How identifying underlying emotions and weight loss work together

When I started working out at Ultimate Fitness Inc. in Winter Park, it was under the recommendation of my psychotherapist, Sandy Canfield. I wasn’t overweight, but struggled with body dysmorphia. My therapist wanted me to learn how to eat healthy and keep a record of my feelings as I worked to develop a fitness program with the owner of the studio, Rosemarie “Bud” Seaman.

At first, I could not see the connection between working out and therapy, but as I joined Bud’s private studio, I realized that other clients were there working on their physical and emotional issues too. Body issues come in all sizes! It was a comfort to know that the clients referred by Sandy felt that they were in a safe and supportive environment to discuss struggles with eating issues while getting the benefit of working out, losing weight, and then maintaining their weight.

It’s not what you’re eating, it’s what’s eating you (the emotional component)

The reason why diets don’t work is because it’s not really about what you’re eating. It’s about what’s eating you. Sandy started referring her clients to Rosemarie because Rosemarie has a Master’s Degree in Exercise Physiology and knows a lot about healthy living. Sandy noticed that her clients got great results from exercising. They trimmed down, firmed up, and noticed that their life energy increased and stress reduced. It was a great adjunct to their psychotherapy treatment.

One day, Rosemarie commented that Sandy’s clients had achieved more success and maintained their healthy lifestyle more so than her other clients. That began long discussions between them about what they called “Health Esteem.”

Through the years, Sandy noticed that clients with unhealthy eating behaviors called them “habits.” She then became acutely aware of the psychological dynamics, which played out in their lives in all other areas. She micro-tracked their emotions, or rather the avoidance of their emotions, and noted their thought patterns. Sandy is trained specifically in PBSP, a Mind-Body therapy, which emphasizes becoming aware of these thought patterns. They are internalized voices of criticism, negative prediction, voices of strategy, and belief systems that are self-defeating and sabotaging.

So, in the beginning of a client’s treatment, she began to teach them how human beings come into the world and what needs need to be met. When these needs get met, children grow up as human beings that can experience satisfaction, pleasure, meaning, and connectedness. These four experiences “SPMC” are the joyful vibration of life that all human beings long for a happy and fulfilling life.

Unfortunately, life doesn’t always follow this ideal path. Parents die, parents divorce, tragedies happen, and life circumstances impinge on this natural ideal path. As this natural pattern of life begins its twists and turns, human beings begin to compensate to adjust to their pain from this wounded path. They develop faulty belief systems like, “You can’t trust anyone,” “I don’t deserve to be happy,” and so on. They might begin to cope through an addiction, whether it’s drinking, drugging, overeating – “over” anything. They actually become very disconnected from their body and their emotions. As Sandy began to help her clients see this, she could help them therapeutically heal their wounds. Insight and knowledge are not enough. That’s why people read one self-help book after another; go on one diet after another.

Symbolically correcting and healing early development wounds

The therapy that Sandy provides for her clients includes symbolically correcting and healing the wounds from early development that left them developmentally arrested. We all know that human beings are symbolic, and we all know the impact of the “mind’s eye.” We can picture through imagination (sports psychology emphasizes this).

The psychotherapy she facilitates uses this human capacity to go back and experience what really should have happened at specific moments in our history so that we can experience the antidote for what occurred. This is not done with imagery, but is literally reenacted in the therapy room with other group members so that our bodies can experience the corrective imaginative event.

With this mind-body connection, the client actually feels (on all levels) what it is like to begin to experience his/her needs getting met and the experience of pleasure, satisfaction, meaning, and connectedness. This is the meat of the work she does and does not spend time talking to clients about their eating “habits.” Rather, she works with the process that is going on with them that takes them off their life’s path.

As unmet needs get met, all the addictions and sidetracks of life become unnecessary. Self-esteem grows and moves into what we call “Health Esteem,” where the mind-body meet. What Rosemarie and Sandy found as they worked together with clients is that unless this underlying process is discovered and reconciled with, the client remains off the natural path and into an unhealthy path that will continue to sabotage his/her life.

Determining what’s emotional or physical hunger

“Emotional eating is eating for reasons other than hunger,” says Jane Jakbuczak, dietician at the University of Maryland. “Instead of a physical symptom initiating the eating, an emotion does.”

There are significant differences between emotional and physical hunger according to the University of Texas Mental Health website. However, many people with a food addiction can’t discern these differences. Here is a guide to help clarify what is an indication of emotional hunger and what is a sign of physical hunger.

1. Emotional hunger is sudden. When emotional hunger arises, you normally become focused on a particular food/snack, which more than likely is a “comfort food.” Physical hunger builds slowly.

2. When you are feeding your feelings to fill a void, you crave certain foods; only those foods will satisfy your need. When you eat when you are hungry, your food options are limitless.

3. Physical hunger will wait.

4. Emotional hunger has to be satisfied instantly with the food you crave.

5. Emotional eating allows you to keep eating even when you are full…your need is not met.

6. If it’s physical hunger, generally you stop when you are full.

7. Emotional eating leaves you feeling guilty; physical hunger does not.

Overeating is emotional. Most people do not understand why they reach for food for comfort, or why they are even doing it. Most weight loss, diet or fitness programs usually don’t address why you do this. Do you know why you do it?

The uniqueness of a gym that incorporates the psychological element

Bud’s Ultimate Fitness Inc. is the most distinctive and holistic gym in our area. She offers a safe haven for those struggling with emotional issues and knows how to combine workouts to support them in their weight loss process. What adds to the support and progress are the other clients at the gym, because sharing emotions and issues with each other helps to keep all of us on a healthy path. Ultimate Fitness truly embraces the notion of “Health Esteem” and brings the mind/body/spirit connection together in one place. The long-term benefits of working this program helps people for a lifetime. This personal and caring approach can’t be found in the big fitness facilities. Bud’s Ultimate Fitness Inc. is for people who want a fitness program but more deeply want to know how to heal emotional wounds so that they can be more successful in all areas of their lives.

Julie Cole is the director of marketing for Ultimate Fitness Inc., which is owned by long-time fitness expert, Rosemarie “Bud” Seaman in Winter Park. Ultimate Fitness is located at 2265 Lee Road, Suite 201, Winter Park. Call 407-599-9336 or visit buds-ultimate-fitness.com for more information.