Focusing on a 'problem' as THE way to 'fix' it is paradoxically a habit that can keep you locked in a cycle of overeating.

Because when you judge your overeating as 'bad,' you lose the ability to look closer in that moment and be curious about why you are using food in the first place to meet a need. THAT curiosity and willingness to see the need underneath the habit of overeating is how you work WITH your current habits to start shaping them and changing them to meet your underlying needs in a more direct and helpful way.

Instead of thinking you are messing up, not getting it, or staying stuck, instead you could think:

My overeating makes sense in this situation because at some level I was thinking that it would help me.

Coach Homework:

Before or after you overeat, pause and write out the answers to the following two questions to try and figure out what is really going on:

1. What am I thinking food is giving me if I'm not hungry right now?
2. What has the emotional weather of my day been up until this point? Could that be affecting my desire to eat right now? If so, how are they connected?

Compile your responses to these questions for as many overeats as possible over the course of the next 30 days. At the end of 30 days, go through the answers and see if you can spot patterns of tension in your life that you are solving with eating.

Ask: What is/are the thing(s) in my life that are waving red flags that are trying to get my attention about what needs changing?

It's not about the food it's about the life that is calling you forward.

I'm so curious to hear how this 30-day experiment unfolds for you and what you discover in the process.

Visit me @thriveinmidlife on Instagram on the episode 23 post and comment with your ah-ha's, takeaways, homework, and/or questions from this episode, and let’s keep the conversation going.

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Audio engineering by Young Cub Audio.