The emotional side of weight loss

You might not really think that your emotions have much to do with losing weight, but that is a very large part of why we struggle with losing weight. More than likely you are an emotional eater. We all are in one way or another. Many it for comfort, to feel better. Or from boredom. That was me. I would get so bored that I would turn to food.

When we are infants we are emotional eaters. It gave us comfort to eat, to deal with the stresses of begining life. As we grew we should learn to find other ways to cope, but many like myself never learned that. It was easy to turn to food. Because I was never taught differently. When I was growing up food was where much of my family found comfort and happiness. Family gatherings always revolved around lots of food. So whenever I was alone and extremely bored I would grab junk food to not have to think about what or how I was feeling. And that is what had gotten me into trouble where food was concerned. As I became an adult other factors came into play with my weight, I let my emotions control more of myself because of depression and illness and again boredom. And even some self loathing. It wasn't until I began to experience even more health issues that I finally came to the realization that there was nothing and no one that could fix things and make them better. Food doesn't fix things. Medication doesn't fix things. And my Dr's certainly couldn't fix things. There was only one way things could change. I had to start loving myself and taking care of myself. And I then could change things and begin to lose the weight that I have fought all my life.

So making the choice to love myself, and realize that I am a worthwhile person is when losing weight began to really work and it was then that I found that choosing to live a healthier, more productive life was actually very easy. It is how I have learned that rather than being an emotional eater I eat to give my body energy and fuel to live the best life possible. But that life does not revolve around food. I choose to live my life to the fullest and no longer need to depend on food or others to do it. It's time to choose life. If I can do it you can too.