WEEK 5: Managing Emotions

FOR WEEK FIVE

If you are transitioning out of tracking full time, it’s time to add a third intuitive day to your week.

To gauge your readiness for a third IE day, refer to the list below.

• Did you eat similar foods on your IE days as you did on your tracked days?
• Did you avoid extreme fullness (by eating slowly and intentionally)?
• Did you avoid extreme hunger (by planning and ahead and spacing meals out well)?
• Did you avoid tracking your meals retrospectively?
• Did have a relatively normal week in terms of work, stress, family life, etc?
  

If you answered yes to all of these questions, then you’re likely ready to add a third untracked day. If you hesitated to say yes to any of these questions, it’s okay to spend another week with just two intuitive days, and re-access after that.

END OF WEEK FIVE

Goals:

• Identify emotional triggers and recognize situations or feelings that lead you to eat for emotional reasons.
• Find alternative coping mechanisms for stress management.

Emotional eating can stem from so many things in life, such as childhood trauma, stress, anger, sadness, or simply just boredom. Understanding why you are eating and when you are eating is an important step in intuitive eating. 

For example: If you ask someone, “When or where in your life did you feel the happiest or safest?” Their response could be, “ I felt my happiest when I was at my grandmothers eating her homemade meals and desserts.” This is now something that makes this person feel safe, feel fulfilled, and happy. So subconsciously, feeling stressed or sad is going to trigger the habit of doing what makes them feel good, which is eating. 

There is no shame in figuring out your triggers. It’s just about understanding why you cope the way you do, and then learning how to create new habits that make you feel happy, and safe from stressors in your life.

When it comes to emotional eating, what we also forget is that it’s truly temporary relief. You feel better in the moment, and as soon as that food starts getting digested, you’re right back to feeling the stress you felt before because you’re not actually dealing with it, you’re masking it. 

Here are two things that helped Coach Page overcome her stress eating. You can read the full post on her history of stress eating HERE.

      Number one — 

Write down the things you’re saying in your head to justify what you’re doing. 

• “One day won’t matter.”
• “There are more important things than worrying about food.” 
• “I don’t have to tell anyone.” 
• “I’ll eat less tomorrow.” 

Once you write out your thoughts, you can more easily realize how unhealthy many “justifications” are. At first, this like won’t stop you from emotional eating in the moment, but it should help you pause before the next time it happens. The point is that you want to try to process what is going on instead of feeling fully out of control.

       Number two —

Make yourself a list of at least 5 things you HAVE to do before you let yourself eat food to feel better. 

You don’t even have to make food off-limits, but you have to make sure it’s not the first thing you go to to try to feel better. When you have your list, you’re not going to WANT to work your way through it, but if you force yourself to, it can be life-changing.

Example of a list of things to do (not in your kitchen):

• 5 jumping jacks
• 10 deep breaths
• Type “motivational speech” into YouTube and watch something
• Wash your face with cold water or put a super cold towel around your neck
• Drink 15 oz of water minimum 

Usually by the time you get to the last item, the urge to eat something has lessened. This can give you space to process the WHY behind needing to eat, especially if you’re not actually hungry.

Our bodies are the most important things we have in life. If we are following our emotions for when to eat, we are no longer eating with intention. Food is meant to be enjoyed, but it should not replace healthy versions of dealing with stress, anxiety, or depression. 

Progressive Performance has a licensed psychologist and social worker on staff, Maggie Chiu. She has over 10 years of experience working in the field and is an incredible resource for anyone who needs help with goal setting, mindset around tracking or intuitive eating, or help figuring out the best ways to manage stress without food.

P2 podcast ep. 64: Introducing Maggie and How She Can Help
P2 podcast ep. 80: Functional Freeze – What’s Holding You Back

To book a consult with Maggie, click HERE and select Mental Wellness.