Emotional Eating: A Constant Battle!

I usually get on here once a week and talk about how I am kicking @$$ at this whole weight-loss fitness journey. I thought I would switch it up a little and talk about a struggle I face. And not just the struggle to get up when my alarm goes off at 4am to go run, but let me tell you that's no easy feat either especially if Little Miss decides getting up in the middle of the night is the way to go.

Hello my name is Jenn, and I am an emotional eater. During pregnancy I justified my binge snacking and emotional eating but now that I am working on cutting down I have had to face the issue. One day I was researching the issue and read this article.  Now conquering this issue is a daily struggle. I started by recognizing what triggered the strong desire to graze the pantry and fridge, my biggest emotions that make me "hungry" are boredom/feeling of emptiness and stress. Now you might be thinking how can Jenn be bored since she has two kids? Well its the moments when they are both sleeping, its especially worse when Zack is at work during their nap times. But even times when the kids are awake and I get an empty feeling, like maybe I miss family in the States, it triggers the hunger pains. Keeping a food diary, like MyFitnessPal, made me so much more aware and helps keep me in check. When the "hunger" strikes I try to drink a glass of water, if I think I am still hungry I try starting a new task and if in 30min I am STILL hungry I reach for a healthy snack. I will have to say on days where my emotional cravings are bad, if I eat a meal I never feel full. That is where portion control has come in. I know what usually makes me full so I try (and usually succeed) to not eat more. Now that I am working on getting healither and learning to deal with my emotional eating I am feeling way less guilt! Let me tell you guilt is a heavy feeling that is so nice to be free of! Another tool in my journey is not rewarding myself with food, its tempting to go run extra just to eat a few more KitKats but that's only setting me backwards when I want to keep moving forward. I do however still do my modified version of "cheat days", its usually when we go off base to eat and I will watch the other two meals and adjust- for example if we do Ramen off base I limit my carbs and sodium for my other two meals.   

The journey to a healthier body is so much more of a mental game. It is having that self control when grocery shopping to not pick up your favorite sweet treat when its on sale, its that struggle when you have to give away your old favorite shirt cause it doesn't fit you, its going shopping and still grabbing the larger sizes. Just the other day I read words from a fellow ESC Sister that hit close to my heart,
 

"Keep moving forward. One step at a time. You will get there, I promise, if by running or by crawling." --Sarah Pagano Photography, read the whole blog post here.

 

Keep those words as a reminder that even when you don't think you are progressing, you are.

 

Until Next Time

XOXO

Jenn