Are you one of those frustrated dieters who find yourself either always on a diet or hopelessly overeating after coming off a diet? Perhaps you are one of the many who diet with limited success, but have an even harder time keeping it off?

It is possible that you are struggling with losing weight due to your subconscious responding to what is called “Emotional Eating.” Emotional eating is exactly what it sounds like: eating because there are internal emotional triggers that are set off causing you to reach out for food when you are not really hungry.

 A recent study just published by obesity researchers at Miriam Hospital and the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University have found that emotional eaters have the hardest time keeping off weight and tend to lose less weight overall than those dieters who overeat from external influences such as parties or business meetings.

The results from the study suggest that getting a handle on your tendency to eat in response to emotions can be a significant important factor in achieving long-term success with your weight loss goals.

In some ways, it is not all that surprising those researchers have determined that dieting is hardest for emotional eaters. After all, ever since we were born we have been conditioned to respond to food. From mothers soothing their babies to holiday or family celebrations, food plays a central role in our lives and complicates how we can control our weight loss behavior.

What are some indicators that you can look for that may trigger emotional eating?