11:07:57 Hey friends, welcome back to the Concierge Weight Loss Podcast. I'm Kara, and today we're talking about a big one.
11:08:03 Emotional eating. If you've ever found yourself reaching for food when you're stressed, bored, tired, or even.
11:08:11 Celebrating, you're not alone. Emotional eating is one of the most common things my clients struggle with. But here's what I want you to know right from the start.
11:08:20 Emotional eating doesn't mean that you're broken. It doesn't mean that you're weak.
11:08:25 It means… it means that you're human. And today, I'm going to show you how to handle emotional eating without guilt.
11:08:32 And what to do instead, so you can finally feel more in control.
11:09:30 Hey friends, welcome back to the Concierge Weight Loss Podcast. I'm Kara, and today we're talking about a big one.
11:09:37 Emotional eating. If you've ever found yourself reaching for food when you're stressed.
11:09:43 Bored, tired, or even celebrating, you're not alone. Emotional eating is one of the most common things my clients struggle with.
11:09:51 But here's what I want you to know right from the start.
11:09:54 Emotional eating doesn't mean that you're broken. Or that… that you're weak.
11:10:00 It means that you are human. And today, I'm going to show you how to handle emotional eating without guilt.
11:10:07 And what to do instead, so you can finally feel more in control.
11:10:12 First, let's just normalize this. Food has always been emotional. Think about it.
11:10:19 Birthdays, weddings, family dinners, holidays. We use food to celebrate, to comfort, to connect, and that's not going away.
11:10:28 The problem isn't that emotions and food should never ever connect.
11:10:33 The problem is when food becomes your only tool for handling emotions.
11:10:39 So, for example, you're stressed after work, so you grab a snack without even noticing.
11:10:44 Or you're lonely, so you pour a glass of wine and grab a bag of chips.
11:10:49 Or maybe you're just bored, and you wander into the kitchen.
11:10:53 Even though you're not hungry and you just finished eating already, you're just bored looking for something.
11:10:58 That's not about hunger. That's about emotion. And here's the truth. You're not overeating because you don't know what foods are healthy.
11:11:08 You're overeating because you haven't learned other ways to handle what you're feeling.
11:11:13 Once you understand that. You can take the guilt out of it. It's not about willpower. It's about learning.
11:11:21 A new tool. So, let's talk about guilt for a second.
11:11:25 When you eat because of emotions, your brain, it piles on with judgment.
11:11:31 Why did I do that? Oh, I blew it again. I'll never figure this out.
11:11:36 That guilt spiral. Actually makes things worse, because it usually leads to…
11:11:42 You guessed it, more eating. When you feel guilty, you feel defeated.
11:11:48 And when you feel defeated, food feels like comfort again. It's a cycle. Sometimes the guilt leads to shame, and then the shame becomes overwhelming, so to comfort ourselves with that, we eat.
11:12:00 All of this is a cycle. So, the first step to break free is this.
11:12:05 Drop the guilt. Emotional eating is not a moral failure. It's a signal. It's your body and your brain saying, hello, excuse me, something's going on here, please pay attention.
11:12:18 When you stop beating yourself up, you create space. To just ask better questions.
11:12:25 Okay, so how do we handle, like, actually handle. Emotional eating. Here are 3 tools I give my clients.
11:12:34 Number one, pause before you eat. Just stop for a moment, ask yourself, am I physically hungry?
11:12:42 When was the last time I ate, or what did I have? Am I actually physically hungry?
11:12:47 Or, am I feeling something else? You don't have to get it right every time.
11:12:52 But just pausing builds awareness. So, number two, name that emotion. If it's not physical hunger.
11:13:01 Put words to it. I am stressed. I am bored. I am lonely.
11:13:08 When you name the emotion, it takes away the big, scary power of that emotion.
11:13:14 And then number 3, offer yourself another option. Ask. If it's not food I need, I'm not physically hungry, what else could help me?
11:13:23 Like, what else could I do to help me out right now?
11:13:26 Maybe it's a hug, a long walk, talking or texting with a friend.
11:13:32 Stepping outside, or just taking a deep breath. Sometimes you'll still eat, and that is okay.
11:13:38 But every time that you practice pausing. Naming the emotion, and then just offering yourself.
11:13:45 Something else that's useful. You're gonna start building a new pathway. You start proving to yourself that food.
11:13:52 Isn't your only tool. I had a client who used to reach for ice cream every night after she got off work.
11:14:00 She told me it was the only way she knew how to relax. She'd tell me she deserved it, she'd been really good at work, or… Or that it was really stressful, or she had done so much.
11:14:09 When we work together, I didn't tell her you can't have ice cream.
11:14:14 Instead, I asked her to just pause before she ate it.
11:14:18 And if she was hungry. Great. If not, write down what you're feeling. Just write it down. Think about, how do I feel.
11:14:26 Right now. She realized most of the time, it wasn't even hunger.
11:14:32 It was stress, or it was overwhelm, or it was frustration, or a lack of.
11:14:39 Feeling, seen, understood, or validated. So together, we found other ways for her to unwind.
11:14:47 Sometimes it was taking a bath, or listening to music. Sometimes it was journaling about the day.
11:14:53 Um, even managing her day before she got stressed was helpful. Talking to her bestie to just vent on the way home.
11:15:00 And here's the cool part. Once she had other options. The ice cream stopped being the automatic answer. She still had it sometimes, but it wasn't controlling her anymore.
11:15:13 She was in control. So… Let's bring this all together. Emotional eating doesn't mean that you're broken.
11:15:21 It means that you're human. And the key is to take away the guilt and notice what's really happening.
11:15:28 Give yourself some new tools. To handle the emotions.
11:15:33 So this str… sorry, the three steps. Are, number one, pause before you eat.
11:15:39 That check-in with yourself. Am I hungry? Number two, name the emotion.
11:15:45 Find a name for it if it's not physical hunger. What is the emotion? And number three.
11:15:50 Offer yourself another option. For what you actually are needing.
11:15:54 And then remember this. This is a practice. You won't get it perfect. I would be surprised if you did.
11:16:02 But every time that you pause. And notice, you're building awareness and creating new habits.
11:16:10 And if you're ready, if you're ready to finally break the cycle of emotional eating.
11:16:16 That's exactly what we will be working on together inside my new program.
11:16:22 The Sustainable Success Program. It's a 12-week group coaching. Program running October through December, right through the holidays.
11:16:30 When emotional eating is usually the hardest. Instead of feeling out of control.
11:16:37 You'll finish the holidays and the year already ahead. You can get all the details.
11:16:44 Join the kickoff, that first round. At CoachingCara.com forward slash success.
11:16:49 Alright, friends, remember, it's not about being perfect. It's about noticing, practicing, and building new tools.
