When it comes to losing weight, some find it easy to do, as they are able to shift and change their mindset and get themselves mentally prepared to shift that weight. Apparently men do this better than us women.
In
today's world, stress is a way of life, we either get stressed out
through our jobs, through home life, kids, relationships, debt it's
constant. Some of us handle these stressful situations by looking to
food for comfort. We make excuses about not having time for ourselves,
being too stressed to eat properly, to stressed to exercise.
Stress can lead to lack of sleep which leads to tiredness which leads to not eating properly or looking after ourselves.
If you are stressed about your job, then talk to your manager, some fear that talking out about being stressed will go against them, but we are all only human right? So let your Manager know what you are going through, so they can be more mindful with the volume of work they are dishing out to you.
You have to step back and really look at your situation. What is it exactly that is stressing you out?
How can your stress be alleviated at work. Come up with a solution so that when you meet with your manager they will know how they can help you recover or reduce your stress. Most manager's would rather be told that their staff are suffering from stress, than finding out by way of you not turning up to work because you are ill, and 'stressed out'.
If you are stressed out because of home life, then look at how your stress can be alleviated, can your partner do more to help out? If you haven't a partner and you have kids can you arrange for 'play dates' or stay overs once a week, so that you can have your 'me time'. If you are stressed out because of not having a partner, then plan your evenings to go out and socialise, doing things you like to do. That way if you do meet someone, you have something in common in the first instance.
Try to relax, through yoga, meditation, playing calming music, these are all ways of managing stress. Believe it or not even 'breathing' slowly and deeply in and out through your mouth and nose can help to calm you down.
So what makes us go back to our old habits at the first sign of 'stress'?
It is important that we realise what the stress triggers are in our lives. It is these triggers that we use as an excuse to reach out for food, chocolate, or something we should be mindful of if we are to get to our goal weight.
What is it that makes you reach out for your favourite comfort food? When you are 'in the moment' of eating your comfort food, take time to think WHY you are eating it? if you can STOP yourself, then do something different to 'disrupt' the habit. Put it down, go for a walk, drink 2 glasses of water, do something that will distract you.
Question every bit of food or drink you put into your mouth and ask yourself, "why are you eating this, and has it any benefit to your body"
Sometimes we often mistake that we are hungry instead of thirsty. Drink a glass or two of water instead,see if that satiates you. Alternately if you are just sitting around doing nothing, then overeating is a danger and can be avoided.
Find a way to be active, find a way to engage with others. Get yourself an accountability partner, someone who you can lean on in your times of weakness, or who will attend classes or events with you.
It also helps to repeat affirmations to yourself on a daily basis. Here is a great example of daily affirmations you can listen to first thing in the mornings before you start your day.
If you have found value for the information shared, please do let me know how this has helped you and any more thoughts you may have to help others. Comment below
