Even with the best intentions, weight loss cannot happen when emotional barriers stand in your way. You can plan to go to the gym and eat more healthily, but when boredom, depression, anxiety and other emotions hit, it can be difficult to resist the urge to take comfort in food. By understanding the emotional triggers you have when it comes to overeating or taking the lazy way out of exercising, you can be better prepared for those feelings and how to stop them from derailing the weight loss process.
Anxiety
Anxiety can often lead to overeating as a barrier to weight loss. When you feel lonely, scared or upset, food can be a natural comfort. Stress eating often results in making poor food choices, liking binging on vending machine fare after a bad review at work or taking refuge in your mom's cooking after a bad breakup. These stop your weight loss progress. Instead of looking to food to calm your anxieties, find healthier stress management tactics, like taking a yoga class, spending time with friends or meditation.
Boredom
Food can keep your hands and mouth busy when you're bored. Nearly everyone has had the experience of opening up the fridge simply because there was nothing better to do. Living a more active lifestyle can help you lose weight instead of eating out of boredom. The next time you find yourself unoccupied and craving a snack, swap the urge to eat for a walk around the block, doing 10 crunches or calling a supportive friend -- anything to keep you away from unhealthy binging.
Depression
Depression and weight gain often go hand in hand. Sometimes, weight gain is one of the causes of depression, while depression is often the cause of sudden weight gain. Feeling sad, fatigued and listless can lead you to look to food in order to feel happy. Food and eating in general can often seem like a friend when you feel lonely and the accompanying fatigue can stop you from working out, even though exercise can help combat the symptoms of depression, notes Harvard Medical School. Talk to your doctor if you feel sad, anxious, uninterested and tired to find treatment options that work for you.
Guilt
Guilt is a powerful emotion that can send you into a downward spiral when it comes to your eating habits and level of activity. Even if you've seen weight loss success, deviating from your diet and exercise plan can make you feel like such a failure that you scrap the plan altogether. When you feel guilty about your eating habits, it creates a vicious cycle wherein you feel guilty because you've seen little progress, then eat even more in order to make yourself feel better. When you start to feel guilty about your lack of weight loss, use it as a motivating factor to work harder, exercise more and make better food choices to pick up the pace.
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