April is Emotional Overeating Awareness Month and to commemorate it, I’ll be sharing a series of blog posts about emotional overeating, what it is, how to be aware, and why this is so crucial for weight loss success and peace with food.

You’ll notice that it’s not “Just Stop Emotional Overeating Month.” The term awareness is critical when it comes to emotional eating, and yet, it’s a part of the equation that is often overlooked.

Most people who struggle with weight and overeating have an idea what emotional eating is (if you’d like more information you can check out the first post in this series), but often, we get caught up in stress eating, comfort eating, or some other eating related to our feelings without even being aware that this is what is going on. Sometimes it just feels like you can’t stop eating–even though you know you don’t need more food. Becoming aware is the first step to taking control. It’s only when we really know what is causing overeating that we can start to take the steps to change it.

Here are five things anyone who can’t stop eating or who struggles with food needs to know about emotional eating.

1. You can be an emotional eater and not even know it. This is especially true if you’ve learned to use eating as a way to avoid your feelings. If you have learned to associate food with comfort or as a way to get numb or stuff your feelings, your brain can get pretty quick at making this connection. Over time, you may even stop consciously paying attention to the feelings or the situations that trigger your hunger. For instance, you have a bad day at work and you don’t really process the fact that you feel discouraged or trapped or frustrated. You may not identify that you are comfort eating. Instead, you may just feel hungry. Maybe you are someone who is very uncomfortable with conflict. You sense a fight coming up with your spouse and instead of really identifying how ineffective or anxious this makes you feel, you find yourself in the kitchen devouring the leftovers. You know you “shouldn’t,” but you can’t stop eating. This is emotional eating and it can happen even when you don’t know exactly what it is that you are feeling.
2. You don’t have to be overweight to be stuck and unhappy with emotional eating. There are plenty of average, and even below average weight women who use food as a way to cope with feelings. You don’t have to binge eat or eat constantly to be an emotional eater. Most people eat emotionally sometimes. It’s a problem when it takes up time or energy that you would rather spend on other things, when it is affecting your weight, your health, or your happiness, or when you feel dependent on it and feel trapped or at a loss of how you might do things differently.
3. Diets and weight loss surgery don’t address emotional eating. Emotional eating serves a purpose. Whether you are eating for comfort, stress eating, eating to numb your feelings, or using food as a distraction, emotional eating is an attempt to cope. Breaking free from emotional eating requires a new set of tools. You need to know what to do instead of eating if you want to take control of this issue. Diets don’t give you these tools. Weight loss surgery patients struggle with emotional eating and often refer to it as “head hunger.” If you don’t have the tools to address emotional eating, you will continue to have difficulties.
4. Willpower doesn’t fix emotional eating. When you lose a battle with emotional overeating, it doesn’t mean you weren’t strong or determined enough. It means you didn’t have a plan and the approach that you need. Too many weight loss gurus give lip service to emotional eating. They point it out and tell you not to do it. If only it were this easy! Remember, you are overeating for a reason.  The key to success is getting clear on what drives your overeating and developing do-able strategies for what to do instead of turning to food.
5.  Emotional eating is not an issue of intelligence or laziness. How many weight loss plans have you “blown” because you got frustrated or mad at yourself? Emotional eaters tend to be hard on themselves. When the plan doesn’t work out, it’s tempting to say you were just lazy, you didn’t work hard enough, or you didn’t use enough willpower. This is a huge mistake and it’s the place where the smartest, hardest working women sabotage themselves. When you find yourself giving in to emotional eating, when you can’t stop eating even though you aren’t hungry, it’s a clue to pay attention to. It doesn’t mean you failed, it means you need something—something that is not food. Emotional overeating awareness involves learning about what triggers your urges to eat and your feelings of hunger and then taking action to gather new tools, strategies, and support to address these triggers in ways that don’t use food.

You can break free from emotional eating.

Women do learn to create peace with food. It’s a longer process than a seven day fast, but the results are better, you don’t tend to go hungry, and when you get to the root cause of your hunger, you will find much more satisfying ways to feed those cravings.

Take good care,

Melissa McCreery

Do you know darn well that diets don’t work but feel lost and confused about what to do instead?

Too many women end up battling emotional eating and overeating by starting on another diet because it seems like the only decisive action step they know.

Today’s emotional eating video tip comes to the rescue. The first step to creating a winning game plan is setting your inner GPS towards your final goal. Contrary to popular belief, that final goal is NOT just a number on the scale. It’s a way out of the struggle and the yo-yo dieting. I call it peace with food. Check out today’s video to learn more.

Take good care,

Melissa McCreery

Did you know that if you are ready to get serious about overeating, there are some things to consider that are far more important than what to eat?

Do you know why willpower is incredibly overrated and why you deserve MORE than weightloss?

These are just a few of the points I address in the teleclass that I gave earlier this week where I dove deep into the topic of how to decide what YOUR best approach is to creating peace with food and ending overeating and emotional eating patterns that aren’t working for you.

You’re invited to take a listen to the replay of this teleclass if you missed the live event. I’ll warn you now—have some paper and something to write with handy, because I went into detail about identifying the important components of a program that will work, keep you on track and motivated, accountable, and (of course), maximize your effectiveness.

You can go here to sign up for the replay access (at no charge). If you registered for this event previously, your replay access should already be waiting for you in your email inbox!

Take good care,

Melissa McCreery

Emotional Eating Solution #2: The Emotional Eating Toolbox™ Take Action Series

We get lots of questions about our products and services and I have decided to periodically spotlight one on this blog (sometimes along with a special, time or space-limited offer). Do you have specific questions about the product being featured today? Leave a specific comment here or on our Facebook page, and we’ll get back to you as quickly as we can!

This month, our spotlight is on solution #2 of the Emotional Eating Toolbox™ Solution Series. This is my deep dive, get serious, take-no-prisoners six week online program that provides structured action steps, weekly audios, personal accountability, and even the option of private coaching to help you take charge of emotional eating and get comfortable and successful with new ways of approaching food, new ways of thinking, and new ways to take care of YOU. 

This program is designed for you if: you are an emotional eater who is tired of feeling frustrated and is ready to make changes that will last; if you are tired of falling off track and ready to craft an approach that will work with your demanding and unique life; if you are someone who benefits from structured accountability and enjoys learning in a variety of ways including reading, listening, experiencing, and writing. This program is for someone who doesn’t need more “shoulds,” but needs to figure out the “how to.”

“This program has been life changing. So many programs only scratch the surface–and I’ve tried lots of them. When I think of the thousands of dollars I’ve spent in gyms and programs–I could have bought a car–and here comes this program that makes it so simple, that lays it right out. Melissa McCreery has topped an industry that has made millions for the many weight loss gurus who think they have the answer, but who has not yielded the results… She’s on to something big! Hats off to her!” Emotional Eating Toolbox™ user Juliet, Naperville, Illinois

This month, the first 25 to purchase the Emotional Eating Toolbox(TM) Take Action Series will also receive two private small group coaching calls with me. I’ll be available to answer your questions, provide on-the-spot coaching, and help you custom tweak your plan for success. Go here to get all the details about this program and to qualify for this valuable bonus: http://toomuchonherplate.com/programs-and-services/groups/

Some of what I cover in this six week program:

• Discover what triggers your hunger and your eating and identify strategies that will work for you to take control of overeating and emotional eating.
• Find out the things you absolutely MUST do so that you don’t turn to food or overeating.
• Learn the tricks to feeding yourself–really feeding yourself–so that you don’t go hungry, don’t feel constantly deprived,  and so  you don’t overeat.

• Get off the diet roller coaster (there IS a better way).

•  Discover how to leverage the tools that create powerful and enduring changes (and make creating peace with food more fun).

• Create winning mindsets that will propel you forward, increase your confidence, and improve the quality of your life.

• Get my special formula for figuring out what to do when you don’t know what to do–so you never have to get stuck and completely off track again.
• Conquer your emotional eating challenges at home, at your own pace and choose the level of support that is right for you.

There are lots of juicy details and bonuses included with the Emotional Eating Toolbox™ Take Action Series. You’ll want to check out everything here.

Take good care,

Do you know you need to do something, but feel confused about what the right solution is for you? Be sure to sign up for my upcoming free teleseminar on emotional eating help where I’ll help you target what you need to create a new relationship with food and the success you are craving. 

Melissa McCreery

An important post about overeating, willpower, and beliefs that may be sabotaging you

She called me to schedule a consultation to discuss coaching for emotional eating. Her overeating was causing her to regain weight she had worked extremely hard to lose–and she had lost a lot of weight. Like many of the high-achieving women who seek me out, she is an incredibly determined woman with a lot of willpower. She’s known for setting a goal and sticking to it. She’s been an example and a mentor in her local weight loss community—in great part because of her smarts, her get-it-done attitude, and her perseverance. But now, her weight has begun to creep back.

It’s an all-too-familiar story. The plot has different turns and twists each time I hear it, but essentially, her willpower and determination ran out. Life happened, she hit some extremely gnarly patches, and she relied on her sole strategy of toughing it out and staying the course. We all have our limits, and eventually she hit hers. The willpower and self-control weren’t enough to make her do what she didn’t really have the resources to do. And she began to falter.

She’s a lovely woman. But she has relied on herself for so much that she’s not very good at asking for help. In fact, she’s pretty skilled at turning the tables and helping you instead of letting you know what’s going on. She started to get scared and stressed and worried as she saw herself losing control of the number on the scale and of her eating. Her stress makes her overeating worse and her confidence shaky. Reaching out to me to ask about getting help was a very big deal for her. But she was still fighting a bigger battle about letting the help in in her mind.

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going” is the kind of thing she tells herself. She’s come to see me about coaching for emotional eating, because a part of her knows she’s really not sure what to do with her feelings and because the weight is steadily coming back. But that voice in her head is still whispering about how she just needs to get tough again. She’s focused on that, she’s following her plan rigidly. She’s getting tougher because she is afraid. But she still doesn’t have the tools for dealing with reasons that she overeats. She has toughness, but for all of us, toughness has its limits.

We talk about emotional eating and overeating. We talk about coaching. We talk about how uncomfortable this whole conversation and asking for help may be for her. We talk about the investment that coaching for emotional eating is—what she hopes it will help her achieve and the costs if she doesn’t do something to make a change. It’s hard for her to think about what weight regain may cost her–because she feels too afraid to think about it. We talk about how hard it is without tools to help her with her feelings. “Yes,” she says, “That’s why I eat.”

But that voice in her head keeps whispering—it’s getting louder—and even I can hear it now. It says she just needs to be stricter. More disciplined. She needs to get on track. Get working out. That will do it. Except, I know that this is not true. Perseverance and discipline are great strengths, but they are not enough.

And then I hear the lie. The lie that so many people tell and so many people believe. As she explains why her self-discipline is so important, she says, “I guess I’m just not like a thin person who can eat whatever they want without thinking about it.” And, I’m pretty sure, with that statement, she decided that for now, what she needs, is to just keep focusing on being strong and tough.

I can’t be certain, I’m not her after all, but I’m pretty darn sure that she’s missing a piece of the puzzle—and I’m worried about her. The story she is telling herself is that thin people eat without awareness and without making deliberate choices. And that she is different because she needs to have self-discipline.

Here’s what’s dangerous about that. The piece of the puzzle she’s not acknowledging in this conversation includes the strategies and tools and resources that people use instead of overeating. This includes tools for comforting yourself, strategies for responding to stress, relaxing, dealing with conflict and anger and disappointment, celebrating, treating yourself, coping with boredom or disappointment or a broken heart or any other feeling or situation that may be your personal trigger to overeat. It also includes feeling alright about letting help in.

While I am sure there are exceptions, people who are thin and who don’t overeat do not mindlessly eat whatever they want AND they don’t all possess ungodly amounts of willpower. People who don’t rely on food (or other substances, etc.) to cope with life, usually have a whole extra skill set that many people who struggle with overeating haven’t developed or have underused, or maybe don’t even know exists.

This is good news. It means that if you struggle with overeating, there is HOPE. It means that you don’t have to spend your life struggling harder, getting tougher, and depriving yourself MORE. It means that with help and learning to do it DIFFERENTLY (that means getting more tools for emotional eating), your relationship with food can actually be easier and a whole lot different—maybe better than you ever imagined.

I haven’t heard from this bright, high-achiever since we spoke. My guess is that she has gone back to try willpower one more time. My hope is that she starts to shift her focus to the reasons that she overeats—so her life can get better. And that she lets some help in.

Change is not a one-shot-deal and it’s good to assess your progress along the way. Are you letting new tools in? Are you struggling to be tougher, have more willpower, or resign yourself to deprivation? Your choices are powerful. Let me know if I can help.

Take good care,

Melissa McCreery

Five More Beliefs that May be Sabotaging Your Success with Overeating

When I wrote my earlier post on overeating and self-sabotage, I realized that I had just touched the surface. Creating a mindset for success is critical if you want to end overeating and create a lasting peace with food. This is also true if you are trying to break free of struggles with stress, overload, and overwhelm. Little things add up and the way you talk to yourself and approach your life can have a big influence on whether you are sabotaging your success or creating changes that last.

Now is a perfect time to take a look at your thinking to make sure you are not falling prey to these five beliefs that can sabotage your success with overeating and emotional eating.

Five more self-sabotaging mindsets:

1.  This is just something I have to accept/ it wasn’t meant to be. Many women live with the secret belief that they will never be successful. “I’ll always be fat.” “I’ll always struggle with food.” “I’m going to be dieting for the rest of my life.” If this sounds familiar—please pay attention. You are working against yourself every time you start a plan to change with the belief that you will fail. Put your efforts into goals and plans for growth that you can see success with. Start with a goal you can wrap your mind around. If you don’t believe you can lose 150 pounds (and you want to), set a goal that you believe you can achieve—even if it’s losing two pounds. Then, find someone who you trust who believes in you and can help you grow your belief in yourself. Changing this mindset will change your life. Truly.

2.  Faulty filters. We see what we expect to see. Research has proven over and over that our brains are trained to collect information that confirms what we already believe and filter out the rest. That’s one reason becoming aware of mindsets that can lead to self-sabotage is so important. If you believe you are unlucky or a failure or that you are lazy or that you can’t live without dessert, you will find all sorts of evidence to confirm that belief. You will create that reality. You’ll also be highly likely to miss the other evidence—the things you do well, the strengths that you have, or the ways that you can be successful without that sweet treat at the end of a meal. Practice creating the filters that create success. Make an effort to notice your accomplishments and your good moments. Practice acknowledging gratefulness and times that you are lucky. Try this—practice seeing the good in yourself and making a note of three great things about you every single day.

3.  I don’t have time. It’s time to take this sentence out of your vocabulary. Time is the great equalizer. We all get the same amount, every single day. We all choose how we spend and manage our time. How would it feel to replace “I don’t have time” with “I’m choosing to spend my time on something else”? The truth is, claiming time for you is a choice. Here’s another truth: claiming time for self-care and your other priorities can have a big impact on your success with emotional eating and overeating. Try scheduling your needs like you schedule everything else and see what happens.

4.  It will upset people. If you want a sure way not to accomplish your goals, make it your mission to make everyone happy. It’s not possible. People get into self-sabotaging traps with overeating (and other unhelpful habits) when they neglect their own needs and feelings because they are trying to please others or avoid conflict. This becomes even more tangled up because many women overeat as a way to try to cope with conflict and other people’s anger or frustration. If you want to break free from overeating, learning to handle conflict with a degree of comfort will pay off big

5.  I missed out/I’m too old. Do you believe that it’s just too late for you? Here’s a way to turn that show-stopping belief on its head: if you feel like it’s late in the game, than the stakes are even higher. Life is short and every moment counts. Don’t make the self-sabotaging mistake of spending THIS moment looking over your shoulder regretting the past. Take a deep breath and own THIS moment. It’s the only one that you can count on and it is the only one that you can control. Set your sites on where you want to go and then get the help you need to start moving in that direction.

You write the story of your life. That story can stop you in your tracks and it can also propel you powerfully forward. The beauty is that you can edit and rewrite as you go along. Choose your mindset and your story carefully. Be mindful of feeding the beliefs you want to nourish and let the old unhelpful ones go hungry. That’s a powerful approach to taking control of overeating. Let me know what amazing changes you start seeing.

Take good care,

Melissa McCreery

Five Beliefs that May be Sabotaging Your Success

If taking control of overeating and emotional eating was easy, you probably wouldn’t be reading this right now. The truth is, once you know a bit about nutrition and the basics of “eat less, move more,” finding success with overeating usually boils down to how you manage choices, thoughts, and feelings in the rest of your life. Emotional eating is a big reason women overeat, but the way we think can also impact our success.

When it comes to breaking free from emotional eating and overeating, the head game is huge. If you feel trapped in vicious cycles with overeating and weight or if you aren’t creating the success you want, it’s probably time to take a look at whether your beliefs are sabotaging your efforts.

Five beliefs that may be sabotaging your success with overeating:

All-or-nothing thinking. All-or-nothing thinking is really perfectionism in disguise. It’s the belief that you’ve either succeeded or you’ve failed. It’s a way of approaching life that may lead to thoughts like, “I’ve blown it, now I might as well finish the leftovers because I’m going to have to start over again in the morning.” All-or-nothing thinking never allows you to feel good about what you are doing, because no one can get it all right all the time. The truth is that your relationship with food unfolds all day long. You’ll have good moments and not-so-good ones, but whatever happened a moment or an hour ago does not erase your ability to do something positive in the present. Instead of focusing on getting it perfect, think about doing your best—one step at a time.

I don’t deserve it. One of the biggest reasons women overeat is because they are using food as a substitute for something else—Overeating becomes a sneaky way to give yourself a treat or a break or to comfort yourself when you don’t feel entitled to let yourself have what you really need. Here’s another hard truth: we tend to attract people who treat us the way we treat ourselves. Treat yourself with pride and respect and indulge in and savor what you crave and you are likely to start commanding more of the same from those who surround you. If you feel like the people in your life don’t treat you very well, take a look at the beliefs you have about what you deserve.

It’s not okay to be selfish. Many of us were raised with the idea that we need to put others first or focus on taking care of the people we care about. There’s nothing wrong with being kind and nurturing—it’s a fantastic strength to have. However, it can lead to self-sabotage if you aren’t also prioritizing your self and shining your nurturing and your compassion on yourself along with everyone else. Putting yourself first isn’t selfish. It’s what helps you to bring your best version of you to your life, your relationships, and your work.

I “should” be able to figure this out. This self-sabotaging mindset is frequently accompanied by self-blame and angry judgments with yourself because you can’t figure it out. This belief tends to lead to feeling alone and isolated and not getting the help and support that you need. Living alone with the feeling that you are failing when you shouldn’t be can also create even more shame and loss of confidence. This is a particularly sticky trap, but it’s also one where you can have an amazing impact if you break free. Many women are astounded by what happens when they reach out for help, share their struggles with another supportive person, or start looking outside themselves for the resources and tools to take control of overeating.

The “should” trap. “I should be able to figure this out” is only one should that sabotages success. Shoulds in general are something to be careful of.  Real, lasting success is created when we combine solid information, strategies, and tools with what we know about ourselves and what works for us. Too many shoulds can disconnect you from yourself and your own inner wisdom. They can lead to overwhelm and can incite your inner rebel to throw in the towel. Ask yourself if your should is really an I want to. If it isn’t, do you have a compelling reason for using it? My client could not get enthusiastic about her doctor telling her she “should” lose eighty pounds. She did get motivated when I helped her find her want. Once she got clear that what she really wanted was to be healthy and fit enough to go bike riding with her daughter again, she felt ready to do some hard work. The should dragged her energy down. The compelling reason she found lit her up and got her moving toward a goal.

Are you trying to break free of vicious cycles that you keep getting caught in? Don’t ignore your head game! Stay tuned, because I’m going to share more beliefs that you might want to challenge in a future post.

Take good care,

Melissa McCreery

Tackling the issue of weight almost always boils down to how to stop overeating. Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows that when it comes to changing eating habits and fighting cravings, having a plan and being able to stick with it are two very different things.

Busy women can be especially challenged by overeating. Time is always an issue. Multiple responsibilities, stress, and often exhaustion, can all be powerful triggers for overeating. Many smart women know that what they are doing isn’t working. They end up frustrated with themselves and their situation but aren’t sure what else to do or when they are supposed to do whatever it is that will get them unstuck and on track.

If you are trying to figure out how you can move forward, stop overeating, and create changes that will last, I suggest reviewing the following checklist of ingredients I believe are essential to making peace with food and putting an end to overeating. Identify what you have already put into place and set the goal of addressing any gaps or weaknesses in your recipe for success.

The essential ingredients busy women need to stop overeating and make peace with food:

1. Know your why. You eat for a reason. Always. If your reason isn’t your body’s need for food or fuel, there is something else driving or triggering your overeating. Knowing what this is is critical because you can’t address something if you don’t know it exists. Getting clear on your emotional eating triggers, the situations, circumstances, and even relationships that contribute to your overeating is an important first step to creating success.
2. Crack your unique code. If you don’t respect who you are, you aren’t likely to develop a plan that respects you either. A plan for long term success needs to honor the truth about you, your preferences, the realities of your schedule, your relationships, and your life. Setting yourself up for long term failure by ignoring what you know about who you are is not what you want to do. Learn to prioritize yourself and your needs and include this any plan you develop.
3. Get the tools, and expertise to stop overeating effectively. Knowing that you struggle with emotional eating or that you eat to procrastinate or that you binge at night is very different from knowing what to do about it. If you are busy and time crunched you probably don’t feel like you have the time (and who does?) to experiment with lots of things that might not work. Do yourself the respectful favor of seeking out skilled help, emotional eating tools, and strategies that address your triggers and your unique situation.
4. Plan for long term success. Peace with food should feel peaceful. That means you don’t want to set yourself up by doing everything the hard way. Consider your unique strengths and the things that come easily for you. Ask yourself how you can leverage these talents as you move forward to stop overeating and emotional eating.

It is both possible and extremely rewarding to break free from vicious cycles with overeating and food. Just make sure you start out with a recipe that sets you up for success.

Take good care,

Melissa McCreery

Stress, overwhelm and overload are a perfect recipe for emotional eating and overeating.

This is one reason that so many high achieving women overeat. One of the trickiest things about feeling time-crunched and rushed is that it usually seems like you can’t afford to take any extra time or energy to step back, get a handle on the situation, or figure out how to do it differently.

“I’ll just get through this and start fresh on Monday,” is a typical approach, and in the meantime, the stress eating and other emotional overeating continues to be an ineffective bandaid or coping strategy that usually contributes its own additional stress to the situation (because you don’t feel good about what you are doing).

When you are stressed and overwhelmed, you don’t have a lot of time, so here are some quick tips that I use to feel better, stay focused, and avoid overeating and emotional eating. These are not tips for the long haul—no one can operate with too much to do forever, but using these tips can help you get through a stressful time with minimal overeating and stress eating damage.

How not to overeat when you have too much to do:

1. Plan what you are going to eat. It’s basic, but we tend to overlook it don’t we? Working through lunch and being starving at three o’clock when you are under deadline doesn’t cut it (and leads to overeating). Make sure you have meals to eat that are balanced and have protein to help even out your energy.
2. Don’t keep everything in your brain. Make sure you have a document somewhere that lists everything you have to do and remember. Dump it there. You’ll be amazed how much energy and stress this saves you.
3. Break your to-do list into small items and cross them off as you work through them. You want to create a breadcrumb trail so you can see movement, so you can see where you are going, and so you can see that you are being effective.
4.  Set mini goals. Sometimes we have to live fifteen minutes at a time. Know what your focus is for this fifteen minutes of your life. Set a timer and give it your all. If you feel tempted to stress eat, try delaying for fifteen minutes. Set the timer and choose a task to focus on–or take a break.
5. If you can’t figure out where to focus or if you can’t maintain a focus either pick any one thing on your priority list or take a fifteen minute break. By the way, a break doesn’t mean skimming your email or mindless eating. A break means walking away and clearing your mind. I go for a run or go make a cup of tea. You might go outside and breathe, take a short walk, go fold a load of laundry or even do some dishes. Don’t spend your break worrying—remember, it’s a reboot.
6. Speaking of walking away, don’t eliminate physical activity when you are stressed. It not only lowers stress and reduces overeating, it gets you out of your head and helps you refocus.
7. Have a stopping point each day. Do not let work and emails saturate all the areas of your life. Do not charge your phone in your bedroom if you can help it.
8. Don’t sacrifice sleep if there is any way around it. Getting consistent good sleep curbs overeating and emotional eating and will give you energy, focus, and creativity to be more productive with less time.
9. Sprinkle in lovely rewards, treats, and indulgences that are not food. Put on music, wear a color that you love, light a candle, use the great lotion that you’ve been saving. Put flowers on your desk and call a friend at the end of the day. Something as simple as savoring your coffee in a comfortable chair instead of drinking it while you are hunched over your computer screen can shift your mood, replenish you, and keep you going.
10. Say it out loud and make a commitment. Acknowledge, at least to yourself, “I’m stressed and overwhelmed, but it’s not going to always be this way. I’m going to do my best as I get through this, and that includes taking the best care I can of me.”
11. Rinse and repeat these tips until this episode passes, but remember, they aren’t a recommendation for how to live your life long term. Life’s too short to live on a hamster wheel of surviving and not thriving, so if you don’t see an end to this episode, get the help you need to move forward differently in the big picture.

Take good care,

Melissa McCreery

When you are struggling with too much—whether it’s too much weight, too much to do, or just too much stress, setting goals and deciding to change can feel impossible.

“I know where I want to end up, but when I look at how far I have to go, it feels overwhelming,” a client in one of my emotional eating coaching programs shared. “How am I going to make all the changes I need to make? When I look at the weight I need to lose (135 pounds), I feel hopeless.”

When you are overwhelmed, overloaded, or overeating, the hole you see yourself in can feel pretty deep. If your stress level is high to begin with and your calendar is crowded, thinking about your weight loss or life balancing project can exhaust you before you even really get going.

What do you do when change seems insurmountable?

Dream big and step deliberately. This is a theme that has been coming up quite a bit with my private coaching clients and I want to share it with you.

If you are a high achiever who expects a lot of herself, this can be a delicate balance, but it’s the key to really getting where you want to go, not selling yourself short, and not creating a lot of stress and overwhelm that sabotages your success.

Here’s what you need to do.

Set your GPS. Define your destination. This is the big, bold, juicy place where you want to end up. Don’t short change yourself. Dream big. Your vision is about thriving not just surviving. Set your sights on what you really, truly want. It’s okay if your goals feel too big to even wrap your head around.  This is your vision. It’s the destination that’s off on the horizon. You don’t have to get there tomorrow, but you do want to be navigating in this direction. In the meantime, your focus is going to be on your feet.

A marathon is just a series of steps.

I began running marathons a few years ago. In the process, I’ve met a lot of people with incredible stories—women who went from not being able to walk two miles to running 26.2. Women who lost 100 plus pounds and changed their lives—inspiring stuff. But here’s the deal. They didn’t do it (and I didn’t run my first marathon) by simply going out and running 26.2 miles right away. We set our vision and then we put our trust in a series of actions and smaller goals—which we took one small step at a time. We ran a marathon by taking a first step. And then another. And then, as it got easier, a bunch more.

When I trained for that first marathon, I never looked farther ahead than the week I was in. It would have been too scary. I had no idea how I was going to run a marathon, but I could take on the challenge of that week’s training plan. When I got to the starting line in Portland, I didn’t think about mile 25 or mile 26 (I never do). I thought about the first mile.

Getting where you want to go doesn’t need to be overwhelming, and it shouldn’t add stress or overload to your already busy life. Set your GPS and then focus on where you are going to put your foot down next. Take steps—steps that are the size that work for you. As long as you keep your feet moving, and your GPS calibrated, you’ll be fine.

Take good care,

Melissa McCreery