Stress Eater

Hang in there. I know how hard it can be to take care of yourself when you feel like there's so much else to take care of first - and you have more to take care of than most of us. I am so sorry to hear about your daughter; my heart goes out to you.

I do think you're doing the right thing by trying to find a way to get healthier despite all this stress -- one, it keeps you healthy so you can focus on all the other crap, two, it puts you in a better mental and physical state to deal with it, and three, if you can do it during this - you can do it any time.

My suggestion - start small with just logging everything here. Weigh your food - if you don't have a scale, get one. Amazon has some reasonably priced ones. I recommend one that does imperial and metric (i.e. ounces/pounds and grams/kilograms) because sometimes a nutrition breakdown is in one and not the other, and unless you're great at converting it in your head, it's just simpler to switch the setting Also, whenever possible, weigh, don't measure. Measuring can be a lot more inaccurate - a half cup of potato chips can vary in weight significantly based on settling. So - log it all and log it as accurately as possible.

Next, try to plan your day in advance and pre-log it so you have an idea of everything that is planned for eating and where you may have wiggle room. This isn't always possible, but it helps me immensely when I can do that. I've been known to bargain with myself....'hmm, you logged a whole avocado but now you're craving popcorn -- self, if I keep it to a third of an avocado, I'll let you have popcorn, deal?' LOL When you stress and impulse eat, pre-logging can really help with the mental control too.

Third, come up with some lower calorie snacks that you can graze on when it all gets too much. With such a sick child, you will have days when it just all gets too much. Don't beat yourself up. Start planning in advance what items you could allow yourself as comfort food that won't blow your new lifestyle out of the water. A bag of microwave popcorn is between 300-400 calories typically and it's pretty filling. A huge salad for dinner that focuses on spinach and kale and other good-for-you mixed greens plus vegetables can also be very filling. Then make sure you're accurate and controlled on the other stuff (the meat, the cheese, the dressing, the salad toppings) since that's where the calories can build up.

One of my keys to success is not taking any food off the table. I calculated what my caloric intake could be and then I made the choice to stick within that goal and if I needed more - I exercised more, and if I wanted ice cream, I made sure it fit my caloric intake. Train yourself to have less of whatever it is you crave and stick to the calorie goal and it will work.

Right now, you may want the simple route of putting in your goals and letting MFP configure it for you. That's a good way to do it, but if it tries to get you on 1200 calories - come back here. That's too few and there's a great link about calculating your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and reducing that by 20% to lose weight. It just may take a bit more effort than you want to put in right now (not that it's hard or onerous, but you've got a lot going on!). You can also set MFP for less pounds per week (2/wk will often get you 1200 calories -ugh).

I think your focus for your health needs to be baby steps - log it all, stay positive, and remember that taking care of you is paramount to you being able to take care of others

I can relate. My last 3 blogs posts are about my emotional eating journey.
(http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/byrdiebee)

I agree with the above posters, log everything you eat, weigh it. Even if you don't change what you eat yet, just logging it is a great start.

I want to see you succeed on this journey you have begun. Sending a friend request.