I"m trying to figure out why I struggle so much with trying to lose weight. It isn't like I'm not fully aware of what I need to do. I just keep sabotaging myself. I've read a number of books about emotional eating, but they haven't helped (Geneen Roth's books, Carol Munter, etc)
I just picked up 'Shrink Yourself" the book is about emotional eating and was written by a psychologist. I'm hoping this one gives me some insight/help.
Has anyone found any helpful books? I've read so many already, though! (I just can't remember all the authors now)
I've started The Solution by Laurel Mellin. It was recommended to me by someone who said it fueled his successful weight loss journey. I'm not very far into it, but so far, I've enjoyed it.
Something that I do to help my emotional eating (which I've found some reasonable success doing) is a suggestion made by this same person. When I am struggling with the desire to binge, I tell myself, "I do not eat because I'm lonely or bored or frustrated. I go for walks to work out those emotions," or some version of positive self-talk. Sounds kinda silly, I know, but it also helps if I reinforce those thoughts when I'm not in the middle of a crisis. It hasn't been foolproof for me, but it has stopped a number of binges before they've started.
I also have the same struggle whenever I feel anxious, angry or bored, I want to eat something really fattening. An example happened last week when my job ordered a special pizza lunch and left the leftover pizza in the main lunchroom. I walked in to fill up my water glass and there are 9 boxes of leftover pizza on the counters. My first instinct was to run over, grab a plate and load up two extra large pieces. Mind you, I had already had my low fat/calorie lunch and wasn't one bit hungry. But in my mind, I said "look at all that free delicious pizza. It won't hurt if I eat a little bit". In the past, I would have jumped on it and ate it and that's why I've got this extra weight not but at that moment I had to talk to myself and tell myself that the pizza will always be available to me. Pizza Hut is not going out of business! It was a conscious choice at the moment to pick "me" and my goal and not give in to a weak moment. I've been doing that alot lately. Realizing I don't have to indulge myself everytime I get a craving.
I cannot recommend "The Four Day Win" highly enough! It has COMPLETELY changed how I look at and interact with food.
You know how we've all heard about having to go through the pre-contemplation, contemplation, and preparation phases of change before you can actually succeed at the "action" phase? Well, this book spends most of its time on those -- because most diets are all about the action phase. Her premise is that we may think we're out of contemplation and preparation, but most of the time we really aren't. We need to work through a lot of the mental and emotional stuff in those phases before we will be able to succeed in the action phase of any diet.
books about emotional eating
