What's Eating You?

Chapter 2:
The Emotional Monster's Bio

I am not going to lie; just putting my testimony into words can make the emotional monster throw a temper tantrum and start whining in his cage. But, identifying that he is there? Well, that is the first step in ensuring that you are on the road to a successful, healthy lifestyle. See, I think this is really what we need to understand. The emotion that triggered binge eating, bad choices, and excessive carb intake will always be just one extreme issue away. It may be a bad day at work, difficulties in a relationship, or not having a really balanced life. The list is endless. It's how you control your response to the emotion that becomes your biggest weapon and will allow you to maintain long-term success.
So, let's go back to where PREP began. When I sat in the living room of the condo and started venting, I mean talking to my husband about where I was, how I got there, etc., etc., etc., I realized that the time in my life where I experienced the most success was when I was adequately preparing my meals. I mean, it really hit me like a ton of bricks or maybe Twinkies©. Use your imagination! It is such a liberating moment when you realize the wizard behind the curtain controlling your food cravings and prompting your bad choices is just a puny little thing looking to take advantage of you in your vulnerable situation. I realized (get your highlighter for this one) that when I provided an environment to proactively plan, I found myself making less of the reactive choices that eventually lead to bad habits. So, planning looks something like this:

Let's use this in context, shall we? You have decided your New Year's Resolution is to finally, I mean finally, start shedding the holiday weight, the summer weight, and last year's holiday weight. (By the way, never, and I mean never, decide to do this on New Year's Day. The day you decide you want to do it, that is the first day you should start. Now, where were we?) Okay, you browse through many different diet options, and there are plenty out there to choose from. You find one that seems to fit your needs. Maybe it's the next best seller on the market and you go to work. You do great the first week. Heck! People at work may have secretly had a pool going to see how long you would go, but you, my friend, are holding strong 4 days into the new "plan." It's Friday and you wake up a tad later than usual. You did not have a chance to pack your usual snacks to ease you through the work day and figured. it's just Friday. I got this. I can wing it!
STOP! First mistake, we never, and I mean never want to wing it if at all possible. When we are unable to complete the first component of this equation, we essentially prevent the rest of the equation from coming into play. So, if we would look at the same formula in a slightly different way, when we are making reactive choices in lieu of the proactive ones, the equation starts looking something like this:

How can that be, Kelly? I simply splurged for one meal. How is that a game changer?
Well, I am so glad you asked!