When it comes to losing weight, it is vital that you change your relationship with food and eating.
If you don’t do this, you will likely gain back all the weight that you lost.
Lucky for all of us, we have opportunities to do this every day.
Every time we are hungry, every time we eat, or every time we have a craving, these are a good times to evaluate our relationship with food.
What to Look For
Do you eat for entertainment or simply to socialize?
Or, do you eat to reward yourself for losing a couple of lbs.? Is it hard for you to pass up free food, or maybe goodies that someone has brought to the office?
If you’ve answered yes, you probably need to take a good look at your relationship with food and eating and make some changes.
Keep in mind, it’s not your fault, we’ve been conditioned by the media, advertising, society, our upbringing, and even the evolution of mankind to eat when food is available.
There’s no one really to blame; but, it is your responsibility to fix. No one can do this for you.
How To Fix Your Relationship With Food
Now that you have realized that your relationship with food is less than healthy, here’s a few things to do:
1. Put your brain in charge rather than emotions. Plan out every meal 24 hours in advance. Your brain will be deciding ahead of time what to eat rather than your emotions in the moment.
2. Be smart about eating. Proactively choose WHAT you eat, WHY you’re eating, WHEN you eat, and HOW much. There is power in choosing to cut sugars, flours, and snacking from your diet. Eat to fuel your body, not to feel happy, satisfied, or to minimize feelings of stress and anxiety.
3. Identify your future struggles and make a plan to overcome them. If you know that someone bringing doughnuts to the office will be a HUGE temptation, make a plan of what you want to do in this situation, and practice it in your mind.
4. Analyze why you feel such an emotional connection to food. Do you eat because you are sad or worried? Do you feel like you should eat when you’re happy or celebrating something? Identify your emotional connections and then start changing them.