About reversing 3 digits on the scale and how to defeat emotional eating

All of us are scared of the number on the scale. I know from people who avoid stepping on it, escaping from the horrifying news: You let yourself go!

Imagine one day you decide to check it out and find a three-digit number. That was my childhood friend Tina one year ago (September 2021). So far from being an “Aja moment,” it was more like a slap in the face, and if you’re as human as me, the shame and guilt are as high as if you stole a bank and got caught at the crime scene.

How can someone go so far?

Well, if you are reading this for sure, you were around in 2020 when the “COVID-19 Apocalypses happened”, and 90% of the global population experienced mental health issues to a certain degree, and minimized those feelings through food.

I still have friends trying to lose the pandemic weight.

Let’s get back to Tina. I remembered her at school, the skinny girl in the class. However, I recall that she started gaining weight out of nowhere. To find out the load she was carrying only a year ago.

Her parents went through a divorce. While most couples are too busy fighting for their positions, the kids go through many struggles without the family members noticing. Tina found comfort in her chocolate, her safe space to hide her emotions.

And that was how her emotional eating journey started. Like many others, some events in our lives sets us up for failure in the future because we don’t know any better. Our brains get wired to respond to suppress negative feelings; those emotions are often associated with emptiness, where food plays its superhero role in making us feel temporarily “full.”

How did she swift her condition?

When you struggle to climb stairs or constantly get brain fog at work, plus how you feel about your overall health and what you see in the mirror, it’s time to make a call.

That call was me.

We, as Coaches, know, what work needs to be done, and what tools are to be implemented to get results. But actively listening and the skill to create solutions around complicated scenarios is what makes a coach remarkable.

Reversing Tina’s story

Suppose you watch the reality show The biggest loser; you will probably imagine me doing my best, Jillian Michaels, forcing Tina to train several hours a day, limiting her food intake to lose that weight in a month.

Nope, that’s not how we roll.

Tina doesn’t feel comfortable training in a gym like some of you. She found it a bit daunting, and she’s still not pleased with the idea.

Through my Crusher’s Lifestyle app, I’ve guided her with home workouts, mainly bodyweight and TRX. On top of that, we track her daily step count, which goes between 7-10K a day and as she loves being outdoors, she packs at least one hike per month (around 8 hrs of activity).

Now, the most challenging part is handling food. For Tina, things got spicier because she depended on the household menu. She lives and eats her main meals with her family, which not always understand her decisions or the journey she is going through.

Her best call was to learn about food portions. She started prioritizing protein from the food menu, ensuring she got vegetables on her plate and a more balanced amount from anything else available on the day.

Outside her home, I helped her learn which high-protein options were available for Tina to include in her meal plan. We have been using Greek yoghurts and protein puddings.

The best part? She loves travelling, and understanding how to play with portions helped her to keep on track even during the weeks she spent outside the home.

We have a plan now. So what can it get wrong?

Only through experience do we learn how to surf the emotional waves of life. If you start changing and improving your lifestyle, it doesn’t mean you will never go through emotional eating again.

What it means, it’s you have the tools to get back on track faster.

Tina had stressful weeks within this year of work. And yes, she devoured those chocolates and comfort food. The difference was that she knew which emotions were triggering her behaviour, and she learned that because one week holds you back from your path, it doesn’t define you don’t have the power to decide that today is a new day to follow those good habits.

We are happy I was with her to guide these decisions and keep her accountable.

This adventure is only the beginning. So far from being one more year and 19 kg less, it’s the experience, the knowledge and the company for her to recover her confidence to make noticeable, sustainable changes in her life.