Group Sessions (Online): Support Group

A Weight Loss Solution By Itself Isn’t Enough

Whilst weight loss clubs give people plenty of opportunity to focus on and achieve their weight loss goals, it’s not easy to find something that helps an individual to understand why they might overeat in the first place or why they find it hard to eat in a balanced way, which might keep them stuck in a cycle of yo-yo dieting, or swinging between binge eating and restrictive eating.

When addressing overeating, exploring both emotional eating and mindless eating behaviours can be really useful, as well as looking at how eating habits,  attitudes towards food, body image and weight loss can arise from learned behaviours from childhood.

Food Can Symbolise Different Things

To understand a person’s relationship with food, it’s also important to recognise that food and eating can symbolise different things to different people. For example, it can be a way to relax or have a break, it can be a way to connect socially, it can have a calming, distracting or numbing effect when things feel difficult or overwhelming, it can be a way to reward onself, a way to put things off (procrastinate), it can be something to do when feeling bored, lonely or unfulfilled, and it can even be a means of rebelling, ‘rule breaking’ or self-punishment.

To Improve Your Relationship With Food You Need To Improve Your Relationship With Yourself

Many people experience lots of guilt and shame around their eating, but in many cases it’s not simply about giving in to the diet or being greedy. Once you become aware that binge-eating or even just mindless eating is often a symptom of something- an inner struggle, or psychological pain of some kind- you can start being kinder to yourself and find more effective strategies to start tackling your overeating.

The Whole Picture

Eating habits, body image, self-worth, lifestyle, personality, mental health and past experiences are just some of the topics that are explored, as it’s important to consider the ‘whole picture’ when it comes to understanding a person’s relationship with food and eating behaviour.

By gaining some in-depth knowledge about the psychology of eating and how it relates to themselves, individuals can identify their own particular eating triggers that might be making them feel out of control of food, and create some strategies to help them manage the food environment more confidently and specific eating scenarios they’re faced with on a daily basis.

Benefit From Chatting To Others In A Similar Situation

Just talking things through and listening to others’ experiences and eating behaviours can really help- it’s good to share and relate as it can help you to realise that lots of other people struggle too- you’re not alone.

Comments from clients who have benefitted from my teaching and support (support group, one-to-one sessions and webinars):-

“I was fed up…really very fed up…of eating all the time- and wondering what was wrong with me. Emma helped me to see that I was eating to fulfil deep emotional needs that went way back. Now, I work on fulfilling my emotional needs another way and find things to do that I truly enjoy. It’s a pleasure to enjoy food as just food.”

“For anyone not sure I would totally recommend these support groups. Emma is full of knowledge and so supportive and I always leave feeling inspired. It’s lovely to talk to others in the same boat and support each other too. Could not praise these meetings enough if I tried!”.

“These meetings are amazing! I highly recommend them. Attended this week and I felt uplifted and motivated again after feeling down about the way I have been eating recently. Emma is so supportive and so helpful and just truly inspiring”.

“This approach is taking the heat out of food. Take pizza which I love- I know it’s a food I can have any time if I want it, and knowing that means I crave it less. I’m bringing my overall calories down.”

“I feel like I’m no longer in a battle with food, but rather, food and I are on the same side.”

“I didn’t realise just how much eating and mental health are connected.”

“I found this course really good at focusing my mind on what I’m eating. I particularly found the exercise looking at my childhood helpful, and how that has affected my adult eating habits.”

“Emma’s approach to mindful eating radically changed my perspective of what healthy eating actually is. More importantly it improved my mental health! She doesn’t give you a diet plan to follow and really gets to the bottom of why you have a problem with food!”

“Emma helped me to recognise how overeating had become a way of numbing my emotions.”