Are you an emotional eater? Chances are if you are overweight and
actively seeking help for that you are. Emotional eating occurs when
individuals turn to food in order to deal with or, more accurately,
forget about emotional stress or depression.
Even after losing
over 50 per cent of my total body weight, I emotionally eat. It is a
natural reaction to stress, which, if properly managed is okay. What is
far more important is training your mind to view yourself differently
and to use occasional emotional eating for when it is needed, not as
merely an excuse to over indulge and stuff your face.
You Cannot Be Victim Anymore
A
lot of attention in the weight loss industry surrounds the
psychological reasons behind overeating and obesity. As a result, I am
constantly asked in interviews and personal meetings how I learned to
'deal' with my emotional baggage in order to shed my weight. The short
answer is that I didn't!
That's right, I am still stressed and I
still get depressed over my past and my future. However, rather than
conceal those problems with food I made the conscious decision to stop
being a victim to these thoughts and rather use different ways to manage
the inevitable stresses in my life. I have learned to become a mover
and a thinker, to use activity to manage these bouts rather than calories.
If you want to 'win' your war against weight you need to become a soldier, a victor, not a victim.
You need to be fearless, and put the problems that lead you to food
into perspective. Think about it: if you eat every time you think about
your failed marriage are you doing anything to pick up the pieces and
start again? No! If anything you're preventing it and action is better
than inaction. The "if onlys" in our lives hold us back.
The Higher the Hurdle, the Higher the Jump
I
am always asked about the biggest 'hurdle' in my weight loss journey
all those years ago. And, while I readily admit that walking into the
gym for the first time on my own was scary, that is about all I can come
up with.
This isn't because the process was easy or natural for
me. Quite the contrary! Rather, I chose to view each 'hurdle' not as a
barrier, but a reason to learn how to jump. Each craving I fought, each
sore muscle I had helped me prepare for that jump. They were simply
learning experiences that I needed in order to make it.
One of my signature sayings is, the higher the hurdles you have to jump in life the higher you learn how to jump.
Continuing to view yourself as a victim does not make you a winner.
Yes, it is harder for others, but just as the barefoot Kenyan works
harder to earn an Olympic gold than the private school boy from America,
at the end of the day, the winner still needs to be the fastest man on
the track, no matter the road it took to get there.
Life is not
fair. There is no way to get around it and the sooner you come to that
realisation the better. There are many reasons that we emotionally eat and many of them are heartbreaking and valid.
However, you cannot allow them to continue to define your life and your
journey.
Successful weight loss is similar to taking your life and
straining it through a sieve-the more muck at the bottom, the longer
the process takes, but, eventually, all the bad bits are separated out.
Success relies on your ability to choose to be a victor, not a victim.
Article Source: EzineArticles
The key to lasting weight loss?
Losing the weight quickly. Here's why: It may give you a psychological boost that helps you stick to your new habits; in studies, fast weight loss led to more pounds off overall plus longer-term success in keeping it off. However, “anyone can do a cleanse or an extreme plan,” says Lisa Lillien, founder of HungryGirl.com and author of the new book The Hungry Girl Diet. “But the minute you stop, you gain the weight back and haven’t learned anything.” We interviewed top nutrition and fitness experts to get their best advice for quick and safe weight loss.
Close your kitchen for 12 hours.
That should be the time between your last bite at night and first in the morning, says Lauren Slayton, RD, author of The Little Book of Thin. If you finish dinner at 7:30, that means no eating until 7:30 the next morning. Need motivation? “Tell yourself, ‘Go to sleep now, wake up wow,’” says Slayton.
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Heading to the kitchen? Pour a glass of water.
If it’s a cliché diet trick, it’s for good reason. “People confuse hunger with thirst, especially when they’re trying to stick to a weight-loss plan and may expect to feel hungry,” notes Lillien. When you find yourself walking toward the kitchen, get a glass of water instead of food.
Any time you reach for something to eat, ask these two questions:
“One, am I hungry? And two, what am I hungry for?" says Jennipher Walters, a certified personal trainer, co-founder of Fit Bottomed Girls LLC, and author of The Fit Bottomed Girls Anti-Diet. "You could be procrastinating, or bored, or stressed. Or maybe you just really need a hug. Distract yourself for five to 10 minutes, a buffer time to decide if you’re really hungry.” That can have a big impact on quick weight loss.
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Eat an appetizer.
Choose wisely: Walters recommends beginning dinner with a broth-based soup or a salad. “It fills you up and elongates the meal, which prevents you from scarfing down your food,” she says. To avoid eating too quickly, keep your entrée and sides off the table until you're done.
Shrink your portions, except...
Supersize your veggies, pleads Tosca Reno, author of The Eat-Clean Diet series. “Two sprigs of asparagus is not enough,” she says. One of the biggest mistakes Reno sees clients make is eating too much of everything else. If you eat proper portions of just two food groups—carbs and meat—you will accelerate weight loss and improve your health. Tip: Pasta should be the size of your fist; meat should be about 3 ounces, about the size of a deck of cards or bar of soap.
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Find new favorites.
Don't deprive yourself; deprivation is not a great place to start, says Walters. “If you want to stop drinking soda, don’t just cut it out—find something else with bubbliness, like seltzer or flavored water, to replace it.”
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Set a time for treats.
If you know you have something indulgent to look forward to—a piece of high-quality dark chocolate, say, after dinner—it may be easier to turn down other temptations, such as office birthday cake, says Walters.
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Track your food.
Often after working out, notes Lillien, people tend to overcompensate (“I just did Spinning, I can order the French toast at brunch!”) and eat more calories than they burn. That's less likely to happen if you write down what you eat. "It’s just about being more aware so you make better food choices,” she says.
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Balance your breakfast.
“A lot of people think that a low-fat yogurt and fruit is a healthy breakfast, but it’s not that satiating, so you will be hungry again soon,” says Walters. She recommends a morning meal that includes a balance of protein, fat, fiber, and veggies, such as a veggie egg scramble with avocado or cheese, or oatmeal with fruit and nuts.
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Toss your trigger foods.
“Everyone has foods that make them want to keep eating more,” says Lillien. When craving starchy picks like chips and pasta, she continues, “instead, I use tofu shirataki noodles made from tofu and yam flour—the whole bag has 40 calories.” Reno advises clients to get “hidden foods” out of the house so you don't have that crutch when you feel a need to binge. “Chances are you’re eating too much of them,” she says.
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Watch for added sugars.
“Sugar is an addictive ingredient,” says Reno. “The more you eat it, the more you want. When you decrease your intake, your body will keep asking for it, but after two or three days, you’ll be amazed by how your body responds.” If you don’t feel like reading food labels, just try switching from processed choices (say, an energy bar) to whole ones (like an apple).
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Stop drinking your calories already.
It’s not just soda. Healthy-sounding juice, iced tea, and other beverages can be big calorie bombs. But cut them out, and you'll watch the number on the scale start to drop instead. “Sometimes a bottle of iced tea or juice has 2.5 servings,” says Lillien. “Read labels and you’ll see it’s just not worth it.”
