Stress+work+family+school = lbs

iDad74
iDad74 Posts: 61 Member
in Motivation and Support
I'm the heaviest I've ever been. The combination of stress, work, family, and school has killed my workout routine and my eating habits are terrible. My goal is to drop 30 lbs and to completely rehaul my eating habits.

Any tips, ideas, or motivation will be appreciated. I'm also pretty active on fitbit, zwift, and strava.

Replies

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,846 Member
    It sounds like you have a lot going on! I would recommend small gradual changes rather than one grand overhaul, to avoid overwhelming yourself.

    Wishing you success!
  • overeater1
    overeater1 Posts: 38 Member
    I so hear you. Life is so frigging busy and there seems to be pressure and stress from all sides. Most important thing for losing the physical weight is food: which is surprisingly easy to stay on top of once the first two weeks of the healthy lifestyle/eating habits are over. You just need to commit and not buy any trigger foods eg for me I can’t have Mayo or pesto or Pringles or cheese in the house. Like anything it becomes a habit once you’ve decided that you want to shift the weight. You have to like the food you’re eating too, and in my case, I need a treat every day so I don’t feel deprived. I keep 200 calories for a bar of chocolate every day snd to me it’s worth it. I tried having a 100 calorie treat but it wasn’t enough for me: didn’t satisfy me at all so now I just eat one less slice of bread and use the calories for my chocolate. It just needs to be within your calorie limit. I’d highly recommend that you batch cook too to save time and if you can get your shopping delivered, it also saves time and removes temptation.

    As regards exercise, it’s important for mental health and for me I try go for a walk every day, even if it’s only 20minutes. I usually make time for an hours walk though. When the weather is bad a YouTube workout for 20 minutes does the trick. Popsugar is really good. In my case, exercise is not the best way to lose weight unless I do a lot of it very intensely. I’m not very sporty and I prefer to use it as a bonus for making me feel good . But if I’m overeating by a lot then the exercise isn’t t going to solve it for me. Hope that helps!
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
    Two things that help me through times of great stress and multiple commitments/obligations are (a) putting exercise time on my calendar in advance-- even of it's just 20 minutes for a walk around the block, and (b) making time on the weekend for some meal prep -- usually a casserole or soup/stew with lots and lots of veggies that I can grab for a quick meal through the week when I'm super busy.

    It also really helps me to view these activities as acts of self care-- things I do to keep myself well so I can be at my best for all those obligations.

    The meal prep thing also keeps me from rationalizing poor behaviors like swinging through a drive thru or "self medicating my stress with greasy/ salty/ carby/ sugary snacks.

    Spending some family time in the kitchen assembling a week's worth of yummy chili, low-fat veggie lasagna, and/ or grab-and go breakfast burritos can also be fun family time! Ditto with a walk around the block with the spouse or tossing a ball in the yard with the kids :-)
  • iDad74
    iDad74 Posts: 61 Member
    rosebarnalice wrote: »
    Two things that help me through times of great stress and multiple commitments/obligations are (a) putting exercise time on my calendar in advance-- even of it's just 20 minutes for a walk around the block, and (b) making time on the weekend for some meal prep -- usually a casserole or soup/stew with lots and lots of veggies that I can grab for a quick meal through the week when I'm super busy.

    It also really helps me to view these activities as acts of self care-- things I do to keep myself well so I can be at my best for all those obligations.

    The meal prep thing also keeps me from rationalizing poor behaviors like swinging through a drive thru or "self medicating my stress with greasy/ salty/ carby/ sugary snacks.

    Spending some family time in the kitchen assembling a week's worth of yummy chili, low-fat veggie lasagna, and/ or grab-and go breakfast burritos can also be fun family time! Ditto with a walk around the block with the spouse or tossing a ball in the yard with the kids :-)

    Thanks for the advice. Meal prepping has been a challenge for, but it is definitely beneficial when I'm able to stick with it.

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