How To Lose Weight: Stop Emotional Eating

In his medical practice, Wilfred Aguila, MD, does bariatric surgery to help his patients lose weight. But he knows that an operation is never the answer; it's just a tool you can use. There is no quick fix, no magic bullet. To be successful, you have to understand and address the emotional component of being overweight. To lose weight and keep it off, you must break what Aguila calls the obesity cycle, which he details in his book, Why I Can't Lose Weight! Conquering the Cycle of Obesity.

Aguila understands the connection between emotions and eating firsthand, because he too has fought the battle of the scale, losing 65 pounds seven years ago and keeping them off ever since. Here's his prescription for curbing emotional eating.

How Emotions Make Us Fat

"Obesity is a cycle where we learn to use food to comfort our anxiety, depression and guilt. The root cause of obesity isn't the food itself, but the life-altering stressors that can build anxiety and lead us to depression. Guilt follows, and becomes the 'steam engine' that drives a cycle perpetuating all three emotions – and preventing us from losing weight," Aguila says.

How To Break the Obesity Cycle

"To achieve sustained weight loss, you have to break the whole cycle, not just the overeating," Aguila says. "You have to be completely honest with yourself and identify the one or two major stressors in your life that are causing you to be in the obesity cycle. Are you unhappy in your marriage or relationship? Does your spouse sabotage you? Are you 'all things to all people'? Do you never have time for yourself? Are you a perfectionist – to you, everything is all or nothing?

"Those are some of the most common life stressors. The key is to identify yours and deal with them. When you do this, the cravings for the foods you overeat will decrease."

Aguila says that changing your lifestyle to minimize your major stressors is analogous to a surfer catching a wave. Once you understand the emotional triggers that cause you to overeat, you can conquer them, and catch the wave of weight loss.

Learn More Successful Weight Loss Techniques.