Though a About Dr. Cywes or Jacksonville can help you control physical hunger, this will not necessarily put an end to overeating. After weight loss surgery, many people continue to struggle with emotional eating, an issue that can cause us to seek comfort in unhealthy foods when we feel overwhelmed by emotion.

Emotional eating can slow your progress with empty calories, but it can also cause serious discomfort due to your reduced stomach size after weight loss surgery. Fortunately, emotional eating is just one more bad habit you can put behind you as you work to adjust to the healthy lifestyle promoted by your weight loss program.

The first step in avoiding emotional eating is to recognize the emotional hunger that leads to it. Emotional hunger is distinct from physical hunger in a number of ways:

• It’s only satisfied by specific foods. True hunger leaves us open to many options. Emotional hunger will give you strong cravings for a particular comfort food.
• It makes you feel guilty. You should never feel guilty about satisfying true hunger with a healthy meal, but you likely won’t feel proud of giving in to emotional hunger.
• It can hit you in an instant. True hunger comes on slowly and we can wait to satisfy it. Emotional hunger is much more fast-acting and can make you feel like you need to eat immediately.

If you think that your hunger may be coming from an emotional source, you’ll need to figure out what that emotion is and the best way to overcome it.

• Identify your triggers by paying close attention to how you feel and what made you feel that way. Stress, boredom, loneliness, anger, frustration, fear and sadness are all common catalysts for emotional eating—could any of these be the root of the problem? If you’re having trouble finding your triggers, try tracking your eating habits and emotional state in a food journal.
• Disarm your triggers by doing something that helps you resolve what you’re feeling without food. If you think loneliness is triggering emotional hunger, make a quick call to a close friend. If stress is the culprit, work some off with a vigorous workout or a relaxing activity like deep breathing. If it’s boredom, focus yourself on an engrossing hobby. When you figure out which emotions are most likely to set you off, start coming up with alternate activities that help you cope with your feelings.

Many people struggle with emotional eating after weight loss surgery in Valdosta or Jacksonville, but you don’t have to let this bad habit slow you down. Have you come up with any other strategies that help you prevent emotional eating? Please share them with us in the comments below!