The second of the three core skills needed to tackle comfort eating, is learning to manage one’s emotions appropriately. Firstly then, we need to consider what ‘appropriate’ means in this context. Very simply, we will take an emotion to be appropriate when it is reasonable both in type and in intensity, given a particular set of circumstances. 

In the previous blog entry I spoke of three skills which if developed, can help curb emotional eating. The first of these was regaining a sense of real physiological hunger – ie becoming more aware of when one’s stomach is empty (or close to empty). 

Comfort eating is one of the most common challenges faced by people on weightloss programmes. Last week, one of my clients and I identified 3 core skills which she needed to develop in order to stop this destructive habit:

When one or both parties in a relationship lose a significant amount of weight, it can change the dynamics of the relationship – for better or for worse.

Professor Tim Noakes has made a career and habit of proving people wrong. Not too long ago the world’s top scientists ‘knew’ that it was the cells in our muscles which determine the point at which we get fatigued in running races. It was Professor Noakes and his team that first postulated a model showing that it is in fact the brain and not the muscles which determine this. In other words, the point at which you feel exhausted has a lot to do with your perception of how far you still have to go. Amongst other things, this principle sheds some light on why when you’re desperate to get to the toilet, the closer you get the more desperately desperate you become! It’s also an important factor in explaining how we manage to create huge energy in working towards a deadline, only to suddenly collapse once we’ve made it.

People that I work with in a weightloss setting sometimes comment that I am lucky to be thin. It happened again last week in one of the Lifestyle Support Groups that I facilitate. It’s interesting to reflect on the assumptions underlying such a comment, as well as on the implications for the person making them.

In any sphere of life, when you ask people what their goals are, they will typically present you with a list of what we call outcome goals. These are goals that are determined by a combination of factors that are both under their control, and some factors that are not. Examples of outcome goals include passing an exam, finding the perfect relationship, or getting someone’s approval. Weightloss is another example.

Shops these days deliberately target your weak points in an attempt to get you to part with more of your money. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the ‘suicide isle’ – that snaking ordeal through the imposing walls of sweets and chocolates that lead to the check out tills. 

A summary of tips from a recent SSISA healthy weight discussion forum on how to how to maintain your healthy lifestyle through the holidays.

Since 1995, Clinton Gahwiler has run the psychology practice of the Sports Science Institute of South Africa (SSISA) in Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa. His main interests lie in the related fields of sport and health psychology. Clinton’s passion is helping clients to develop, implement and maintain strategies which optimize performance and well-being on a sustainable basis.