I'm so stressed!!

I am very overwhelmed with stress right now too. So far I haven't eaten because of it, but I know I will if I keep feeling this stressed.

Try going for a walk or a run or some sort of exercise to keep you out of the kitchen. Drink lots of water. Sorry, that's all I have.

Start a project (hobby? spring cleaning? gardening?); something that demands your full attention and keeps you busy.

Also tackle the stress head on. Perhaps there's a problem you could solve or a change you could make. One thing is for sure, you can't eat it away.

The past few months just might have been some of the most stressful in my life.
Have you ever heard that quote about the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I guess I got tired of the long term effects of emotional eating. It only made me feel good while I was doing it. After I did it I felt bad and it was keeping me fat. At first it was doing it and acknowledging it and its consequences. I just kind of had to tell myself 'you know what happens when you do this and you're doing it anyway'. Then I worked on being able to reason with myself before I gave in to it. At this point I want my goals more than I want instant gratification. I've done the emotional eating thing once in the past three months and while I did in fact unleash hell on some macaroni and cheese and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, it was still controlled. I didn't eat two giant bowls of mac n' cheese. It was one giant bowl. I didn't eat 10 cookies. I ate 4. Progress. And only once in three months? I'm happy about that.

So I would say that the keys are the knowledge that emotional eating won't help you reach your goals and being able to reason with yourself in the moment. Also, you will most likely do it at some point. Cut yourself some slack and move on.

Also, exercise as often as you can. Yesterday I thought I was gonna go out of my mind from stress and things I can't control and concern for loved ones. I went for a long walk by myself and I felt much more relaxed when I got home. Journaling will also help you to get chaotic thoughts out of your head and you may find that it's not as bad as you think once you get it down on paper or at least realize that worrying and stressing won't change anything. You can throw away or burn your journaling so only you will know what you wrote if that's a concern for you. Try to find some other kind of stress relief.

I hope this helps. It certainly isn't easy to break the food crutch habit, but keep trying. :flowerforyou:

I run when I am stressed, running to me is soothing.