Weight Loss After 60: Understanding (and Controlling!) Your Emotional Eating Triggers

Weight loss after 60 is tough. But, it's not just about how much you eat, but, also why you eat, that matters. I hope that you find today's health aging video useful and fun!

Thanks to our sponsor, International Living: https://internationalliving.com/sixtyandme/

Why do you eat? It’s a deceptively simple question. Of course, on a physical level, eating is essential to our survival. But, our reasons for eating tend to go way beyond survival.

We eat socially. We eat to get emotional comfort. And, some of us even eat because we are bored.

So, today, I want to talk about how to understand and control your emotional eating triggers. I hope that you find today’s video useful!

Join us for a cup of tea (or coffee) and a chat. And, if you enjoy the show, please tell one friend about us today. Your support means so much to me!

What are your emotional eating triggers? How have you built a better relationship with what you eat in recent years? Let’s have a chat!

Here is a link to the article that I mentioned today: http://sixtyandme.com/what-if-weight-loss-is-not-about-the-food-emotions-can-control-your-eating-habits-even-after-60/

*****WE NEED YOUR HELP!*****

If you believe in our mission to improve the lives of women over 60, please consider supporting us on Patreon.

https://www.patreon.com/sixtyandme

*****GET MORE FROM SIXTY AND ME*****

SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=sixtyandme

Try our gentle yoga videos: http://sixtyandme.com/gentle-yoga-for-seniors-videos/

Get more from Sixty and Me at: http://sixtyandme.com/start

23 comments

  • Barbyl W

    Fruit is not our friend. Crazy? Please read Dr Annette Bosworths book. Especially for baby boomers. She has proof that even shocked her Dr brain. Nuf said

  • RealinNYC

    I like the new background. It’s a nice change. I am on a weight loss journey and found this timely and helpful. Thank you.

  • Bonita Jordan

    I’m edging ever closer to 70 and so happy to have found you! I’m on a weight loss journey this year. I’ve set my goal weight in consultation with my doctor. I’ll have lost a stone by January 31st. Eating mindfully is a learned skill!

  • Susan Benes Pacheco

    Right on! Loneliness (my husband works a lot!), social circle has dwindled after kids grew up and I retired, being critical of myself, and other things I haven’t even identified but I know they are there. I’m not hungry, but I’m fidgety because of what’s bothering me. I’m working on planning what to do before the emotions arrive.

  • Eileen Rafferty

    A really interesting video (and a lovely new background as well) – we are very blessed today!

    This really resonates with me. I realised last summer that I either needed to change my relationship with food or reconcile myself to being significantly overweight. I had been avoiding the decision for some time but one day I decided that enough was enough.

    I use simple calorie control, working on getting all the major food groups and a reasonable amount of variety. I don’t want to lose weight fast as I don’t think that the new habits I need would be really built that way. I have been losing around a pound each week and am now over 35 pounds lighter. I don’t have a target weight – my plan is to get to a point where I am comfortable, and at that point to increase my food consumption a bit, but not too much, so I always have room for treats. I think I will get there in a few months. But my focus is on the day to day process and not on the scales.

    I have been comfort eating since a child and that temptation will never go away. If this is to be a lifetime change it is important therefore that I don’t let myself feel deprived, make sure I eat food I like, and have occasional treats. It is also important to only weigh myself once a week at the same time and not to worry if one week shows a gain or very small loss. Over the months I have learned that my weight varies from week to week and it’s the long-term trend that matters.

    I feel much better now. My feet hurt less than they did and I notice that going up and down stairs is less of an effort – I feel lighter on my feet without that 35 pounds. I am 5’1″ so that was a lot for a small frame to carry.

    Sorry if I have gone on a bit. As you can tell, this subject is particularly meaningful for me.

    • Sixty and Me

      Enjoyed the read Eileen – thank you very much. Wishing you all the very best – it sounds like you have made real progress!!!

  • Carolyn Hiscock

    Food is overly important in my life ….constant battle to not overeat .Keto saved the day …lol.

  • - Joy

    Very useful information! So many of us are emotional eaters.
    Btw: Luv your necklace, makeup & hairstyle!  You look absolutely radiant!!

  • Mean Momma

    I love these questions and, even more the suggestions given. Love your candor, also

  • CardinalSewingNest Blog

    Oh! I love your necklace! Very funky and fun.

  • Elona Hartjes

    You spoke directly to me here today. I have been using food to deal with my husband’s dementia. Luckily 2 weeks ago I got a grip on the problem and starting am using meditation, exercise, puzzles and reading to help me stop self medicating with food.

  • Ann L

    Great article. I definately fit into the emotional eating category. I have started as mentioned to stop and breath before eating and ask myself why am I eating this. Hunger, nourishment, stress relief, boredom, lonliness, sadness, pleasure, etc. and this is helping me to make a different decision. Keeping a mental note of triggers, and switching to other healthier behaviors when the are set off is a current goal of mine. These might be just sitting and breathing until the feeling passes, walking, drinking water, taking a nap or reading something positive.

  • Sallie Whitney

    Your haircut is perfect, I feel like you are blossoming. The food questions are good, I guess, but what a luxury to have to ask them. In the US we weren’t asking too many of these questions in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. And while many of us were “always on a diet” it was about losing 5 pounds, not 30. Something else is going on (in the US). We can only control our own thoughts and actions, absolutely true. But there are others factors in play in 2019 that weren’t operating in 1979. There’s a bigger picture. I can’t see it, but I know it’s there

    • Sixty and Me

      Thanks so much Sallie for joining the conversation and for your kind comments – wishing you all the best!

  • Genny Olson

    Love your new background. And you’re shorter hairstyle is stunning on you.

  • Sharon Moore

    Wonderful content today, and you look especially radiant!

  • Lois Garman

    When you are 76yo, are you supposed to feel old. I mean, in your brain, not in your body? I feel old in my body but not in my brain. I see people who look 60’s or 70’s or so and think of them as older than me, just briefly; and then I laugh at myself because I realize I am likely older, or as old, as they are. But when I am just conversating with myself in my head, it is like I am still youngish. I guess that is why I don’t look in the mirror very much, at least not a mirror that shows my whole face, just small areas of my face. When I look in a larger mirror showing my whole face, I focus only on a small area at a time. My therapist asked me when I began seeing him what I wanted to get from therapy. I said I wanted to grow up. Oh well, that’s what childhood can do to you when you have toxic parents. I’m just venting. Actually I have a very good therapist and I have made very good progress.
    I definitely believe in positive affirmations. When I feel stressed or overwhelmed, I tell myself I am strong, I am smart, I am good, I am grown up and I am lovable. I also feel it helps to do deep breathing to relax and to try to slow down. Thank you for this helpful video.

  • Teresa Carson

    I have struggled with emotional eating all my life. Lately, I’ve noticed it is from loneliness and it does indeed help to stop myself at the onset and breathe. Consciously reminding myself that I am not really hungry. Just lonely and depressed. I may struggle with this forever but you’re spot on with this video. Recognizing the behavior is the first step to changing it.

    • Sixty and Me

      Thanks Teresa – you are not alone! Good luck with making those changes and finding alternate behaviours – i am working on it too!

  • Sheila Himmelman

    I adore listening to you. I am a little overweight my reason is I love the taste of food. Not emotional. Your necklace is eclectic and wonderful.

  • Miss Kitty

    Love, love, love the necklace! That color palette looks very flattering on you! New background great!
    Thanks as always for having a place for women our age to go to!
    And you are right on about it not being about the food!
    So I was not happy about the feelings of loneliness and isolation I was having, so I made a conscious decision to step out of my spiral. Now volunteering three different organizations, joined a weight loss group that meets once a week, and thanks to Silver Sneakers started going to the YMCA. Have already started talking to new people! Thankfully I am able to get out…physically. I feel for people who have physical limitations and are not able too.
    Thanks Margaret!! Great video!

  • Sherry Headley

    Thought provoking subject- I definitely eat when fidgity/bored! By the way you look fabulous in that eggplant(?) Color. 😊

  • Kay Richardson

    Boredom, procrastination—-those are what drive me to mindlessly snack.