Caregivers Gaining Weight

I was at a meeting for caregivers the other day and several of the women there mentioned that they were upset at themselves for the extra 15 pounds they are carrying.

We are all caring for ailing parents which is a challenge and is emotionally taxing.

Of course it is important that we take care of ourselves and our own health--for us, our families and the loved ones we are caring for. It won't help any of us if we, the caregiver, end up sick and needing to receive care!

Naturally then it is important that we have healthy habits if we want to have a healthy life. What is not important is how many pounds we weigh or what size we are.

I found that many of us are carrying excessive weight because of emotional eating--using food for reasons other than the fuel we need. Certainly food can (and arguably should) play a roll in our celebrations and social events, but we need to learn to feel our feelings and express them rather than stuffing them down with a side of extra large fries or a pint of ice cream (my personal favorite.)

This is especially true when we are in stressful, emotionally charged situations. We don't want to gain additional weight...and if we have put on some extra padding we want to halt that trend.

Becoming aware of what we are doing and beginning to eat consciously is a start.

By recognizing that we are reaching for food instead of allowing the tears to flow we give ourselves the opportunity to choose. And we must make that choice daily, in fact, we must make that choice multiple times each and every day.

This is a time for us to be gentle on ourselves. We are human and if we are emotional eaters, by golly we are probably going to overeat at times like these. But we deserve to recognize what is going on and stop beating ourselves up over it!

Stress: Weight Loss Challenge #1

The biggest weight loss challenge in my books is stress.

Why stress?

Stress leads to

• Unconscious eating
• Emotional eating
• Holding onto weight
• Fatigue
• Feeling out of control
• Physical illness

Many of these things are intertwined so you may feel fatigue and overeat to help give your body energy, or you may feel overwhelmed and eat to calm your emotions.

Not all stress is "negative" or "bad." We cannot live a completely stress-free life. Some very happy events can be quite stressful--but that doesn't mean we want to forgo the experience.

Examples of "happy", "positive" or "good" stress:

• Weddings (or yourself, your child or a good friend)
• Birth of a child
• Starting a new job
• Going on an exciting trip
• Returning to school

There are of course many other types of positive stress, but you get the idea. These events are some of the things that make life sweet, so we don't want to avoid them.

But as sweet as the events are, sometimes we react to the stress in an unhealthy way--like overeating.

So stress itself is not actually bad for us...it is the way we choose to react to that stress. This is part of the challenge of shifting our mindset for weight loss.

The trick then is to react to stress in a healthy way--whether the stress is a "positive" or "negative" event.

I have been reminded over and over again in my own life that I have a deep pattern (aka "a rut") that I have carved out over the years of turning to food when I feel stressed. Even today I hear the voice in my head say, "ice cream--you can have it, you'll feel better."

The truth is while I am eating the ice cream I may temporarily divert my attention from the stressful event if I allow myself to focus entirely on the ice cream. This is super conscious eating...knowing that it is a temporary diversion and choosing to enjoy the ice cream.

OK, that can work, but...

1. if I grab the ice cream and am thinking about the stressful event or just stuffing the food down my throat without enjoying it then I am not reducing my stress
2. if I beat myself up afterwards, then I am just adding to my stress, so it backfires.
3. if I get upset later that I'm not successfully losing weight (presuming that is my goal) then I have not really done myself a service.
4. the stressor is still there and now I have just added to my habit of eating for emotional reasons which doesn't serve me in the long-run either
   

On the other hand if I want to temporarily divert my attention from the stressful situation by playing with the dog, driving in the country and enjoying the scenery, playing a game on the computer, walking around the block, meditating, listening to music or any number of other things, I have achieved the diversion without adding sugar/calories/poor food choices to my day and I have taken a step at digging myself out of my unhealthy rut.

Since stress--all by itself--can cause us to hold onto our body fat (look, I can't explain why this is...but it is probably some survival of the fittest thing...I just know from personal experience it happens) we deserve to then minimize our unhealthy choices when we are under stress.

By making unhealthy eating choices--that can be over eating and also restrictive dieting--we add more stress to our bodies.

Making healthy choices and eating well-balanced foods that fuel our bodies and our brains and moving our bodies to keep all the blood and oxygen flowing we reduce our stress.

And by meditating we also reduce our stress. Meditations can be formal, focus on your breathing types of things or they can be walking and focusing on the surroundings. Meditation is simply quieting the mind chatter.

Try a variety of things to reduce your mind chatter and make healthy choices about food and moving your body and you will reduce the negative effects of stress on your body. The result will be greater weight loss success and overall health and wellness.

If you'd like to try meditation but are not sure where to start, take a look at some of these resources as a starting place.

Avoiding Emotional Eating Doesn't Mean Avoiding Treats

Many people believe that to have weight loss success we must forgo all treats. I disagree with this tactic of creating a list of foods that are off-limits. In my experience, it just doesn't work.

Some people respond to my assertion that to have permanent success we must have no forbidden foods that if certain foods are not taboo then it is okay to eat them all the time.

Of course we must eat foods that nourish our bodies...that is the primary purpose of food after all. But the truth is, most of us with weight challenges did not get to be significantly overweight because of eating to nourish our bodies!

We use food for much more than fuel for our bodies. We use food for pleasure and social reasons as well as using food for emotional reasons.

It is crucial for us to distinguish between these 3 types of eating.

Social eating is when food is part of another experience, such as Thanksgiving, birthdays, or enjoying a night out with friends. Social eating may be eating something because it is expected like birthday cake, and it may include overindulging to the extreme--like when we have to unzip our pants or take a nap after Thanksgiving's feast. With social eating, we may not actually be conscious of just how much food we are consuming, because we are more focused on the social aspect.

Pleasure eating may also have a social element to it, the key difference is that when we eat for pleasure, the focus is on the food. It may be sharing the food, sharing the experience, but the food is still in the forefront. For example, you may be having dinner with a friend (or friends) and decide you want to have dessert...and you are sharing the dessert because you want the flavor, but not the full serving...you enjoy each bite as it fills your mouth with flavor. You may eat more than you "need" (let's face it, our bodies don't "need" dessert) but because it is savored and the focus is on tasting and feeling good, you rarely will get to the button-popping stage when eating for pleasure.

Emotional eating on the other hand (can you have an "other hand" with 3 examples?) can be unconscious, like social eating, or very conscious, but rarely is it pleasurable. It may start with a thought of how good something tastes, but more often it starts as a pull...a knee-jerk reaction to a thought, feeling or event. Sometimes we are not even aware of the preceding element! We may be sad or angry, or even happy, and we are reaching for food to soothe us, to bring us to a more mellow place. And if we continue this pattern then we will need more and more food to achieve that mellow place--largely because it doesn't solve the problem, it just masks the pain temporarily.

When we go on a diet, we are not dealing with our emotional eating...and we put our favorite foods on a forbidden foods list. This sets us up for a huge negative cycle of deprivation then binge, then guilt. Now we have even more emotions to run from so we eat more, not less! This is why diets do not work.

The secret to weight loss success is to be conscious about our eating and to enjoy our treats--to have some pleasure eating events. This gives our inner child the opportunity to have treats and not feel deprived, while breaking the habits of grabbing food to soothe our inner beast.

Here's how it went in practice for me this weekend: I was feeling quite emotional, for lots of different reasons, some hormonal and some stress related, and so I was craving carbs can specifically chocolate. I had to go to the grocery store and I knew that with all these cravings it could be a dangerous run, so before I went I made sure I had a snack before hand to keep things at bay. Even still, lots of old thoughts went through my head as I entered the parking lot and walked through the store...I can buy these cookies and eat them in the car, or I can buy this and eat some and hide the rest, or...on and on. I know that whenever those sorts of thoughts of eating massive quantities of food and/or eating and hiding the evidence comes up that is a flag that the desire to eat is strictly emotional.

I was able to remind myself that I want and desire a healthy body and that eating in that way would not solve whatever was going on, and that I would address the issue when I got home. That is a big victory--being conscious about my choices--but it is just the first step.

Once home I tried to determine what was bothering me. I talked about it, I meditated on it, I cried, I tried working through it and ignoring it (this rarely works, but I still try!) I walked...it just didn't seem to be helping. I ate healthy foods and made sure my blood sugar was even, which helped, but still I had a HUGE desire to eat. I slept on it, I worked more. I finally felt the urge to turn on some music and cook a big healthy meal, play and dance to the music. So I left my desk and did just that and when I was done I finally felt at peace with myself and the desire to stuff my face was gone!

Big lesson--we can't also push through, sometimes we have to listen to our heart and let it direct us to what will help us feel better...and we have to let that voice come through, which takes love, gentleness, and practice.

Later (much later) I wanted a little something sweet...I didn't have anything in the house that sounded right (I actually had ice cream in the house but that wasn't sounding right) so I made a dark chocolate sauce and we dipped strawberries in the sauce. We had a small portion and really, really, really enjoyed the tastes and sharing the experience.

Because this eating was pleasure eating it wasn't "necessary" for my body, but it felt great for my soul and so I don't feel the need to beat myself up over it. In fact, I celebrate it as a success--a sign of true weight loss success--the ability to enjoy a small portion of delicious food, because food can and should be a source of pleasure for us.

The Old Unhealthy Me Was Living Loud Today

My day started off a bit rough today. I was feeling sensitive, not the strong, confident person that I am most days.

It wasn't like I could just go back to bed until I felt better--I had appointments to go to, places to be, people to see. You know, that little thing called life.

I thought I had moved past it, worked it out, but when I was running to my appointments and errands it became abundantly clear that I had not! The "old me"...the unhealthy one, the one who used to buy junk food, eat it and try to hide the evidence...she kept talking to me this morning.

I stopped at the post office which is next to a grocery store and thought, "we need milk, I'll just run in and get some milk." But the voice of the unhealthy me said--"and get some cookies...they taste so good...you know, the big home-made tasting ones they make at this store...no one will know."

Fortunately I had another appointment that would take a couple hours, so buying milk was not really practical...saved for the moment.

At the post office they have a candy bar display...none of that looked good. Not that that would have stopped me in the past, but today I was able to say "don't want it so I won't buy it." Hurray.

My last errand brought me near another grocery store. It was now noon and I had not eaten since 7. So now the unhealthy me was really pushing hard! I seriously thought about going into the grocery store, but I knew that if I did it would be that much harder to resist the yelling of that unhealthy voice (today there were no whispers.)

I decided to not go into the store. I probably have enough milk to make it until tomorrow, I decided. And if not, I can always go back out after I've had some lunch.

Once I got home and had some food I felt better. And later I was able to actually talk about what had been bothering me. It was a silly little thing that won't make a lick of difference in my life--or the lives of anyone else--by the end of the day. Next week I probably won't even remember it happened. And I almost let that silly little thing take me out today.

I'm proud of myself for walking away from the store. I'm proud of myself for not succumbing to the unhealthy voice. I'm proud of myself for recognizing that this was an emotional pull to eat, not a real physical hunger. And I'm especially proud for really talking it out and getting the emotions out instead of stuffing them down.

Days like today I realize just how far I have come...and that the weight loss journey continues for me every day.

The weight loss success tip out of this experience: when emotions surface, walk and talk--give yourself time and distance to think rather than react.

Christmas Cookie Update

OK, going to buy Christmas cookies in the late afternoon of the 23rd was not the best option! Or perhaps it was! There was not a large selection and many that were there were so unappealing there was no pull at all. I did find a nice tray of European cookies dipped in chocolate for under $5--I've bought these before for twice that, so maybe waiting until the last minute is a good idea!

There was also a German box of cookies which we settled on because of the "fun factor"...very similar cookies but in a box that is literally a yard long! It just cracked me up! Even better is that the "yard" was made up of 3 sealed packages which helps me with my restraint...it gives me a little time to think, do I REALLY want to open another package?

So I have a little chocolate fix, a little Christmas fun and it won't spoil my weight loss success! Sounds like a Happy Holiday to me!

Diet Nightmares of Thanksgiving Past

Today as I was making turkey soup (one of my favorite Thanksgiving activities) I flashed back to past Thanksgivings when I would deprive myself of foods I loved because I was dieting.

Particularly memorable was the very first Thanksgiving that I made on my own, in my apartment.

I was a sophomore in college and had been cast in a theater production (Boccaccio Rhythm Theater…a bawdy collection of stories based on Boccaccio’s Decameron from the 1350’s…yes, this was a musical based on the era of the Black Plague.) OK, so that’s a long side note, the point was we were required to be present for rehearsals the day before and day after Thanksgiving. Since it was 100 miles each way and I didn’t have a car, there was no way I could go home for Thanksgiving.

Thus my first Thanksgiving away from home, my parents came to see me, and I prepared the full feast. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie (from fresh pumpkins) and a mock mincemeat pie for Dad, his favorite. I don’t remember what else I made, but there was ample food for probably dozens of people even though there were just 4 of us—but that’s part of the Thanksgiving tradition, right?

Sounds like a pretty good memory right? Everything turned out well, to my recollection.

The thing was, I wouldn’t eat a bite of it.

Because I was dieting.

You see, that summer I had gone on the now-infamous “liquid protein diet.” I drank less than 400 calories a day. I was coaching and teaching swimming, so I swam my laps and was in the water pretty much all day long. It worked. I ended up losing over 60 pounds by the time I was done—about 15 more than I should have as a matter of fact.

At the beginning of November that year I weighed in at 110 pounds. I thought I was still fat and I was determined not to gain the weight back. So when I was up to 113 pounds right before Thanksgiving I decided that I wouldn’t eat again until I lost the 3 pounds. This was actually the method the diet prescribed and boy, did I follow it to the letter.

But I couldn’t stick to it. Not for long. This is one of the very real reasons diets don't work. Because I never dealt with the emotional reasons behind my eating, I was destined to ultimately overeat and gain weight.

I’m not saying I’m perfect these days, but I’m sure a lot better! I eat for health and for pleasure…and, yes, sometimes I eat for emotional reasons even though I know that’s not the healthiest choice. Taking of the mantle of perfection has really been liberating for me and allows me to love myself as I am now and allows for me to grow and become even better in the future.

That is something I am extremely grateful for!

Weight Loss Challenge: Swinging on a Moody Star

An important factor to our weight loss success...one that people often forget about or totally disregard...is our mood or mindset.

How we feel about ourselves, our bodies and even how we feel about food directly impacts our ability to lose weight.

It is extremely common to gain weight when we are feel depressed and to lose weight when we are happy. While that may be common, there are many people who gain weight when happy and, like my mother, lose weight when depressed. This demonstrates that there is no one "diet" or eating program that will work for everyone...not even in the same family. We all react differently to different foods, moods, exercise programs--everything!

If you are the type of person who, like me, tends to gain weight when depressed or stressed (or mad, or sad...or whatever) there is a way you can combat the trend!

Believe it or not, the real problem is not the food. If it were the food, you wouldn't be able to have it around ever...you'd eat it and gain weight all the time, not just when you are depressed. The problem is eating food in response to the emotion.

That is why substituting a lower calorie version of your favorite food or even substituting a healthy food doesn't solve the problem, because, I repeat, the problem is not the food...it isn't the calories.

By eating low-fat frozen yogurt in place of ice cream when depressed you are not changing the eating in response to emotion behavior. The behavior you changed was the one in the grocery store! Now, not only are you eating when depressed, you are probably less satisfied, but feeling deprived and yet martyr-like so you actually might eat MORE than before! Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

Replacing the chips with carrot sticks doesn't work either. Sure it is a healthy food, but we are still reaching into the frig (or pantry) and stuffing down our problems, rather than reaching into our heads and hearts and working on the real issue.

Don't want to work on your "issues"...don't think you have any? Fine. Whether you are numbing your feelings with food or not, you are engaging in unconscious eating.

Instead of eating, come up with a list of things that you can do that will help you feel more joy without getting you into the vicious cycle of eating and then gaining weight and therefore feeling bad again...which makes you want to eat, etc!

Everyone's list will be different...mine includes enjoying the sunrise, spending time in my studio, reading, doing puzzles, going for a walk and enjoying the fresh air, riding in the country...it could be playing with animals, playing on a swing, listening to music...the list can go on.

Write down YOUR list and keep it on the frig or the pantry...wherever the food you tend to reach for is stored...to help you remember your goal and give you some choices. It totally puts you in control...rather than eating unconsciously you begin to eat thoughtfully and that makes all the difference.

How Long WIll I Use This Excuse to Overeat?

A few years ago the question I asked myself was this:

How long will I allow my father's death to be the latest excuse for being fat?

The answer that came back to me was NO LONGER.

That started my journey to become healthy in earnest...and I dropped 125 lbs...in about a year.


Today the question I am asking myself is:

How long will I allow my mother's LIFE to be my latest excuse to overeat?

While I'm not 125 pounds overweight any longer, I recognize that emotional eating is a large part of what got me there...and could get me right back there if I allow it.

It is completely up to me to decide if I want to remain healthy or not. And if I do, then I must reaffirm my goals of feeling good about myself and being a conscious eater.

My mother is having some health issues that are stressful for the family...and I want to help and yet when I found myself grabbing food and not really tasting it as it went down I had a deja vu kind of light bulb moment.

I must continue to make MY health the #1 priority in my life. After all, if I don't make it a priority then who will? I also have to accept that I don't have control over my mom...what she does, or does not choose to do regarding her health. I can offer help and then I have to let it go.

This is a big challenge that a lot of women face. Guys too of course, but generally speaking more women are in the caregiver role then men are...

You may be caring for a child, an aging parent, an ill spouse, a friend or sibling...or perhaps you are a caregiver by profession. No matter who you are caring for, it is so important that we remember our primary responsibility is to ourselves.

I know this sounds selfish. I was brought up that we put ourselves last...and I was brought up to be obese! No coincidence. We have to challenge that training and retrain ourselves to believe in our own worth.

So I'm reminding myself to give up the excuses...there is ALWAYS an excuse if you let there be one. I intend to remember to love myself...and that includes choosing ways other than eating to deal with my emotions most of the time...and to be gentle on myself on the occasions when I choose to overeat anyway!

Confessions of an Emotional Eater

One of the best ways to avoid emotional eating is to plan ahead and have other outlets for your emotions. That way you are ready and able to deal with emotions in a healthier way. One of my ways of dealing with emotions is writing on my computer, whether it is articles or blog posts or connecting with people on Twitter or Facebook or through email, I have found the computer to be a great tool in my weight loss success plan. So imagine my dismay when I am without a computer because it crashes. Then imagine, after buying a new computer, less than 2 months later the NEW one crashes--the morning I am leaving for a trip to help my 80-something mother through a surgery and multiple doctors’ visits.

Whew. I was not a happy camper.

Sure I had some other alternatives such as going for walks and talking to my family back home, but the computer and writing are such an integral part of my process that losing that outlet was a big blow for me. And I confess: I ate. A lot.

But the point isn’t really about what I could have done differently, what I could have done better; it isn’t about pointing out my flaws; it certainly isn’t about beating myself up for not being perfect.

The point is just that…I’m not perfect…and that’s okay! We don’t have to be perfect in order to be healthy. Truth is, being perfect is not only not possible for mere humans, it isn’t really healthy to strive for perfection as the goal. I know this because for many, many years that is exactly what I tried to do. And when I fell short of that goal I was really hard on myself and I either was super-critical or I just gave up on all attempts to be healthy…usually I did both! While I was labeling myself as a “perfectionist” I was really setting myself up for failure and then getting mad at myself when the inevitable happened.

My mother’s surgery went well (thanks for asking), I’m back home now, my new (and newly repaired) computer is as well, and I have brought a few extra pounds with me as a souvenir of the trip. It isn’t the end of the world…it isn’t even the end of my wardrobe, although things are a bit tighter than I’d like.

So now I can get back to dealing with my emotions in a more healthy way than by eating. But you know what? I’m not kicking myself about the eating…it definitely was a tool I used to help me through a challenge. Whether there were better tools available or not is actually beside the point. Now that I am home in an environment where I feel a bit more in control, I can go back to doing the things that I know work for me in the long run.

This trip was the perfect storm for me…allowing me the chance to eat for purely emotional reasons…and I came out of it, a bit battered but intact! I know that there will be more storms in the future and some I will weather fine and others will toss me around a bit. That is part of what life is about…it is about the long haul, not the single storm.

Ironically, by letting go of the need to be perfect I am able to accept who I am and realize that I am still a good person who deserves health…a person who can take it one step at a time, even if once in a while those steps run a little backwards! The journey to permanent weight loss is not a straight path. This experience reinforces for me that I am on the right path, that by loving myself enough to be gentle with my transgressions I will come out of it faster and healthier…and weighing less, too!

Simple Tip to Stop Emotional Eating and Achieve Weight Loss Success

I'm alone this week...and will confess to feeling a bit lonely and that I have fallen prey to the comfort food syndrome!

This isn't bad if it just happens once in a while, but I want to be sure I don't make a habit of it or I will 1. be angry with myself (which isn't helpful) and/or 2. gain weight back which will just make me angry with myself...did I mention that isn't helpful?

One thing that I found that IS helpful is to look at a picture of myself as I used to be.

That's me back in 2006.

The point of this looking back is definitely not to beat myself up...it is to remind myself of just how far I have come and that I definitely do NOT want to go back to being that person.

And it is the BE-ing that is important...sure it is about the weight, but not the most important part. The most important part is how unhealthy I was, how much pain I was in and what I could not DO because of the behaviors I engaged in.

So I took out a picture from one of my heaviest periods (even more than the one I just posted here) and I put it on the frig so that it is front and center should I reach for a choice that is less-than-healthy. I don't make the food off-limits, but this really helps make the choice a conscious one...and I found that it really helped me to make healthy choices.

If looking at the "old" you isn't enough to keep you on track, take that picture in to the nearest mirror and compare it to the you of today.

Since you can't join me at the mirror, here's a picture to help drive home the point! I sure don't want to having to get into those pants the old fashioned way again ;-)

If you haven't yet achieved your weight loss success and therefore don't have before and after pictures (or before and during pictures...that works just as well!) then look at pictures of how you want to be.

Take pictures from magazines or ads that capture the person you want to be...how it will feel when you have achieved that weight loss success! This can be your own health vision board...one that will definitely help you to reach your goal!

Strategies for Curbing Emotional Eating for Weight Loss Success

Recently I've been writing about strategies for curbing emotional eating. Of course avoiding emotional eating in the first place is a great strategy...but not always practical or realistic. So if you can't avoid eating for emotional reasons you can at least help curb it, or control it so you don't go off the deep end.

So here's a recap of my top 10 strategies for kicking emotional eating to the curb--

1. Ask Yourself Why
2. No Forbidden Foods
3. Make It Conscious
4. Portion Control
5. Pattern Interrupt
6. Have Healthy Choices Available
7. Work for It
8. Read Labels
9. Go to Sleep
10. Water

Keep in mind that permanent weight loss success is a journey. You didn't get fat overnight...and you won't change the habits you developed that got your fat overnight either.

When you do eat out of stress (or joy or anger or sadness), be gentle with yourself. Remember you are practicing new skills. Don't expect perfection. Find some folks who will support you, who understand that this is temporary. And start your healthy eating habits again as soon as possible.

Remember, you didn't blow a diet if you weren't on a diet in the first place!

Strategy 10 for Curbing Emotional Eating

Like strategy #8, reading labels, this strategy is a habit that I developed years ago as part of my weight loss success plan. I've been pleasantly surprised to find that it also helps me curb my emotional eating.

Strategy #10: Water

I drink a lot of water. I don't drink much else. I do enjoy coffee in the morning and herbal tea from time to time--especially in the winter, but I mostly drink water.

So that's a healthy strategy...but how does water curb emotional eating?

It doesn't...not really...well, maybe it does...let me explain.

If you drink lots of water one of the benefits is that it flushes a bunch of toxins out of your body. That's great news. That way if (when) we do eat for emotional reasons, drinking water will help minimize the negative effects that the overeating has on our body. That's really great news.

Drinking water also helps keep you feeling fuller, so you actually have less room to pack in food. How much can you put in your stomach if you are sloshing with water? Not as much...so it can cut down on the amount of emotional eating you do.

The other way that drinking water can help with emotional eating is if you tend to drink alcohol. Drinking alcohol can loosen up your inner food warden and you might find that you are eating more food and higher calorie food then you would if you didn't have the booze. So by drinking more water, even if you choose to booze, you are diluting the effects of the alcohol, which can help keep you in better control of what you eat.

So, does water help curb emotional eating? I'm going to say yes, and even if it really doesn't, it has enough other good benefits that it still deserves to be in the top 10 strategy list!

9th Strategy for Curbing Emotional Eating and Achieving Weight Loss Success

This strategy is huge...another simple strategy that if you use it, may be the biggest key to your weight loss success.

Tons (literally) of weight is put on by people because they ignore this strategy.

Strategy #9: Go to Sleep!

Don't eat to stay awake. I know I did it for years! I ate while studying to keep myself awake. I ate while watching late night television. A lot of the time I didn't even realize that I was sleepy...I actually thought I was hungry, or had the munchies.

Most of us do not need to be eating at 9, 10, 11pm or in the wee hours of the morning. Lots of studies have been done that show eating late at night is not only harmful to our weight, it disrupts our healthy sleep patterns. When our sleep is disrupted that makes our emotions more erratic. And erratic emotions lead to...you guessed it, eating!

If you find yourself reaching for a snack late at night...whether you just got in from work or a date, or you are watching tv or playing games...try going to sleep instead of eating. You'll probably feel better the next day because you slept better and you will feel better emotionally because you were in control of your eating, too!

Strategy #8 Simple Weight Loss Success Habit that Also Curbs Emotional Eating

As I mentioned yesterday, this emotional eating strategy is actually a habit I have developed as part of my healthy eating and weight loss success plan. What I realized quite recently was that this same simple habit also was curbing my emotional or stress related eating!

So what is this mystery habit?

Strategy #8: Read Food Labels

You think I'm kidding, right? Confess, you thought is was going to be something deeper or something...but that's it. Frankly, I was as surprised as you are.

You see, reading labels has become a big habit for me. Now I know that ice cream has a gazillion calories and is loaded with fat and all sorts of ingredients that aren't good for me...and I still give myself permission to eat it...so it isn't that I never eat anything that isn't good for me.

What reading labels does is help me to be honest with myself about my choices...and to realize when I thought a food that was healthy for me actually was loaded with sugar or fake ingredients that I choose not to put into my body.

What I found recently was by stopping to read the label on a food I was reaching for I stopped dead in my tracks. I looked at the label and said I really didn't want to put that in my body...I had been reaching for the food out of the cupboard (I was at my mom's, so I had less control over the contents in the cupboard) and when I saw the list of artificial ingredients it was enough to break my emotional reaction.

So by reading the label I interrupted the pattern (strategy #5) and I gave myself the opportunity to make a conscious choice (strategy #3) in this case I chose not to eat, and I also got to ask myself why I was reaching for the food in the first place (strategy #1.)

I thought is was pretty cool how the simple act of reading the label got 3 different strategies involved and helped nip that emotional eating jag in the bud!

Tomorrow's post will cover a strategy that will help lots and lots of people lose weight...just with this one single strategy!

Emotional Eating Strategy #7 for Weight Loss Success

As I mentioned yesterday, this is a very simple strategy. It isn't anything new, but it can be very effective.

Strategy #7: Work For It

By that I mean a couple different things. First, like in strategy #4 portion control, make a real meal or snack out of it. Don't eat over the kitchen sink. Use a real plate or bowl...something you have to wash. Use small dishes so you have to actually get more if you want it.

But there is more than that...

If there are foods that are triggers for you then don't have them in the house. That seems super easy, but it isn't. It is super logical and simple concept, but the practice is a lot harder.

When talking about trigger foods, be aware that there are times when you will be able to have that food around and be just fine...but at other times the mere presence of it in the house will be enough to drive you over the edge!

Ice cream is my drug of choice...the darker chocolate the better, loaded with fat and lots of goodies. Now, these days for the most part I can have ice cream in the house and from time to time have a small serving. I generally have a pretty healthy relationship with ice cream these days. But in the beginning, it had such a strong pull on me that I didn't keep it in the house. And even now, there are times when I just know that I'll have an easier time sticking to my weight loss goals if I don't have ice cream around.

If I REALLY want it, I know where the store is!

By not having it in the house you force yourself to take a break and it gives your conscious mind time to kick in and remind you that your goal is to have a healthy, energetic and slender body...and that eating a quart of ice cream is not supportive of that goal. Sometimes that works, sometimes you'll buy it anyway! But you have given yourself the chance to make it a conscious choice, strategy #3!

Tomorrow I will go into the 8th strategy...something that is actually a habit that I've developed for weight loss success that I recently realized was helping me curb my emotional eating!

Emotional Eating Strategy #6

This strategy is a bit different from the previous ones. They dealt mostly with emotions and conscious eating. In a sense, this one does also, but this is about stocking your cupboard so you are prepared for when the urge hits. Because, it will hit, sooner or later!

Strategy #6: Have a Stash of Healthy Choices

I'm not talking about carrot sticks and celery...we all know that is not going to do a thing for you if you are an emotional eater. And frankly, if you ate a pound of carrots rather than chocolate you haven't changed the behavior at all...so even though you would have taken in fewer calories and some nutrients, it really isn't the answer to behavior modification!

What I'm talking about is seeing if there is something that will help you be giving you some emotional satisfaction but perhaps have some nutritional value...or at least less damage!

For example, I'm an ice cream addict...now, eating ice milk and low fat ice cream does nothing for satisfying my emotional eating. In fact, if I eat the 1/2 fat stuff I find that I eat twice as much (or more.) In that case I'm better off eating the ice cream I really like and employing some of the other strategies.

What I've done instead is found some chocolately items that taste really good that feel like a treat, but have fewer calories and fat in them. One such treat is dark chocolate covered espresso beans...I can have a few of those and it helps give me the chocolate sensation without a lot of fat. They have the added benefit that I can't physically eat very many of them! I've also found a protein bar that tastes good and gives me a chocolate boost. So while I could still overeat the bars, at least I am getting more balanced nutrition that way.

If chips are your downfall, you may be able to have a baked chip that has less fat and enjoy it with salsa or sliced avocado--which is good fat.

You still want to avoid overeating for emotional reasons, but as I said in strategy #2, having a little "mental health food" is not what made you fat...and it won't keep you fat or make you fat again. We didn't get fat with a few espresso beans once in a while...we got fat by repeatedly overeating...by not addressing the emotions we were feeling and just stuffing them down with a side of apple pie a la mode!

Be sure to come back tomorrow to see another very simple strategy to help curb your emotional eating and have weight loss success!

5th Strategy to Kick Emotional Eating to the Curb

I alluded to this 5th strategy in yesterday's strategy on portion control.

I will confess that this strategy is going to be one of the biggest keys to your weight loss success long-term. It is something that a lot of behavior modification coaches teach...so there is some real science behind this:

Strategy #5: Pattern Interrupt

Strategies 1, 3 and 4 all help with this, but there are lots of other ways that you can interrupt the emotional eating pattern.

In fact, ANYTHING that you do that stops you from going immediately from one mouthful to the next could be considered a pattern interrupt.

I suggest you come up with a list of things that you can do that might work for you in a variety of situations. For example, you could go outside...but if it is 2am in the middle of a snowstorm that might not be the best option. Call a friend, write in your journal, throw a pillow, pet your dog or cat, go outside and throw rocks, go for a walk, listen to some music, read a book, take a shower, meditate...find simple activities that you can do quickly that help you feel better.

If you want to take the pattern interrupt to the next level you can also use a negative association for when you want to eat...some people wear a rubber band on their wrist that they snap when they have the urge to eat. This small pain can help to remind your brain and body that you don't want to keep at that old habit.

If you decide to do that, then as soon as you go to the new behavior, then gently stroke the same wrist so you are giving your body a positive reinforcement as well. The combination of the positive and negative is far more affective than either positive or negative by itself.

The most important thing about this pattern interrupt is to have a list handy so you don't have to take a lot of time thinking about what you COULD do...and have any "tools" you might need ready as well. So if going for a walk is one of your choices, keep a pair of shoes ready by the door so you can put them on and go.

Write your own list and keep it handy...maybe right on the cupboard or the fridge! There are no rules about what can be on the list...it can be anything not food/drink related that will help you break that eating cycle.

Tomorrow we move to the 2nd half of my strategies for kicking emotional eating to the curb!

Curb Emotional Eating Strategy #4

This very simple strategy can really help...it is so simple that you might not believe that it will work, so hear me out...and try it, before you say it won't work. You just might be surprised!

Strategy #4 Use Small Bowls or Plates

This strategy is about controlling the quantity we eat by controlling portion size.

Think about it...when you go on an emotional eating bender, how do you eat? I know I tend to eat right out of the carton...ice cream by the half gallon, cookies by the box, chips by the bag.

That makes it so easy to eat a lot more...instead serve yourself a dish. Don't eat at the kitchen sink, sit yourself down and make it a real snack, with things you have to wash.

Sure you can always go back for more, but the act of dishing the food up does a few things for you...it controls your initial portion (which might just turn out to be enough, thank you very much!), and by forcing you to return to the kitchen to get more you are buying your brain time to kick in and say, hey...I don't really want more of that.

By making it a more formal event, by sitting down and eating, then you are also using strategy #3, which if you recall from yesterday was making your eating a conscious decision.

In addition, it also reinforces that you have permission to eat this treat because you have given it "meal" treatment, with a plate or bowl and spoon or fork.

So this deceptively simple strategy actually incorporates 3 strategies in 1. Not bad! In fact...it also works in a 4th strategy...strategy #5, which we'll go into more detail on tomorrow!

Curbing Emotional Eating

If you want to read a summary of my top 10 strategies for curbing emotional eating, you can check out my article now. Be sure to read my blog posts for more details on each strategy!

To your healthy, energetic, slender body! You deserve it!

Kick Emotional Eating to the Curb Strategy #3

This strategy is all about stopping unconscious eating...which I believe is really the main reason most of us get fat. Our overeating may have an emotional trigger, but it is the fact that we keep eating without thinking about it that packs on the pounds.

Strategy #3:

Make Eating a Conscious Choice

Stop before you reach for that food. Stop before you take the first bite. Stop before you take the next bite. Stop between every bite.

Every time you stop, ask yourself if this is really what you want to do. Is this food the best choice for your body? Do you really want to keep eating it?

When you get the smallest inkling that the answer to any of these questions is no then stop--immediately. That stop may be only for a split second some times...other times it might be for a few minutes...at other times it may be for hours or even days.

This isn't about will power...this is about loving yourself enough to take the time to listen to your own body, mind and spirit...and to figure out what you really want!

The truth is, stuffing down the food is the easy answer sometimes...but it usually isn't what we want, at least not in massive quantities.

Come back tomorrow for the 4th in our series on emotional eating strategies...