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990988 tn?1249273779

Beating Emotional Eating. Diets dont work?

Hello,

I am currently using www.Totellwellness.com as an emotional eating program and so far it has worked well even with out a diet. Is it true that you can loose weight with out traditional "gym" excercising and by overcoming your attachment with food? My program says to just move for 20 minuets, like taking a walk or playing with kids. I did so the past two weeks and have lost 3 pounds, this was with getting rid of all the foods I identified as addictive.

thanks for you insight.

-Sophie
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242532 tn?1269550379
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
any type of exercise is useful and a moderate amount is extremely helpful but the most important secret to weight loss is controlling how much you eat.  With a vigorous exercise you may only use up several hundred calories an hour and you can eat that much in two minutes.  If you can give up using food as an emotional crutch then you can use your intelligence to construct a healthy diet for yourself and you will lose weight.  If you need any more help than you are now getting you can find more information about this on my website, shrink yourself.
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Avatar universal
Hi.  I'm not the expert, just another individual with loads of questions.

Primarily we lose weight by burning off more energy than we consume.

Exercise doesn't have to be done in a gym to be effective.  Walking, swimming, cycling, playing with the kids, etc are great.  The most important thing is to choose activities that you can sustain -ones that you enjoy, so keep doing.
I think the recommendation is to build up to 30 minutes for ... I can't remember the number of days.  Some say for most, if not all, days of the week.

Making healthy food choices is also important.  If you have a healthy relationship with food then you have some flexibility and won't feel so driven to over-eat or comfort or emotionally eat.

Identifying and eliminating triggering foods can be helpful.  I'm not sure that when your resolve is low though that you won't feel tempted to reach for those foods.
One of Dr Phil's strategies was to have a safe environment (get rid of all the junk food, etc).  I guess if it's not there you can't have it.

Early into your program it sounds like this approach has been working for you.  Well done on the weight loss, that must be really exciting for you.

Keep up the good work.

J
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