You need to know this tip to overcome emotional eating
Have you found yourself in the pantry, stressed out, eating Oreos, chips, or whatever you can get your hands on? Emotional eating is one of the most common coping mechanisms. However, just because you’re an emotional eater doesn’t mean that you can’t lose weight or can’t break the habit! It just means you need to learn more about yourself so that you can break that cycle! The first thing emotional eaters need to learn is that it’s not really about the food.
I used to be an emotional eater too.
My son was born with a lot of health problems. He had to have a few surgeries as a baby and it took a toll on me. Any time I felt anxious, stressed, worried, sad, or even relieved, I ate. I knew it wasn’t good for me but I couldn’t stop myself.
I also knew this wasn’t a habit I wanted to pass down to my kids, so I dived into learning about emotional eating, why we do it, and, more importantly, how to stop.
Emotional eating is about feelings, not food.
When I would emotionally eat, I would blame it on the food. The cookies sounded too good. A neighbor brought over brownies so I had to eat them. The kids didn’t finish their food and I was too tired to make my own, so I just ate their leftover nuggets.
Food was the scapegoat. I told myself that food was the problem. Cravings were my problem. Self-control was my problem. But I never took the time to see what was causing the cravings, or why self-control wasn’t enough to stop myself.
I always say, “It’s about the food, but it’s not really about the food.” This is especially true when we’re talking about emotional eating.
Emotional eating doesn't start with a craving. It ends with it. Emotional eating starts with an emotion or feeling.
Feelings lead to actions. When you find yourself mindlessly eating, it’s not because you’re hungry it’s because you’re avoiding dealing with a feeling that you’re having.
I found that happening so much when I was dealing with my son being sick. I didn’t want to face my fears so I would ignore them and head for the fridge.
Emotional eating is a way to cope or avoid the bigger problems in our lives. It soothes us. But when it’s all said and done emotional eating usually leaves us in a worse place than when we started.
Being able to recognize this and want to change it is a huge sign that you’re ready to tackle your emotional eating.
Learn your triggers - good and bad
I know, I know, “triggers” is an overused word these days. While it can sound cliche, it’s actually very important to realize that everything is triggering. Nothing starts from nothing, right? Something has to spark the thought, feeling, or action. So yes, literally everything triggers us, but we need to understand what triggers us to take actions that serve us and what triggers us to take actions that hurt us.
During one of my Macros Made Easy Program calls, I was talking with a Mama who had fallen off track for a few weeks and then got back on track. I asked her these two questions:
What triggered you to get off track?
What triggered you to get back on track?
Answering both of these questions is vital to understanding our habits and tendencies.
What triggered you to get off track?
A lot of times we’re triggered to get off track because we don’t believe that we deserve the success or results we’re getting. It’s a classic case of self-sabotage. If you feel like this might be one of the reasons you’re triggered, go listen to episode 73 of The Unraveled Mama Podcast! I talk all about self-sabotage and how to stop it in that episode.
Heavy emotional events can also trigger us to fall back into old patterns. My son’s health triggered me to eat. Maybe you experienced a death in the family, your workload increased, you or a family member were sick and you had to live outside of your normal schedule to care for them.
Another big trigger is comparison. Maybe you saw an old friend from high school who you thought looked better than you. Perhaps you compared yourself to an Instagram influencer who looked like she had everything together.
It’s important to pinpoint the thoughts, feelings and events that triggered you to get off track. When you start recognizing these triggers, you can begin to eliminate or heal them.
What triggered you to get back on track?
Just as important as understanding what took you off track is knowing what helped you get back on track.
Too often, we focus on the triggers that hurt us, but that kind of thinking can keep us stuck in a negative pattern. We need to acknowledge and celebrate what helps us get back on track too!
The hard thing about positive triggers is that they don’t “just happen” like negative triggers. You aren’t just going to wake up one day and realize you’re worthy of more. You have to put in the work to build those thoughts and beliefs about yourself.
The Macros Made Easy program includes mindset work because without it you’ll get stuck in your negative triggers without a way to find the positive ones! (Hint: this is probably why dieting has failed you in the past!)
When I was talking with that Mama who had fallen off track, and I asked her what helped her get back on track, she said that without me asking her these questions and taking the time to get out of the abstract and really look at her life she wouldn’t have figured it out.
Ultimately, she decided she wasn’t going to let one setback defeat her. She had done the mindset work and knew she was strong enough to handle any bumps in the road. She knew she was worthy of more.
If you’re struggling to find what puts you back on track, then let’s chat! I have so many helpful tools that can help you!
If you want to work through this process on your own, then head over to my Busy Mom Simple Nutrition Facebook group and get access to lots of free tips and tricks! I share information all the time about physical and mental health that can help you.
But if you’re tired of trying to figure this out on your own and you really want to get support and reach your goals, then schedule a free Healthy Mama Blueprint Call with me. We can chat about your negative triggers, your goals and how the Macros Made Easy program can help you reach those goals.
Either way, remember I’m always here for you mama!
