Happy Monday! Let's start the week off right!

Quote of the Day

Alright, let’s get started:

Overcoming Emotional Eating

Hi, my name is Fady, and I am an emotional eater. For as long as I can remember, whenever life got tough or my emotions ran high, I turned straight to food. You've probably experienced something similar, whether it's with food or other quick hits we use to numb ourselves - social media, alcohol, nicotine, you name it. We think these short-term dopamine rushes are "solving" deeper issues (spoiler: they don't).

For me, it was always food. If I was:

• Stressed or emotionally spiked? Food.

• Feeling sad or down? Food.

• Needed a distraction? Food.

• Bored? Food.

• Procrastinating on something I didn't want to do? DING DING DING...food.

Anything even remotely negative or uncomfortable, and I'd instantly turn to eating as my coping mechanism to "feel better."

I did this so frequently that I eventually ballooned up to 270lbs.

There was this certain "numbing" feeling that came from eating during those emotional times. The more I could numb out those negative emotions through food, the more I taught myself that was my way to escape. This vicious cycle started feeling like the norm, and I couldn't break out of it.

To make this easier to understand, here's a visual representation (I know, I know...my artistic talents are just too impressive, so feel free to skip over this if it’s too much to fathom):

The vicious cycle went like:

1. Aw man, I feel sad/stressed/overwhelmed 😟

2. Let me eat to try and feel better 😄

3. Oh wow, eating did make me feel a bit better - I feel numb now 😵‍💫

4. Crap, but it only made me feel good for a little while...now I'm annoyed with myself and still dealing with those original emotions 😟

It felt like an inescapable prison. I was still pretty young, so my emotions were easily amplified. Everything negative felt like the end of the world back then. I can confidently say this emotional eating cycle and using food as a horrible coping mechanism was a massive part of why I gained all that excess weight in the first place. It's a vicious, hard-to-break pattern.

Here’s how I got past it:

1. Figure out what triggers your emotional eating

Time to do some adult introspective thinking…

and get to the root of what kicks off this cycle for you in the first place.

Think back to when those lapses tend to happen - what situations, emotions, or feelings were you dealing with at the time?

Ask yourself questions like:

• How was I feeling in those moments?

• Why was I feeling that way?

• How did I react and try to cope with those feelings?

For me, I realized:

• How was I feeling? ⇒ Bored or anxious as hell.

• Why? ⇒ Because being in those states made me uncomfortable. Or I was avoiding something I didn't want to do because I thought it would make me uncomfortable. The underlying issue was feeling uncomfortable in general.

• How did I react? ⇒ I ate to distract myself and put myself in a temporary, comfortable, numbed-out state.

So for me, that sense of discomfort - whether it was boredom, anxiety, avoidance - was the main catalyst. As soon as I felt even a tinge of that, my brain went straight to "EAT!"

The more honest and specific you can get, the better you can anticipate them and have a plan to deal with them properly.

2. Find alternative coping mechanisms

Now that you've identified those emotional eating triggers, come up with alternative coping mechanisms you can turn to instead of food. This is going to take some time, and you may need to rely on a combination of different things, but the goal is to find something else besides eating that helps you deal with those feelings in a healthier way.

For me, I started off with things like:

• Going for a walk to clear my head

• Talking to a friend to distract myself

• Leaving the house for a little change of scenery

• Going for a drive

The main goal: Find ways to ride out that initial wave of emotion without automatically turning to food like you have been conditioned to do. You're re-training your brain's knee-jerk reaction to those triggering feelings.

3. Make it very hard for yourself to lapse

You're much less likely to demolish that pint of ice cream if...well...you don't actually have a pint of ice cream available to demolish in the first place.

If you can’t see it, you probably won’t think about it.

Be proactive and set yourself up for success by removing temptation from your environment. If those foods aren't even an option, you remove that easy opportunity for a lapse.

I'm not gonna lie - exactly 24 hours ago, I had a really bad emotional eating episode. My typical go-to coping mechanism kicked in, and I inhaled:

• A pack of Oreos

• Two slices of cheesecake

• A chocolate chip cookie

• And some ice cream

Not my finest moment, but it happens. The key is to make it as difficult as possible to give in to those urges in the first place. If those foods weren’t near me, I probably wouldn’t be typing any of this.

In addition to removing tempting foods, you can set yourself up for success by:

• Eating clean, nutrient-dense foods all day

• Getting in some physical activity/exercise

• Drinking plenty of water to stay hydrated

• Getting adequate sleep

When you put your mind and body in a good state, it becomes much harder to fall into the emotional eating trap. You're priming yourself for level-headed decisions.

And let's be real - you're probably going to slip up here and there. That's okay! It's all part of the process. The key is to get back on track quickly and never give up. I've been there - failed more times than I can count. But every small win over emotional eating gets you one step closer to breaking that pattern for good. Be patient, keep working on it, and have compassion for yourself when you do slip up. You've got this!

Thank you for joining me on today's newsletter.

If you found value from it and learned something that can help propel you forward on your own journey, please:

1. Share this with friends and family!

2. Chat with me on X!