Too Much on Her Plate with Dr. Melissa McCreery: Emotional Eating Help for Smart, High-Achieving Women

We need to have a conversation about self-love and self-acceptance and how we treat ourselves. Diet mentality often includes a belief that you aren’t deserving of certain things (confidence, self-care, even acceptance) UNTIL you reach your goal (whatever that is). Let’s discuss. In this episode: Self-love purgatory The belief cycle that can keep you stuck with unfed Hidden Hungers and why your ide...

Overeating and emotional eating after something is over - whether it’s a fun thing like a vacation, or something stressful like winding up a big work project - is common. And it’s not something we pay enough attention to. Let’s fix that In this episode: What the after is and why it can feel unsettling Why and how we can set ourselves up to not make great decisions in the “after” Some transitions t...

Today I’d like to tell you a story about a quirky habit and how it relates to the neuroscience of happiness. We’re also going to cover how you can use this information to create more positive results when you’re working to change your eating habits or break cycles with emotional eating. AND (stick with me), I’m going to tell you how all of this can help you create momentum and ongoing motivation w...

Today I want to address something very important - and that’s how to determine whether or not you should be focusing on emotional eating and whether this approach is going to work for you. In this episode: Why you can be an emotional eater but focusing on it might not be your best approach How focusing on emotional eating might just lead to more overeating instead of less The power of the Hidden H...

If you’re flooded with feelings of anger or powerlessness, your brain (and your thinking) is likely to take you in the opposite direction. Once you understand this you can use the four steps I’m going to share with you today to take your power back from overeating and to chart a new course when you’re feeling mad or upset - one that doesn’t involve reflexively reaching for something to eat. This i...

How do we juggle all the moving parts? How do we listen to ourselves, acknowledge that feeling of “I don’t want to” and not feel like we’re held captive in a cycle of rebellious self-sabotage? This is exactly what I’m covering in this episode. Let’s explore: When we rebel against ourselves or don’t want to do something (like change our eating) even when we think we really want to Signs of inner re...

Do you ever feel like you’re the only smart woman who hasn’t figured out how to break patterns of overeating and emotional eating. If you’re feeling this way, you’re not alone - so let’s bust this myth once and for all. The truth is, there are very common reasons that smart, busy women overeat. These reasons can create a self-perpetuating cycle that can keep you stuck even if you’re working hard t...

Most of us know that there is no magic pill that stops overeating or causes instant weight loss - but a part of your brain is very likely hoping that there is. And this can cause problems. In this episode, I’m covering how magical thinking and diet mentality might be keeping you stuck and the bigger, better possibility that I believe you deserve. What I cover in this episode: How diet culture and...

Today I want to talk with you about a pattern you’ll probably recognize. Have you ever felt like you were just getting in the groove with eating in the way you want to, and then something discouraging happened, and then, before you knew it you were completely off track? I want to introduce you to a concept I call snowballing. It’s one of the most common patterns that trigger overeating and emotion...

Should you really invest hope in the possibility of creating freedom from overeating? What’s standing in the way of finding something that works? These are the questions I’m addressing in this episode of the podcast. What I cover in this episode: Why you might feel afraid to believe you can change your eating or your relationship with food How being imperfect helps you create freedom from overeati...

I’m a huge believer in vacations, but you shouldn’t have to take a vacation from your relationship with food. Unfortunately, many smart, busy women feel like they do. The culprit: diet mentality, and thoughts and beliefs you might not even know you have. What I cover in this episode: How diet mentality makes your thoughts about vacation eating complicated The two thoughts that sabotage our eating...

In this episode I’m sharing the four pillars you’ll need to solve your own overeating puzzle. They are worlds away from what diet mentality and diet culture have insisted you focus on. Let’s talk about how to build a foundation for freedom from overeating and peace with food. This episode is the third of a 3-part series I taught on how to use psychology to stop overeating. If you’ve heard about ho...

There’s a trap that keeps a lot of smart women overeating and it’s often unrecognized. It springs from the way that diet mentality teaches us to think about how to make changes. When you understand how change really works, it empowers you to break free from vicious cycles with overeating, food, and with weight.  What I cover in this episode: The difference between diet mentality and freedom mental...

Today I’m inviting you inside a 3-part series I taught last month on how to use psychology to stop overeating.  If you want to stop overeating, emotional eating, or your weight, then your brain is your most valuable asset.  In this first session, I’ll be teaching you about diet mentality and some major shifts in your thinking that can lead to big changes in your eating. What I cover in this episod...

The truth is, if you’re not getting what you need, it’s easy to fill that gap with food, and the more you ignore or numb or push down what you’re really craving, the more power food, and overeating can have.  Some of what you’ll hear in this episode: My pattern of overeating when I’m not getting my needs met A first step to breaking the cycle Where to start if you have no idea how to “nourish your...

The future is usually top of mind for people who are trying to change the way they eat. “When I stop overeating/lose the weight/give up sugar…I will ….” can be such an exciting thought. Unfortunately, this focus on the future can often be unrealistic and can lead to putting a lot of perfectionistic pressure on yourself. Some of what you’ll hear in this episode: How you can use your future self to...

When’s the last time you went for something to eat because you wanted to escape? Or numb out? When’s the last time you wandered into the kitchen to avoid thinking about the email that just landed in your inbox? Using food to zone out, to numb yourself, or to push through or push down feelings or needs is an easy habit to slide into. What I cover in this episode: An alternative to mindless eating,...

There’s a lot going on in the world these days and if you’re feeling overwhelmed, you’re not alone. Not all overwhelm is something we create ourselves. Some of it is though, and whether the overwhelm you’re feeling is based on world events, your life, or a combination of both, I think this episode might be really helpful. When you’re overwhelmed and you’re also overeating, it can feel impossible t...

In this episode, I’m looking at the perfectionism trap and the way it can sabotage your efforts to change your eating and I’m sharing simple steps that you can take to move off the hamster wheel of perfectionism and overeating. Here’s the good news. No one EVER created peace with food by being perfect. And this means you don’t have to hold yourself to an unattainable standard of perfection either....

Do your feelings about your eating, your weight, or your body ever keep you at a distance from others? Do you have thoughts about why your relationship with food needs to be private? Do believe that you need to reach your goals before you connect more fully? I’d like to explore these issues with you. Emotional eating can be isolating. It’s often an area that women keep to themselves, and you might...

We really can’t talk about how to end overeating or break cycles of emotional eating without talking about guilt, self-blame, and hope.  Is the self-blame you’re dragging around helping or making things worse? (Spoiler alert: you already know it’s causing problems.) What I cover in this episode: How guilt and self-blame create vicious cycles How you may have been shamed or guilted by “experts” you...

Stress eating can feel like such a trap, especially if the stress you’re experiencing isn’t immediately within your control. There’s a lot of (bad) advice out there about how to address stress eating habits that’s either unrealistic, overly simplistic, or just doesn’t work. That said, there IS a process you can use to interrupt stress eating. You don’t have to grit your teeth or find something to...

There’s nothing more deflating than making efforts to change patterns of overeating and emotional eating and hearing that voice in your head whisper, “It’s not working.” This is exactly what I’m covering in this episode of the Too Much on Her Plate podcast. What you’ll learn from this episode: What to do when you’re not seeing results The daily practice that is going to increase your results The d...

If you believe you can’t do something, or if you endlessly tell yourself how difficult or unpleasant it’s going to be … well, chances are you’ll create a self-fulfilling prophecy. But there’s a lot more to mindset than positive vs. negative thinking. I’ve spent many years helping women stop emotional eating and end overeating habits and there are four obstacles that I repeatedly see getting betwee...

Your overeating or emotional eating habits sit on a foundation of automatic thoughts and decisions. Changing the way you think about food or generating a belief that will help you stare down a craving can feel impossible in the moment. This is what makes guided visualizations so powerful. This is an episode to listen to in a quiet place where you can be uninterrupted. It may be an episode that you...