Stress-->food-->weight gain
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srkbaker
Posts: 6 Member
So I was just reading through people's introductions and over half of us talked about how when things get stressful our diet and exercise goes out the door. That is definitely true for me. Between sick parents, doctors appointment for my child and changing jobs, it felt completely reasonable to allow myself a "treat." My problem is I can't stop at one treat and before I know it I've developed I routine of eating crap. When I REALLY get off track is when my I schedule changes because of a stressful situation (new job, taking time off to help a sick parent, child in the hospital etc.). It feels impossible to maintain good habits.
What are some things we can do to help break this pattern? Any ideas?
What are some things we can do to help break this pattern? Any ideas?
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Replies
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I agree! Stress is brutal. For me, I know if I can exercise on a regular basis, I can handle stress much better. So then the question is..how do I fit exercise in when life is so chaotic? I looked back at my history, and realized when my steady weight loss happened is when I had a routine for exercise. For me, this meant always exercising at the same time each day...always after work, for example. Well being a single mom with 3 kids in activities, that wasn't about to happen, so I had to ask myself when COULD I fit it in? It's tough some nights, but I workout after the kids are in bed. I workout 3-4 nights starting between 9:00-10:00 pm. Hell YES I'm exhuasted. But I'm more tired of being fat that I am physically. I tell myself 20 minutes...if I want to quit after 20 minutes, I can. By then I'm sweaty, and feeling awake, and don't have to worry about kids coming to interrupt me or joining me, so sometimes I knock out 60-90 minutes. I'm not sacrificing time with my children, not spending time traveling to/from the gym, and I'd probably be awake doing something anyway. I take a warm shower when I'm done, and off to bed I go. I crash.
The other part of this is completely mental. It is just accepting everything isn't going to be "perfect". I've definitely have had to learn that it's OK to let my house go a bit so I have time to prepare meals and workout. Or that I can't do everything for everyone else. The chores will always be there; but will my health? And what is making me happier? A clean house or a strong body? I definitely think we are all too hard on ourselves. My mother always had an immaculate home, so I feel mine should be the same. She made time for EVERYONE. But she stayed at home. But you know what...most of the time when I go to family/friend's homes, I'm there to see them and don't notice the state of the house. And I've learned to be there when people need me, not always when they want me. So it's learning to take a step back and put things in perspective.
And it's all about choices. We can choose a "treat". That's fine. Enjoy it. Don't feel guity. But then we have to realize that I get to make my next choice, and I can choose to eat better or exercise more. It's not an all or nothing game. Some of these were "epiphanies" that I had about a year ago, after a lifetime of being too hard on myself and expecting perfection, which is impossible, so I always felt like a failure. I'm mentally in an entirely different world and have no doubt, for the first time in my life, that I will acheive my goals, that I CAN do this and am proud of myself for doing all that I can. Who cares how long it will take me to lose it if I never have to lose it again?! And I have done it during "real life", not just when life is perfect. We will have setbacks, but again, it's about accepting ourselves as not being perfect and that is really OK!0 -
^^ I agree ^^
And to add to that, I think it's easier not to have a bunch of treats and/or crap in the house. Most of the time I think it's convenience foods whether it be snacks for the kids or just things that are quick to eat bc of our busy lifestyles.
In my case, I'm down to my last "child" at home and she's in high school and tends to eat fairly healthy bc she's at the awkward, self conscious teen stage. Unfortunately for her, she's "mini me" ... literally! She's short and has been blessed with a lot of curves but, when you're short those curves can quickly make you look like a short fat round ball if you're not careful! :sad:
In the last year, I got in the bad habit of having too much junk and convenience foods around the house. It's so much easier to grab a bag of chips and some dip than to make a sandwich or make a salad. So, I'm going to limit the junk food in my house again. It's so much easier to stay on track and eat healthy if that's all there is in the house to eat. I can honestly tell you not one time in my life have I thought "Oh. An apple sure sounds good." LOL! I LOVE junk food, not sweets so much, crunchy and salty is my weakness so the chips have to GO!!
Exercise isn't easy for me either but once I get started I notice that I DO feel better. I have more energy, don't tend to get the 2 pm slump at my desk etc.
I think for me, it's mostly excuses and I need to stop with the excuses, limit the junk food and make it a point to exercise!0 -
Dieting does jack for me if I'm not excercising. And when I get stressed out, that's about the first thing I stop doing. It's odd because when I was younger, that's what I used to do to manage stress. And now my go to destresser is my husband. He is a skinny little thing and he's healthy and he gets most of his excercise at work. We used to work out together, but he's so much more in shape than me that it's challenging to keep up with him, not good challenging ( I love a good challenge, if I win) but discouraging challenging. So now I do it and he watches, which is more encouraging because he cat calls damn near the whole time. But when stuff happens... right now my FIL is on a fast road to heaven. He has prostate cancer that has mastisized (sp) to his bones, but the man is a miracle and should have been gone a long time ago, so we have that. When he has appointments we get their kids (they are raising my neice and nephew, 7 and 9) and their 2 dogs (we already have 4 dogs and 2 birds) so that's stressfull, it raises the heartbeat count in my house to 10 people, 6 dogs and 2 birds. It's loud and crowded always (but I kinda like it most times) My best friend is going through chemo for esophogeal cancer and he is staying with us until he starts feeling better after the chemo. I have a 17 year old boy... I have a 16 year old gir.... nuff said there.
So when it gets like this, after I'm done with the everyday routine and any extras that come up.... I want to lay down with my husband and just be with him. When he's home, I'm a goner. When he's gone, I work out.
These are my excuses.
Valid or do I need help?
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Sorry for all the stress in your life. I really struggled with my diet when my dad was terminally ill. I Did do my best to work out, at least every other day, until the last two weeks when I spent a lot of time at his place. (days on end, never leaving or sleeping).
I struggled with schedule forever. I finally settled on home workout DVDs that I do in the AM. I also feel better if I do my workout vs the extra sleep. I'm currently doing T25, so its only a half hour. Makes it easier to fit in the schedule.
I hope things settle down a bit for you soon.
Speaking of workouts, that alarm goes off in 6 hours, I should head to bed.0 -
a couple things....SOMETIMES work for me...
Drink a gallon (exaggerating slightly) of water before I take a bit of anything when i'm feeling like that.
Post on MFP.
Chew some gum.
Do some pushups/situps, etc.
Commit to waiting until after my workout to snack. Sometimes when I'm done I don't want it so bad anymore.
Now... on the days I'm just DOWN and can't fight the good fight... dunno.... work out extra the next day?0
