Eating habits: To lose weight, explore why you overeat

Successful weight loss begins with understanding your eating habits. Start with these steps.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/eating-habits/WT00022

If you eat only when you feel hungry, chances are you'll have less trouble reaching and maintaining a healthy weight. Most people are not in touch with their hunger signals, though, and instead eat in response to triggers such as stress, anxiety and boredom.

To successfully lose weight, you've got to get in touch with the powerful forces that shape your eating habits — how you think and feel about food and why you eat when you're not hungry.

Here are four steps that can help.

Step 1: Know your habits

To become aware of your eating habits, keep track of situations in which you find yourself craving unhealthy foods. Write them down in a notebook or on your weekly menus. Keep a list of what, when and why you eat for a few days. See if any relationships or patterns emerge. Ask yourself if you tend to eat when you're bored, angry, tired, anxious, stressed, depressed or socially pressured. If you do, try these tips:

• Before eating anything, ask yourself if you're really hungry. If the answer is no, consider having a glass of water. You may find that you're just thirsty.
• Learn to refuse gracefully when people offer food that doesn't fit into your menu plan such as treats at coffee breaks.
• Do something to distract yourself from your desire to eat — call a friend or run an errand.
• Direct emotional energy from stress or anger outward. Think about taking a walk, sorting through files, or cleaning out a cluttered drawer or closet. The urge to eat will pass.
• If you find that you absolutely can't find an alternative strategy, don't try to restrain yourself too much — that may lead to bingeing. In that case, eat some vegetables or a piece of fruit. You won't have to feel guilty, and it may satisfy your craving.

Step 2: Change gradually

When you've identified an eating habit that you'd like to change, remember that gradual changes work best. Consider this example. Marty works as a customer service manager for a retail department store. Her job is often stressful. She prides herself on meeting the needs of customers and sometimes finds herself juggling the needs of customers with the needs of management. When she feels overwhelmed by stress, she walks to the vending machine for a high-fat, high-calorie snack.

Marty recognized that this was one eating habit preventing her from reaching a healthy weight. She decided to start dealing with on-the-job stress by taking a brisk, 10-minute walk at break time and by eating fruit for snacks.

Like Marty, you, too, can prevent thoughts and feelings about food from standing in the way of your weight-loss program. Choose one area at a time and be specific about how you're going to change. When you feel you've successfully changed one eating habit, work on another.

Step 3: Plan ahead

Your old eating habits may be so ingrained that you're not aware of them. Mentally rehearsing healthier habits can help. Imagine this: You're at a graduation party. The buffet table is packed with all of your favorite treats. Now imagine this: You take a small portion of a few items from the buffet table, leaving space between them on your plate, or you take only fresh fruits and vegetables. Mentally rehearse this plan until you're more likely to remember it — and do it — the next time you need it most.

Step 4: Think positively

Don't dwell on what you're giving up to reach a healthy weight. Concentrate instead on what you're gaining. Instead of thinking, "I really miss eating a doughnut at breakfast," tell yourself, "I feel a lot better when I eat oatmeal and fresh fruit in the morning."

Believe it or not, the process of making changes to your eating habits can be enjoyable and the health benefits will soon become evident.