How to STOP Emotional Eating in JUST 5 minutes

I have been using this 5 minute thought reset for a the last week. I have been practicing it mostly in the controlled settings from when I first posted about it. I've noticed that it is getting easier and easier to put this into place before each meal. I have been diligent about stopping myself and going through each step before I eat or while I'm preparing my food.

Thought work is not successful if you don't do the work. If you don't practice changing the thoughts, if you don't take the time to stop yourself and go through the steps it doesn't work. In order for you to change your thoughts, you have to take the time to become aware of them and then go through the steps to change.

Here is what each minute looks like during an emotional eating episode.

The first minute is about assessing if you are EVEN hungry. Most of the time an urge or an emotional episode has nothing to do with hunger. When you are emotionally eating, you have to be looking for physical hunger cues, emotional eating has nothing to do with actual hunger.

Minute one of the thought reset will be quick. The answer will be; "NO, I'm having no hunger signs. I am not hungry. I'm emotional."

The second minute is about asking yourself why do you want to eat. This second minute in an emotional eating episode takes a bit longer. Here you have to determine why do you want to eat?

"I want to eat because my kids are driving me crazy."

"I want to eat because I have had a really hard day and I deserve it."

"I want to eat because that looks/smells so good."

"I want to eat because I'm tired and exhausted and it will help keep me awake."

"I want to eat because that is what every body else is doing."

This takes some work and awareness to really dig into why are you wanting to eat. This is a deep awareness of what is making you "feel" like you want to eat.

Yesterday mine sounds like "I want to eat right now because I'm tired, I've worked really hard today and I deserve it."

Minute three is the same as in a controlled setting. It is all about reminding yourself about your goals, what results you want to see, and what things you would like to accomplish. What is your reason for wanting to eat well, lose weight, be healthy? Why are you making sacrifices, trying to be mindful, attempting to change habits and patterns of behaviors that are no longer serving you?

Just another reminder about your reason or your desire. Your reason for wanting to get healthy does not need to be NOBLE it needs to be MOTIVATING to you! Find something that either makes you cry thinking about or makes you so incredibly pissed it moves you to action.

"I want to fit into a size 8 pair of pants." "I want to feel comfortable in a bikini."

"I don't want to be watching my family from the side lines."

"I want to be a role model for my kids." "I want to be in the family pictures instead of hiding behind the camera."

Also this reason may change in different seasons in your life.

When I first started I just wanted to be able to go into my closet and not fight with the clothes I had, I wanted to be able to look in the mirror and like what I saw (whole other post, but this was just a thought process I had to change) and I wanted to see a specific number on the scale.

Now 3 years later, I either currently have reached these goals or I've changed my thoughts and beliefs about them. Now 3 years later, I am trying to find food freedom. Only eating when my body is asking for food, stopping when I am full, and eating food that fuels me.

Minute four is uncomfortable in an emotional eating episode. This is where you really have to stay present, the easy response is "I don't care, I"m going to do it anyway." But here at minute 4 you have to decide does this current action help me get the results I desire.

Yesterday I was exhausted, when I'm tired I eat in an effort to keep myself busy. When I got to minute 4 I had to ask myself was the extra scoop of pb going to help me get the results I wanted. Was it going to negatively or positively affect my results.

The conclusion I came to was. "Peanut butter is not going to help me get the results I want. I'm not hungry, I'm tired. It will only affect me negatively because my body is not asking for food, my body is in need of rest and sleep."

Minute 5 is where you decide what actions you are going to take. Will you give into the urge, comfort yourself with food, reward your hard work with food when you are not hungry OR will you stay the course and take the necessary actions you need to in order to get the results that you want?

At minute 5 it sounds like this "I'm choosing to put the peanut butter back, I'm not hungry, I'm tired. Eating peanut butter will not help me achieve my goal of food freedom. Right now I need to practice saying no to emotionally eating. I am mindfully choosing to stop and go and take the rest that I need."

I want to be very clear that this is not easy to do. It takes effort, mindfulness and a ton of practice. Sometimes you might completely forget and realized that during an emotional eating episode you totally forgot to do it. Do it after the fact, what should you have done, what would you have said going through each of these minutes. The more practice you get the more naturally this will start to happen.

Changing your habits and patterns of behavior is not easy. But the only way to do it is to consistently engage in the practice of it.

If you need more help with using this 5 minute thought reset you can email me at neverstopneversettlefitness@gmail.com for a FREE 10 minute Thought Reset Session. In this session we will talk about how you can use these 5 minutes to reset your thoughts to start getting you the results that you desire.

Loves,

Linds