If you’ve just launched your annual 3-month eating binge from Halloween until New Years, I gently suggest changing that program. There is no reason to eat yourself silly for the next three months only to spend the following nine trying to lose what you gained.
Instead, try something different this year and stop holiday weight gain.
1. Learn EFT. It’s easy, quick, painless and you can use it all the time for life stresses and more. It helps with eating and weight loss because it relieves stress, and we all know stress leads to weight gain (at least many times it does — some actually lose weight when under great stress). These pages explain EFT and NLP and how they can be used for weight loss, then the last page has worksheets so you can learn EFT basics for weight loss. [links open in new window].
2. Get The Daily Bites. Sent two or three times a week, short lessons in how I use EFT to maintain my 80 pound weight loss and how you can do the same. The Daily Bites – EFT for Weight Loss
3. Start to use EFT daily. I shouldn’t be surprised, but I still am at how many people learn this simple technique and then still don’t do it. That obviously suggests they aren’t really ready to lose weight at all, but hey, use EFT to get over it. Start with “Even though I don’t know if I’m ready to lose weight, I deeply and completely accept myself,” and take it from there.
4. Learn E.A.T: Eating Awareness Training. I’ve included this in Session 5 of the Ending Emotional Eating workshop, but you can adopt the principles simply by paying attention when you eat. Start with your next meal. Sit down. Look at the food. Notice the colors, texture, smells, etc. Be there.
Take a small bite and feel the food in your mouth. Move it around. Chew, suck, nibble, (eating is quite erotic). Don’t be in a big hurry to swallow, savor the brief moment of the food in your mouth, and see what you notice that you hadn’t noticed before. Do this with every single bite for an entire meal and see what happens.
One thing I can guarantee is it takes a long time to do this, so you’ll find yourself wishing you could hurry up, and that leads me to the question: Why do we think so much about eating only to rush ourselves through it? Interesting question anyway.
Take your time with your food. Eat an apple and really notice it. How does it sound when you bite in? Is it sweet? What’s the texture? Do you like that texture or would you rather it be something else? Every variety of apple is different. Get a few and have a tasting party.
When you stop to notice what you’re eating you’ll also experience the sensation of being satisfied and that’s the first step toward learning how to eat like a person without a weight problem.
Remember, it’s perfectly fine to overeat once in awhile, but change from overeating regularly to overeating on occasion, and you’ll start to lose weight. If you gobble your food, you’re likely eating far more than you need simply because you aren’t paying attention to the signals your body gives about being satisfied, content, happy. Give yourself a chance to experience this, just once this week and you’ll discover a whole new world of eating.
5. Think of the holidays as a time for lots of opportunities for your “occasional” indulgences, but the rest of the meals, eat normally (meaning like a sane person). This isn’t your last chance to eat candy, so don’t act like you have to eat it all.
