If you’re new to me & my story, I think it’s probably a good idea to fill you in a little bit on my background. (If you DO know me & my story…just read a long anyway. I need all the support I can get!!!! LOL!)
I started dieting at the age of 13 and played the yo-yo game of gaining & losing weight for over 25 years.
I had 5 sizes of clothes in my closet because I went up & down in weight so often. I was 100 lbs overweight 2 different times in my life.
I would consider myself a professional dieter.
I thought my problem was that I just couldn’t stick to a diet & was a complete loser when it came to staying away from foods I loved. It wasn’t until I reached a huge breaking point where I was at my all-time lowest of low and at a breaking point. You see, I’m a pretty successful person in all other aspects of my life. Losing weight & KEEPING IT OFF?! Completely different story. I felt like I had a huge sign across my forehead that said “FAILURE”.
However; it was at this point that I did some investigating on people like me. In tears I went on line & put into Google: “What do you do when you’ve tried every diet & are still fat?” (Word for word)
What came up was a quiz that said: “Are you an emotional eater?”
What? An emotional eater?! I’d never heard of that term before. I took the test. Turns out I was 100% an emotional eater. And, I learned that diets do not work for emotional eaters.
LIGHT BULB MOMENT!!!
I DOVE INTO LEARNING ALL I COULD ABOUT EMOTIONAL EATING!! I think I have 10 books on my shelf right now that I have read & became engulfed in. I felt like I FINALLY had some answers to why I felt like such a failure!
The #1 TIP to overcoming Emotional eating is doing this one simple thing. It’s so simple, that people overlook doing it & want to do something hard & strenuous. But, if you do this ONE SIMPLE THING over & over, you will overcome your Emotional Eating.
So, what is it?
PLAN OUT & WRITE DOWN WHAT YOU WILL EAT EVERY DAY IN ADVANCE!!
(Then, stick to it!)
Why? Let me explain.
Emotional eating is something we do in the moment. It’s NEVER planned out.
Think about it.
- Do you plan to be stressed & dive head first into a chocolate? Nope.
- Do you plan that at night you’re in front of the TV feeling lonely & order pizza to numb those feelings? Nope.
- Do you plan out anxious feelings? Do you know when they’re even coming? And, when they hit do you know that you’re covering them up by eating __________ (Fill in the blank with your favorite comfort food.)
- Do you plan out that someone may say a rude comment to you & you eat a boat load of oreos to cover that uncomfortable feelings? Nope.
Let me share with you a little bit of science here. (Don’t worry. I’m going to try to teach this at a 5th grade level.)
There are 2 parts to your brain. Your Lower Brain. (Or your emotion brain) And, then there’s the Higher brain (or the smart brain.) The technical term is your Prefrontal Cortex but this is 5th grade level so we’ll just call it the higher brain from here on out.
The Higher brain is very logical, it thinks ahead & knows what’s best for us.
The lower brain is impulsive, it seeks pleasure & only cares about what happens in the moment.
As Emotional Eaters, we have let our Lower Brain be in charge. When we feel an uncomfortable emotion, we immediately want to feel better so we impulsively eat. And, guess what? WE DO FEEL BETTER!! EATING FOOD WORKS!! (for a short time.) Our Lower Brain really does mean well. It’s just misguided. It is always trying to help us feel better in the moment. It just doesn’t think LONG TERM.
Let’s look at the Higher Brain. It DOES think long term & knows what’s best for us. It LOVES to plan ahead & do what is best for you over all. If we let it be in charge all the time, it would plan out great healthy foods that would keep our bodies running amazing. It would plan out exercise and a good restful sleep. But, it’s kinda slow to react. If a Lion were to jump out in front of you, it’s not the Higher Brain that would save you, it’s the Emotion Brain that would kick in & tell you to RUN!
These 2 brains are playing tug-of war in your head. (Similar to the angel & devil on your shoulder. LOL!) Can you see how this works?
The reason you emotionally eat isn’t your fault. It’s your emotion brain just trying to make you feel good in the moment!! And, we have listened to this Emotion brain for so long that we have actually formed a Neural pathway in our brain towards it. (Okay, neural pathway is not a 5th grade term, but keep reading.)
I listened to that part of my brain for so long that when it came to my emotions & food, I had completely shut down my smart brain. I boxed it up & shipped it to Hawaii where it was having a fabulous vacation without me!
The reason writing down your food in advance works so well, is because you are using your Smart Brain! The Emotion brain only works in the moment, remember? When you PLAN out your food that day, you are not listening to that misguided emotion brain & completely following that new Smart Brain. (Your new leader who has come back from vacation & is back in business!!) WOOHOO!!
This isn’t going to be easy in the beginning. The Neural pathway that you formed to eat in the moment is STRONG!!! It’s like damming up a deep river & telling it to start going down this little, tiny stream on the right side where water hasn’t traveled in YEARS. Your brain will NOT want to do it!! But, remember…you are in charge of your life & your brain. You CAN DO IT!! It will just take some time to train your brain again.
Here’s how I suggest you do this:
- Get yourself a Food Journal. Make it cute & fun so you’ll WANT to use it. Start by writing down what you want to eat today. Don’t you dare put any diet food on that list when you start out. (Salads & water are OUT!!) Write down what you’re currently eating. If that’s McDonalds for lunch – write it down.
- STICK TO YOUR LIST!! Do NOT deviate from it. Not a lick. Not a bite. Not a sip. Don’t do it. As soon as you do, you’ve just let your Emotion brain be in charge.
- You may not lose any weight during this process. And, that’s really not what we’re going for here. We’re trying to retrain your brain to not eat in the moment.
- What’s interesting about this process is that you’ll notice your Smart Brain puts foods on your list that are very different then your Emotion brain would eat. You may put on the list to eat chocolate cake for dessert. But, your smart brain won’t plan to eat 3 pieces & then save it for later & have for breakfast & graze on it the next 3 days when you’re feeling uncomfortable about something. See the difference here?
When I work with people through this process, it’s interesting. This is such a simple thing to do. It takes 5 minutes to plan out your food in the morning. Those who do it, have the greatest success.
Anyone who comes to me saying they’re having a hard time and have fallen off the wagon, I will ask them – “Are you planning out your food & sticking to it?” Hands down, the answer is NO.
I will always be an Emotional Eater. For me, it’s kinda like being an Alcoholic. The urges to eat in the moment won’t fully go away, it just becomes easier the longer I do it. I was an Emotional Eater for over 30 years. Switching that up overnight ain’t gonna happen. But…when I think in my head – “I’m putting my Smart Brain in charge today & shutting down that Emotion Brain” I am now in control of my eating.
Writing down my food in advance is the key.
You got this!!
