Has this ever happened to you?
You had a long day at work or at home and 5 PM rolls around. You're hungry, tired, stressed and still not sure what you're making for dinner. So, you mindlessly eat the opened bag of pita chips that are sitting on your counter b/c ... pita chips aren't so bad, are they?
And / or you pour yourself a glass of wine to sip on while you try to pull together a meal from whatever random ingredients you have in the fridge.
And / or you grab the pretzels but quickly move over to a pint of ice cream at 9 PM when you finally sit down on the couch to turn the TV on and your brain off.
This, my friend, is stress eating or emotional eating and it's superrrrr common. We have all done it at least occasionally and we are actually hard-wired to have this type of relationship with food. Because if we eat when we're stressed, we get a temporary bump in the pleasure molecules inside our brain. This makes sense! From a survival standpoint, we would have wanted to store extra body fat during times of stress to have a reserve for whatever might be coming.
But if you have current fat loss and / or health and longevity goals, repeating this pattern fairly often will get in the way of you reaching those goals.
What can you do?
Start by understanding your biology! The extra food is a form of self-medicating. It makes you feel good in the moment, but probably not so much afterwards, right? Bloating, cravings, excess hunger later or the next day, feeling out of control, not accomplishing goals ... not awesome.
Instead, pre-plan some options for ways to "self medicate" that help you feel better right then and there AND later. Excess food won't be it.
Eat a satiating, balanced meal. You might actually be hungry! Fill your body with what it wants and can use well. Protein, fat and fiber. You'll likely feel better right then AND later.
Take a walk. Maybe call a friend or family member to catch up with too, or just grab any and all family members to join. That'll make you feel better right then AND later.
Put on some music, take a few deep breaths, have some herbal tea. Better right then AND later.
It's not that you'll never stress / emotional / overeat again. But if you can cut it back drastically, what do you think that would do for you and your goals? How about your confidence?
Next time you're ready to mindlessly eat or drink, ask yourself what you need and what you can do that'll make you feel good both right then AND later. That's the definition of true self care. It feels good in the moment and still feels good later on.
You got this!
XO,
Tara
P.S. The Early Black Friday deal will start November 17th! The cart will be open for just a few days to enroll for the January round of TRANSFORM: Body + Mind, my 28-day metabolism-boosting course. If you get in for this deal, you'll get access to the whole course and all the materials the day before Thanksgiving. You can dive in anytime and have a nice, big head-start before we officially begin together as a group in January. Make sure you're on the waitlist! The waitlist will get you a discount code. ;-)
P.P.S. If you need some more customization, accountability, hand-holding because of unique medical situations or you just know yourself well and this is how you work best, check out my 1:1 coaching program.