Stress UNDEReating?

Bex953172

hey everyone.

So i realise that with the global crisis, everyone is getting stressed about various things.
And this normally leads to over eating or indulging which I've seen many posts and comments about.

But mine is when I get stressed, I cant eat. Take today for example, I've been that stressed all day, its 4pm and I've not ate anything yet, I'm pretty sure I've not even had a drink?
I'm hungry, so the logical thing is to go eat right? But firstly it takes me forever to decide what I feel like eating (if I decide at all) and then ill either make it and as soon as its in my mouth I just don't want it or.. ill just eat it.

This is not eating disorder related, its not like I'm undereating to lose weight as the fact I cant eat concerns me.

Its just a bit like..wtf. i know its having an impact because I am losing weight, not fast but I'm losing it. Which in one aspect I'm happy about because my goal is to lose weight, but not in this way, I want it to be done healthily.

What do you guys suggest? I cant tell if this is just because of Covid and all of it is getting to me as ive had 3 kids (6 years old and under) off school for 12ish weeks. Or if its a horrible new habit.

And I could do with suggestions with people who may have struggled similarly, through Covid or not

Thanks for taking the time to read

PKM0515

Occasionally, I have trouble eating due to anxiety. During those times I find it helps to eat something like soup or maybe applesauce, ice cream or a milkshake. I don't eat them, but I'm thinking scrambled eggs. For some reason, things like this are "easier" for me to eat.

Imo, it also helps to get out in nature (e.g., for a walk or just to sit in the park).

Feel better!

thelastnightingale

See, sometimes when I'm stressed I want to eat all of the junk food, and sometimes I don't want to eat anything at all. I go for extremes, but not always the extreme you or even I would expect. It's hard to predict with me, which way I'll go. At the start of lockdown, I lost weight through feeling too anxious to eat, then I gained weight through comfort eating. Balance is hard!

The best thing you can do is tackle the underlying stress and try to minimise that. What has been stressing you out lately, and is there anything you can do to improve your situation?

Bex953172

thelastnightingale wrote: »

See, sometimes when I'm stressed I want to eat all of the junk food, and sometimes I don't want to eat anything at all. I go for extremes, but not always the extreme you or even I would expect. It's hard to predict with me, which way I'll go. At the start of lockdown, I lost weight through feeling too anxious to eat, then I gained weight through comfort eating. Balance is hard!

The best thing you can do is tackle the underlying stress and try to minimise that. What has been stressing you out lately, and is there anything you can do to improve your situation?

haha a shorter list would maybe be what isnt stressing me at the moment lol!!

This Covid thing has just changed so much, I didnt notice at first, but as time has passed its just beat me down.
The kids being off school, constant mess, constant attention, constant washing, constant cleaning, constant lack of money FOR food because we're getting eaten out of house and home from the kids.
The kids have gone back to school (but they finish for summer this friday) and during them 3 weeks every morning has been hard for me to get up so let's just throw a big dollop of exhaustion on top haha
And thats just me! I then live with a partner and 3 kids who are struggling in their own way and were all just stood here like wtf?

I dunno about anything to improve the situation? The only thing I can think is just start a whole new routine

thelastnightingale

@Bex953172 It sounds like life as a whole is completely overwhelming at the moment, and I get why that would crush your appetite.

If the kids are old enough to be at school, they're old enough to do something helpful round the house, even if that's something small like tidying their own rooms or collecting all the laundry and bringing it to the machine. (Probably wouldn't trust a child to sort laundry though!)

Is your partner helping out as much as is reasonable? Without getting into competitive misery, are you both bearing the load equally?

I think with three kids and life just being crazy, my tactic would be less around changing the situation and more around trying to let go of part of it. For example, if the constant mess stresses you out, can you decide that the constant mess is OK if the kitchen is the tidy? Basically, reduce/restrict your usual standards. You have three kids: you're never going to live in a show home. But would it be OK if just one part of the house looked beautiful, and you accepted the rest of the house was always going to be covered in toys and books?

The constant attention wears you down - can and you and your partner agree to cover everything for perhaps an hour at the weekend, so you both get some time in which three kids aren't all shouting at you for different things and you can just enjoy the silence? (You may need to go for a walk to get the silence, rather than take a nap in your home, but some quiet alone time might help you both reset.) What about family help? Do you live near a relative who might be persuaded to do the occasional few hours of babysitting so you can both have a break? What about parent friends from school? It depends a bit on the Covid situation where you are, but could you have a reciprocal arrangement where if you watch someone else's house and kids for a few hours, they later do the same for you?

And again, are either of you ever getting a lie in? Is it possible you can take it in turns to give each other the extra time in bed with earplugs at weekends? Sleep is such a healing thing, but hard to come by in a household of children unless you really fight for it.

There are some stresses like money which may not be fixable right now, but there are others that could be reduced in some small way. I'd take the small wins, small as they are, and reassess how you're feeling in a couple of weeks of sticking to those changes.

If you don't hate exercise, doing some more of that might also help encourage an appetite - not sure how appealing it would be to go for a walk with reluctant kids in tow, but have a think about how you could possibly get in some (more) exercise, even if it's short.