Plan Your Different Outcome

Week 2 in our Emotional Eating Series

Classic Emotional Eating goes something like this:

A: Life Happens: for example-you have an argument with a family member

B: You have a belief or thought on how to cope with this situation-be it consciously or subconsciously: I’m angry at my spouse and the only thing that is going to calm my nerves right now is in the freezer!

C:  The Outcome: You go to the freezer and eat your favorite treat. As you take the last delicious bite, you realize you’ve eaten more than you wanted. You may feel guilty, sad, or angry at yourself.

If you are serious about putting a stop to EE then it will help you to better understand your conscious or sub-conscious thoughts connecting A and C. This is why I asked you to write down the “WHY” in your EE log last week.

Look back at your EE log now. What did you tell yourself that may explain the connection between a life event and an emotional eating meal?

Congratulations! You’ve just taken the first step towards conquering emotional eating! Awareness.

If you haven’t been able to identify any specific thoughts connecting you’re A and Cs then take this week to re-focus with this new information in mind. When you are ready to move on, come back and pick up where you left off. Feel free to shoot me an email if you need additional guidance at brandi@brandiolden.com.

The next step on your journey to overcoming EE is Determine or Check In. This leads us to your weekly challenge: Checking In!

Routinely Checking In with yourself before, during, or after EE will expedite your journey to a healthy food relationship on so many levels!

Checking In will help you to:
1.    Identify the specific emotion
2.    Recognize your choices
3.    Challenge your B (thought or belief that is linking a specific situation to EE) by helping you create a new    thought or belief about the situation at hand.

For Example:

D: Determining the situation (ie Checking In): How do I feel? What am I truly expecting of myself and of the situation? Is that realistic? What can tell myself the next time I feel this way so that I won’t emotionally eat? What do I need to be successful next time?

Essentially what you are doing here is taking your awareness of your EE situation to the next level.
Your weekly challenge is just that: take it to the next level. Check in with yourself by asking some of the above questions. Write down your responses in your EE log. Come back next week to see how we move even closer to Creating Peace with Food ™.