Emotional Eating

 Tips for Overcoming Emotional Eating with your Diet Program

If you are tired of diet failure take heart a lot of people fail at things they try to accomplish.


  Failure of weight loss programs probably has one of the highest failure rates and one of the biggest problems is emotional eating. But failing is not the important thing here, how you respond to your failure is important. Steps that can prove to be very constructive are; identifying areas of failure, taking steps to avoid future failure and trying again.






     Identifying the Area of Failure

When someone comes into a weight loss diet they bring strengths and weaknesses with them. The key to success is in knowing each. This way you can take steps to utilize your strengths in the best manner and supplement your weaknesses with effective techniques to minimize their effect. Let’s take a look at some of the areas that commonly lead to diet failure.


Food Cravings - At the root of cravings is hunger. Some have a very difficult time dealing with hunger and so they eat foods outside of the diet plan. Depending on the diet it can be so regimented that it takes only a few setbacks and the diet plan is broken. Some of these cravings are due to emotional eating. Just recognizing which cravings are due to emotional eating can make it easier to reduce these cravings.

Discipline - Fact is that not everyone has developed the strength that disciplined behavior contributes to a diet plan. The more a diet plan relies on the discipline of the individual the more important this strength becomes for obtaining successful results.

Exercise - If you have lived a life that has not included a large degree of physical activity then exercise can pose a problem. Not everyone enjoys exercise especially formal exercise routines. This area can be a problem for many engaging in a diet plan where exercise is a major component.
Diet Planning - A diet plan is not a spontaneous activity. In fact it assumes that certain behaviors will be performed while others are abstained. Failure to look at the big picture of your life and plan for these required sets of behavior can cause the diet plan to fail.


    How to Overcome Problem Areas

Cravings-at the root of cravings is hunger and so hunger must be eliminated if you are going to succeed. One technique for overcoming hunger is to plan for times when you are most likely to get a craving. Preparing some fresh fruits or vegetables to prevent hunger is an acceptable low calorie approach. Most cravings occur between meals and so if you prepare for them and have a healthy alternative on hand you can meet the cravings head on and curb them.

Discipline-fact is that not everyone has developed a high degree of discipline, but it is never too late to start. The key here is to begin with baby steps and build on your successes. Don’t expect to develop a high degree of discipline right away. One technique is to displace one bad behavior with an acceptable one and build up from there. Instead of eating potato chips while watching television have some orange slices available instead. You could also sit on the floor and stretch instead of sitting on the couch while you watch. Replace emotional eating with action. As an example, if you are unhappy do something like watch a comedy that will make you laugh. If you feel unsuccessful, do something that will make you better.

Exercise-if your life has not contained a high degree of physical activity then start off with small steps. You could start a walking program. Take a walk around the block after dinner or climb the stairs to your office instead of taking the elevator. As your stamina builds you can then consider more challenging exercise activities. It has been shown that exercise is particularly good for those that suffer from emotional eating. Exercise makes us all feel better.

Planning-someone once said that failing to plan is planning to fail and they may have a good point here. It is important to take a look at the rhythm of your life and the challenges you may be facing at key points during the day. Then make a plan on how you can overcome the challenge and ultimately stay on your diet plan. Forewarned is forearmed in this case. If your worse cravings come while driving home from work a healthy snack bar or mix in the glove box may be just the approach to squelch the temptation to stop at that fast food restaurant.




Related Resources at Ideal-Weight-Charts.com
Read more about how to stop emotional eating.
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