*Author’s note: Due to our planning wonderful events for Pride, we got behind on the posting of articles. This has been remedied and articles will be posted over the next few days until caught up. Beginning next Sunday one will be posted every Sundays until the parade.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
I mentioned earlier that I am an emotional eater. For me, this means I eat when I am angry, sad, depressed, frustrated, lonely, numb, happy, irritated, excited, or experiencing any other form of intense emotion. I have come to see that all of life’s problems can be solved with a hot fudge sundae. Ok, not really, but they make me feel better. Let me be clear: not all emotional eaters are overweight and not all overweight people are emotional eaters. It just so happens I am both and they are connected for me.
This process is helping me to see I need a new way of dealing with my world. I am single and I live alone. Also, I’m a teacher in a school with quite a few at-risk kids. Some of what my kids tell me is difficult to deal with and I have to be strong enough to help them with it and shoulder some of their pain, if only for a moment. Once the day is done, I go home and have no one to help me with the frustrations and pain of the day, so I eat. Yes, I have friends who care about me enough to listen, but no one wants to hear about a rough day from their friend every day. Add in to this mix the fact that I am incredibly shy and it is a struggle for me to connect with people. Throw in a dash of previous experiences with people, and wa-la: instant emotional eater. I’m not proud of it, but it’s true. Food is my drug of choice, though lately the gym has been helping me get some of my aggravations out. As you can see, I didn’t lose any weight this week. Considering I lost 13 pounds in the previous two, it’s really not surprising. That being said, my being sad from making no progress plus a three-day weekend equaled my falling off the bandwagon. I’ll be getting back on that lovely wagon starting tomorrow.
Current Weight: 145
Current Weight Loss: 13
Current BMI: 25.7
Dawn Adkins has her PhD in Health & Organizational Communication. She has written several published articles on health issues as well as designed health-oriented campaigns. Any constructive comments regarding this article should be addressed to: dadkins@pridehouston.org