It’s been one week since I started the Shrink Yourself program to heal my emotional eating issues. Emotional eating has always been a huge stumbling block for me in reaching my weight loss goals, along with my addiction to refined sugar and flour (can’t have just one).

I’ve learned that even when I remove the ingredients from my diet that I am addicted to (refined sugar, white flour, unhealthy fats (e.g.: fried foods), dairy), even though the physical cravings disappear within 3-7 days, I still have emotional cravings for that stuff.

UPDATE 2015: Hi, as you can see by the date on this article, I wrote this a LONG time ago, May 2008 which was over 7 years ago. At that time in 2008 I was not a professional, certified coach and professional certified Master NLP Pracitioner. I had not yet founded The Inner Self Dietâ„¢ which is my proven, proprietary, step-by-step personal coaching program for permanent weight loss. That’s right! I personally coach my clients to the end of their emotional eating, binge eating, self-sabotage, food obsessions, food addictions, low self-esteem and much more. Click here to read coaching client testimonials from my coaching client, click here to listen to audio testimonials, and watch videos of graduates of The Inner Self Dietâ„¢ in the sidebar of this page you’re on now.

Back in 2008 I did this Shrink Yourself Program and it was nice and all, but it didn’t heal the root of the problem like the binge eating coaching and emotional eating coaching I do with my clients does. I wish  you your Best Life…IN Your Ideal Body! ~ JoLynn Braley, Permanent Weight Loss Coach, Founder of The Inner Self Dietâ„¢

These cravings will crop up often at night, at the end of a busy day, or on the weekends when it feels like I should be able to “relax” (translation: eat whatever I want). It doesn’t matter if my thoughts are false, they still fuel my emotions and since I have the habit of turning to food when I feel bad, my emotional cravings spring up.

I firmly believe that if you really want to get the weight off and keep it off, you’ve got to discover what is motivating you to overeat. It’s not as simple as just telling someone to go follow a diet and exercise program – if it were, then we wouldn’t have an obesity crisis!

If you’re a regular reader here at Fearless Fat Loss, you know I don’t believe that a new diet is the solution. Maybe you’ve been trying different diets your whole life, or maybe you’re just starting out on that path. If you’re just starting out, I can tell you from experience that the “quick fix” isn’t quick, in fact there isn’t a quick fix. A diet, pills, shakes, or excessive exercise won’t heal the emotional eating and unhealthy relationship with yourself and food.

The Shrink Yourself program is not a quick fix and it doesn’t even give you any nutrition or exercise advice. Instead it focuses on helping you heal your emotional eating – for life. It’s a 12-week program, which might sound like a long time but I think it makes a lot of sense because you’re talking about healing a lifetime of emotional eating.

My first week with the Shrink Yourself program has been about recognizing my urges to emotionally eat; not about making changes yet, but just about being aware. I started out last Wednesday thinking that maybe I should relax a little and not fight my urges to emotionally eat, however this weekend I realized that that was going to work against me if I started eating flour and sugar. I’d rather work on sticking to my healthy eating and exercise plan and deal with the urges I get to emotionally eat instead of just going all out and eating the stuff that will give me sugar cravings.

Here’s a basic rundown of what I covered in week one with the Shrink Yourself program:

• I completed the introduction to the Shrink Yourself program to learn more about where I’m at right now with my motivation to lose weight. Hint – I have motivations to lose weight and motivations not to lose weight. That presents a conflict, eh? These conflicts in motivation are part of the work in the program – you iron them out so that you don’t sabotage yourself.
• Completed Guided Session number one – each week there is a new, interactive session that you do to learn more about your emotional eating and your hunger triggers, or what Dr. Gould calls your “hunger switch”.
• Became more aware of what triggers my urge to emotionally eat, my “hunger switch”.
• Completed questionnaires to discover what makes me tick when it comes to emotional eating.
• Like I said earlier, I didn’t “go all out” and eat whatever I wanted because I didn’t think that would help me. Even though in the beginning of the program you’re focusing only on being aware of your emotional eating urges, I still stayed away from the sugar and flour – the program didn’t mention this but I think it’s best to not indulge in the stuff that I “can’t have just one” of.

After completing your guided session, you have a workbook and homework to complete along with a task list for the week. There’s also a member forum, your personal, weekly “steps to success” articles ready for printing (to hang up so you’ll be reminded of your positive motivations), experts you can ask for advice, and a “hunger coach” – a place to go when you experience an urge to overeat (this becomes available after completing week four’s guided session – I’ll learn more about that later).

It’s only been one week but so far I’m highly impressed with the online Shrink Yourself program. It’s very easy to navigate the site, and it’s like going through an interactive therapy session except that this costs the price of one drive-through meal per week (heck, I used to spend more than $10.00 each day on junk food, fast food, and coffee drinks!).

I’m excited to continue on with the program and bring you another update next Wednesday. It’s funny because when I started this blog I put out the intention that I was willing to do whatever it takes to heal my overeating and overweight issues, and now I feel like I’m finally getting to the bottom of things – where my urges to emotionally eat originate. Sounds good to me!

If this is your first time tuning in to my emotional eating experiment, please read last week’s post for a good introduction to it. I’ll also be updating that post each week with a link to the 12-week series of posts.

2015: Please read the update near the beginning of this post. I wrote this post over seven years ago and the truth is that Shrink Yourself did not give me the results that my coaching clients receive from my proven, step-by-step personal coaching system The Inner Self Dietâ„¢. In the end, the root of your emotional eating must be healed, otherwise the behavior will resume. All the best! ~ JoLynn Braley Permanent Weight Loss Coach and founder of The Inner Self Dietâ„¢.