Are your eating behaviors being triggered by something you're unaware of?

Sometimes it's pretty obvious. For example, if every time you get into an argument with your significant other you run to the ice cream right after to make yourself feel better (even though you probably feel worse afterwards), you know the trigger.

But sometimes you may be unaware that certain eating behaviors could be triggered by something happening during a different part of the day. Whether it be mental, emotional, or physical, they can all effect our choices. The problem is if the undesired behavior doesn't immediately follow the trigger, it can be very hard to pinpoint and will often leave you feeling discouraged and confused as to why you keep sabotaging your healthy eating efforts.

What to do? Here is a simple way to hone in on your triggers and face them head on:

Keep a time diary. Simply write down what you do during the day. The more detailed with thoughts, emotions, feelings, during the day and around meals and snacks, the better. This will allow you to start to identify patterns. Why you sabotage your diet (meaning eating something unhealthy you weren't panning on, sometimes without even realizing it) isn't always a cut and dry answer. Life gets to us all in different ways and sometimes a little journaling and awareness can go a long way to correct it.

After a few days or weeks of keeping a time diary, maybe you notice when you have a stressful day at work you overeat at night because you feel you "deserve it".

Or, maybe you didn't eat a good balance of protein and carbs after your morning workout to replenish, so later in the day you overindulge because you are ravenous.

Maybe you notice every time you see a certain person you get anxious and 2 hours later you have an intense sugar craving.

Or, maybe you realize these "cravings" are straight up pms (women) and you just need to power through and find strategies when it's that time of the month.

These are just some examples, of course your triggers will be very unique to you and your individual life and it may take some time to figure them out. Once you identify what they are, you can then take action toward preventing unwanted eating behaviors caused by these triggers.

As always, don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or need some help achieving your goals.

~Coach Lia