When people hear the word trigger, a whole host of images pop into their mind. Depending upon your background, it could be anything from a hammer that sends a bullet racing from a gun and for you super geeks out there, it could be an event executing a piece of code.

When it comes to weight loss, triggers are those bugaboos that can make losing weight some @%$*#! hard.

So what are triggers that make weight loss more difficult? Of course seeing cake dripping with frosting is enough to send your salivary glands into overdrive, but, triggers are not just food. They can be people, places, how you’re feeling or even the way you’re sitting right now.

When it comes to triggers and weight loss, the bottom line is that you need to become more aware of the causes of your triggers.

How to become aware of triggers?

An effective method of combatting triggers is to become aware of when they occur. Time is a key component of triggers. As you begin to track them, you’ll notice that they usually occur during a specific times during the day. The most common time is in the evening.

The reason for this is physical as well as psychological. During the day, when you’re eating only healthy stuff, you’re supplying your body with specific types of nutrients. However, your body as grown accustomed to certain foods and the ingredients in those foods, namely sugar and tasty fats.

When you don’t get that stuff, the trigger is activated. For example, sugar cravings have been linked to low levels of serotonin and endorphins.

To combat the timing of a trigger, prepare for it by having a nutrition bar handy to eat or some other nutritional item to snack on. Not only does this help combat the cravings of the triggers, it also helps to retrain how you react to the triggers.

The following are a list of the major triggers and some practical steps to alleviate them.

People

Your family can be a big trigger in your life. Even though you don’t have the option to get a new family, you can explain to them you’re trying to lose weight and any support they could give would be a big help.

Feelings

Many people think that the only way to change the way you feel is by telling yourself to stop feeling that way. This of course does the opposite, by keeping the feelings in your mind. A quick and effective way to change your feelings is to listen to music. Music can make you feel sad or make you feel on top of the world. So the next time a feeling triggers you to want to pig out, plug in your ipod and enjoy some tunes.

Events

Probably the single greatest event that triggers you to want to overeat is watching tv. To help, make a bowl of veggie snacks before you sit down. Just munching on them while you watch may be enough to keep your mind off the fatty snacks you tend to eat.

A favorite technique of mine is to squeeze a stress ball or a hand gripper that I keep near by. Just keeping my hands busy helps me out a lot.

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