By Ashima Sharda Mahindra

Copyright timesnownews

For 24-year-old Emma Hooker, losing weight was not just a way to get healthy and fit, but to get out of her complex life. Battling attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD, eating and mental health disorders, Emma wanted a relationship with herself to get better – and a physical transformation was the only way, she thought. Emma lost a jaw-dropping 72 kilograms, while battling ADHD – which she says had affected her food choices – finally building a healthier relationship with food. Now working as a fitness and nutrition coach, Emma inspires many others with her remarkable weight loss journey, as she continues to find new ways to improve her health. “I used to think I just had no willpower, that I was lazy. That I couldn’t stick to anything because I just didn’t want it badly enough. But my ADHD made things harder in ways I didn’t even realize for a long time,” Emma wrote on Instagram. How did Emma lose weight? Emma said she had piled on weight due to her eating habits – as she had the tendency to obsess over a single meal or snack and consume it daily for weeks until she became completely desensitised to it. This cycle would lead to mental burnout, leaving her feeling stuck and causing irregular eating patterns. She would generally eat foods that were good in taste, yet bankrupt when it came to nutrition and satiety. “I now plan two to three rotating options I like. It keeps variety without overwhelming my brain,” she writes in her posts. Started checking on hunger cues Taking to exercising daily – and carefully curating her workouts – Emma decided to take matters into her own hands after she hit “the rock bottom” with excessive weight. And apart from that, she started skipping food, which only backfired as she would eat a lot later. And so, to get over that, she began setting timers and checking in with her hunger cues, which helped her develop a more balanced eating routine. Boredom – a major trigger for overeating Pinning on boredom as a major trigger for overeating, Emma said she found better things to do when she had free time. ‘Now I ask myself, “What am I actually needing right now?” Sometimes the answer is a walk, a cold drink, music, or rest… not food,” she wrote. “I’d eat perfectly all day, then binge at night. It felt like I undid all my progress in one sitting, and the guilt hit hard,” wrote Emma. “I stopped labelling food as good or bad. I eat balanced meals with things I enjoy so I never feel deprived,” she writes. Emma now carefully pre-plans her meals for the week by checking on nutrition options and rotating food groups so that she is able to eat everything. She says the practice has immensely helped her reduce stress and decision fatigue around food.