Your Excuse: "I Don't Know How Else To Comfort Myself, Except with Food!"

The Excuse Buster: Avoiding painful or uncomfortable feelings is one of the most common destructive habits that many people struggle with, and more often than not food or other substances are used to numb or cover the feelings that they don't know how to deal with in healthy ways. Needless to say, this type of habit can wreak havoc on your weight loss goals. You can avoid this happening to you if you learn how to get and stay in touch with your feelings and come up with positive ways to comfort yourself when life gets difficult.

First and foremost, it is necessary to begin paying attention to the way you feel throughout the day. Get into the habit of tuning in mentally to your emotional state. Ask yourself questions like, "How do I feel right now? Am I happy or sad? Angry or peaceful?" If you notice that you are struggling with negative emotions, do a little digging to figure out why. Ask yourself, "What made me feel angry? Why do I feel sad right now?"

Then, do your best to process and release the feelings. You may not be able to resolve all of the root causes for these feelings right away, but often just knowing why you feel the way you do is enough. Then commit to working through the feelings rather than being tempted to cover them up or run away again.

At the same time, get into the habit of doing things that comfort you on a regular basis. You don't have to spend a lot of time on these activities, but do at least one or two small things for yourself each day, like taking a relaxing bubble bath, going for an invigorating walk, meditating, journaling, taking short cat naps when you feel tired, or anything else you enjoy doing. Even just a few minutes of nurturing and comforting yourself can go a long way in easing emotional turbulence - and you'll find that you don't need to overeat to do it.