Controlling Emotions May Be Key To Losing Weight

LOS ANGELES - She may have been smiling in her pictures, but Tsilah Burman felt tortured on the inside.

"I was always constantly dieting and gaining weight and losing weight..."

Tsilah says she would eat at night a lot of her food, skipping meals during the day when that wasn't happening, like so many others, she tells CBS 2/KCAL 9's Health Reporter Lisa Sigell she felt the need to eat all the time.

It wasn't until eight months ago she heard about a non-profit organization called Heal Your Hunger, their mission to help lose weight from the inside out.

Tricia Greaves is the president of Heal Your Hunger. She struggled with her weight most of her life. At age 21 she stopped dieting, lost 50 pounds and made it her mission to help others.

"My problem wasn't about food or fat it was about stuffing my emotions with food."

Greaves says instead of focusing on what you eat, focus on your emotions and changing patterns.

"So they can have a healthy relationship with food, with their bodies, with their stress and then naturally lose weight."

To stop emotional eating Greaves says eat 3 healthy meals a day, without snacking in between. Before grabbing chips or starting to nibble, she says, ask yourself:

"Why am I hungry? Is there an appointment I'm nervous about? Sometimes emotional hunger can feel like physical hunger."

She says don't skip meals and after dinner, no night eating. This is the time most people overeat.

"For one, that's when we're alone and we can eat what we want and we use food to de-stress."

Meditate for a few minutes before meals, especially dinner, so you're not agitated and nervous from the day and overeat and cook as often as you can. She says restaurant food can be loaded with calories and there's an emotional benefit to preparing your own meals.

"It says I'm worth taking a trip to the store."

Greaves also believes in writing out thoughts, feelings... especially anger.

"Bang it out on a computer so you avoid overeating."

Greaves says make healthy choices about food, but you don't have to be perfect. Also include physical activity and the weight will drop off. Tsilah Burman has lost 60 in the past eight months by changing patterns and changing herself.

"Just as it had been a lifelong process to gain the weight, it will be a lifelong process to lose the weight and keep it off."