DO I have mantra of what I say to myself when I am bored and stressed
Honestly no...
Let’s talk about why:
For many years of my life, I lived in a constant state of stress. I mean legit physical "fight or flight" feeling. There was nothing I could do to calm my body down. Definitely a horrible place to be in for sure.
It wasn't until I learned that my dieting behaviors were FUELING this feeling could I do anything to change it.
I realized I was putting a ton more stress on my body than it could handle:
- Skipping meals
- Eating as little as possible
- Eating Low carb
- Doing tons of exercise (boot camps, long distance running, etc.)
- Holding onto willpower
This led me to constantly thinking about food and using food/alcohol as a coping mechanism.
It wasn't until I learned HOW to eat and built a better relationship with food that I was able to mitigate this fight or flight daily feeling.
When I learned how to truly listen to my body and balance my meals/day my whole life changed.
I started to pay attention to:
- How my meals and snacks made me feel
- How my exercise made me feel
- How my sleep made me feel
- How sunlight made me feel
- How strength training made me feel
And also started to pay attention to how:
- Eating too much made me feel
- Drinking too much alcohol made me feel
- Doing lots of cardio made me feel
- Eating a lot of sugar made me feel
What I realized by doing this is I don't like the way I feel from being overly full, eating a bunch of crap, drinking alcohol, doing a lot of intense boot camps.
But I do love how I feel when I am balancing my meals, including more protein in my day, exposing myself to sunlight as much as possible, hydrating well, and when I strength train consistently.
Now in times of stress and boredom, I never am tempted by foods in the pantry because:
- If I am hungry, I am going to eat something- if I am not, I don't.
- I want to feel better in that moment and binging on junk, drinking alcohol, eating a bunch of sugar just makes me feel 100x worse.
I have worked for YEARS... let me repeat that... YEARS to get me to this point of being SUPER intuitive and mindful about my behaviors and how it makes me feel. This work was sooooo incredibly crucial because now "food" is not something I obsess over anymore. I can enjoy it!
I know I talk about it every day here to you all, but honestly, I look at eating like another "task" on my to-do list. It's not something I obsess over, think all day about, or feel I need to be happy anymore. Don't get me wrong, I love a good dessert, but I have learned that there are SO many other things in life that bring me joy and happiness.
I want you to know today that you can change your mindset from "I am going to eat this to lose weight." to "I am going to eat this to make myself feel good both mentally and physically" and your life will forever be changed!!
Don’t you want to feel this way too? If so, reach out! Let’s start to transform your mindset!
-- Emily