In my weight loss journey, emotional eating was a HUGE thorn in my side. I had been an emotional eater for as long as I could remember.

My family would know when things were not great in my life as I would “suddenly” start piling the weight on.  As a teenager, my Mum would say, “what is wrong love” and I would say “why” and she would say “because you are standing at the cupboard eating”.

One time, that comes to mind, I was standing at my grandmothers fridge, eating cold chicken and rice, with my fingers.  I know that sounds disgusting, but I was emotional eating.  I was “pushing” my emotions down with food.

Another scenario, when really worried about my escalating weight, I would head for the kitchen, I would have a biscuit, still hungry, some icecream, still hungy, some chips, still hungry, a chocolate, still hungry, nothing I ate, satisfied me.  The reason being, I was not hungry, I was looking for a “feeling” and of course food was not going to give it to me.    Isn’t it funny, we never crave carrots or celery when we are emotional eating…

I felt so sad inside, I just wanted to feel better.  Now, of course, after all of this food, I would then feel ten times worse, because now, not only was I “fat” but I just ate so much more “junk”.   The cycle is just crazy.

For someone, like my Mum,  who for most of her life, struggled to keep weight on, they just don’t understand this.  They don’t understand how if you are sad about your weight, why you would eat more food and expect to feel better.

In my sane mind I knew that was true, but I felt like someone else took over my body, like it wasn’t really me.   I felt like an innocent bystander, like I had no control over it.   I could eat a lot of food when I was emotional eating.

So, how after following this pattern my whole life, did I “break free” from it and I do say “break free”, as that is what you will feel like when you do?

Firstly, I made a decision that no matter what happened, when I felt like turning to food, I would consciously go for a walk or do something that was going to make me feel better NOT worst.

Two, every single thing I put in my mouth, in the early stages, I asked myself, will this heal or hurt me.  This one statement just made me conscious of my eating.

It all comes down to making a decision that no matter what, you are doing this, and then following some simple strategies to make some life long changes.

Nothing worthwhile is every easy and let me assure you, shedding those 43 kilos/95 pounds, have changed my life forever.

Make the decision, that today is your day, the day you take back control of your life.

Yours in Health,

Rebel.