Manage Your Emotions to Manage Your Weight Loss

While the concept of emotional eating is not new to the field of weight loss, the task of managing emotions is a common struggle not foreign to all of the typical uncomfortable positions that people experience. However, it seems that this concept is something that continues to plague us as much as we continue to avoid it. This avoidance is evidenced by the number of people who attempt to solve these discomforting emotions through measures external to them. Buying a new car, moving, changing jobs, relationships, or weight, are all case in points of this misguided method of solving a core problem. While these methods may provide some temporary relief, the blindness around what really plagues us continues to pervade our lives.

We simply carry on, distracting ourselves from the emotional condition we are in, seemingly unaware of the ways in which we are impacted by the world around us. We may not realize how we are affected by the moods of those around us and how this in turn, then affects the way in which we interpret the world around us. When someone close to us makes an angry remark, we “Catch” this emotion, often unaware that we did. We then experience this anger, again, unaware that we are, and this causes us to read anger into future events in our lives. An angry remark of a friend or coworker may cause us to interpret the following conversation with our significant other as demeaning or critical. We may then repeat this demeaning and critical response to someone else, again perpetuating the cycle of negative emotions. In this way, emotions can be contagious and create a snowball effect in our lives. All the while, we may remain oblivious as to the effect this emotional contagion can have on us. That is until we find ourselves staring into the refrigerator wondering why we can’t seem to find solace there.

So let’s try a quick exercise: Begin by keeping a daily log of your mood. To do this, set a timer at three hour intervals. At each interval you will simply jot down your mood. Are you elated, bored, depressed, excited, anxious, angry, dejected, or irritated? Try to be as specific as possible. Continue this log for one week, and at the end of the week, count the number of times you reported each emotion. For example, you may have written “bored” 20 times, while you only reported “happy” 5 times.

Whatever the case may be, take notice of the emotional contagion that has been happening around you. Once you have this information, you can then identify patterns that are occurring in your life. Are you finding yourself irritated at the same time, or place every day, or around the same people? Is there something that has been consistently causing you to feel happy? Identifying the patterns that are related to your moods will allow you to become more aware of not just your own emotional condition, but the way it is impacted by the world around you. From there, it is all up to you!

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In the field of weight loss, few take the approach that Eric Viskovicz does. A lifetime in competitive sports, including at the college, coupled with a history of an eating disorder, and a 50 pound weight struggle has given Eric Viskovicz a unique insight into the mind of the person who struggles with weight, as well as the mind of the professional athlete.