your thinking is scattered or you may feel emotionally touchy. Little annoyances become major frustrations, your face breaks out, your hair is lifeless and you're craving sugar, bread and salt. Headaches and stomach pain are common, muscles feel achy, feet swell and you feel tense and stressed out. Please keep a calendar and mark in your cycle. Prepare in advance and make allowances for this time. Make time for yourself, plan your month in advance, and avoid having stressful or busy appointments at this time. Use this time to do something special or simply pull back and only do the absolute necessities. Pamper yourself a little (or a lot). If you break your diet, be kind, gentle, and forgiving.
Motivation
Big hurdles to overcome are the feelings of punishment, guilt, or resentment. If you feel you are starving yourself to please other people, you will hold anger and resentment. If you feel your new regime is a punishment on any level, you will become rebellious. Although these motivators are inspirational, they will not go the long haul. Do not start your diet without self-love. Even if you postpone starting for a week or so, it is vitally important that this new habit starts as a gift to yourself.You may initially feel deprived or concerned that something important is being taken away. If there is even a hint within your own mind that you are bad, naughty, weak, unworthy, or unattractive, then you are doomed to fail, as the whole new regime will be a punishment and a hardship. Sub-consciously, you will be looking forward to the day when you can return to ‘being normal’.
If you lose weight for your own reasons, with your own values and within your own truth, it will be easy. When losing weight becomes a gift you give to yourself, because you love yourself, it will be achieved effortlessly and with pleasure.
In summary, I would like to simplify the most important aspects of permanent weight loss maintenance:
1. Make your decisions based on your own truth
2. Choose foods based on high nutritional content
3. Breathe deeply and often
4. Practice creative visualization daily
5. Eliminate or minimize fear, stress and worry
6. Replace eating with the pursuit of other pleasures
7. Observe your emotional responses and habits
Stress needs to be addressed at the onset, not swallowed at the crisis point.
I am also an emotional eater. Food is my drug. Though I've kept it in check for a quite a while, during my recent illness/injury its come roaring back to the surface.
I try to ask myself this when I find myself going off program: What need am I satisfying by eating this?
The answer is nearly always that I'm trying to quash feelings of anger, self doubt, pain, sadness, or anxiety. Those are the wrong reasons to go off program.
Thanks! Good topic.
I try to ask myself this when I find myself going off program: What need am I satisfying by eating this?
The answer is nearly always that I'm trying to quash feelings of anger, self doubt, pain, sadness, or anxiety. Those are the wrong reasons to go off program.
Thanks! Good topic.
Hi Thanks, yeah you can post it where ever you like, I think it so important to get to the root, there is little point in curing the symptoms, if the cause remains the symptoms will just keep reapearing
wow very well said if you dont mind I will would like to post this to other places
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