Stress and over eating.
Many people struggle with over eating and emotional eating. We love our “treats’ but they don’t always love us back. Once the food rush wears off we are left with the same stress and problems we started with but now we feel guilty and ashamed.
The cycle usually looks like this:
Stress, overeat, feel guilty and ashamed, feel more stress, vow to do better, start a strict diet, feel stressed, overeat… cycle repeats.
You can break this cycle!
Start by noticing what happened leading up to your cravings, emotional eating and/or overeatting. Figure out why, because those feelings are not random they are coming from somewhere.
Start with any recent food episode that troubled you. Write down what was happening around you or within you before the episode. What where you doing? Where were you? What where you thinking? How where you feeling?
Go back even further in time a few hours prior and ask the same questions. Record as much information and details as you can. See if you see any patterns. Just notice and acknowledge them first. Once you start to see these patterns start to notice solutions to them. Sometimes it’s as simple as going for a walk to relax after a stressful day instead of grabbing the ice cream.
You might get stuck and not know a solution right away. That is ok! The first step is being aware of what is happening. Awareness is key to breaking the cycle and creating a healthier lifestyle.