Better Relationships
Relationship Recovery Tip: Start a healthier lifestyle….together
For many of us in long term relationships, we tend to trust that our partners will be with us for better or for worse. We would expect that our significant other would tell us if he or she was not attracted with our extra body weight. Unfortunately this is not true. The truth is that our true love feels very uncomfortable telling us to loose weight, or that they find a different look, more appealing.
Perhaps you have both become stuck in a routine of toxic eating patterns or poor exercise practices. The key is to not focus on the past and focus on taking action based steps towards a healthier future. Why? Because weight based issues are highly sensitive, and then topped of with an infidelity……it is just too painful to talk about objectively.
Let’s take a closer look at three (not so) secrets that you need to know about sticking with a diet program. You most probably know these secrets already, but over the years, “life” has got in the way, and you have been busy! When you put these secrets into action, you’ll find it’s easier than ever to get the results that you are looking for.
Start a Couple Diet
One word of advice: don’t go at it alone. Those who get a diet buddy to do a diet and experience the high’s and low’s with them tend to stand a much better chance of seeing success in the long run.
If you can’t convince your partner to do the diet with you, at the very least, find someone who will stand by your side and be there for support when you need it.
You will hit a hard time, and during that hard time, it can really help if you have someone there to encourage you through it. After infidelity, it can help your relationship rebuilding by being there to support each other again. It also helps to have a new topic to talk about that is not directly related to the infidelity.
Use Hunger-Busting Strategies
Sometimes the strongest food cravings hit when you’re at your weakest point emotionally. You may turn to food for comfort either consciously or unconsciously when facing a difficult problems such as affair recovery, feeling stressed or even feeling bored. Emotional eating can sabotage your weight-loss efforts.
Hunger is another reason why many people can’t stick with a fat loss diet plan. Either they are cutting their calories back too far, thereby causing the hunger, or they are not eating foods that encourage satiety.
You want to focus your diet around foods that break down and digest slowly. Lean proteins coupled with fibrous carbohydrates are the best choices, followed closely by small doses of dietary fat.
While the calories in fat do add up quickly, a small amount added to your diet can work wonders to help you better control hunger during stressful times.
To help stop emotional eating, try these tips:
- Get support. You’re more likely to give in to emotional eating if you lack a good support. Lean on your partner and trouble shoot these challenges together.
- Keep a food diary. Write down what you eat, how much you eat, when you eat, how you’re feeling when you eat and how hungry you are. Over time, you might see patterns that reveal the connection between mood and food.
- Fight boredom. Instead of snacking when you’re not hungry, distract yourself and substitute a healthier behavior. Take a walk, watch a movie, play with your cat, listen to music, read, surf the Internet or call a friend.
- Take away temptation. Don’t keep hard-to-resist comfort foods in your home. And if you feel angry or blue, postpone your trip to the grocery store until you have your emotions in check.
- Don’t deprive yourself. When trying to lose weight, you might limit calories too much, eat the same foods repeatedly and banish treats. This may just serve to increase your food cravings, especially in response to emotions. Eat satisfying amounts of healthier foods, enjoy an occasional treat, and get plenty of variety to help curb cravings.
- Snack healthy. If you feel the urge to eat between meals, choose a low-fat, low-calorie snack, such as fresh fruit, vegetables with low-fat dip or unbuttered popcorn. Or try low-fat, lower calorie versions of your favorite foods to see if they satisfy your craving.
Set Short Term Goals
Finally, consider setting some short term goals. Think about what it is that you want to accomplish within the next two or three weeks. Far too many people have a long term view of what they hope to achieve in a year’s time, but it’s too easy to lose sight of that light at the end of the tunnel.
Instead, focus on the here and now. Find a program such as The 3 Week Diet that has you focusing on the coming weeks ahead. Build good habits in those three weeks and you will be well set up for the future months.
Remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you won’t lose all the weight you have to lose in just a week. Be patient, but at the same time, don’t fixate too far in the future. Otherwise, you’ll just lose motivation and give up.
When to seek professional help
If you’ve tried self-help options but you still can’t control emotional eating, consider therapy with a mental health professional. Therapy can help you understand why you eat emotionally and learn coping skills. Therapy can also help you discover whether you have an eating disorder, which can be connected to emotional eating.
