Emotional Eating and Weight Gain: 7 Tips for Breaking the Cycle

Is affectional eating preventing you from losing weight? Does it support you from feeling similar your astir energetic, steadfast self? And astir importantly, does it origin you to consciousness guilt oregon shame that yet starts the rhythm each implicit again?

If so, you’re not alone.

Empowerment manager for girls and women, Frannie Foltz, knows firsthand however the rhythm of affectional eating tin interaction your life. “For years, affectional eating held maine captive,” says Foltz. “My puerility was riddled with abuse; arsenic a result, fear, shame, and loneliness pb maine to question comfortableness successful food. Food was reliable, readily available, and a ineligible cause of prime to numb my pain. And I was the 1 successful control of however overmuch I ate, when, and where. By 21, I tipped the scales astatine 294 pounds.”

While galore radical deliberation the rhythm of affectional eating tin beryllium breached by conscionable consenting themselves to halt reaching for junk food, it’s important to recognize that the basal origin is, by definition, emotional. 

Here, we’ll look much into affectional eating and 7 ways to interruption the cycle.

What Is Emotional Eating?

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Emotional eating is simply a signifier of disordered eating that involves consuming ample quantities of food—usually comfortableness oregon junk foods—to header with hard emotions.

It is simply a highly communal rhythm that astir radical person fallen into astatine immoderate constituent successful their lives.

Firstly, it’s important to recognize why we devour emotionally. The main crushed is due to the fact that nutrient has a existent physiological effect connected our mood—whether it’s a impermanent blood-sugar summation from carbs oregon a spike successful serotonin acknowledgment to cocoa oregon sweets.

Not lone that, but galore of america are taught arsenic children that sweets oregon treats are “rewards” for bully behavior.

Why Do We Do It?

We devour emotionally due to the fact that it’s a maladaptive coping mechanics for getting what we truly want: love, security, oregon comfort.

While immoderate radical conflict with affectional eating during circumstantial circumstances—maybe a stressful week astatine work, a frustrating meeting, oregon a atrocious breakup—others walk years of their beingness battling the changeless impulse to heal deep, long-lasting affectional wounds with food. 

The bully news? There are ways to interruption the rhythm of affectional eating and heal some your carnal and intelligence health.

Breaking the Pattern of Emotional Eating

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Foltz says it took an affectional and spiritual travel for her to break her affectional eating rhythm and suffer weight—120 pounds, to beryllium exact—which she has kept disconnected for astir 2 decades.

“I finally began recognizing the signifier that erstwhile my emotions were triggered, my self-destructive eating patterns kicked into precocious gear. In time, I identified fearfulness arsenic the communal emotion of each of my triggers—I was acrophobic of emotion due to the fact that I had been wounded successful the past, truthful I adjacent feared loving myself. My assemblage was dense due to the fact that my bosom was heavy.”

With this awareness, Foltz created practices to combat her bouts of affectional eating erstwhile fearfulness reared its disfigured head.

“When antagonistic thoughts entered my mind, I began replacing these destructive thoughts with positive, constructive thoughts truthful that my assemblage would instrumentality the signals from my mind. Instead of thinking, ‘I request a Snickers now!’ I trained my encephalon to ask, ‘How is simply a Snickers barroom going to marque you little afraid?'”

In essence, Foltz learned a invaluable lesson: you can’t woody with the carnal value until you woody with the affectional weight. 

But however bash you adjacent statesman to woody with the emotions astatine the basal of the problem?

The pursuing are 7 ways to interruption the signifier of affectional eating and get your caput and assemblage backmost connected a steadfast track.

1. Assess Your Emotional State

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Whenever you scope for junk oregon comfortableness foods, instrumentality a 5 2nd intermission and inquire yourself: “How americium I feeling?”

If you consciousness stressed, angry, bored, lonely, oregon low, springiness yourself a infinitesimal to pause. Write down 3 steadfast ways you tin marque yourself consciousness better, and bash 1 of those things before you eat.

This helps interruption the signifier of (even subconsciously) numbing your symptom with food.

2. Identify Your Triggers

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Once you’ve realized that you whitethorn beryllium utilizing nutrient to header with a circumstantial emotion, identify the event oregon events that trigger the emotion.

It could beryllium thing from that day, oregon adjacent a heavy coiled from childhood. This helps you beryllium alert and past hole you for erstwhile you whitethorn beryllium confronted with the trigger again. For Foltz, holidays were a large trigger she identified.

“At each vacation fathering, my large aunt Mary would ask, ‘Why aren’t you joined yet? What are you doing wrong?’ Knowing I was going to spot her astatine the adjacent vacation allowed maine to hole mentally and adjacent publication a effect beforehand.”

3. Find a Supportive Tribe

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Surround yourself with friends who similar to beryllium progressive and who tin enactment you erstwhile you person “one of those days.”

Call a person and inquire her to articulation you for a walk, a barre people oregon thing wherever you tin prosecute with 1 different and find comfortableness successful a steadfast mode alternatively of reaching for the chips.

4. Create a Daily Mantra

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Foltz suggests creating a mantra you repetition daily, not conscionable erstwhile triggered.

“Wallpaper your satellite with it. Post-it to your constitution mirror, prevention it arsenic a screensaver connected your phone, constitute a enactment paper and clip it to your prima visor successful your car. You volition statesman to judge your affirmation, which volition manifest into surviving it.”

5. Indulge successful Healthy Comforts

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Usually, affectional eating occurs erstwhile we are seeking comfort, love, oregon security.

Try making a database of “healthy comforts.” It tin see things arsenic elemental arsenic taking a blistery bubble bath, journaling, calling a friend, going for a walk, oregon listening to music.

Taking attraction of yourself is each astir identifying however you tin get your needs met successful steadfast ways. View these methods of self-care arsenic ways to nurture and comfortableness yourself without food.

6. Don’t Keep Binge Foods successful the House

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It sounds simple, but if determination are nutrient items you’re much apt to binge connected erstwhile affectional eating (potato chips, cake, cookies, etc) past bash not bargain them oregon support them successful your house.

Think of it arsenic “out of sight, retired of mind.” If these items aren’t around, you can’t beryllium tempted to indulge.

7. Find a Change of Scenery After Eating

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Emotional eating tin often occur at nighttime aft dinner, erstwhile we can’t rather satiate what’s bothering us.

So, aft dinner, marque it a constituent to locomotion retired of the kitchen. Leaving the country volition assistance alteration your mindset, and it gives you the accidental to find thing other to do.

When you go much alert of the emotions down your excessive oregon uncontrolled eating binges, you tin commencement to interruption the rhythm of shame and overeating.

“The 2 astir communal emotions that thrust decisions are emotion and fear,” Foltz reflects. “Give yourself support to take emotion and you volition acquisition bid and smaller jeans, too!”

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It’s hard to find the champion mode to discontinue sweetener erstwhile it’s successful truthful galore of our foods! That’s wherefore it’s important to chopped backmost successful a smart, sustainable mode since doing it acold turkey tin beryllium beauteous jarring for your body.

Here, we’ll instrumentality a look astatine immoderate of the sweetener basics, wherefore you crave it, and however to discontinue sweetener without making yourself wholly miserable.

Sugar Detox: How To Quit Sugar In 6 Steps

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Whatever the crushed – deficiency of time, injuries, pregnancy, oregon conscionable don’t enjoy exercise – astir of america acquisition a lull successful workout astatine 1 constituent oregon another. Regardless, getting backmost to the gym aft clip distant tin beryllium tough!

When you are acceptable to get backmost astatine it and instrumentality to it for good, present are 9 tips to amusement you however to commencement moving retired again and enactment with it.

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Learn the antithetic types and benefits of yoga, arsenic good arsenic guidance connected however to get started and take the signifier that works champion for you!

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