Are your emotions making you make poor food choices?

[CoachCher 1]

Are your emotions making you make poor food choices?

In these emotional times it’s very easy to fall back into bad habits. I know I’m finding myself eating things I know I shouldn’t be eating. Sure we can all make the excuse “Good Food is too expensive”. Who suffers when we allow our minds to go there? We do!! I’ll give you an example of eating things I know I shouldn’t be eating. It was 10:30 on Saturday night I was starving, instead of going to the kitchen and making a shake or a bowl of cereal; I jumped into my car and went to Jack in the Box. My morbidly obese alter ego showed up and I ordered 2 tacos, onion rings and an egg roll. Now most of you know I consider “Saturday” my free day and I eat what I want without guilt. Okay this was beyond a free day, this was complete and total insanity. I knew as soon as I placed the order I wouldn’t/couldn’t eat everything I ordered. It was if I had stepped back into time and had no problem ordering all of that food. Sure enough I get home and sit down to eat this crap I had just ordered. I seriously only ate a small amount of the food; a couple bites of the taco, a couple of onion rings and a couple of bites of the egg roll. I had all of this food left over and knew I wouldn’t eat it the next day. This kind of food does not make good leftovers, nor should we want this as a leftover meal. Not only did I spend $6.43 on crap at 10:30 on a Saturday night, I wasted a ton of food. So what did I learn from this experience; I still have to fight my “Inner Fat Girl”.

Was it my emotions that allowed me to make that decision; you Betcha. I gave into an impulsive craving and just went for it. Bottom line is we can blame our poor eating choices on whatever we choose. I don’t want our emotions to be an excuse as to why we are making poor choices. Own it, accept it and then get back on track. After really thinking about it, I know what caused me to make the decision to drive thru at 10:30 and buy crap. I was sad and lonely and wanted food to comfort me. It had comforted me so many times in the past and this was going to be no different. The great news is it was different, it didn’t comfort me, it didn't make me happy and yep you guessed it I was still lonely when I was done eating.

I was watching a report on the news the other day and it was saying as “Americans” we are turning to comfort food during these trying times. Most Americans are seeking comfort food to help them through. It’s cheaper and easier to feed a family. We can’t fall into this mind set/trap. As banded patients we have to make better choices. This is a lifestyle we signed up for, think of it as a marriage for better or worse we have to make good healthy choices. I am almost five years out, I know better. When I think of my “Free” day I do allow myself to eat foods that I would not eat during the week. However what I did Saturday night was much different. I allowed myself to go to the dark side, I let my inner “Fat Girl” take control, and I didn’t even try to fight it. I would encourage to look at what you’re eating and ask yourself “Why am I eating this”? Then be very honest with yourself, yes it will be hard but well worth the time to figure it out early instead of 20 pounds later.

If you are still finding yourself reaching for food to comfort you or to fill a void in your life contact me today, so we can discuss the void in your life. Together we will create a plan and get you on the road to weight loss success.

Edited February 23, 2009 by CoachCher

[ReadySteadyGo 8]

Nice Article, Thank you.

[slimmap 1]

"Own it, accept it, get back on track" . If you ever make this saying into a poster, I will buy it. If I was the type to get a tatoo (I'm not) I would have that tatooed on my hands so I would have to see it before I shoved food I didn't want in my mouth. Thank you. Keep on writing.

Sincerely,

Pam

[CoachCher 1]

I'll see what I can do to turn this into a poster, I would hate for you to get "Inked" :party:)

[Jewels68 0]

I love tats- But a poster would be great...

I gave in so much this past month, after stress of losing my job... It's getting harder and harder to find a job.

[slimmy120 2]

And me and that time of month,really tired headache, just want chocolate, somethong sweet,carbs, but this doesnt help even though i tell myself it will, then i have the bad feelings after, oh help all those calories in one day, like 800 cals on chocolate and........ Any suggestions on what to tell myself? don't eat that i don't want to put on weight,don't want to be fat again.

[chubbychecker 1]

Great story. I like hearing from people who are banded. I find it hard to move past listening to a therapist/psychologist who has not been banded, then they talk about what I should be doing. Thanks again for your thoughts. You are human go easy on yourself. Your honesty was the best part of this whole story.