Stop Emotional Eating 6 Week Challenge

roojyrooroo

Stop Emotional Eating 6 week Challenge - join anytime

In this group challenge we will break the habit of emotional eating over a six week period.

Each week we will trial a few of the strategies that are freely available on the internet to stop emotional eating.

This will be an intensive group. It will involve about 30min commitment a day so at the end of 6 weeks you have made a true change and are free of emotional eating. Of course you can join in on just some of the activities or do it all on the weekends.

Join here http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3621-stop-emotional-eating-6-week-challenge

AWARENESS

We will start with being aware of emotional eating.

The first activity this week comes from a free ebook by a doctor that works on emotional eating (available at skrinkyourself.com). Throughout the week we will journal on the questions he proposes. Next week - after we have more awareness - we will move only playing with solutions and strategies.

Please post answers to the bellow questions to the group (or you can keep them private if you prefer).

Questions
1. How hard is it for you to see emotional eating in your life? Is it very visible? If so, describe the instances you’ve got in mind. Do you think instances like this are the main obstacle to you losing weight? If it’s not so visible, why do you think you have trouble eating less and exercising more?

2. Do you have trouble differentiating between emotional hunger and physical hunger? Describe a time when you may have mistaken emotional hunger for physical hunger. What was happening at the time to make you emotionally hungry? Why didn’t you deal with it directly, instead of using food?

3. Examine your hunger whenever it arises. Try to use the six distinctions (below). Do you feel emotionally hungry more often than physically hungry? Do you always give into the emotional hunger or do you sometimes find another way to satisfy it without food?

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Physical vs emotional hunger

First, emotional hunger normally comes on like lightening, while physical hunger develops slowly. Emotional hunger is like a rocket going off: it happens suddenly. Physical hunger develops little by little: first there’s the tummy rumble, then the grumble and then it really starts complaining with hunger pangs. But, the slow stages of physical hunger are very different from the quick onset of emotional hunger.

Second, emotional hunger demands food immediately, whereas physical hunger is a bit more patient. Much like its quick onset, emotional hunger demands immediate satisfaction. On the other hand, even if you are ravenously hungry, your physical hunger will wait for food.

The third difference between the two involves mindfulness. Satisfying physical hunger involves a deliberate choice and awareness of what’s being eaten. How much of what’s being eaten is noticed, meaning you can stop when full. However, emotional hunger on the other hand usually doesn’t notice how, why or what’s being eaten. Emotional hunger will even demand more food even after the person is stuffed.

Fourth, physical hunger is open to different types of foods, but emotional hunger often demands very particular foods in order to be fulfilled. If you’re physically hungry, even carrots will look delicious. If you’re emotionally hungry, however, only cake or ice cream might seem appealing.
Fifth, satisfying emotional hunger often results in guilt, or promises to do better next time. This is in sharp contrast with physical hunger, which is viewed as necessary to survival and therefore has no guilt attached to it.

And sixth, emotional hunger, of course, results from something emotionally upsetting, while physical hunger results from a physical need.

Whenever you feel compelled to eat in a way that doesn’t match the patience or speed of physical hunger you are struggling with emotional eating and hunger.

emfilomena

I think this is great! I joined : )