When you’re looking to lose weight, what’s the first thing that you think of? How many calories do I need to get down to on a daily basis? Or, should I look to restrict my carb intake?
We usually think about what goes in our mouth. But it may be time to think about your mental health as well.
According to new research, emotional eaters usually lose less and have the hardest time keeping off whatever weight they do lose.
“Our results suggest that we need to pay more attention to eating triggered by emotions or thoughts as they clearly play a significant role in weight loss,” said Heather Niemeier of Brown University, whose study appears in the journal Obesity.
Niemeier and her colleagues focused on people who ate because of external influences (eating too much at parties) and internal influences (loneliness or using food as a reward).