How to get past the 'mental' part caused your weight gain?

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WorkingOutInPA
WorkingOutInPA Posts: 19 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi

I am hoping to get answers/suggestions on how to get past and move on from the mental part of what made you gain weight. Or is continuing to cause you to over eat, etc?
I watch biggest loser and extreme weightloss and they talk about their troubled life or rough situation that caused or tributed to their weight gain. BUT how do they get past it? Esp. If its still present in your life?

Replies

  • BlueObsidian
    BlueObsidian Posts: 297 Member
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    For me, it has been therapy. My excess weight is entirely mental, due to some traumas and a tendency to eat when I'm emotional. Getting help has been critical in changing the way I feel about myself and starting to feel like I really deserve to be happy and healthy.
  • 2BeHappy2
    2BeHappy2 Posts: 811 Member
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    Hi

    I am hoping to get answers/suggestions on how to get past and move on from the mental part of what made you gain weight. Or is continuing to cause you to over eat, etc?
    I watch biggest loser and extreme weightloss and they talk about their troubled life or rough situation that caused or tributed to their weight gain. BUT how do they get past it? Esp. If its still present in your life?

    Why...whats your end goal by finding out peoples personal life?
    Are you writing a book....or are you 1 of those people that was soliciting for people to be on a show?
    :ohwell:
  • mackmama11
    mackmama11 Posts: 15 Member
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    If there was a clear, easy answer to that half of America wouldn't be overweight. To answer your question though it helps to keep a diary and write how you are feeling before and after you eat. It gives you insight into your eating habits and how your emotions are linked to your eating choices. Then hopefully you can identify your weak moments and learn ways other than eating food to get you through them.
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
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    i was an emotional eater but after my 2014, if I didn't gain anything back I'd say my troubles are over LOL. A huge part of getting past it for me was KNOWING TDEE and how weight loss actually works so if I have a **** day or week, I know how to fix it and I don't feel so helpless or out of control.
  • CoachJen71
    CoachJen71 Posts: 1,200 Member
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    I wish I knew. I share your desire in wanting to get past that stuff.
  • sloth3toes
    sloth3toes Posts: 2,212 Member
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    Hi

    I am hoping to get answers/suggestions on how to get past and move on from the mental part of what made you gain weight. Or is continuing to cause you to over eat, etc?
    I watch biggest loser and extreme weightloss and they talk about their troubled life or rough situation that caused or tributed to their weight gain. BUT how do they get past it? Esp. If its still present in your life?

    Why...whats your end goal by finding out peoples personal life?
    Are you writing a book....or are you 1 of those people that was soliciting for people to be on a show?
    :ohwell:

    Assuming the OP is asking for a more personal reason... that is, she's trying to work things out for herself... I'm gonna try to answer seriously.

    You can attack this from as many angles as you like. You'll probably get lots of suggestions in these replies. But, my answer would be.... don't use the past as a reason or an excuse. Move forward, and regardless of how you got here, just accept that this is where you are. And decide where you want to be, and work towards that.
  • cicisiam
    cicisiam Posts: 491 Member
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    Start making choices that make you feel good about yourself, and it becomes a domino effect, or like the lab test where the rat keeps going back to what makes him feel good. Just a thought..Take a walk to start.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,741 Member
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    i was an emotional eater but after my 2014, if I didn't gain anything back I'd say my troubles are over LOL. A huge part of getting past it for me was KNOWING TDEE and how weight loss actually works so if I have a **** day or week, I know how to fix it and I don't feel so helpless or out of control.

    Pretty much this.
  • WorkingOutInPA
    WorkingOutInPA Posts: 19 Member
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    Thank you for your responses, I appreciate it. I know so many of us struggle with emotional eating. I haven't tried a journal for it so I will give that a try. I have been better with over eating but its so frustrating when something comes up and I go straight to the sweets/candy instead of hitting the streets for a walk.
  • leesoojin21
    leesoojin21 Posts: 1
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    For me it is deciding that eating will not fix my problems and that if I make a conscious decision not to eat when I am facing a problem that I have come out victorious and that I am winning against this instead of letting it win. It give more of the idea that you are winning against it than just forbidding yourself to eat.
  • WorkingOutInPA
    WorkingOutInPA Posts: 19 Member
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    Why...whats your end goal by finding out peoples personal life?
    Are you writing a book....or are you 1 of those people that was soliciting for people to be on a show?
    :ohwell:

    Really!?!? Why bother to answer if your not going to help!
  • strassenkoenigin
    strassenkoenigin Posts: 259
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    I think one of the main problems is that we are constantly triggered to eat. When you watch TV there is one ad after the other showing food photographed in the most enticing way, when you drive along a street there is one food place after the other open often 24 hrs. Most of the time our social activities center around food. I am older and when I grew up there were the three meals a day which were eaten by all family members together without watching TV or any other distractions. The food was not so important than the conversation and the exchange of news. To eat out was a treat and there were no snacks all the time.
    Too many people nowadays eat alone in front of the TV, or in the car, or in bed and they eat fast and too much because there is no conversation or company. You do not get the signal that you are full if you eat too fast. On the other hand I am convinced that must of our food is genetically altered that it is addictive and you have to be really careful what you eat. I had to give up all baked goods, because I could not stop eating them.
    We think too much about food and food is too readily available at any time.
    I think it is important to build a network of people you do other things with but eat. Somebody to walk with, to bike with, to play games with, to go to Yard sales with, to go to concerts or movies. The moment you find something to occupy your mind with but food, you will forget about eating. Try to do some art, play some music, collect some stuff.
  • modestbender
    modestbender Posts: 10
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    I think the first step is really understanding the root causes. I started regularly seeing a nutritionist who is basically like a food therapist, and joined a support group for overweight women. Sometimes it's easier to recognize behaviors in other people than in yourself. I always thought being overweight was an anomaly in my personality. Overweight people are supposed to be lazy and have no self control, right? Well, I'm a high achieving perfectionist. I came to understand overeating wasn't an anomaly--it was part of the same black and white perfectionist thinking ("Oh no, I made a misstep and overate. Everything is ruined now! Better eat more!") so part of changing that behavior was learning to actually be easier on myself. I've lost 50 lbs in the last year and a half or so partly by just refusing to beat myself up all the time for every little mistake.

    BTW, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of us are perfectionists--there's a reason we're drawn to tracking and charting everything we eat. : /

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