Losing Weight – The Addiction of Comfort Food

Its very name is appealing – comfort food. What could be more wonderful than a food that helps us feel better? Almost everyone can name something that they eat when they’re just feeling sour or sad. Chinese take-out, chocolate cake, raspberry ice cream, banana pancakes and many others make the list.

Of course, we know that food can’t be the solution to our problems, especially the problem of trying to lose weight and keep it off. So why do we find ourselves trapped in the eat/feel better/feel worse/eat some more cycle?

The Basics

The fact of the matter is that all food makes us feel good. Our bodies are still stuck in the prehistoric period where food was scarce, so we naturally desire to binge until we feel full. Our bodies encourage this by making feeling full a pleasant feeling, and being hungry as unpleasant as possible.

Human psychology takes this a bit further, because we’ve added our emotions into the mix. In addition to our bodies’ natural tendencies to want to eat and feel satisfied, we have mental needs as well. Notice that our workday is very closely married to our eating schedule: We have all the stresses of work lasting all day long, and what do we do when we get breaks? We have lunch, or when we go home we have dinner. Thus the two main periods of the day when we feel relaxed, we eat. This creates a mental association in our head that eating feels good when we feel bad.

The Cycle

It’s easy to see how this can lead to cyclic behavior. We get into a habit, day in and day out, of eating when we’re just getting ready to relax. Once we’ve associated the two for more than thirty days or so, we do it automatically.

Then, something particularly bad happens, and we just feel awful, so we reach for a food that we know makes us feel particularly fine. This is why so many comfort foods are decadent treats; we want to make ourselves happier than usual and we want to feel like we’re “treating” ourselves because we’ve earned it after a hard day.

Then, a few hours later, we feel guilty about the cake we binged on, and this makes us nervous and upset, and since we’re programming ourselves to feel hungry when we’re upset… well, we all know what comes next.

The Interrupt

The first part of breaking a bad habit is to stop the repetition of it as a reflex. Remember to use the STOP method as a verbal way of getting control of yourself. Say “stop” aloud. Take a break from the thing stressing you out. Own your outcome: Remind yourself what you’re trying to achieve. Praise yourself for what you’ve accomplished so far.

Using index cards, write down suggestions for your break that have nothing to do with food. Perhaps a quick round of solitaire on the computer, or a brief read of a favorite chapter of a book will help. Alternatively you could put on some quiet music if it’s convenient to do so.

The Substitution

Part two of healthy habit building is the substitution of good habits for bad ones. We’ve already interrupted the reflexive snacking that we reach for, now it’s time to put something definitively in its place.

Write down some of your favorite substitutions on the same index cards that you used for break ideas. Remember how we discussed water as part of a way of controlling appetite? It can have the same benefit here. If you feel reflexively hungry for comfort food, have a nice tall glass of water in slow, steady sips over five minutes. This will give you the feeling of being full without the calories.

Consider tying each substitution you make to a certain emotion. We feel upset in specific ways, so we should have specific solutions rather than general ones. If getting shouted at unexpectedly makes you antsy, consider taking a quick walk to burn some of the energy. If something comes up that makes you feel sad, pick an activity you know makes you cheerful.

If we simply rely on general solutions, they won’t feel as meaningful or helpful. Specific ones that we use in exact circumstances have the power to create more of a connection, and thus become more of a habit.

This is a necessary step because it’s hard to use the method of “same time every day” to build this habit, as we don’t always know when we’re going to want comfort food. But the fact that familiarity builds repetition can be used to our advantage with a little creative thinking.

Get Support

Remember that we haven’t gone into this effort alone. We have support groups we can talk to. If comfort eating is becoming a challenge to your efforts to lose weight, tell your support buddy about it. Ask them for help in coming up with the creative substitutions that will keep you from overeating. Ask them if they mind being a comfort-friend in addition to a support partner, and if they can come with you on impromptu excursions to relax instead of comfort eating.

Author’s Note: Article published here.

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Larry Tobin is the co-creator of http://www.HabitChanger.com/, offering effective and empowering solutions for stopping stress. Try our 42-day program that will help you learn proactive habits to beat stress and keep you moving forward in the right direction.

Read more articles written by Larry Tobin

Losing Weight – A Body in Motion

Newton tells us that a body in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon; likewise, a body at rest will stay at rest until acted upon. This gives us a powerful metaphor for the difficulties of getting into a proper, healthy exercise habit that can help shed weight and keep it off.

Habits can work both for and against us. They build up every single day, one way or another. If we don’t take specific action, we’re going to find ourselves stuck in the bad habits that have held us back for so long. However, if we can break the mold and get ourselves into a good, strong routine of healthy habits, we will find they are much easier to maintain. This applies just as much to exercise as to any other habit we have in mind. Taking it step by step (literally!) can make all the difference in the world.

Step 1 – Start Small, but Start NOW

The nice thing about exercise habit-building is that exercise is actually very easy. It may seem counter-intuitive, but you can start exercising the moment you wake up.

When you wake up, you tend to stretch. Turn this into a routine, rather than a reflex. When you wake up, start with the legs. Rotate the ankles, then flex and stretch the calves and the thighs. Move up to your middle and torso, and work out to your arms, stretching everything from shoulders to fingers. Then reverse the process and work your way back down. This can be done in as little as two or three minutes.

Taking the time to begin exercising right when you wake up gets your mind in a proper, habit building attitude right from the get go. You aren’t fitting it in where you can, but ordering your day around it. Remember that habit-building works best when done at the same time every day, so what better time than first thing each morning?

Step 2 – Every Day, Do Something

We’ve all seen commercials promising spectacular results with a certain machine and 20 minutes of exercise three times a week. While it’s true that even three sessions a week can offer some benefits, it’s hard to build habits when you keep interrupting yourself with days off.

Instead, find a way to exercise just a little, every single day. Power walk to the mailbox and back to the house. Belt out 15 sit-ups and push-ups before you get into the shower or have breakfast. Park further out from work or the store than usual.

These are all small ways you can work “extra” exercise into your day. They build up the mindfulness that every day is an opportunity, and create the associations that make the habit a daily occurrence, rather than a periodic event.

Step 3 – Pick your Time, Keep your Time

While taking extra opportunities for exercise is a good part of healthy workout habits, this can’t be the only tool in your arsenal. The key to habit-building early on is proper scheduling. When we do the same thing at the same time, it builds into the habit we need it to be.

So pick a time every day to do some exercise. It doesn’t always have to be the same exercise, either. You could alternate strength exercises such as push-ups and sit-ups one day with cardio exercises – which are great for burning fat – the next day.

Whichever specific exercise you choose, make sure to stick with it at the same time. Let people know in advance, immediately, once you set your time. Tell them you’d love to visit the new Italian restaurant together or work with them on important projects, but this time is sacrosanct and important to you. Don’t compromise it for anything short of a genuine emergency. Your wishes are just as important as theirs, so treat them with the same respect.

Step 4 – Build on It

So far we’ve discussed a few simple ways to begin working exercise into your life. We start with stretches in the morning and a few light push-ups or sit-ups to get the heart moving. The next step is to increase the difficulty. The number five is a wonderful benchmark. Going from 15 push-ups to 20 is easy to do, only five more, but it provides a measurable step up the ladder of working out. Add five reps or minutes to your routine every few days to see if you can push yourself further, and you’ll be amazed what you can accomplish.

Additionally, you can build on your routine to include others beyond just yourself. We’ve talked before about having a support partner or friend to help encourage you along. If this friend wants to spend some time hanging out, invite them to exercise with you. You can have a nice chat between exercises, and you’ll have the shared experience of doing something that benefits you both, while also having a chance to be with a friend. This will create a pleasurable feeling, and make the appointment to exercise that much more fun to anticipate.

Good luck!

Editor’s Note: This article published here.

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Larry Tobin is the co-creator of http://www.HabitChanger.com/, offering effective and empowering solutions for stopping stress. Try our 42-day weight loss program today and change your life.

Read more articles written by Larry Tobin

Losing Weight and Building Confidence

Having confidence in your goal is important. It’s tough to stick to something we don’t believe we can do, after all. We’ve talked in other articles about how easy it is to get frustrated, and about controlling negative thoughts in our effort to build up good and healthy habits. We’ve also talked about rewards and incentives, but we haven’t really spoken about the best means of confidence boosting and building a habit of strong thinking itself.

Just like all of our other behaviors, confidence also is a habit. It’s a way of thinking that, if we cultivate it properly, will become automatic. People with more confidence try more things, take more risks and have more experiences overall than those of us without it. So let’s look at a few ways we can cultivate that kind of confidence for ourselves.

Confidence Booster 1 – Knowing Your Abilities

Honesty is the most important part of having a proper confidence habit. There are things we definitely can do, and things we definitely cannot. We can believe all we want that eating while standing up “doesn’t count,” but the calories still go in! Similarly, just because we’re afraid that we can’t do something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true. We might be convinced that we’ll drown the moment we go into a pool, but stepping into the water will prove we’re wrong.

To that end, sit down with yourself and go over your goals and steps you’ve broken your diet plan down into. Look at each one, and come up with two different things that might get in your way of achieving them. Then immediately write down one way you know you can circumvent each potential problem. If it’s a friend who insists on super whippy frothy coffee desserts, consider asking them if you can meet at a different venue while you’re working on your weight loss.

Do this every single day. Pick out a specific goal, one obstacle and a resolution to that obstacle every morning when you get started. This will get your mind in the habit of thinking about your abilities and what you can do with them, rather than the problems and confidence-crushing hindrances that slow you down. Make sure you do it at the same time every morning to strengthen the habit-building potential of it.

Confidence Booster 2 – Review Your Successes

Nothing in the world boosts confidence like success. Verbal affirmations of your self worth are a good step, but they’re infinitely more powerful when you have something to reflect on when you make them. Equally, successes become more meaningful when rewarded with congratulations, yet often we are the ones least inclined to congratulate ourselves. Stop withholding well-deserved praise from yourself and start acknowledging what you’ve done right.

Whenever you take a positive step toward your goal, whether that’s refusing the large portion for the small one or successfully exercising the “wait 20 minutes” option during a snack craving, compliment yourself for it. Whether aloud or in the privacy of your thoughts, praise yourself for a job well done.

At the end of the day, review all the successes you made. You’ve probably already gone over the mistakes, so those don’t need retreading. Instead, focus on each little victory and take pride in it, knowing that it helped you one step along your way.

Confidence Booster 3 – Set Goals and Hit Them Again

Repetition and routine are the best methods of solidifying a good, powerful habit that will help when losing weight. We’ve discussed setting goals, and complimenting yourself for achieving them, so now let’s talk about repeating them. After all, what’s more impressive – hitting the bull’s eye, or hitting it 10 times?

To that end, take some time when you wake up to remember the successes from yesterday. After pausing to compliment yourself again for them, affirm that you’re going to take the same step today. You did it once, after all; it’s entirely within your grasp to do it again. If you think you can, go a step further and affirm an expansion to the goal as well.

This pattern will help you build a habit of consistently seeing your accomplishments as something that you can do and have done, and make you want to do them again. Then, as you get comfortable hitting the mark, you’ll naturally want to expand it, hitting a higher goal, until it becomes the one you meet every day.

Confidence Booster 4 – Review the Plan

An interesting study recently showed that people who focus only on their end goal don’t tend to succeed as much as those who focus on the goal and the steps in between. Yes, we all want to get to a place where we feel better, and fit into a nicer set of clothes, but if we choose to focus only on the little swimsuit, we’re going to inevitably look at ourselves and think, “How will I ever…”

Remember that you have a plan. You’re not trying to make a leap; you’ve got many small steps in between that you’re going to take. You don’t have to lose fifty pounds today; you just have to replace your usual afternoon candy bar with a healthy sandwich, or a pack of low-salt nuts. You can take that step – that’s easy! By reviewing the plan, and focusing both on the intermediate steps AND the goal, you make the goal seem that much more approachable, and you will find your confidence soaring.

Author’s Note: This article published here.

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Larry Tobin is the co-creator of http://www.HabitChanger.com/, offering effective and empowering solutions for stopping stress. Try our 42-day weight loss program at weight loss program today and change your life.

Read more articles written by Larry Tobin