Emotional Eating

Yep... had to get this post in before I officially weigh in for the first time and get started with this thing. And this is going to be some REAL TALK.

Emotional Eating. According to WebMD, it's "eating to feed a feeling and not a growling stomach". For the rest of this article, click here.

Yes... I'm a huge victim of this. And what's wierd is... sometimes I actually feel the ability to make the choice not to do it beforehand. I mean... not to say we don't already have the choice to not do it... but I'll be staring a second hamburger, a 4th slice of pizza, a 3rd helping of macaroni & cheese... and I'll sigh and say "what the hell" and eat it anyway.

This week especially has been bad for me. Had a couple of really bad days at work, and bombarded myself with pizza twice this week. My once-coveted 306 lbs. (scale reading from Tuesday evening) ballooned to 315 lbs. (scale reading Friday night). Scale reading from this morning was 311 lbs. You really shouldn't weigh yourself this often, but I'm just sharing to give you an example of what this has done to me.

Emotional eating has been a big factor in why past diet plans have failed for me. Something sets me off, I shovel food down my throat, and I feel even more defeated than before I began eating, and decide to give up. Over the past 4 years, my weight has fluctuated up and down between 289 lbs. and 330 lbs. NOT COOL AT ALL. My blood pressure and cholesterol levels have suffered because of this. Praise God that I don't have to take medication to keep those levels in check, but my doctor has told me in the past that I have borderline hypertension and I need to watch my sodium intake.

One of the things most people will tell you is that you can't give up - if you slip up, you can't wallow in it. So, this post is serving two purposes - (1) to give readers a little insight into what someone goes through when they let themselves fall victim to emotional eating, and (2) give me a little boost to not give up before I began. I want to look at this post 2 months from now (and possibly 15-20 lbs. lighter) and bask in the glow of the fact that I had this moment and got myself through it and didn't give up. I think we need that.

Yeah, I had a couple of bad days this week. Yeah, I let my emotions drive me toward pizza in a big way - once, I ate a whole large pizza from Papa John's, and last night I went to a pizza buffet. SO WHAT? I know I shouldn't do it. But here's the rub - it's OK. It has happened. I'm going to concentrate on the future. I'm going to keep my mind on my first weigh-in tomorrow. I'm going to look forward to my first workout on Monday evening. That's my little goal right now, on the way to the big goal. Getting through Monday's workout.

I feel much better after posting this.