6 week weight loss program: Days 11-20

Weight loss requires extreme focus. You must be disciplined every day with what you eat and how you exercise. Sometimes emotions can play a significant role in how you eat and exercise.

Overcoming Emotional Eating

Our emotions can really mess us up when it comes to weight control. There are many men and women that eat more when they are bored, stressed, disappointed etc. Learning how to control the urge to eat during emotionally-trying times can be difficult.

Here are a few suggestions from various dieting experts today.

1. Try a small sweat or salty snack for instant gratification.

2. Try replacing what you eat during stressful times with a lower calorie snack such as fruit, low-fat yogurt, high fiber crackers, light cheese, etc.

3. Identify the situations that make you want to eat and try doing some other activity, such as taking a shower, talking on the phone, going for a walk.

In the 6-week diet and fitness program, you must record not only what you ate, but also when you ate it, what your mood was, whether you were hungry or not and satisfied.

The major factor in changing a bad habit, such as emotional eating, is to identify the source of the problem and try to change the way you react in certain situations. If a bag of Doritos is comforting to you after you have had a fight with a friend, maybe try to change the Doritos for a cup of hot green tea.

Statistics show that food cravings can pass in 4-12 minutes, so if you can occupy yourself with another activity for that long, then the craving may go away.

I have noticed in the 6 week diet program that I tend to eat when I am bored or not busy. The other day, I made some broiled chicken, salad and vegetables for my kids. We were getting ready to go somewhere, so I figured I would eat when we came back. The night was so busy that as I was laying in bed around 10:30 p.m. I realized that I had never eaten dinner.

Of course, skipping meals is never really a good thing. Then you get super hungry and eat double the amount at the next meal. Small snacks and meals spread throughout the day are the best way to intake your calories.

In order to lose weight, we have to sort of re-train our brains to change our bad habits that caused the weight gain in the first place. Once you have mastered the good habits, be sure and stay with them!!

For more details on weight loss programs and the 6 week diet program, visit the Weight Loss Advisory