Stress Eater

EranneCampsey

I don't love my job and often I get very overwhelmed and stressed out about it, traffic, life in general. I hate to admit but I've always been an emotional eater and stress is getting me the worst right now. How do you avoid stress eating? Aka running around the office like a chicken with your head cut off and when you see that cookie you automatically grab it and can't even reason with yourself because you're so overwhelmed.

tiggerchristy

Totally get it. I've been one for years. I need some tricks and some handy snacks that are easy go to.

Liftng4Lis

This is where the "move more" part comes in. Additionally, I find pre-logging my day helps. If it's not logged, I don't eat it

Unknown

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angellll12

I'll usually make sure Im sipping on something that I like, energy drinks, diet coke. Chew gum.

crazyjerseygirl

I'd suggest attacking the stress from another angle. Have you tried a mindful meditation, light self hypnosis or prayer (if you are religious)? I'm trying to get into the habit of just a little sit down every morning/evening. I started with a hypnosis track (total woo, but super relaxing) but just listen to a favorite song now and concentrate on it.

At work I admit, longer than necessary bathroom break and just close my eyes for a few minutes and hum that favorite song to myself.

Maybe some other form of stress relief works for you, but if you can learn to de stress it can help with the eating too!

Docbanana2002

Well, first you have to keep the cookies out of your environment so they are not there to grab! That isn't always easy if you have coworkers or housemates who are cookie-pushers, so you might need to establish some ground rules to make that work. Like ask a housemate or coworker to not offer you those kinds of things and to keep them in designated areas that you don't have to look at all the time. I'm not saying to swear off cookies forever, but maybe to set some boundaries where you occasionally buy a portion that fits your goal in an intentional way, but not just keep them around to munch on mindlessly in weak moments.

Second, make sure you are eating plenty of good food and keeping that handy so you don't get starved and run down. My stress levels are much worse when I haven't been fueling my body properly throughout the day, as is the tendency to just eat the first thing I can grab. So plan ahead so you can eat properly and keep nutritious snacks handy that are okay to grab and snack on, like fruit or veggies.

Finally, you need to learn some healthier stress management skills and coping skills, besides eating. This is the most important and hardest part for me, learning break that food = stress relief connection AND put something else in the place of food. You can stop eating cookies temporarily but long term that doesn't fix the problem that cookies were a bandaid for, right? Still have too much stress and not enough healthy ways to cope. For me that has meant some life changes to reduce my stress, plus relying on other things like social support, meditation, exercise, a hot bath, getting plenty of sleep, a nutritious meal, etc as a way to cope with the stress that can't be removed.

XXcookiepussXX

I just realized that a stress eating trigger for me is the pick up kid from school and husband from work grind in the afternoon. I just started bringing a single serving pack of Pirate Booty (65 calories) for the ride home to grumpily crash my teeth on. If I'm still stressed when I get home: pickles.

bkscott5

I'm a major stress eater & I stress a lot. I eat when I'm board. Finals in college always sent me to the store to buy 2-3 candies! I use to smoke, 26 yrs ago but still have the cravings. So I really want to be chewing food most of the time. I try sugarless gum but I need some crunch and to get something in my stomach. I haven't figured this out yet but I do know that certain things can't come in the house or have to be hidden from me. Not a good fix but it has helped. I try and find lower calorie snack foods, healthy & not, and eat very small bites slowly (I once ate a 90 calorie fiber brownie for a full half hour! I would also drink water after so many bites since I was trying to increase my water intake too). I was very active when I was a kid & didn't have a weight problem til parents divorce, cross country move, & 8th grade. Just the other day I was trying to figure ways to increase my water still & since I found the sugar free flavor packs & remembered that I use to chew on crushed ice all the time I'm going to try freezing my flavored water into ice cube trays & have them crushed up in the chopper & I'll chomp on my ice cubes hopefully fixing 2 problems at once. My 5'8" mom has a major food stressing issue too, but she stops eating, so I'm trying to get her to gain weight to her 100lbs while I try to lose mine. So I'll love to see what people come up with to help. Good luck!

plor225

I'm the same! If I've had a busy day I fee like I've deserved a sweet. Which leads into more and more. It's a vicious cycle.
I spend an hour in traffic on the way home from work and just eat to make time go quicker.

EranneCampsey

Thanks for all of the suggestions and support. I've been trying to have gum handy to chew on if I'm stressed out or have music on my phone that I can listen to. I also have a 30+ min drive home from work and when I get home I'm stressed and want something to eat so I've been trying to eat something healthy 30 minutes before I head home to curve that appetite. I need to stick to a snack schedule so that when something stressful happens I don't automatically go to food. We can do this! Tomorrow is a new day ☺️

amycuz14

You have a fantastic attitude! I am a TOTAL stress eater, and I work from home, so the fridge and everything is ALWAYS there. This year, to boot, has been one of the worst years for work stress. Bad combo. I have learned to love herbal tea, I find sipping on something hot to be a bit therapeutic and also tells my stomach it's not actually hungry. I also find if I prep fruit and veg as soon as I get home and have it ready to grab then I'll snack on that (somehow munching on carrots when I'm fuming on the inside is satisfactory, maybe the crunch LOL!). I tried to cut out the stress eating all together and honestly (this will sound bad) I just ended up biting my nails. So carrots and tea it is!
My friend commutes a lot and she keeps portioned snacks in her vehicle for the commutes. A baggie of trail mix, a piece of fruit, something specific to snack on when the driving munchies hit.

DeterminedFee201426

Docbanana2002 wrote: »

Well, first you have to keep the cookies out of your environment so they are not there to grab! That isn't always easy if you have coworkers or housemates who are cookie-pushers, so you might need to establish some ground rules to make that work. Like ask a housemate or coworker to not offer you those kinds of things and to keep them in designated areas that you don't have to look at all the time. I'm not saying to swear off cookies forever, but maybe to set some boundaries where you occasionally buy a portion that fits your goal in an intentional way, but not just keep them around to munch on mindlessly in weak moments.

Second, make sure you are eating plenty of good food and keeping that handy so you don't get starved and run down. My stress levels are much worse when I haven't been fueling my body properly throughout the day, as is the tendency to just eat the first thing I can grab. So plan ahead so you can eat properly and keep nutritious snacks handy that are okay to grab and snack on, like fruit or veggies.

Finally, you need to learn some healthier stress management skills and coping skills, besides eating. This is the most important and hardest part for me, learning break that food = stress relief connection AND put something else in the place of food. You can stop eating cookies temporarily but long term that doesn't fix the problem that cookies were a bandaid for, right? Still have too much stress and not enough healthy ways to cope. For me that has meant some life changes to reduce my stress, plus relying on other things like social support, meditation, exercise, a hot bath, getting plenty of sleep, a nutritious meal, etc as a way to cope with the stress that can't be removed.

FatFreeFrolicking

Maybe you should try speaking with a psychiatrist or psychologist to learn ways to cope with stress.