How to combat emotional eating

People gain weight for a variety of reasons, but one of the most difficult to combat is emotional or stress eating. It’s a behavior that we use for coping and lifting our moods when dealing with stress or when we’re upset. While emotional eating may boost our moods, it only creates a momentary shift that is quickly replaced by shame and guilt—and a larger number on the scale. It’s no wonder that there are so many weight loss programs and diet products in the marketplace today. 

When you eat just because you’re hungry, you typically don’t feel guilty afterwards. With emotional eating, you may experience a rush that quickly fades and is replaced with negative feelings. Thankfully, there are many weight loss products in place that can help you learn how to identify those behaviors and deal with them.

Log it. Keeping a food diary is an excellent way to figure out what triggers emotional eating for you. In addition to logging every single thing you eat, including condiments and beverages, you should make a note of how hungry you feel, using a scale of 1 to 10 or something similar. Next write down what you’re feeling so that you can decide if you’re eating because you’re truly hungry or if it’s a coping mechanism or an attempt to make yourself feel better.

Acknowledge your feelings. Own up to your feelings and accept them. Know that it’s okay to not be in a good mood all the time or to feel depressed or sad. Don’t judge your emotions, just accept them and let them pass.

Find new ways to cope. When you feel stressed out or upset, instead of heading to the refrigerator, think of something else to do. Make a list of activities that you enjoy—it can be anything from going for a walk outside, hitting the gym, playing with a pet, reading a book or just calling someone close to you who is a good listener. You can also meditate, listen to music or do something nice for yourself, like get a massage. If you’re truly hungry, but worried about overeating, you may want to try some diet products that are tasty and satisfying. Once you adopt new healthier habits, you’ll be able to combat your weight gain.

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Reboot Your Fitness Program

It happens to many of us—after months of dedicated exercise, you fall off the workout wagon. Whether it’s due to an injury, weight gain or an excessive work schedule, it’s not healthy and affects our overall wellness. In addition, when you’re striving for success with a low carb diet or one of the many easy weight loss programs available, boosting physical activity is one of the best ways to enhance your efforts.

If you haven’t worked out in months or even years, it’s time to get motivated! First things first, especially if recent weight gain is an issue—check with your general practitioner or a physician at a clinic for weight loss before you get started to make sure that it’s sage for you to begin an exercise program. Once you receive their approval, you can start your journey to get back in shape. Here are a few tips to help you get going.

Start with the basics. Start simple so that you’re not overwhelmed with change. This really helps those who have recently begun a diet or are working with one of the easy weight loss programs available. Take a walk around the block, stretch in the morning before you get going and take the stairs instead of the elevator whenever possible. Add a little bit more activity into your routine each day. Starting small is better than not being active at all.

Make an action plan. Now that you’re incorporating more movement into your day and are getting more comfortable with it, analyze your schedule and see where there is time for a workout. If you can’t find an hour anywhere in your day, then try for a half hour workout or a jog around the neighborhood. Start small!

Build it up. Every week, add in a new workout time until you’re working out five days a week. Add it to the schedule on your Smartphone, put it on your to do list and take it as seriously as you would any other appointment. Continue to increase your activity in both intensity and duration and mix it up whenever you can. With this strategy, you’ll get results and improve your overall health and wellness.

Click here to find a weight loss clinic near you.

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3 Reasons Your Workout Isn’t Working

Are you working out consistently but seeing lackluster results? Do you hit the gym for hours on end but the number on the scale isn’t budging? When individuals commit to a regular physical regime to supplement diets or weight loss programs, nothing can be more discouraging then seeing no changes occur. If that’s what you’re experiencing, then it may be one of the reasons stated below. We consulted with one of the top medical weight loss centers in Southern California to determine reasons why your workout isn’t working, and for solutions to this common problem so you can start shedding unwanted pounds.

You’re not burning as many calories as you think. Does the Stairmaster or treadmill say you burned 900 calories in that hour session you just completed? Not so fast—research shows that most machines overestimate calories burned by up to 30 percent. In addition, many are faulty, and as a result, give completely inaccurate readings. Instead of counting on the machine’s reading, focus on time or distance and use information on calorie burn provided by proven research. Some weight loss programs recommend using a pedometer to track movement throughout the day to get a more accurate calorie count.

You’ve hit a plateau. If you’re doing the same workout day in and day out, then you’re bound to hit a plateau no matter how hard you exercise. Hitting the same Zumba class or jumping on the elliptical for the same amount of time every day diminishes the challenge your muscles experience, and therefore, your body doesn’t have to work as hard as it did when you first started your program. Switch it up and confuse your muscles to restart that calorie burning machine. Stimulate and challenge your system by jumping into different classes, using different gym equipment and incorporating new fitness methods into your routine, such as TRX, gymnastics classes or yoga. 

Your exercise program makes you too hungry. Don’t subscribe to the mentality of burning off what you eat in order to lose weight. While it’s essential to eat less calories than you burn to achieve weight loss, research shows that most people eat more when they exercise. It’s difficult to keep track of how much you truly burn through working out, so instead, aim to combine a healthy diet that stays within the calorie range necessary for you to lose weight. If you’re uncertain of what that number is, visit one of the medical weight loss centers in your area for guidance. 

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Diet plans that work

While successful weight loss plans require a commitment, there are plenty of strategies to make the process smoother and easier that are also easy to implement. If you’re already working with a nutritionist or using weight loss products, incorporating some of these habits into your everyday life will speed up and maximize results. You’ll be watching the scale go down in no time at all.

Eat voluminous salads. Make salads with fresh vegetables every day if you can. Include vegetables and fruit with lots of volume and nutrients. Chop the vegetables instead of shredding or slicing them—it takes more effort to chew larger pieces, which will slow you down and result in you eating less.

Buy smaller. Opt for smaller packages when you’re at the grocery store and buy some weight loss products in portion-sized containers. Research shows that the smaller the package, the less you’re likely to consume.

Read labels thoroughly. Don’t simply glance at the calories on a nutrition label and stop there. Make sure that you know how many servings are in a container, what the fat calorie count is, how many carbs it contains and how much lean protein, sodium and nutrients each serving contains. Inform yourself so you know exactly what you’re putting in your body.

Brown bag it. Bring your lunch to work several days a week. The more we out, the less we know about what we’re consuming, and typically restaurant servings contain a lot more fat and calories than the meals we prepare at home.

Swap soda for juice spritzers. Skip the sugary sodas in favor of a juice spritzer—simply combine half a glass (or less) of juice with sparkling water and fruit. This will help you save some empty calories, while gaining some nutrients from the juice.

Eat seafood. Foods containing omega-3 fatty acids, aka “healthy fats,” help satiate hunger and boost metabolism, while yielding an array of healthy benefits. Seafood such as tuna, salmon, mackerel and cod are all excellent sources of omega-3 fatty acids and great for boosting the results of weight loss plans.

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