Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd.php Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. en-us Fri, 16 May 2008 15:37:54 EDT http://www.coalmarch.com/products/coalengine.php Will Emotional Eating Sabotage Your Success? Three Things You Need to Know Fri, 16 May 2008 15:37:54 EDT Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080516346/will-emotional-eating-sabotage-your-success-three-things-you-need-to-know.php Will Emotional Eating Sabotage Your Success? Three Things You Need to Know By: Melissa McCreery, PhD Printer Friendly The term emotional eating is thrown around a lot, but not everyone understands what emotional eating really is. Emotional eating is eating and overeating that occurs when we use food as a way to cope with a feeling, situation, or a need that is not physical hunger. Emotional eating is eating that happens when we want to eat but our bodies don’t really need the fuel. Common kinds of emotional eating are “nervous eating,” eating when you are bored, using food as a “reward” (to feel good), or eating when you are lonely. Because this kind of eating isn’t tied to a physical need for food, it can easily cause weight gain. Here are three things EVERY weight loss surgery patient needs to know about emotional eating: 1. Many people don’t know that they are emotional eaters. How’s that? Well, emotional eating isn’t always as straightforward as feeling a feeling (“I’m anxious”) and then making a choice to eat. Here’s the tricky part. Over time, if you’ve learned to use food as a way to cope with certain feeling states or situations, your brain can stop identifying that you are eating for emotional reasons. Here’s an example. If when you’re stressed, you reach for a snack to comfort yourself, over time, your brain stops telling you, “You are stressed and you are going to try to cope with it by eating a cookie.” Over time, your brain may start skipping the emotion and move directly to interpreting that stressed feeling as physical hunger. You might not even realize that you are feeling stress. Your thinking will go like this: Something stressful will happen and you will start wanting a snack. You might even feel physically hungry. Food, not stress, will be the central thought in your mind. If you are someone who feels hungry “all the time,” emotional eating could very well be playing a hidden role. 2. Emotional eating and self-blame, shame and guilt go hand in hand. If you are feeling “out of control with your eating,” odds are that emotional eating is happening. The problem is, if emotional eating goes unrecognized, or if we don’t take it seriously, it’s easy to fall into a trap of guilt and self-blame for not being able to “stay in control” of your eating. Shame and guilt are never helpful when it comes to long term weight loss. They tend to breed isolation, negative self esteem, decreased hope, and ultimately more emotional eating and self-sabotage. If you are struggling with emotional eating and you don’t learn the tools you need to cope with the feelings, the odds are that you will continue to feel out of control with food. 3. If you don’t take control of emotional eating, it can take control of your weight loss plans. Research studies of individuals trying to lose weight find that people who eat for emotional reasons lose less weight and have a harder time keeping it off. The journal Obesity recently published an article concluding that successful weight loss programs should teach clients how to cope with emotional eating in order to improve the clients’ ability to lose weight and not regain it. The risk of weight gain is not the only reason that emotional eating is important to address. Failure to address emotional eating—using food to cope with feelings and needs and circumstances other than physiological hunger—can also contribute to difficulties with cross-addictions after weight loss surgery. If emotional eating is something that you struggle with, it’s important to know that no diet and no weight loss surgery will fix that for you. Taking control of emotional eating requires learning new effective ways to cope with your emotions. It’s not about the food. It’s also important to know that learning new tools to cope with emotional eating can be one of the most rewarding and life-changing gifts that you can give yourself. Learning new ways to cope with life issues and feelings allows you to tackle life head-on. When you do this, food becomes simpler, and your life grows bigger, and ultimately, more rewarding. Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. is a Psychologist and Life Coach who helps her clients create and live the life they crave. She is also the creator of the Emotional Eating Toolbox (TM)28-day Program for Taking Control and Moving Beyond Dieting. Sign up for a free 5 part Self-care Package Audio Course at: www.enduringchange.comor visit her blog Peace With Cake. Printer Friendly

Will Emotional Eating Sabotage Your Success? Three Things You Need to Know

By: Melissa McCreery, PhD
Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly

The term emotional eating is thrown around a lot, but not everyone understands what emotional eating really is.

Emotional eating is eating and overeating that occurs when we use food as a way to cope with a feeling, situation, or a need that is not physical hunger. Emotional eating is eating that happens when we want to eat but our bodies don’t really need the fuel. Common kinds of emotional eating are “nervous eating,” eating when you are bored, using food as a “reward” (to feel good), or eating when you are lonely. Because this kind of eating isn’t tied to a physical need for food, it can easily cause weight gain.

Here are three things EVERY weight loss surgery patient needs to know about emotional eating:

1. Many people don’t know that they are emotional eaters. How’s that? Well, emotional eating isn’t always as straightforward as feeling a feeling (“I’m anxious”) and then making a choice to eat. Here’s the tricky part. Over time, if you’ve learned to use food as a way to cope with certain feeling states or situations, your brain can stop identifying that you are eating for emotional reasons. Here’s an example. If when you’re stressed, you reach for a snack to comfort yourself, over time, your brain stops telling you, “You are stressed and you are going to try to cope with it by eating a cookie.” Over time, your brain may start skipping the emotion and move directly to interpreting that stressed feeling as physical hunger. You might not even realize that you are feeling stress. Your thinking will go like this: Something stressful will happen and you will start wanting a snack. You might even feel physically hungry. Food, not stress, will be the central thought in your mind. If you are someone who feels hungry “all the time,” emotional eating could very well be playing a hidden role.

2. Emotional eating and self-blame, shame and guilt go hand in hand. If you are feeling “out of control with your eating,” odds are that emotional eating is happening. The problem is, if emotional eating goes unrecognized, or if we don’t take it seriously, it’s easy to fall into a trap of guilt and self-blame for not being able to “stay in control” of your eating.

Shame and guilt are never helpful when it comes to long term weight loss. They tend to breed isolation, negative self esteem, decreased hope, and ultimately more emotional eating and self-sabotage. If you are struggling with emotional eating and you don’t learn the tools you need to cope with the feelings, the odds are that you will continue to feel out of control with food.

3. If you don’t take control of emotional eating, it can take control of your weight loss plans. Research studies of individuals trying to lose weight find that people who eat for emotional reasons lose less weight and have a harder time keeping it off. The journal Obesity recently published an article concluding that successful weight loss programs should teach clients how to cope with emotional eating in order to improve the clients’ ability to lose weight and not regain it. The risk of weight gain is not the only reason that emotional eating is important to address. Failure to address emotional eating—using food to cope with feelings and needs and circumstances other than physiological hunger—can also contribute to difficulties with cross-addictions after weight loss surgery.

If emotional eating is something that you struggle with, it’s important to know that no diet and no weight loss surgery will fix that for you. Taking control of emotional eating requires learning new effective ways to cope with your emotions. It’s not about the food.

It’s also important to know that learning new tools to cope with emotional eating can be one of the most rewarding and life-changing gifts that you can give yourself. Learning new ways to cope with life issues and feelings allows you to tackle life head-on. When you do this, food becomes simpler, and your life grows bigger, and ultimately, more rewarding.

Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. is a Psychologist and Life Coach who helps her clients create and live the life they crave. She is also the creator of the Emotional Eating Toolbox (TM)28-day Program for Taking Control and Moving Beyond Dieting. Sign up for a free 5 part Self-care Package Audio Course at: www.enduringchange.comor visit her blog Peace With Cake.

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]]> http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080516346/will-emotional-eating-sabotage-your-success-three-things-you-need-to-know.php The National Mindless Eating Challenge Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:45:09 EDT Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080427338/the-national-mindless-eating-challenge.php The National Mindless Eating Challenge By: Melissa McCreery, PhD Printer Friendly Last year I blogged about (and recommended) Brian Wansink’s book Mindless Eating: Why we eat more than we think. The book has great insights, tips and strategies for curbing eating we don’t even know that we do. It’s really an interesting and helpful read and an invaluable tool if your goals are to have more control and awareness of your eating. Now, in conjunction with the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, Brian is offering another great (free!) resource: The National Mindless Eating Challenge. When you sign up for the challenge (did I mention that it’s free?), you fill out a brief survey about yourself, your goals, and your lifestyle. As the website says, this isn’t a challenge based on height and weight and BMI, it’s about taking steps that allow you to become more mindful of the way you eat, and make food choices that leave you feeling healthy, and give you the energy you want to have. The program allows you to choose from a variety of goals. Again, this is not a weight loss challenge, although you could definitely use it to develop some habits that will help you lose weight. Don’t tell anyone, but I chose “improve my family’s health without their knowledge” as my primary challenge goal. Once you’ve completed the survey, you will receive concrete suggestions about how to make small, relevent changes to your behavior that are customized to your survey responses. The program provides a checklist that you can use to track progress, periodic emails, and new challenges each month. I like the way the program had me chose achievable goals and actually asked me to do some strategizing around potential hurdles I might face in achieving them. Finally, I love this quote from the Mindless Eating Challenge website: “Food is such an important part of our life and our world, it shouldn’t be the source of frustration and concern that it is to so many people. Our hope is that we can help you (and your family) make small, painless changes that can help you eat better and enjoy food more.” I’ve just started the challenge, but so far I give it two thumbs up! Melissa Enduring Change Life Coaching Read more blog posts at Peace With Cake Printer Friendly

The National Mindless Eating Challenge

By: Melissa McCreery, PhD
Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly

Last year I blogged about (and recommended) Brian Wansink’s book Mindless Eating: Why we eat more than we think.

The book has great insights, tips and strategies for curbing eating we don’t even know that we do. It’s really an interesting and helpful read and an invaluable tool if your goals are to have more control and awareness of your eating.

Now, in conjunction with the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, Brian is offering another great (free!) resource: The National Mindless Eating Challenge.

When you sign up for the challenge (did I mention that it’s free?), you fill out a brief survey about yourself, your goals, and your lifestyle. As the website says, this isn’t a challenge based on height and weight and BMI, it’s about taking steps that allow you to become more mindful of the way you eat, and make food choices that leave you feeling healthy, and give you the energy you want to have.

The program allows you to choose from a variety of goals. Again, this is not a weight loss challenge, although you could definitely use it to develop some habits that will help you lose weight. Don’t tell anyone, but I chose “improve my family’s health without their knowledge” as my primary challenge goal.

Once you’ve completed the survey, you will receive concrete suggestions about how to make small, relevent changes to your behavior that are customized to your survey responses. The program provides a checklist that you can use to track progress, periodic emails, and new challenges each month. I like the way the program had me chose achievable goals and actually asked me to do some strategizing around potential hurdles I might face in achieving them.

Finally, I love this quote from the Mindless Eating Challenge website:

“Food is such an important part of our life and our world, it shouldn’t be the source of frustration and concern that it is to so many people. Our hope is that we can help you (and your family) make small, painless changes that can help you eat better and enjoy food more.”

I’ve just started the challenge, but so far I give it two thumbs up!

Melissa Enduring Change Life Coaching

Read more blog posts at Peace With Cake

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]]> http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080427338/the-national-mindless-eating-challenge.php End Emotional Eating: Let your life grow bigger while you get smaller Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:30:11 EDT Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080410331/end-emotional-eating--let-your-life-grow-bigger-while-you-get-smaller.php End Emotional Eating: Let your life grow bigger while you get smaller By: Melissa McCreery, PhD Printer Friendly If we want to take charge of emotional eating and create a healthier relationship with food, we must learn to feed ourselves in ways that are more satisfying, and ultimately, more powerful. If we are using food to feed our feelings, or to fill holes in our life, or to avoid certain situations, we need to learn to REALLY address the gaps or holes that we are tempted to use food to fill. Food is for feeding our physical body. As my clients work to conquer emotional eating, they usually find they need to develop more tools and strategies to feed their spirit. Taking charge of emotional eating means allowing your life to grow bigger, as you learn to rely less on food as a coping tool. It means really listening to what you want and need and feel and looking for ways to feed those cravings. As you address your thoughts and feelings and needs head-on (instead of reaching for a cookie), you may find yourself considering new (or forgotten) goals, projects and desires that have nothing to do with food or weight or weight loss surgery. Bravo. Taking on new challenges is exciting—and scary. Here are some tips to remember as you set forth towards those life-expanding goals and move towards creating the life you crave (By the way, these tips work well for weight loss too): 1. Be smart about your goals. Set concrete SMART goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Tangible. “I will work on the book I want to write for thirty minutes every morning before work” is a SMART goal. So is, “I will apply for two jobs this week.” “I will get in shape” is not a SMART goal, but “I will complete the weight circuit at the gym on Monday, Wednesday and Friday after work” is. 2. Break your overall goal down into manageable steps. If you want to change careers, you’ll need more than one “get a new job” goal. Define the steps and keep them small. Create specific SMART sub-goals and milestones for each day and each week. If you aren’t achieving your daily milestones, you’ll need to step back and evaluate why your plan isn’t working, then add in the components you need to meet your daily targets. Key questions to ask here might be: “Is my goal reasonable for the time frame?” “What might help me increase my odds of success in this situation?” “How can I add in some support or accountability?” 3. Keep the big picture in mind. Remember—you’re looking to make a change that lasts; create a habit that sticks; or complete the big project you are beginning. “Slow and steady” really does win the race. We tend greatly overestimate what we can accomplish in the short run and underestimate what we can do in the bigger picture. Make sure that you are being realistic and don’t take on more than your life and current stress level will allow. Small changes are easier to maintain than drastic leaps outside of your comfort zone. Take good care, Melissa Find more information about resources to help you take control of emotional eating and overeating, including special programs for Weight Loss Surgery patients atwww.enduringchange.com Sign up for a free newsletter with more tips about how to live your best life here. Printer Friendly

End Emotional Eating: Let your life grow bigger while you get smaller

By: Melissa McCreery, PhD
Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly

If we want to take charge of emotional eating and create a healthier relationship with food, we must learn to feed ourselves in ways that are more satisfying, and ultimately, more powerful. If we are using food to feed our feelings, or to fill holes in our life, or to avoid certain situations, we need to learn to REALLY address the gaps or holes that we are tempted to use food to fill. Food is for feeding our physical body. As my clients work to conquer emotional eating, they usually find they need to develop more tools and strategies to feed their spirit.

Taking charge of emotional eating means allowing your life to grow bigger, as you learn to rely less on food as a coping tool. It means really listening to what you want and need and feel and looking for ways to feed those cravings. As you address your thoughts and feelings and needs head-on (instead of reaching for a cookie), you may find yourself considering new (or forgotten) goals, projects and desires that have nothing to do with food or weight or weight loss surgery. Bravo.

Taking on new challenges is exciting—and scary. Here are some tips to remember as you set forth towards those life-expanding goals and move towards creating the life you crave (By the way, these tips work well for weight loss too):

1. Be smart about your goals. Set concrete SMART goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Tangible. “I will work on the book I want to write for thirty minutes every morning before work” is a SMART goal. So is, “I will apply for two jobs this week.” “I will get in shape” is not a SMART goal, but “I will complete the weight circuit at the gym on Monday, Wednesday and Friday after work” is.

2. Break your overall goal down into manageable steps. If you want to change careers, you’ll need more than one “get a new job” goal. Define the steps and keep them small. Create specific SMART sub-goals and milestones for each day and each week. If you aren’t achieving your daily milestones, you’ll need to step back and evaluate why your plan isn’t working, then add in the components you need to meet your daily targets. Key questions to ask here might be: “Is my goal reasonable for the time frame?” “What might help me increase my odds of success in this situation?” “How can I add in some support or accountability?”

3. Keep the big picture in mind. Remember—you’re looking to make a change that lasts; create a habit that sticks; or complete the big project you are beginning. “Slow and steady” really does win the race. We tend greatly overestimate what we can accomplish in the short run and underestimate what we can do in the bigger picture. Make sure that you are being realistic and don’t take on more than your life and current stress level will allow. Small changes are easier to maintain than drastic leaps outside of your comfort zone.

Take good care,

Melissa

Find more information about resources to help you take control of emotional eating and overeating, including special programs for Weight Loss Surgery patients atwww.enduringchange.com Sign up for a free newsletter with more tips about how to live your best life here.

Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly
]]> http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080410331/end-emotional-eating--let-your-life-grow-bigger-while-you-get-smaller.php Free teleclass: How to REALLY feed your cravings so that you can lose weight Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:18:12 EDT Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080314320/free-teleclass-how-to-really-feed-your-cravings-so-that-you-can-lose-weight.php Free teleclass: How to REALLY feed your cravings so that you can lose weight By: Melissa McCreery, PhD Printer Friendly It’s time for another free teleclass at www.enduringchange.com filled with more great tools to help you take control of emotional eating. This month’s topic is: How to REALLY Feed Your Cravings So You Can Lose Weight. The teleclass will take place Thursday, March 27, 2008 at 7pm Eastern, 6pm Central, 5pm Mountain and 4pm Pacific time. In the class, I’ll teach you five ways to feed yourself what you are really hungry for that won’t cause weight gain and should make weight loss easier. Trust me, these are NOT gimmicks or diet tricks. That’s simply not what I am about. These are the real tools that you need to know to be able to lose weight and maintain weight loss. Teleclasses are easy to attend. Once you are registered, you’ll get an email with the phone number to call. You simply dial in and provide an access code. Note that you will be responsible for any long distance charges (it’s a regular long distance call). Attendance at these calls has been growing dramatically each time we offer one, so register early to hold a spot. If you can’t attend, don’t worry, the calls will be recorded and I will provide the recording to enrollees after the call. Go here if you’d like to sign up. Hope to see you in class! Melissa www.enduringchange.com my blog:www.endingemotionaleating.blogspot.com Printer Friendly

Free teleclass: How to REALLY feed your cravings so that you can lose weight

By: Melissa McCreery, PhD
Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly

It’s time for another free teleclass at www.enduringchange.com filled with more great tools to help you take control of emotional eating.

This month’s topic is: How to REALLY Feed Your Cravings So You Can Lose Weight.

The teleclass will take place Thursday, March 27, 2008 at 7pm Eastern, 6pm Central, 5pm Mountain and 4pm Pacific time.

In the class, I’ll teach you five ways to feed yourself what you are really hungry for that won’t cause weight gain and should make weight loss easier. Trust me, these are NOT gimmicks or diet tricks. That’s simply not what I am about. These are the real tools that you need to know to be able to lose weight and maintain weight loss.

Teleclasses are easy to attend. Once you are registered, you’ll get an email with the phone number to call. You simply dial in and provide an access code. Note that you will be responsible for any long distance charges (it’s a regular long distance call).

Attendance at these calls has been growing dramatically each time we offer one, so register early to hold a spot. If you can’t attend, don’t worry, the calls will be recorded and I will provide the recording to enrollees after the call.

Go here if you’d like to sign up.

Hope to see you in class!

Melissa www.enduringchange.com

my blog:www.endingemotionaleating.blogspot.com

Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly
]]> http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080314320/free-teleclass-how-to-really-feed-your-cravings-so-that-you-can-lose-weight.php Weight Loss Solutions: Choose Small Consistent Steps For Success Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:38:31 EST Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080224314/weight-loss-solutions-choose-small-consistent-steps-for-success.php Weight Loss Solutions: Choose Small Consistent Steps For Success By: Melissa McCreery, PhD Printer Friendly It’s one thing to read about the alarming increase in obesity in our country. It’s a stunning thing to see this visual depiction of the growing problem on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website—check this out (hint: keep an eye on the changing map): http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps/ Despite the millions of dollars being spent on weight loss every year, we are dramatically moving in the wrong direction, and clearly the advertising enticing us to try the newest “quick fix” isn’t helping the way the ads promise it should. So what to do? The need for long term, enduring solutions is greater than ever. When we see a huge problem, we are tempted to think big. The problem is, big changes usually overwhelm. It is important to remember that the path to permanent change is so often achieved through consistent but small, reasonable sized steps. Rapid drastic changes don’t fit easily with our lives and they often don’t last. This week, I challenge you to come up with one small reasonable step that you can take to improve the health of you and your family. Select a step that you can imagine sticking with for the next ten years—not a short term fix. Think reasonable and think realistic. Think about improving something about your lifestyle just one notch. Think about a pace that you can live with. The change you select might be serving plates in the kitchen instead of at the table or leaving the salt shaker in the cupboard. It might be cutting the sugar you put in your coffee in half or cutting your TV time by 30 minutes to do something more active. Maybe you’ll decide to always take the parking spot half a row farther away then you need to. Be creative but think honestly about who you are, what your family will tolerate and what you can commit to. Leave a comment and let me know what you commit to. Let’s start changing the map! Take good care, Melissa www.enduringchange.com my blog: Peace With Cake: Ending Emotional Eating Printer Friendly

Weight Loss Solutions: Choose Small Consistent Steps For Success

By: Melissa McCreery, PhD
Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly

It’s one thing to read about the alarming increase in obesity in our country. It’s a stunning thing to see this visual depiction of the growing problem on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website—check this out (hint: keep an eye on the changing map):

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps/

Despite the millions of dollars being spent on weight loss every year, we are dramatically moving in the wrong direction, and clearly the advertising enticing us to try the newest “quick fix” isn’t helping the way the ads promise it should.

So what to do? The need for long term, enduring solutions is greater than ever. When we see a huge problem, we are tempted to think big. The problem is, big changes usually overwhelm. It is important to remember that the path to permanent change is so often achieved through consistent but small, reasonable sized steps. Rapid drastic changes don’t fit easily with our lives and they often don’t last.

This week, I challenge you to come up with one small reasonable step that you can take to improve the health of you and your family. Select a step that you can imagine sticking with for the next ten years—not a short term fix. Think reasonable and think realistic. Think about improving something about your lifestyle just one notch. Think about a pace that you can live with.

The change you select might be serving plates in the kitchen instead of at the table or leaving the salt shaker in the cupboard. It might be cutting the sugar you put in your coffee in half or cutting your TV time by 30 minutes to do something more active. Maybe you’ll decide to always take the parking spot half a row farther away then you need to. Be creative but think honestly about who you are, what your family will tolerate and what you can commit to.

Leave a comment and let me know what you commit to. Let’s start changing the map!

Take good care,

Melissa

www.enduringchange.com

my blog: Peace With Cake: Ending Emotional Eating

Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly
]]> http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080224314/weight-loss-solutions-choose-small-consistent-steps-for-success.php How NOT to overeat when you are stressed at work Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:48:46 EST Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080216310/how-not-to-overeat-when-you-are-stressed-at-work.php How NOT to overeat when you are stressed at work By: Melissa McCreery, PhD Printer Friendly A client just emailed me. She’s working to address her emotional eating and has discovered that she’s using food to cope with her feelings at work when a task seems overwhelming. She asks: “How can I handle the stress (at work)?” Great question. Finding the right answer for you will depend on a number of things, including your individual preferences and schedule, the constraints of your job, and the nature of the task at work. However, here are some questions that might be helpful. Can you identify when you start to feel overwhelmed and when you start thinking about food? Is it before you face the task? Is it procrastination? Is it in the middle of the task? When you do think about food, what are you feeling—confused, distracted, anxious, uncertain, overloaded? Do you eat when the task is done as a reward or as a way to deal with the stress you built up “getting through” the process? The answers to these questions give you valuable information to help you shape an alternative response to eating that will work for you. Knowing these answers will allow you to begin to pinpoint how you could respond to your feelings directly. If the work task seems overwhelming is there anything you could do to make it one degree less overwhelming? Could you break it down into smaller sub-goals? Get more clarity about what is expected? Delegate? Can you get additional support—either support to help you with the project or support for you in other areas so that you have more energy to devote to the project? Can you dive in for ten minutes and see how that feels? Sometimes we just need to take a break. Can you walk around the block or around your office or even go to the bathroom and look yourself in the eye in the mirror and ask yourself what you need to do next? Can you stretch or get a cup of tea instead of heading to the vending machine? Sometimes we just have to do the really hard thing. If you take a deep breath and dive in, how will you reward yourself for your courage? What can you do instead of snacking? How can you celebrate your progress as you work through the task? How can you give yourself credit? These questions are just the tip of the iceberg. The key point is that once we start asking ourselves what we REALLY need and what we are REALLY feeling (and once we acknowledge that it’s not hunger), we start to be able to formulate solutions that are powerful and much more effective than a bag of chips from the vending machine. Take good care, Melissa www.enduringchange.com More tips and resources for taking charge of emotional eating are available at my blog: Peace with cake: ending emotional eating. Printer Friendly

How NOT to overeat when you are stressed at work

By: Melissa McCreery, PhD
Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly

A client just emailed me. She’s working to address her emotional eating and has discovered that she’s using food to cope with her feelings at work when a task seems overwhelming. She asks: “How can I handle the stress (at work)?” Great question.

Finding the right answer for you will depend on a number of things, including your individual preferences and schedule, the constraints of your job, and the nature of the task at work. However, here are some questions that might be helpful.

Can you identify when you start to feel overwhelmed and when you start thinking about food? Is it before you face the task? Is it procrastination? Is it in the middle of the task? When you do think about food, what are you feeling—confused, distracted, anxious, uncertain, overloaded? Do you eat when the task is done as a reward or as a way to deal with the stress you built up “getting through” the process? The answers to these questions give you valuable information to help you shape an alternative response to eating that will work for you. Knowing these answers will allow you to begin to pinpoint how you could respond to your feelings directly.

If the work task seems overwhelming is there anything you could do to make it one degree less overwhelming? Could you break it down into smaller sub-goals? Get more clarity about what is expected? Delegate? Can you get additional support—either support to help you with the project or support for you in other areas so that you have more energy to devote to the project? Can you dive in for ten minutes and see how that feels?

Sometimes we just need to take a break. Can you walk around the block or around your office or even go to the bathroom and look yourself in the eye in the mirror and ask yourself what you need to do next? Can you stretch or get a cup of tea instead of heading to the vending machine?

Sometimes we just have to do the really hard thing. If you take a deep breath and dive in, how will you reward yourself for your courage? What can you do instead of snacking? How can you celebrate your progress as you work through the task? How can you give yourself credit?

These questions are just the tip of the iceberg. The key point is that once we start asking ourselves what we REALLY need and what we are REALLY feeling (and once we acknowledge that it’s not hunger), we start to be able to formulate solutions that are powerful and much more effective than a bag of chips from the vending machine.

Take good care,

Melissa

www.enduringchange.com

More tips and resources for taking charge of emotional eating are available at my blog: Peace with cake: ending emotional eating.

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]]> http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080216310/how-not-to-overeat-when-you-are-stressed-at-work.php Free Teleclass: Taking Charge of Emotional Eating After Weight Loss Surgery Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:11:53 EST Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080201295/free-teleclass-taking-charge-of-emotional-eating-after-weight-loss-surgery.php Free Teleclass: Taking Charge of Emotional Eating After Weight Loss Surgery (The importance of using the right tools to conquer emotional overeating) By: Melissa McCreery, PhD Printer Friendly Join me for a free teleseminar! We had such a good teleclass last month, I’ve decided to offer another. This time we will focus specifically on emotional eating issues after weight loss surgery. This is a huge issue, one that many people struggle with, and an issue that can lead to lots of unhelpful feelings of shame and guilt. Learn about the tools that help people take control of emotional eating and maximize their success after weight loss surgery and learn about common mistakes people make in the process. This teleclass will take place on Wednesday, February 20 at 3:00pm Eastern, 2:00pm Central, 1:00pm Mountain, and noon Pacific time. There is no cost for the class, but you will be responsible for the long distance charges to dial in. For more information about the class (including how you can listen to a recording even if you cannot attend), go here:. Hope to see you there! Melissa www.enduringchange.com My blog: Peace With Cake: Ending Emotional Eating Printer Friendly

Free Teleclass: Taking Charge of Emotional Eating After Weight Loss Surgery

(The importance of using the right tools to conquer emotional overeating)

By: Melissa McCreery, PhD
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Join me for a free teleseminar!

We had such a good teleclass last month, I’ve decided to offer another. This time we will focus specifically on emotional eating issues after weight loss surgery. This is a huge issue, one that many people struggle with, and an issue that can lead to lots of unhelpful feelings of shame and guilt.

Learn about the tools that help people take control of emotional eating and maximize their success after weight loss surgery and learn about common mistakes people make in the process.

This teleclass will take place on Wednesday, February 20 at 3:00pm Eastern, 2:00pm Central, 1:00pm Mountain, and noon Pacific time. There is no cost for the class, but you will be responsible for the long distance charges to dial in.

For more information about the class (including how you can listen to a recording even if you cannot attend), go here:.

Hope to see you there!

Melissa www.enduringchange.com

My blog: Peace With Cake: Ending Emotional Eating

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]]> http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080201295/free-teleclass-taking-charge-of-emotional-eating-after-weight-loss-surgery.php Why Diets Don't Work Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:20:29 EST Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080121282/why-diets-dont-work.php Why Diets Don’t Work By: Melissa McCreery, PhD Printer Friendly A huge mistake that people make when trying to overcome emotional eating and lose weight is that they go on a diet. It’s ironic, because millions of marketing dollars are spent telling us that a diet is exactly what we should do. The truth is, we know that diets don’t work. In many cases, diets can actually take you farther away from the things that you need to be successful at taking control of emotional eating and creating a healthy relationship with food. Diets do not create long term weight loss. There is evidence that diets can actually lead to binge eating and evidence that long term dieting and yo-yo dieting actually lead to weight gain. Among other things, diets are missing one of the most fundamental tools for taking charge of emotional overeating. In my emotional eating programs and the life coaching I do, I emphasize the importance of learning how to listen to yourself. This is an incredibly powerful tool, because, when you do it well, you are able to access the wisdom only you have about who you are and what your body needs. A diet not only doesn’t teach you that, it can really damage the listening ability you already have. When you can listen to yourself you can learn from yourself. You can learn to identify when you are hungry and when you are full. You can learn to identify what you are really hungry for—whether it is hunger for food or hunger for something else. When you learn how to listen to yourself appropriately, and when you have the tools, you can tell—and you only get this from listening to yourself—what tool you need to get you through the spot you are in. Diets don’t teach us to listen to ourselves. Diets tell us what to do. Diets don’t help you to be in touch with your body or your feelings or your needs. They don’t help you learn about your unique individual needs and preferences. The truth is, there is no one truth that works for everybody all the time. Diets, because they externally prescribe a way of eating without considering who we are, actually put us more out of touch with our body, our appetites and our needs. Diets themselves can create a whole tangled web of complications. Lots of people who have dieted for years (and are still struggling with their weight by the way), tell me they no longer have any idea whether they are really hungry or full. They’ve been trying to eat the way someone told them to for so long, they are out of touch with themselves. There are ways to overcome emotional eating and there are ways to lose weight and keep it off. The first step to success is realizing that dieting isn’t one of those ways. Take good care, Melissa PS: In addition to posting here, I blog regularly about emotional eating and the tools that are effective at Peace With Cake. My other home on the web is Enduring Change. Printer Friendly

Why Diets Don’t Work

By: Melissa McCreery, PhD
Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly

A huge mistake that people make when trying to overcome emotional eating and lose weight is that they go on a diet. It’s ironic, because millions of marketing dollars are spent telling us that a diet is exactly what we should do. The truth is, we know that diets don’t work. In many cases, diets can actually take you farther away from the things that you need to be successful at taking control of emotional eating and creating a healthy relationship with food.

Diets do not create long term weight loss. There is evidence that diets can actually lead to binge eating and evidence that long term dieting and yo-yo dieting actually lead to weight gain.

Among other things, diets are missing one of the most fundamental tools for taking charge of emotional overeating. In my emotional eating programs and the life coaching I do, I emphasize the importance of learning how to listen to yourself. This is an incredibly powerful tool, because, when you do it well, you are able to access the wisdom only you have about who you are and what your body needs. A diet not only doesn’t teach you that, it can really damage the listening ability you already have.

When you can listen to yourself you can learn from yourself. You can learn to identify when you are hungry and when you are full. You can learn to identify what you are really hungry for—whether it is hunger for food or hunger for something else. When you learn how to listen to yourself appropriately, and when you have the tools, you can tell—and you only get this from listening to yourself—what tool you need to get you through the spot you are in.

Diets don’t teach us to listen to ourselves. Diets tell us what to do. Diets don’t help you to be in touch with your body or your feelings or your needs. They don’t help you learn about your unique individual needs and preferences. The truth is, there is no one truth that works for everybody all the time. Diets, because they externally prescribe a way of eating without considering who we are, actually put us more out of touch with our body, our appetites and our needs. Diets themselves can create a whole tangled web of complications. Lots of people who have dieted for years (and are still struggling with their weight by the way), tell me they no longer have any idea whether they are really hungry or full. They’ve been trying to eat the way someone told them to for so long, they are out of touch with themselves.

There are ways to overcome emotional eating and there are ways to lose weight and keep it off. The first step to success is realizing that dieting isn’t one of those ways.

Take good care,

Melissa

PS: In addition to posting here, I blog regularly about emotional eating and the tools that are effective at Peace With Cake. My other home on the web is Enduring Change.

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]]> http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080121282/why-diets-dont-work.php Free Teleclass: Taking Control of Emotional Eating Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:27:14 EST Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080104265/free-teleclass-taking-control-of-emotional-eating.php Free Teleclass: Taking Control of Emotional Eating By: Melissa McCreery, PhD Printer Friendly Ending emotional eating requires self respect—a lot of it. It also requires some real work. Unfortunately, it’s often different work than people think. Every year, especially this time of year, a lot of energy and frustration is wasted, trying to apply the wrong techniques to achieving weight loss. When these inadequate techniques fail, people often incorrectly blame themselves rather than the poor technique. Self-blame diminishes self respect and contributes to a vicious cycle that works against efforts to conquer emotional eating, lose the weight you want, and get on with the life you want to live. As we move into another year, lots of us are thinking about goals and resolutions and changes we’d like to make. Fantastic. I love fresh starts, but don’t throw out your wisdom with the New Year. There are lots of new books you can buy and diets you can start. Unfortunately, most of them won’t honor the wisdom and knowledge only you carry from living your entire life with your body and your mind. Most of the diet products and books and programs don’t provide the techniques and the tools that are appropriate for conquering emotional eating. Join me for a free teleclass on January 16 at 3pm Eastern (2pm Central, 1pm Mountain, noon Pacific Time), Taking Control of Emotional Eating (once and for all): The five mistakes that people make when trying to lose weight and conquer emotional overeating. If you can’t attend, you’ll want to register anyway. The class will be recorded and I’ll email all registered participants a copy. During the call I’ll do my best to provide you with valuable information that can help you pursue your goals wisely and avoid wasting your efforts on frustrating techniques that are unlikely to meet your needs. Just click on the link above to register and get more information. Take good care, Melissa PS: If you haven’t already done so, make sure you pick up your free five lesson Self-care Package at either of the links below. Happy New Year! www.enduringchange.com or www.endingemotionaleating.blogspot.com Printer Friendly

Free Teleclass: Taking Control of Emotional Eating

By: Melissa McCreery, PhD
Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly

Ending emotional eating requires self respect—a lot of it. It also requires some real work. Unfortunately, it’s often different work than people think.

Every year, especially this time of year, a lot of energy and frustration is wasted, trying to apply the wrong techniques to achieving weight loss. When these inadequate techniques fail, people often incorrectly blame themselves rather than the poor technique. Self-blame diminishes self respect and contributes to a vicious cycle that works against efforts to conquer emotional eating, lose the weight you want, and get on with the life you want to live.

As we move into another year, lots of us are thinking about goals and resolutions and changes we’d like to make. Fantastic. I love fresh starts, but don’t throw out your wisdom with the New Year. There are lots of new books you can buy and diets you can start. Unfortunately, most of them won’t honor the wisdom and knowledge only you carry from living your entire life with your body and your mind. Most of the diet products and books and programs don’t provide the techniques and the tools that are appropriate for conquering emotional eating.

Join me for a free teleclass on January 16 at 3pm Eastern (2pm Central, 1pm Mountain, noon Pacific Time), Taking Control of Emotional Eating (once and for all): The five mistakes that people make when trying to lose weight and conquer emotional overeating. If you can’t attend, you’ll want to register anyway. The class will be recorded and I’ll email all registered participants a copy. During the call I’ll do my best to provide you with valuable information that can help you pursue your goals wisely and avoid wasting your efforts on frustrating techniques that are unlikely to meet your needs. Just click on the link above to register and get more information.

Take good care,

Melissa

PS: If you haven’t already done so, make sure you pick up your free five lesson Self-care Package at either of the links below. Happy New Year! www.enduringchange.com or www.endingemotionaleating.blogspot.com

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]]> http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20080104265/free-teleclass-taking-control-of-emotional-eating.php Avoiding Holiday Stress and Emotional Eating: Get a Self-care Package Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:57:53 EST Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20071217250/avoiding-holiday-stress-and-emotional-eating-get-a-self-care-package.php Avoiding Holiday Stress and Emotional Eating: Get a Self-care Package By: Melissa McCreery, PhD Printer Friendly My important tip for avoiding holiday stress (and emotional over eating): Take care of yourself. I know, it’s easier said than done. And yet—when you do it—everything else really is easier. Learning to allow ourselves to prioritize our own self care is an extremely hard lesson for many of us to learn—but it’s really an essential first step. I know that many tip sheets for coping with holiday stress trumpet the value of self care, and I also know that when you are really busy, working to take good care of yourself can seem like just one thing more to add to a busy to-do list. Because your self-care is one of the most important tools you can have to take control of emotional eating, I’ve worked hard to create a way to make it a lot more do-able. Here’s my end-of-year gift to you: a Self-care Package(TM). The Self-care Package(TM) I’ve created consists of five quick-and-to-the-point audio lessons. There’s absolutely no cost. Just go here or here and look in the upper right-hand corner of the page (you may have to scroll up a bit). When you enroll, you’ll be emailed a link to a very short (about 3 minutes) audio with concrete steps (and assignments) aimed at helping you improve your self-care and get on track for 2008. You’ll get a new audio lesson once a week for five weeks. I designed the weekly package deliveries to be straight forward and absolutely possible to accomplish. I hope you find them helpful. Check it out and feel free to share it with friends. Leave a comment below to let me know what you think. Take good care and Happy Holidays, Melissa Hint: You can find the previous tips for avoiding stress and emotional overeating at Peace With Cake: Ending Emotional Eating Printer Friendly

Avoiding Holiday Stress and Emotional Eating: Get a Self-care Package

By: Melissa McCreery, PhD
Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly

My important tip for avoiding holiday stress (and emotional over eating): Take care of yourself. I know, it’s easier said than done. And yet—when you do it—everything else really is easier. Learning to allow ourselves to prioritize our own self care is an extremely hard lesson for many of us to learn—but it’s really an essential first step. I know that many tip sheets for coping with holiday stress trumpet the value of self care, and I also know that when you are really busy, working to take good care of yourself can seem like just one thing more to add to a busy to-do list.

Because your self-care is one of the most important tools you can have to take control of emotional eating, I’ve worked hard to create a way to make it a lot more do-able. Here’s my end-of-year gift to you: a Self-care Package(TM). The Self-care Package(TM) I’ve created consists of five quick-and-to-the-point audio lessons. There’s absolutely no cost. Just go here or here and look in the upper right-hand corner of the page (you may have to scroll up a bit). When you enroll, you’ll be emailed a link to a very short (about 3 minutes) audio with concrete steps (and assignments) aimed at helping you improve your self-care and get on track for 2008. You’ll get a new audio lesson once a week for five weeks.

I designed the weekly package deliveries to be straight forward and absolutely possible to accomplish. I hope you find them helpful. Check it out and feel free to share it with friends. Leave a comment below to let me know what you think.

Take good care and Happy Holidays,

Melissa

Hint: You can find the previous tips for avoiding stress and emotional overeating at Peace With Cake: Ending Emotional Eating

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]]> http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20071217250/avoiding-holiday-stress-and-emotional-eating-get-a-self-care-package.php Avoiding Holiday Stress and Emotional Eating: Slow Down Mon, 10 Dec 2007 09:40:04 EST Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20071210241/avoiding-holiday-stress-and-emotional-eating-slow-down.php Avoiding Holiday Stress and Emotional Eating: Slow Down By: Melissa McCreery, PhD Printer Friendly Being present and centered allows us to make choices that are planned and deliberate. Being present is what allows us to carefully look at the appetizer tray and decide whether we are hungry and what really looks good. When we’re stressed or in a rush, we often skip that step. As if by magic, our hand reaches out, we fill our plate with food, eat it without really tasting, don’t register much about the taste, and don’t assess whether we are still hungry or whether we are full until much later down the line. This season, I challenge you to practice slowing down and being present. Make a ritual out of taking five minutes every morning. Use the time to notice how you are doing. What are you thinking about? Each day, write down the one-three things that you could do that would relieve the most pressure on your to-do list and set your goal to get those things accomplished. Notice how you are feeling. Are you tired? Sluggish? Excited? If you notice something that could be improved with self-care (such as noticing that you aren’t getting enough sleep or activity), make a quick plan to start to remedy the situation. This probably isn’t the time to undertake a major life transformation, but you can set the intention of taking a brisk walk on your lunch hour or getting to bed thirty minutes earlier. Too often, if we don’t recognize our need for self-care and if we don’t give ourselves permission to slow down, we’ll resort to food and overeating to fill in the gaps or dampen down the stress or comfort us when we’re tired. Being pro-active by allowing yourself some consistent time to slow down and take stock will help you take control of stressful situations and minimize emotional eating. Take good care, Melissa PS: You can always contact me through my website, http://www.enduringchange.com. Find more tips for reducing stress and emotional eating on my blog, http://endingemotionaleating.blogspot.com Printer Friendly

Avoiding Holiday Stress and Emotional Eating: Slow Down

By: Melissa McCreery, PhD
Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly

Being present and centered allows us to make choices that are planned and deliberate. Being present is what allows us to carefully look at the appetizer tray and decide whether we are hungry and what really looks good. When we’re stressed or in a rush, we often skip that step. As if by magic, our hand reaches out, we fill our plate with food, eat it without really tasting, don’t register much about the taste, and don’t assess whether we are still hungry or whether we are full until much later down the line.

This season, I challenge you to practice slowing down and being present. Make a ritual out of taking five minutes every morning. Use the time to notice how you are doing.

What are you thinking about? Each day, write down the one-three things that you could do that would relieve the most pressure on your to-do list and set your goal to get those things accomplished.

Notice how you are feeling. Are you tired? Sluggish? Excited? If you notice something that could be improved with self-care (such as noticing that you aren’t getting enough sleep or activity), make a quick plan to start to remedy the situation. This probably isn’t the time to undertake a major life transformation, but you can set the intention of taking a brisk walk on your lunch hour or getting to bed thirty minutes earlier.

Too often, if we don’t recognize our need for self-care and if we don’t give ourselves permission to slow down, we’ll resort to food and overeating to fill in the gaps or dampen down the stress or comfort us when we’re tired. Being pro-active by allowing yourself some consistent time to slow down and take stock will help you take control of stressful situations and minimize emotional eating.

Take good care, Melissa

PS: You can always contact me through my website, http://www.enduringchange.com. Find more tips for reducing stress and emotional eating on my blog, http://endingemotionaleating.blogspot.com

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]]> http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20071210241/avoiding-holiday-stress-and-emotional-eating-slow-down.php Is gaining sleep a key to losing weight? Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:20:15 EST Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20071203233/is-gaining-sleep-a-key-to-losing-weight.php Is gaining sleep a key to losing weight? By: Melissa McCreery, PhD Printer Friendly Researchers continue to learn more about the relationship between reduced sleep and weight gain. If you are feeling out of control with food, eating or weight this is something important to pay attention to. Do you overeat when you are tired? I know I do. It’s easy to mistake feelings of tiredness for hunger, and it’s tempting to eat when we’re tired to try to increase our energy or alertness. Now we are learning that being low on sleep can actually cause you to be hungrier and that skimping on sleep may cause weight gain whether or not you eat more! Short-term sleep deprivation seems to lower levels of leptin, a hormone that tells us when we are full, and increase levels of the hormone ghrelin, which promotes appetite. Have you had the experience after a night of little sleep where you feel like you can eat everything in sight and never feel full? That’s likely the low leptin, high ghrelin effect. In one study, of 12 males whose sleep was restricted for two days, appetite increased dramatically, as did the desire for sweets, starch and salty foods. In fact, cravings for high carbohydrate, high calorie foods increased by 45 percent! Sleep restriction seems to cause physiologic effects that may actually predispose one to gain weight, and this may be at least partially independent of how much you eat. In a study involving over 68,000 women who were followed for 16 years, knowing that a subject usually slept less than seven hours a night was predictive of weight gain, including a substantial increased risk of major weight gain (greater than 33 pounds over the sixteen years) and obesity. Women who regularly slept five hours or less were 32% more likely to have gained at least 33 pounds over the 16 years than those who slept 7-8 hours. Even when researchers controlled for levels of caloric intake and activity, those who slept less gained more weight. The weight gain was not accounted for by the amount of food that was eaten! Other studies of men and women have documented higher levels of body fat in individuals who sleep less than 8 hours a night. Although the complicated relationship between sleep and weight is far from well understood, certain findings seem to be consistent, and at least one point seems clear. Sleep is not a variable that should be overlooked in anyone’s self care. For busy people, sleep is often the first thing to go when the to-do list gets too crowded. It’s a huge mistake—for lots of different reasons—and staying in control of your relationship with food is one of them. Take good care, Melissa this article is reprinted from Peace With Cake: Ending Emotional Eating. This month we’re featuring tips for reducing both holiday stress AND emotional eating. Printer Friendly

Is gaining sleep a key to losing weight?

By: Melissa McCreery, PhD
Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly

Researchers continue to learn more about the relationship between reduced sleep and weight gain. If you are feeling out of control with food, eating or weight this is something important to pay attention to.

Do you overeat when you are tired? I know I do. It’s easy to mistake feelings of tiredness for hunger, and it’s tempting to eat when we’re tired to try to increase our energy or alertness.

Now we are learning that being low on sleep can actually cause you to be hungrier and that skimping on sleep may cause weight gain whether or not you eat more!

Short-term sleep deprivation seems to lower levels of leptin, a hormone that tells us when we are full, and increase levels of the hormone ghrelin, which promotes appetite. Have you had the experience after a night of little sleep where you feel like you can eat everything in sight and never feel full? That’s likely the low leptin, high ghrelin effect. In one study, of 12 males whose sleep was restricted for two days, appetite increased dramatically, as did the desire for sweets, starch and salty foods. In fact, cravings for high carbohydrate, high calorie foods increased by 45 percent!

Sleep restriction seems to cause physiologic effects that may actually predispose one to gain weight, and this may be at least partially independent of how much you eat. In a study involving over 68,000 women who were followed for 16 years, knowing that a subject usually slept less than seven hours a night was predictive of weight gain, including a substantial increased risk of major weight gain (greater than 33 pounds over the sixteen years) and obesity. Women who regularly slept five hours or less were 32% more likely to have gained at least 33 pounds over the 16 years than those who slept 7-8 hours.

Even when researchers controlled for levels of caloric intake and activity, those who slept less gained more weight. The weight gain was not accounted for by the amount of food that was eaten!

Other studies of men and women have documented higher levels of body fat in individuals who sleep less than 8 hours a night. Although the complicated relationship between sleep and weight is far from well understood, certain findings seem to be consistent, and at least one point seems clear. Sleep is not a variable that should be overlooked in anyone’s self care.

For busy people, sleep is often the first thing to go when the to-do list gets too crowded. It’s a huge mistake—for lots of different reasons—and staying in control of your relationship with food is one of them.

Take good care, Melissa

this article is reprinted from Peace With Cake: Ending Emotional Eating. This month we’re featuring tips for reducing both holiday stress AND emotional eating.

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]]> http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20071203233/is-gaining-sleep-a-key-to-losing-weight.php Food, Weight and the Holidays Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:53:19 EST Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20071126224/food-weight-and-the-holidays.php Food, Weight and the Holidays By: Melissa McCreery, PhD Category: Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. Printer Friendly Wow—it’s almost December! The holidays are upon us—and I don’t know about you, but my calendar is filling up quickly with all sorts of holiday activities and get-togethers. I’m curious. How do you see food and weight loss and eating choices fitting into your holiday celebrations and rituals? Have you found ways to honor your goals and honor the rituals and traditions and celebrations that are important to you? Leave a comment, ask a question or share a helpful suggestion. Let’s start a conversation and share the wealth of our collective wisdom! Melissa PS: You can always contact me via my website Printer Friendly

Food, Weight and the Holidays

By: Melissa McCreery, PhD
Category: Melissa McCreery, Ph.D.
Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly

Wow—it’s almost December!
The holidays are upon us—and I don’t know about you, but my calendar is filling up quickly with all sorts of holiday activities and get-togethers. I’m curious. How do you see food and weight loss and eating choices fitting into your holiday celebrations and rituals? Have you found ways to honor your goals and honor the rituals and traditions and celebrations that are important to you?

Leave a comment, ask a question or share a helpful suggestion. Let’s start a conversation and share the wealth of our collective wisdom!

Melissa

PS: You can always contact me via my website

Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly
]]> http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20071126224/food-weight-and-the-holidays.php Emotional Eating DOES Impact Weight Loss Thu, 15 Nov 2007 13:41:18 EST Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20071115212/emotional-eating-does-impact-weight-loss.php Emotional Eating DOES Impact Weight Loss By: Melissa McCreery, PhD Category: Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. Printer Friendly The journal Obesity just published a study of 286 overweight men and women. They conclude that emotional eaters—individuals who report eating in response to thoughts and feelings—are more likely to regain the weight they lose. In a related study of 3345 adults, the authors found that individuals who eat because of internal reasons, such as feeling lonely or as a reward, lost less weight then individuals who didn’t eat to cope with internal feelings or thoughts. “Our results suggest that we need to pay more attention to eating triggered by emotions or thoughts as they clearly play a significant role in weight loss. Current treatments provide minimal assistance with eating in response to feelings or thoughts,” states Heather Niemeier, one of the obesity researchers from Brown University. She adds, “Modifying our treatments to address these triggers for unhealthy eating and help patients learn alternative strategies could improve their ability to maintain weight loss behaviors, even in the face of affective and cognitive difficulties.” Of course emotional eating is a huge factor in weight loss (and weight gain). However, this study is a good reminder of why I consistently bring my clients back to the importance of acquiring the tools they need to address their individual patterns of emotional eating. Learning the steps to identify your own unique pattern of emotional eating and learning how to develop a concrete plan that addresses your specific eating patterns is a crucial step that many people try to skip. Once you acquire the tools to take control of your emotional eating, eating for weight loss becomes much less complicated. If you struggle with emotional eating, you already know that if you don’t find a way to gain control of those eating patterns, it really doesn’t matter how many “diet tips” you learn. Because why you eat can be at least as powerful as what you eat. Or, as a client recently told me, once you have the “why” under control, the “what” is just easier. Take good care, Melissa PS: You can always contact me by leaving a comment or via my website Printer Friendly

Emotional Eating DOES Impact Weight Loss

By: Melissa McCreery, PhD
Category: Melissa McCreery, Ph.D.
Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly

The journal Obesity just published a study of 286 overweight men and women. They conclude that emotional eaters—individuals who report eating in response to thoughts and feelings—are more likely to regain the weight they lose. In a related study of 3345 adults, the authors found that individuals who eat because of internal reasons, such as feeling lonely or as a reward, lost less weight then individuals who didn’t eat to cope with internal feelings or thoughts.

“Our results suggest that we need to pay more attention to eating triggered by emotions or thoughts as they clearly play a significant role in weight loss. Current treatments provide minimal assistance with eating in response to feelings or thoughts,” states Heather Niemeier, one of the obesity researchers from Brown University. She adds, “Modifying our treatments to address these triggers for unhealthy eating and help patients learn alternative strategies could improve their ability to maintain weight loss behaviors, even in the face of affective and cognitive difficulties.”

Of course emotional eating is a huge factor in weight loss (and weight gain). However, this study is a good reminder of why I consistently bring my clients back to the importance of acquiring the tools they need to address their individual patterns of emotional eating.

Learning the steps to identify your own unique pattern of emotional eating and learning how to develop a concrete plan that addresses your specific eating patterns is a crucial step that many people try to skip. Once you acquire the tools to take control of your emotional eating, eating for weight loss becomes much less complicated. If you struggle with emotional eating, you already know that if you don’t find a way to gain control of those eating patterns, it really doesn’t matter how many “diet tips” you learn. Because why you eat can be at least as powerful as what you eat. Or, as a client recently told me, once you have the “why” under control, the “what” is just easier.

Take good care,

Melissa

PS: You can always contact me by leaving a comment or via my website

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]]> http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20071115212/emotional-eating-does-impact-weight-loss.php Weight Loss Surgery and Emotional Eating 101 Sun, 11 Nov 2007 20:30:38 EST Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20071111208/weight-loss-surgery-and-emotional-eating-101.php Weight Loss Surgery and Emotional Eating 101 (Six Steps to Follow) By: Melissa McCreery, PhD Category: Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. Printer Friendly Weight loss surgery patients are often surprised to find old habits with food creeping back into their lives. While the path back to emotional over-eating can be somewhat different depending on what weight loss surgery procedure you had, here’s the hard truth: habits related to food, especially the habits of using food to care for our emotional needs, are hard to break. Here are important steps to follow if you recognize emotional over-eating after weight loss surgery: Identify it Name it for what it is. If you are eating because you are tired, angry, bored, sad, anxious or excited the first important step is to notice that this is what is happening. Try to get into the habit of assessing how physically hungry you are before you eat. Learning to pay attention to hunger cues is an important skill even if weight loss surgery has altered them and you are required to eat when you do not feel physically hungry. Be a detective Sometimes this is most easily done by working backwards. If you have a day of eating that feels out of control, take some deep breaths afterward and do some detective work. Hold your judgment at bay and cultivate your curiosity. What was different about this day then the one before it? What led you to eat more? How were you feeling? When did you start thinking about food? Learn your triggers As you practice the first two steps, you will begin to identify some “triggers.” These are feelings or situations or circumstances that tend to lead you down the path of eating when you aren’t physically in need of food. Pay attention to your “basic needs” We all have basic needs for sleep, physical activity, stress release and relaxation, time alone and time with others. Take the time to know your needs in these areas and make sure that you are fulfilling them. As a weight loss surgery patient, you also need to pay extra attention to nutritional needs. Letting things like B12 shots, supplements, protein and water slide will affect your energy level and can drastically affect your eating (not to mention your health). Start to develop a plan of attack As you learn to identify your emotional hunger and you start to develop an awareness of what triggers it for you, you can start to develop some alternate coping strategies. “What can I do instead of overeating?” and “What else can I start to do when I am feeling (fill in the blank with your trigger)?” are some of the most powerful questions you can start to answer. Don’t feel defeated if you don’t know the answers to some of these questions. Make a note of them. These are the areas where you will really want to start collecting more tools, strategies, and support to help you. Be patient You didn’t become an emotional over-eater overnight and you aren’t going to overcome it in one fell swoop. Be gentle with yourself and keep working these steps. They will make a difference. Best, Melissa PS: You can always contact me by leaving a comment or via my website Printer Friendly

Weight Loss Surgery and Emotional Eating 101

(Six Steps to Follow)

By: Melissa McCreery, PhD
Category: Melissa McCreery, Ph.D.
Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly

Weight loss surgery patients are often surprised to find old habits with food creeping back into their lives. While the path back to emotional over-eating can be somewhat different depending on what weight loss surgery procedure you had, here’s the hard truth: habits related to food, especially the habits of using food to care for our emotional needs, are hard to break.

Here are important steps to follow if you recognize emotional over-eating after weight loss surgery:

  1. Identify it

    2. Name it for what it is. If you are eating because you are tired, angry, bored, sad, anxious or excited the first important step is to notice that this is what is happening. Try to get into the habit of assessing how physically hungry you are before you eat. Learning to pay attention to hunger cues is an important skill even if weight loss surgery has altered them and you are required to eat when you do not feel physically hungry.

  2. Be a detective

    3. Sometimes this is most easily done by working backwards. If you have a day of eating that feels out of control, take some deep breaths afterward and do some detective work. Hold your judgment at bay and cultivate your curiosity. What was different about this day then the one before it? What led you to eat more? How were you feeling? When did you start thinking about food?

  3. Learn your triggers

    4. As you practice the first two steps, you will begin to identify some “triggers.” These are feelings or situations or circumstances that tend to lead you down the path of eating when you aren’t physically in need of food.

  4. Pay attention to your “basic needs”

    5. We all have basic needs for sleep, physical activity, stress release and relaxation, time alone and time with others. Take the time to know your needs in these areas and make sure that you are fulfilling them. As a weight loss surgery patient, you also need to pay extra attention to nutritional needs. Letting things like B12 shots, supplements, protein and water slide will affect your energy level and can drastically affect your eating (not to mention your health).

  5. Start to develop a plan of attack

    6. As you learn to identify your emotional hunger and you start to develop an awareness of what triggers it for you, you can start to develop some alternate coping strategies. “What can I do instead of overeating?” and “What else can I start to do when I am feeling (fill in the blank with your trigger)?” are some of the most powerful questions you can start to answer. Don’t feel defeated if you don’t know the answers to some of these questions. Make a note of them. These are the areas where you will really want to start collecting more tools, strategies, and support to help you.

  6. Be patient

    7. You didn’t become an emotional over-eater overnight and you aren’t going to overcome it in one fell swoop. Be gentle with yourself and keep working these steps. They will make a difference.

    Best,

    Melissa

    PS: You can always contact me by leaving a comment or via my website

    Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly
    ]]> http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20071111208/weight-loss-surgery-and-emotional-eating-101.php Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. Sat, 03 Nov 2007 13:56:23 EDT Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20071103196/melissa-mccreery-phd.php Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. By: Melissa McCreery, PhD Category: Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. Printer Friendly Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Melissa McCreery and I’m thrilled to have been asked to blog for WLS Lifestyles. I’m a Psychologist, Life Coach and writer and have spent many years in private practice helping people end obsessive relationships with food and weight, create balance in their lives, and find the time and motivation to pursue their passions. I’m a contributing writer to WLS Lifestyles magazine and am excited to be a part of this new expanded site. My other home on the internet is http://www.enduringchange.com. In the non-virtual world, I work and play in beautiful Bellingham, Washington where, through the wonders of technology, I am able to coach and run groups and tele-seminars with clients from all over the world. I feel incredibly lucky. I love my work, and I also like to cook, to run, hang out with my family and read great books. I’ve just published a self-study program on overcoming emotional eating, and am now working on writing a related book. The common thread that sews my professional life together is my passion for helping people move forward and create their best possible version of their life. Weight, emotional eating, obesity and the serial diet trap are places where lots of people get stuck and grow hopeless—so it’s become a place that I focus a lot of the work that I do. There are some terrific tools for moving BEYOND food and GETTING ON with your life. Some have to do with what you put in your mouth, but lots of them don’t. This blog will be a place to share ideas, tips, tools and helpful news. I hope the ideas here will help you make the changes you want, help you move towards your goals, and make it easier for you to create the life you want to live. I’ll do my best to keep you up to date with what I know about that’s useful. Enough about me, I’d like to hear about you. Where are you feeling stuck? What do you want to know more about? I’d love to hear from you about where you hang out online. What are your favorite health, wellness, weight loss or fitness websites, message boards or blogs? Add a comment at the bottom of this post and let me know. Best, Melissa Printer Friendly

    Melissa McCreery, Ph.D.

    By: Melissa McCreery, PhD
    Category: Melissa McCreery, Ph.D.
    Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly
    Melissa McCreery, Ph.D.

    Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Melissa McCreery and I’m thrilled to have been asked to blog for WLS Lifestyles. I’m a Psychologist, Life Coach and writer and have spent many years in private practice helping people end obsessive relationships with food and weight, create balance in their lives, and find the time and motivation to pursue their passions. I’m a contributing writer to WLS Lifestyles magazine and am excited to be a part of this new expanded site.

    My other home on the internet is http://www.enduringchange.com. In the non-virtual world, I work and play in beautiful Bellingham, Washington where, through the wonders of technology, I am able to coach and run groups and tele-seminars with clients from all over the world. I feel incredibly lucky. I love my work, and I also like to cook, to run, hang out with my family and read great books. I’ve just published a self-study program on overcoming emotional eating, and am now working on writing a related book.

    The common thread that sews my professional life together is my passion for helping people move forward and create their best possible version of their life. Weight, emotional eating, obesity and the serial diet trap are places where lots of people get stuck and grow hopeless—so it’s become a place that I focus a lot of the work that I do. There are some terrific tools for moving BEYOND food and GETTING ON with your life. Some have to do with what you put in your mouth, but lots of them don’t. This blog will be a place to share ideas, tips, tools and helpful news. I hope the ideas here will help you make the changes you want, help you move towards your goals, and make it easier for you to create the life you want to live. I’ll do my best to keep you up to date with what I know about that’s useful.

    Enough about me, I’d like to hear about you. Where are you feeling stuck? What do you want to know more about? I’d love to hear from you about where you hang out online. What are your favorite health, wellness, weight loss or fitness websites, message boards or blogs? Add a comment at the bottom of this post and let me know.

    Best,

    Melissa

    Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly
    ]]>     http://www.wlslifestyles.com/all-blogs/melissa-mccreery-phd/20071103196/melissa-mccreery-phd.php