If your name is Kaity and you live with me, hit the back button right now or this computer will self-destruct in 12 seconds.

So we all have our weaknesses. Mine is Reeces (I know, it’s ReeSes – but Kaity isn’t reading so it doesn’t matter), and ice cream. Last night I was feeling all PMSy and after a long hard day – even though I KNEW my cravings were rooted in the whole ‘emotional eating’ thing, I said screw it and had a bowl of ice cream with a Reeces chaser. So I blew it? Naw. I just shouldn’t do that again for another really long while. And I should step back and think about it for a second, or a blog.

Why? Because!

Habit has been one of my challenges with weight gain. I remember growing up, we always had Entenmanns cake in the house, and always had dessert after dinner. When I say dessert, I don’t mean fruit or something healthy. I mean cake, cookies, or ice cream. I saw that as a good thing – that we had enough to afford dessert, that we always had ‘treats’ in the house. When I moved out on my own, I continued that tradition of dessert after dinner, oftentimes with dessert being motivation to get through dinner. I developed a habit of eating sweets daily. It dawned on me soon after that I could be reckless once in a while and skip dinner altogether! Soon enough, I was eating a pint of Haagen Dazs for dinner every night.

I deserve this.

Emotional eating has probably been THE biggest contributor to my weight problems. I can remember getting a dollar from my dad after church on Sunday, and running to the corner deli on Woodward with my friend to get Bon Bons. It was a treat! I learned that food was a reward, and just like another bad habit I developed later on, smoking, when I felt like being good to myself after a hard day, etc., I’d treat myself to (xyz food that’s bad for you).

That plate of cookies doesn’t love you.

I read that somewhere, and it made me laugh a little at myself, in a sad sorta way. One of the things that helped me ‘last time around’, when I lost … 60 lbs, was learning to treat myself to other things that weren’t food (or cigarettes – but that was another vice, for another blog!).

So, what to do… The first thing you have to do is realize that you’re going to feel just as shitty after you eat that bowl of ice cream as you do right now, if not worse because you know it’s not helping your weight.  That ice cream is not going to make your problems go away, your bank account bigger, your house cleaner, or your weight problem disappear. Think about it before you even take that bowl out of the cabinet. “Do I really want this?” Stop eating mindlessly, and for crying out loud stop letting your emotion lead you around your kitchen.

Be nice.

Learn to do nice things for yourself like, take a bubble bath. Paint your nails. Shave your legs without making haste to get out of the shower (hey, for me that’s normally reserved for luxury days). Give yourself ten minutes to read, or just surf the net if that’s what you enjoy doing and don’t get to do it often. Treat yourself to anything that’s not food related – and do this consistently. Like Pavlov’s dog, you’ll start changing your response when you feel like treating yourself, and you’ll stop turning to food. It takes practice – I know that sounds weird, but when you have these ideas so ingrained in who you are, it takes time to change them.

When all else fails, because sometimes you’re going to have a bad PMSy night (guys too!), don’t waste energy beating yourself over the head after you’ve indulged.  Just recognize that it wasn’t the best idea, and make a conscious decision to stay away from that kind of stuff now.