Your Emotional Eating Toolkit: Movement

This blog post is the one of a series where we’re giving advice on tools you can try and see if they are worth adding to your ‘toolkit’ when you’re faced with emotional eating. Some tools will work for you and others you won’t find as helpful—check out our previous posts here and give some of them a try!

When suffering from a low mental health day do you ever find yourself Googling how to improve your mood? Often, we come across the same line, something like “just work up a sweat and you’ll feel good in no time!” again and again. Sounds like advice from someone who doesn’t know what it feels like to be depressed or anxious, right? Chances are you’re already aware that movement makes you feel better, but you can’t force yourself to do it when you’re not in a great space mentally. And that is completely ok!

When we hear the term ‘working out’ we often think of intimidating gyms, uncomfortably tight clothing, following a difficult plan, and comparing ourselves to other people. It can be all-encompassing feelings of dread and guilt—and that is no way to make you feel better!

Let’s take some of this pressure off your shoulders and reframe the idea as movement. This means focussing on small things you do that make you feel good—gym membership optional! Movement can be:

• Kicking a soccer ball with your child in the backyard.
• Going down and upstairs (and down again) to switch over clothes from the washing machine to the dryer.
• Dancing to your favourites songs while cooking dinner.
• Seeing the joy in your dog’s tail as you throw the ball one more time (he can do the sprinting!).
• Lunging and reaching while cleaning the bathroom.
• Laying on the ground and stretching out your back while watching TV.

Any of these options, and whatever else you can think of that makes you move your body with care, can be beneficial to supporting not only your physical health but your mental health as well. The key is to not pressure yourself to do movement that doesn’t feel good, that is only going to add to feelings of ‘not good enough’ or ‘not doing enough’. If you don’t feel comfortable bending your body in a yoga class, don’t do yoga. If you find yourself comparing your body to others in a workout class and it brings out your inner critic, try something like one-on-one work with a trainer or at-home workout videos (there is a whole free selection on YouTube!). And don’t forget: dress to be comfortable!

Finding small ways to show your body respect can help you feel more comfortable in your own skin and lead to a more positive outlook. You don’t have to lift heavy weights or run a 5K—unless you want to—to get mental health benefits. Little movement adds up! 

💛 Your peace awaits.