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Does the scale seem to be a never-ending battle to you? Sick of constantly gaining weight? The reason you gain weight may be emotional eating.
Emotional overeating: What is it?
Despite its complexity, emotional overeating has a few essential elements that can be easily identified.
Overeating due to emotion is a disorder of eating characterized by the need for more food even though you’re full. Negative feelings and thoughts are the most common causes of this disorder. People who are stressed or who have been abused may also use it as a coping strategy.
Emotional eaters often find comfort in food. Unfortunately, the comfort is only temporary. In the long run, dieting and weight loss may be affected by your emotional eating. Emotional eating can also negatively impact your health.
4 Easy Steps to Overcome Emotional Eating
Step #1: Identify your triggers
By figuring out your triggers, it will be easier for you to maintain control over them and avoid overeating. Typically, stressful situations and negative emotions trigger overeating. Other triggers include stressful days at work, fights with your family or spouse, and problems with friends or coworkers. Counseling can also help cope with your causes.
Step #2: Only eat when you’re hungry
Instead of viewing food as a constant source of comfort, teach your body to accept food only when you’re starving. Changing your eating habits will take time because they’re hard to change. Start with small steps to improve your eating habits. Become aware of your body’s hunger cues and learn to listen to it.
Step #3: Come up with alternative plans
Plan and prevent overeating if, for example, you know you overeat after a difficult meeting at work every week. Replace this negative action with a more positive one that also relieves you of stress or brings you comfort.
Setting yourself up for diet success involves creating alternative plans that do not involve eating. To relieve stress, you can take a long walk after work or go to the gym. You can hang out with a friend instead of turning to the fridge and ice cream after an argument. There are various ways to handle stress and negative emotions.
Step #4: Be surrounded by caring people
In many cases, emotional eating results from lacking a supportive network, which is why people turn to it. How would you describe the feeling of isolation and loneliness you have? You can ask for help from your family, friends, coworkers, and others. Maintain a strong support network around you to manage negativity and stress. Call or visit those who you don’t have to worry about invading their privacy or upsetting them. Likewise, think about offering them your support as well.
You do not have to live a life controlled by emotional overeating. Try the above easy strategies and help yoursel combat and overcome it.