As I shared with you a couple weeks ago, my road to financial fitness hit a major speed bump. I regained my lost weight and let myself get quite bummed over the situation, which only aggravated the problem. I am an emotional eater, after all! I am recommitted to getting healthy and know that it is a goal that I can and will achieve. But in order to do so, I needed to take a hard look at what I was doing and make some much needed changes.
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been assessing my eating habits and some of my triggers. I did my best to be honest without being overly judgmental. I didn’t want to make myself feel bad, but I also didn’t want to pretend there weren’t things that needed to be addressed.
Emotional Eating Doesn’t Just Go Away
One of my biggest issues is my emotional eating tendencies. And here’s the thing — it’s not something that ever really goes away. I don’t say this to be negative or as a cop out, but it’s the truth for me. I am an emotional eater and will always be one, which is why I need to be extra vigilant of my emotions when I eat. To make sure I am eating out of actual hunger, rather than feeding an emotion. This is something that I will always need to watch. There will be periods of time where emotional eating won’t be an issue, but then something happens (because that’s life), and it would be easy to fall back into old habits if I don’t pay attention.
There is still plenty of work I need to do here, but there also a few things I can change right now to make it easier to eat healthy.
My Biggest Stumbling Block
Lunch is my trouble spot, which honestly surprised me. I don’t pay much attention to lunch and that is part of the problem. I often get distracted with work and eat late. Ideally, I’d like to eat at Noon and many days I do, but when things are busy, which I want them to be, I get into the “zone”. I like the zone because it means that work is going good. The bad part is when the zone ends, and I am crazy starving.
And when I am starving, my ability to make good food decisions is low. Instead of making whatever I had planned for lunch, I run to one of the many delicious restaurants a mere block from my home and devour a big (fattening) lunch. Is this logical since it takes time for my food to be served? Of course not. But remember, now I am crazy! 🙂
Here is my solution:
- Plan better. I am going to take at least one Sunday a month to stock up my freezer with yummy things like my sweet potato veggie burgers, and I may also buy a few frozen entrees as a last resort too.
- Review my upcoming schedule every Sunday. If I know that I have a very busy week in front of me, then I will prepare something now, so I can quickly reheat my meal during the week. The less time it takes me to prepare lunch, the easier it will be for me to follow my meal plan.
- To reinstate my frequent walks to the stores. You may recall that I would walk a few times a week to the grocery store (a mile round-trip) to pick up an item or two to get some exercise. I’m going back to this because I want to move my body, but I am not ready to start a full exercise program. My desire to take a break from “work” also led me to eat out, so I’m hoping a walk will help clear my head without adding to my waistline. Hopefully, it will do the opposite!
I have a much clearer picture where I made my mistakes and believe that solving them won’t even be painful. Or too painful. 🙂 I am committed to getting healthy and implementing these solutions will definitely bring me one step closer to realizing my goal.
Tanya
Photo courtesy of Kreg Steppe via flickr.
Oh hon, I feel for you, and am in the same place right now. Every ounce I lost is back. I”m SO bummed, mostly b/c I know it was all emotional eating that brought me back here. Hang in there, girlfriend. We’ll get this done.
I’m sorry to hear you are in the same boat, Laurie. It is so frustrating when you find yourself back at the same place. I’m mad too, but I remind myself that every day is a new opportunity to start over. We will GET there!
I’m in the same boat right now – it’s so frustrating! Good luck, we can do this.
I remind myself that emotional eating is a problem so many of us face. And together, we are stronger and can conquer our emotional eating tendencies! We can do this, Nicola! Good luck to you too!
Great strategies, Tanya!! I agree about planning ahead for meals, and to assess it weekly – those sound like great ideas! If you have a Trader Joe’s near you, there’s some good frozen meals in the event you need to eat in a hurry – some are healthier than others, of course, but I found it was still cheaper than going out to lunch most of the time. Good luck, girl, I KNOW you have it in you to succeed! 🙂
Thanks for the tip on TJ’s. I have never looked closely at their frozen meals. I bet they have some good ones. I used to occasionally grab one those frozen entrees for lunch when I worked in an office, but I was always hungry a couple hours later and standing in front of the vending chips. 🙂 But at the same time, it can at least ease my hunger before I go cuckoo and run out for burger and fries. I just need to add a salad or something to make it a bit more filling for me. 🙂 I appreciate your support so much, Anna!
Tanya my dear friend, you are amazing! You will get this done. You are so beautiful inside and out. YOU deserve to be healthy. Download a audible book on your phone and go walking. The book will distract you from the length of time you have been walking. Soon it will feel good. You live in such a perfect city to walk!! Take off those beautiful shoes you always have on (I am giving away your secrets!) and make friends with your sneakers. xoxo
LOL! Giving away my secrets. 🙂 Ever since I moved out here, I really don’t like wearing closed toe shoes. My toes demand FREEDOM! It’s good that I actually prefer walking on the beach barefoot and swimming. 🙂 Two things I have easy access to so No Excuses, right! I wish I could walk to audible books, but I get so engrossed in the book that I slow down to a snail’s crawl (well, slower than I normally walk!) so I gotta listen to booty shaking music. You know how I love my music!
Hey lady!
I can totally relate to emotional eating. And you’re right, it doesn’t go away just like that. Especially when I felt blah, that’s when the chocolate chip ice cream was my bestest friend.
My problem is getting hungry at night. My mind is on me to eat as if I hadn’t eaten all day. Of course I cave and have a little something.
Thank you for sharing your game plan with us. The first thing I did was stop buying my favorite go-to foods and stick to fruits and nuts. If I do want something sweet, I get a small bowl of cereal.
And I agree with Shannon! You are a total beauty hun!
Good luck girlfriend! You can do it!
When I feel blah, I crave salty things, like potato chips. Yummy! I try to keep them out of the house, otherwise the lure of that satisfying salty crunch would be me too much for me. I’ve bulked up on buying more fruits and veggies to snack on and cereal is a great sweet and not-so-bad for you treat. You guys are so sweet! You’re making me blush! LOL!