If you’re not sure what you’re feeling when you’re overeating, it might help to talk to someone else about it. A therapist or coach should be able to help you understand what is pushing you to eat.
Some of the feelings you might be dealing with through compulsive eating include: boredom, guilt, anxiety, anger, sadness, loneliness, emptiness, shame. In other words, any negative or unwanted feeling can be pushed aside by eating.
Know that you don’t have to resolve your feelings. Just start by feeling them. Acknowledge them. “Oh, hello, emptiness. It’s you again. I feel so empty because my ex-husband is already involved with someone else and here I am sitting at home by myself on a Saturday night.” That’s acknowledgment. “Oh, hello, emptiness. I’m such a loser because my ex is in a wonderful new relationship and I’m sitting at home. Nothing will ever work out in my life.” That’s not acknowledgment. That’s self-mutilation.
Here’s another example. “Oh, hello, anxiety. Yes, I’m anxious about the talk I have to give at work, but I’ll prepare and practise it and I’ll be just fine even if I’m nervous.” That’s acknowledgment. This is not acknowledgment: “Oh, hello, anxiety. When am I going to grow up and act like an adult? I can’t believe that I’m nervous about the presentation I have to do at work.”
Get the idea? Now you try.
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Copyright Anne Pustil 2011, http://www.CoachingInANutshell.com