Hey FitFam!! I hope you had a great weekend. As we move into “temptation season” I wanted to share a powerful concept.
The next 4-5 weeks will be filled with calorie-based presents and parties. You will be exposed to THOUSANDS more calories than normal.
I wanted to arm you with how you can avoid holiday weight gain us H.A.L.T self-assessment.
Emotional eating shows up when we are feeling stressed out. But I always like to get to the root of things and stress is so vague.
Well the acronym H.A.L.T helped me to get more clear on what exactly I was feeling and how it was wreaking havoc on my eating habits.
H.A.L.T stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired.
Psychologists have shared that these are the top 4 emotions that make us move toward a bad decision.
- When you are hungry, you might be short with your loved ones because your blood sugar is low.
- When you are tired, you might reach for fast food because you don’t want to cook.
One of the helpful ways to navigate H.A.L.T is to ask yourself which one you feel the most often throughout the day.
Then rewind 1-2 hours prior and ask yourself what happened in that timeframe that led you to that emotion.
Thinks usually stack up and finally create an emotional crack.
One of the best things you can do when you feel Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired is take a time out. You need to STOP and reset.
This could mean going for a walk outside, listening to music that makes you want to dance, calling a friend that makes you laugh.
We want to reverse those emotions with positive energy. You do not want to willpower your way through Hunger, Angry, Loneliness and Being Tired. It tends to amplify the problem.
You need to STOP and do something different.
- Eat and get your blood sugar up.
- Smile and think about what you are grateful for.
- Talk to someone if you are feeling isolated.
- Get to bed earlier so you can get a full nights rest.
Be mindful of which of these emotions you can tend to feel and test out different ways to counteract them.
I’m curious to hear from you….what is your favorite way to create positive energy?