any ideas to stop stress eating??

A couple ideas:

Drink 8oz of water before every meal or snack. This will help you see if your hunger signals are thirst signals, and if it isn't and if you still feel the urge to stress eat, then the water will fill you up a bit so you won't eat as much. Also, you'll get awesomely hydrated if you stress eat a lot of mini meals! :-)

If you can, get up and go for a quick walk when you want to stress eat, or do ten jumping jacks, or anything to get your body moving and to "do" something as a mental break when you really want to "combat stress" with eating.

Try to get into a routine of doing de-stressing activities every day or every couple of days. I find that baths are great for me, as is yoga a couple times a week. These don't have to be time-consuming; even 20 minutes of yoga or a hot soak can make a world of difference for me.

GUM! Sometimes it helps me to have fun flavors of gum around, so it's like a candy treat. It's gets me chewing, so it's like I'm tricking my body that I'm eating candy that lasts a looooong time. ;-)

Find a way other than stress eating to reward yourself for a long, stressful day. This could be a hot bath or yoga, like above, or it could be taking 30 minutes to watch your favorite show, 20 minutes to cruise pinterest, reading a chapter of a non-school-related book, a quick phone call with a friend, etc. Whatever brings you pleasure and a sense of relaxation -- consciously reward yourself with that.

Track your food religiously (if you don't already). Sometimes seeing how much those little snacks add up can be all the motivation you need to stop yourself before indulging.

Understand your schedule for your real, normal meals. Knowing (and planning!) when you will eat for nutrition and general well-being helps you identify when you probably want to eat purely for stress relief.

I hope some of those help! Good luck. Sounds like you have quite the busy life -- take solace in the fact that it won't be crazy forever, though. And in the meantime you'll find a way to keep yourself feeling good, healthy and productive.

I too am a stress eater and emotional over eater. I was so stressed and so angry one day all I wanted to do was run away! Instead of running I walked briskly and walked and walked and walked until I felt better. Walking also took my mind off my stresses by feeling the wind on my face, hearing the sounds surrounding me, etc.

Exercise instead of eat.

- Get rid of/don't buy foods that will set you off.

Definitely don't make big batches of brownies or anything (even if they're healthier). If you're going to have eg a brownie, buy a single serving. My cram-time rule: I can have a brownie or piece of carrot cake if I buy & eat ONE at a cafe (& have books with me to read). Not at home.

- Make your meat or protein dishes Sunday and Wednesday if you have time, portion out for the rest of the week or freezing. Stews are good & filling. If that's a pain, mix it up with 'healthier' frozen microwave dinners (with salad).

- Same days, wash & cut veg you can snack on (peppers, carrots, cucumbers, etc) without too much worry about cals.

I need some ideas to stop stress eating!

I definitely tend toward stress/emotional eating and have not found any one thing that works all the time. BUT, I will say the thing that helps me the most is exercise. It is such a win win... it makes you feel better/decreases stress and at least for me, once I start exercising I seem to just want to start eating better.... like one good choice leads to another good choice.

((HUGS)) it is definitely a struggle but hang in there. You are worth it!

I am definately in the same boat as you here. 2 things I have found that work for me:

1) Make a glass of hot tea - sip it... this will give you something to concentrate on.
2) Extra sugar free gum (the kind that comes in those yummy flavors). Whenever I got the urge to snack I would chew this instead.

Good luck!

Why not just eat healther foods, large salads, lots of water, nuts, try to cut out some wheat products and you might see a difference there? That's what I've been doing. Also, I drink a lot of herbal teas.

No lie, eat your junk food in your underwear ( or something that shows your trouble spots). Sounds weird, I know, but when I'm home and want to binge on junk, nothing makes me want to spit out my jelly beans more than looking at my mommy tummy flab and thigh-tanics while eating them...or anything unhealthy for that matter. I know you can't go around in restaurants eating half naked, but hey, it helps at home lol ( I realize I sound like a completely crazy person)

What a great idea! Will just have to remember to close the curtains

You need to find another way to manage the stress. If eating is your current method of coping, just trying to resist eating is going to be very hard. And likely not too successful. Meditate, run, yoga, write in a journal - whatever works for you. And you may have to try several things before you find what works.

I used to do a lot of stress eating while studying as well. One thing that helped was that I switched to flossing my teeth while studying instead. No calories & good for your teeth!