Day 13 - FB Live - Emotional Eating doesn't have to rule the day.

Don't fear your emotions. Feel life - 50/50.

If you have taken a bit here and there from these strategies and tips to get you to stick to your weight-loss plan, I am grateful.  Today I want to touch on emotions.

Emotions have spurred many an overeating episode.  I know I am not alone here. Emotional eating (to see if you are an emotional eater, you can take my quiz) is one reason many women over 60 do not stick with their plan.

At 40 lbs. overweight, I was sad and continually disappointed in myself. I truly believed I could never succeed at being someone who cared about myself.  My brain and thoughts were on a continuous loop: “Why can’t you stick with a healthy diet?” “Why are you so miserable?”  “If I just eat one of those, it won’t be a problem, right?” “What’s wrong with you?”  “Why are you being controlled by a quart of mint chocolate chip ice cream?”   All of these thoughts created the feelings of sadness, disappointment and frustration.

You have your own thoughts looping through your brain and creating emotions that drive your actions.  Each time you choose not to eat the healthy food you said you gives you the result of not reaching your goal weight.  Just look at your thoughts and you will find the answers to why you feel and how you act.

I learned about emotions.  The come and they go. 50% of them feel great and 50% feel terrible.  I had been working really hard at avoiding all of them because I thought experiencing the 50% terrible feelings meant I was terrible.  Funny how we come up with these crazy beliefs.  And what is a belief, but a thought we think so often, it appears fact.

I was wrong.  I was able to learn to love what loves me.  I was able to learn to choose food that is healthy.  I was able to learn to practice new thoughts.  I learned from neuroscience that I could change my brain.

Brilliant!

That’s what I want for you.  To love what loves you. When you love what loves you, you create ease.

Emotions, all of them are a fact of life.  Love them.  Healthy foods are great for your body, they nourish your cells.  I want you to love them.  I want you to desire them.  I can teach you how to do that. 

How do you learn to love what loves you?  I say it starts with a simple plan.  This is where we started 13 days ago and where we end up.  A complete circle.  Another loop.  This loop is better. 

Your plan to feel all your feelings may seem like a challenge, but you can learn how to do it.  You can connect with your body, and stop living in chronic stress.

Examine and be curious about how your body reacts to your emotions.  See them as vibrations. Fast, shallow breaths? Heart pumping faster?  What’s so bad about shallow breathing and a quick beating heart?

When you fall in love, you may have similar vibrations in your body. 

Just because you think something, doesn’t make it true.

You don’t have to fear your body’s call for food or your mind’s desire for acceptance. 

You can practice desiring what loves you, instead of throwing up your hands and giving your power over to a snickers bar, or a sneer, or a conversation gone bad.

Learning to allow all of your emotions, accepting all of your emotions, could just lead to love. I can teach you that too!

Love to love you, baby.