Stress eating

nm212

How to deal??

WBB55

Learn different coping skills?

I know it sounds glib, but it's true.

(1) Prevent stress before it starts -- Good sleep. Good eating habits. Exercise regularly. Planning ahead. Letting things go. Not sweating the small stuff. Etc.
(2) Learn to recognize stressors and put things in place ahead of time so you don't seek out food afterwards -- Like I know my mom stresses me out. So, like, I tell myself "when I'm done here, I'm going to go call my friend. I just have to make it thru this conversation right now. Then I call my best friend."
(3) If you do feel stress, learn new methods of handling it -- Exercise, pet your cat, call a friend, learn to play the drums, journal, meditate

Edit to add: but if you're hungry, and it's meal time, eat a healthy meal. NOT eating when you're hungry, and fretting about it, can increase cortisol and adrenaline. So don't do that.

rockmama72

This isn't a cure for the behavior, but it might get you through some tough moments: Get a bag of sunflower seeds in the shell. It takes FOREVER to eat them, and you can just sit and mindlessly do the hand-to-mouth thing for a long time.

Also, find a 10-minute yoga or stretching video that you like. (A gentler one is perfect.) There are plenty on YouTube.

Holly_Roman_Empire

Instead of eat, move. As I told someone else the other day, keep moving your body until the craving goes away. If it doesn't go away, at least after an hour or so, you've burned enough calories to have a guilt-free snack. This is how I deal.

bcattoes

Yoga really does help.