Emotional Eating & Working Out

*Originally posted on my Health & Fitness Journal

I am an emotional eater.

This doesn't mean that my heart has a heavy emotional connection with my food. It doesn't mean that I cry and have a deep bond with what I eat. It means I feed my feelings and my mood usually dictates what I eat. When I'm happy I might congratulate myself and eat steak or pizza. When I'm bored, I'll drink coffee all day. When I'm sad, I might turn to junk food and eat two bags of Hershey's Kisses. This bad behavior and habit tends to be my downfall. It can be managed with weekly food preparation and planning rather than eating on a whim.

Now this is where my week has come to play. I've been proud of myself for being able to get back on track with running. It took me a couple of weeks to finally enjoy running again. At first it felt forced and I dreaded running. With the weather and daylight change, who can say no to the comfort of the couch and blanket. I finally came up with a resolution or an understanding with my thoughts, mood, and actions.  These variables are never constant. The task at hand requires persistency even though consistency may seem difficult at times.

Take into consideration that running, or any physical activity, requires an open and determined mind. It helps to be rational, allowing failure or success to equal progress. It took me awhile, but my runs are enjoyable again. I don't feel forced, restricted, or limited.

Up next are my eating habits. I'm having trouble with balancing my meals. I've adopted—and in the past, I have been able to implement this concept into my daily meal plans—a low calorie breakfast, high-protein low-carb lunch, and a high carb dinner. I try to eliminate  or limit sugar/sweets and caffeine, but they've been my kryptonite. This whole week has been riddled with cups of coffee, extra heavy on the hazelnut creamer. It taste so great and the caffeine effects are unbelievable. I've stopped snacking during the day, because of the  appetite suppressant properties of coffee/caffeine. However, the effects caffeine has on my mood is horrible. I tend to abuse coffee and there is never a moderate consumption I can handle. It's either all or nothing.

When I had my official weigh-in this week, it shifted my mood. I sabotaged my eating plans and indulged in way too much sweets (i.e. Chew Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies, Multigrain Chocolate Chip Strawberry Pancakes, Semisweet Chocolate Chips, Whole Wheat Bread with Nutella Spread, etc.). It has wreaked havoc in my sleeping habits. I've been up late each night, leading me to wake up with irregular imbalanced energy. Some mornings I feel okay and others I might feel like crap. Last night happen to be one of those cases.

As I'm trying to limit my caffeine intake, I was able to get my mood in control. I got myself to do weight & resistance training today along with running/cardio. I feel good and I really need to shake things off.  I really don't like weight gain. I don't like being in the 170's. I don't like many things and I'm only sabotaging my efforts if I continue with certain behaviors. Now that I've realized and recognized my problem areas, I need to develop a plan and make sure I can and will execute them.