Holiday stress is most commonly caused by the uncertainty of your plans working the right way during the season. By adding the stress of losing weight and emotional eating just compounds the problem.
During the holidays there’s always the anticipation and pressure to get things done on time. People tend to worry if their plans will work out or if everyone will be happy with what they’ve done. This is called uncertainly and it causes major stress. Did you get the right gifts? Will you find the gifts you intend to buy? Will you convey the correct image at the company Christmas party? Will your guest arrive on time and get along with each other? Did you remember everything on your to-do list? As you can see there are a lot of uncertainties when the holidays arrive and they last all day, everyday until the season is over.
Anticipation is an emotion that closely relates to uncertainty, and it too can lead to emotional eating. Uncertainly and anticipation can be placed in together and, unless these raw emotions are dealt with, weight loss is nearly impossible. This presents some common questions like can we isolate these emotions and avoid eating because of them or is weight loss actually possible during the holidays?
Many weight loss experts ignore the fact that emotions play a part in weight loss. When they’re confronted about questions on what to do with boredom, for example, common responses are: call a friend, grab a piece of celery, exercise. In reality, if these experts considered the emotion of uncertainly they might suggest having faith in yourself or don’t worry things will work out in the end.
The emotion of uncertainly can result from being unsure of yourself, external events or others. It can also stem from the feeling of being out of control of the circumstances in your life, and if you can’t let that feeling go, you will be uncertain.
Instead of trying to escape, deny or convert the issue that may eventually send you towards emotional eating, you must first acknowledge it and then be honest about how you feel about it.
You have to face the fact that you won’t always have control of every situation and some things need to be let go. From the time of our earliest childhood, we’ve been programmed to eat when we’re uncertain. When you’re worried go for comfort and not for food, which eventually leads to emotional eating and weight gain.
Although we have been taught to avoid uncertainly at all cost you must learn how to allow yourself to feel uncertain and be comfortable with that decision. The uncertainty will ultimately be gone if you give it time leaving no need to bury it with food.
Create a list of reasons you might be feeling uncertain such as beliefs or attitudes that you’ve been instilled with. Common beliefs that are added to the list are you should be in control, and you should trust that everything will work out for the best.
If you can’t resist the temptation of feeling uncertain you’re bound to end up using emotional eating to avoid the feeling. It’s much easier and healthier to allow yourself to feel uncertain because the uncertainly will disappear over time.
Look at uncertainly from another perspective. If you are an emotional eater that runs from uncertainly you are essentially eating the planned event. The planned event is whatever it is that you lack control over.
Don’t try to escape uncertainty instead call a friend and discuss your problems and find a way to trust the abilities that you possess.
To successfully overcome emotional eating due to uncertainty, first you must acknowledge that you’re trying to escape an out of control situation by eating your planned event. Instead of saying I have an eating problem, say to yourself that I have a problem eating too much when I’m uncertain of a situation.
