5 Weird But Effective Ways To Hit Your Happy Weight — And Maintain It

For many of us emotional overeaters, it will take some time to really connect our experiences and our feelings with what we put into our mouths. It is a good idea to begin writing your food-feeling connections to give you more insight and awareness. When you write down every single thing you eat, there is less chance of unconsciously eating something. This exercise will help you explore the connection between food and feelings.

Many of us are eating when we are not physically hungry. Do you eat when you are sad, bored. anxious, ashamed, angry, or afraid? Whenever you have an unpleasant feeling, do you use food to push away the feeling and sedate yourself? Some folks like crunchy foods when they are angry and sweets when they are bored and lonely. It's time to get in touch with how your feelings affect what you put in your mouth.

Go through the foods that you are likely to binge on or foods that you have binged on in the past. Ask a supportive person to come over and go through your cabinets and refrigerator with you. Get rid of all of those foods. If you live with a partner or spouse, you might need to sit down with them and explain to them what you're going through. This is really important. If you were an alcoholic, it would be crucial that your partner didn't bring alcohol into the house while you were going through recovery. Think of trigger foods like alcohol. You will feel more comfortable if they are not easily accessible. As you go on in your process, you might begin to learn new trigger foods that you never would have thought you'd binge on.

For example, one client discovered she couldn't keep raw, unsalted sunflower seeds in her home. If she did, she'd eat as many as she could, and even if she finished them all, she would find something else to continue eating. Even though this was a healthy snack, it was a trigger food for binge eating.

Once you've cleared the house of binge foods, vow not to bring any binge foods home and declare your house a binge-free zone. This is not a forever thing, but for now, in the early parts of gaining control over your eating habits, you want to keep yourself safe. Just as a recovering alcoholic wouldn't spend time in a bar or keep bottles of gin in his or her home, you don't want to have any trigger foods in your home either. 

The mindful meal is a planned meal in an intentional space that you create to understand more about your feelings when you are eating. It will help you focus on your own hunger, digestion, and moods. The more often you eat mindful meals, the better you will begin to understand the difference between real, physical hunger and fake, emotional hunger. Here are the steps:

A weight-loss vision board is one of the most valuable weight-loss tools that can help you achieve your goals. If you want a vision of your future life to look completely different, then it's important to focus on the pictures and images that inspire you to make healthy choices along your journey.

Your mind responds strongly to visual stimulation, and when you surround yourself with images that invoke positive emotions, your brain will work to achieve the affirmations and images. Your vision board will program your subconscious to attract things that will help you reach your weight-loss goal.

Don't assume a family member or friend you're closest to is the best choice for your support system. Think very deeply and be brutally honest about who has been helpful to keep you on track in the past. The best supporter will be someone who has the same goal of getting slimmer and healthier and is committed to doing whatever it takes to achieve it. It would be great if you got together to work out, do meal prep and share recipes, go grocery shopping, cook shared meals together, and if you touched base on the phone weekly. It really depends on what kind of support you actually need. Encouragement can come in many forms. Some folks just need a motivational word or quote each day to stay on track.

Also consider who is most available. Discuss how much time and energy you both have to devote to the partnership and how realistic it is to be available to support one another. Discuss what will be your primary mode of contact and support. Determine if you prefer phone, email, or text communications—this will be key to maintaining contact. If you need face-to-face time, discuss that as well and figure out the best times to get together. The goal is to ensure there is time devoted to listening and encouraging each other.