Keep Your FLAB In Check

by Kris Pitcher

If weight management were just about calories in and calories out, it would be easy. It's not easy. If eating were simply about fueling our bodies, we would simply eat what we need. Nothing about it is simple. I'm an eater. I can eat my husband under the table any night of the week. And the truth is, we eat for a lot of different reasons.

We do different things when we are stressed out or bored, or sad. Some people lose their appetite - me, I've never really needed to feel hungry to eat. I know I'm not alone, and learning your triggers is important to staying the course with weight management.

I recently heard a great acronym, and who doesn't love an acronym, to help determine why you're about to eat. Checking in with your feelings is a great thing to do, and then you may need to redirect your actions. Let's check in:

• F - Frustrated
• L - Lonely
• A - Angry
• B - Bored

Ah, yes, can we count the times we noshed on a handful of fill-in-the-blanks because we were frustrated, lonely, angry, or bored. Take those times out of the equation and we might just make this weight management thing work! When we're feeling FLAB, we need to redirect our actions.

Take a walk, sip a cup of tea, read a book, put hand lotion on, call a friend, or paint your nails. It is really hard to eat chips out of a bag with wet nails. Learning to check your feelings and redirect your actions is key to controlling mindless emotional eating.

I keep my emotional eating in check by knowing my triggers, keeping my stress in balance, and by maintaining my schedule. That goes for sleep schedule, eating schedule - all of that. What will you do to keep your FLAB in check?