Have you ever heard of emotional metabolism? It is a term which, although not officially recognized at a scientific level, is nevertheless supported by some studies. But first let’s see what it is.

EMOTIONAL METABOLISM: WHAT IS IT?

Emotional metabolism refers to the metabolic effect that emotions and thoughts have on our metabolism. Having a good emotional metabolism means having less nagging thoughts about your body, loving yourself more, appreciating yourself, having a positive and non-obsessive approach towards our body.
Having a bad emotional metabolism obviously means the opposite: seeing yourself constantly out of shape, being tormented by the thought of food, what to eat, seeing yourself full of defects every day.

On the other hand, when something generally unpleasant happens to us, don’t we say ourselves that we have to “metabolize” it?

EMOTIONAL METABOLISM: THIS IS HOW A WOMAN DID LOSE

In addition to having talked about it in my third video on intuitive eating , on D as Diet I had long ago told the story of Heather Jones, a woman who lost the beauty of 4 sizes, so let’s say from 16 to 20 kilos, in a year, simply by seeing herself leaner every day. She underwent continuous daily sessions in which she forced herself to think very thin. She has really lost weight.
Another involuntary “witness” of emotional metabolism is the famous Jon Gabriel, author of the Gabriel method, for which he also received a prestigious honor.
Jon, who escaped the attack of September 11th, revolutionized his life starting from the same thought: although seriously obese, he did continuous meditation, imagining himself thin, happy and serene. He lost weight a little at a time, without even having sagging skin, because his weight loss was slow . Yet now he is a different man.

EMOTIONAL METABOLISM: DOES YOU LOSE WEIGHT?

There are some studies to support the fact that negative thoughts and the stress experienced by those who hate their body and themselves in general have an effect on both metabolism and health. In 2017 , a study came out that found a link between metabolic syndrome and self-stigmatization of one’s weight.
Negative and nagging thoughts about ourselves put the body on constant alert. Stress arises, you feel tired and unmotivated. One lives in constant guilt when eating, which the body experiences as an attack on itself.

Think about it. If every time I eat something I think it will make me fat, how will my metabolism respond to increasing psychological stress when I eat? Automatically, everything we bring to the mouth will become the enemy, since it is what generated our malaise.

Those who are on a weight loss diet with the belief that they will lose weight have a very high success rate in succeeding. It’s not a casuality. Believing in what you do is very important in every field to have results.

EMOTIONAL METABOLISM: HOW TO INCREASE IT TO LOSE WEIGHT

Here are 3 rules to boost our emotional metabolism right away.

1. Stop immediately with the negative judgment towards our body. Stop looking at yourself for flaws, instead trying to write down what our strengths are, and value those. They can be a beautiful décolleté, a beautiful smile or the shape of our face. Every day we try to think about those and not the rest.
2. Avoid thinking bad things all the time and projecting onto yourself images of a future in which you will not be able to do something, you will fail, you will be worse off. Give your brain a break. Don’t pester him. Try listening to music you like or meditating whenever you feel like you are entering a negative spiral. Particularly give yourself respite when you are about to go to bed, and when you eat.
3. It takes away from you what makes you feel bad and contributes to demoralizing you. Whether it’s the scales, a person making sarcastic jokes about our appearance, a restrictive diet that mortifies us, a workout we don’t like, it doesn’t matter. Don’t force yourself to do things you don’t want and get out of all situations that demoralize you in some way. Try to protect yourself from all these negative clouds. By reducing stress and increasing your emotional metabolism, you can really improve your metabolism and immune defenses.