Emotional Eating

Wow! It's been a long time since I checked in. Hubby and I are still doing well with the weight loss program. I've started going to some of their connection classes and learning some fun things.

For example, we went to the emotional eating class last week. Now, even though we had a lot of laughs at some of the things, there were very helpful tips as well. Here's two we laughed at:

Don't eat alone. If you are going to splurge make sure someone is with you. (um, okay. Hubby let's go eat a pan of brownies and ice cream. It's okay because we are eating it together.

Tell yourself that if you Still want it in two days you can have it. (Get in the car, we're going for ice cream because I've been wanting it for a month!)

Helpful things to think about:

What do you crave? Different foods could mean you need different things emotionally.
Soft, sweet foods--love, comfort
Crunchy--you just need to break or "crunch" someone because of anger

Now, what can you do to relieve or fill those emotions that don't involve food (or killing anyone)?

• snuggle with a pet/spouse/stuffed animal
• go for a good hard run
• take a kick boxing class
• drive in your car and scream at the top of your lungs
• talk with the person you need to work out the issues with

I did appreciate that the instructor said, "Sometimes you want something just because it tastes good. There don't have to be any deep emotional issues to why you want it. Food is good."

The other really helpful tip was this. If you REALLY want it, eat 2 bites. Here's the trick. Eat it slow and savor each bite. Enjoy it. Don't just stuff it down in a guilty rampage. Make it last. 

Weight loss is now at 15lbs. I go in today to weigh again and maybe measurements. The last time we measured I had lost a total of 18 inches total body. That just means an inch here, half an inch there, etc all totally to 18 inches all over. 

Not too bad. I'm at 162.5, down from 177 at the beginning of May.