Biggest loser gains half his weight back

January 13, 8:24 PMSF Diet and Exercise ExaminerDiane Taylor

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Erik Chopin the Biggest Loser from season 3 who lost 214 pounds has gained half of the weight back. He appeared on CNN's Larry King last night  (January 12, 2009) to open up about his weight gain.

When asked how he gained the weight back, he said he lost purpose in his life, fell into a depression and turned to food and stopped exercising. Oprah refers to her struggle with emotional eating as well. It makes sense. Most of us know what to eat and how much to eat but we fall into bouts of binge eating or we make unhealthy food choices anyway. At that point it's not about food - it's about other issues going on for us instead.

Emotional eating is when we use food as a substitute for something else. We use it to relieve or suppress negative emotions. It occurs often when we are dealing with strong emotions like big highs or deep lows or when we experience an increase in stress. Overall unhappiness or loneliness can also cause us to use food to try to heal our pain. It might help for the moment, but long term, it doesn't help.

The good news is that emotional eating can be managed. The Mayo Clinic offers these 7 ways:

1. Learn to recognize true hunger
2. Know your triggers
3. Look elsewhere for comfort
4. Don't keep unhealthy foods around
5. Snack healthy
6. Eat a balanced diet
7. Exercise regularly and get adequate rest