BlubberBusters Tips from Lucy

The Tale of Two Tanks

Lawrence Fills His Blue Tank

In last week's tip, you learned about Lawrence's travels through emotional eating. He discovered his two tanks: the red tank and the blue tank. Remember, the red tank holds energy for our body. It let's us know it needs fuel by giving us the feeling of hunger.

Lawrence learned from the Wiz he was eating to fill up his blue tank. Lawrence was like many other kids and teens. He ate when he was feeling uncomfortable feelings. This tip will talk about how Lawrence filled up his blue tank without overfilling his red tank. This helped Lawrence get to a healthier weight.

The blue tank holds the fuel we need to feel good about ourselves. It holds all our feelings. These feelings tell us what we need in our blue tank. There are millions of feelings. You may have heard of happy, sad, mad, joyful, lonely, ashamed, embarrassed, and bored. There are lots! Some feelings feel good. Some feelings feel uncomfortable. To keep the blue tank full, we need to let the feelings out. We also need to take care of ourselves.

Lawrence's blue tank got too low since he was sad when his parents got divorced. He kept his feelings inside. He did not like to cry. He also did not want to tell anyone he was sad. He found that eating made him not feel so sad. Eating made his blue tank feel fuller. Soon, he started to feel embarrassed and ashamed when the kids called him names like "lardo." Eating helped him feel better, for a little bit. Then he felt guilt. He knew he needed to lose weight. Soon, he found himself eating to make the guilt go away too.

Lawrence talked to the Wiz about his overeating. The Wiz let him know it would maybe helpful for him to let some of the feelings out of his blue tank. The feelings are a way for us to know we need to take care of ourselves. Lawrence decided to tell the Wiz about how he felt guilty when he overate. He also told him about how he felt embarrassed when people called him names. The Wiz listened. He didn't judge Lawrence. After sharing this, Lawrence knew he could come to the Wiz when those things happened again and he would listen. This felt good to Lawrence.

The Wiz thought it might help Lawrence to write down what his blue tank needed. He said first start with feelings that are uncomfortable. Then, next to the feeling, write down an activity that helps get those feelings out. Doing this will help fill up Lawrence's blue tank. Here are some of the things Lawrence came up with: