How do you stop yourself from stress eating?

Try a tyrosine supplement, it's most effective. I've had uncontrollable food cravings almost every day of my life. They were caused by stress, anxiety, unhappiness,etc., but with tyrosine I no longer have those urges. It also improves mood and helps you cope with stressful situations. For optimum absorption it must be taken with carbohydrates or sugars, not necessarily a lot of them: a slice of bread or a cup of tea with sugar will be enough. Take it once or twice every day and start in the morning with breakfast. it's not advisable to take it in the evening as it might interfere with sleep. Tyrosine kicks in after a couple of hours after the first time you use it, but it gets better and better after a week or so.

That's a hard one! If you're stress eating AT work prepare by having single serves of healthy snacks on hand there so you're less tempted by the vending machine etc. At home if I'm having a bit of a "down time" I try to keep busy doing things that will make me feel good, thus lifting my mood and keeping my mind off food at the same time

I like to eat crunchy foods that are low cal, like baby carrots or an apple or pickles. You can crunch them all angry like, which is fun. I also eat chewing gum like a maniac when I'm driving. I can go through an entire pack during one commute. And lastly, if I feel the urge to binge I try to allow myself the behaviour but with low cal foods like strawberries. It's not the greatest but it can help in a pinch...

Good luck!

TOTALLY going to crunch my next carrot or apple "all angry like". I lol'd. Love it!

I remind myself that stress eating isn't going to make the original problem go away and that the stress eating itself would only create an additional problem and even more stress. It's sort of the same thing that gets me up early in the morning to exercise: I can be unhappy for the few minutes it takes to get up and get going or I can kick myself the entire day for not having done so. It's a pretty easy choice for me.

The biggest thing I have learned over the last 2 years is that getting my eating under control was going to be critical to my success. I used to have cravings and binge and then undereat to compensate. That did not work. It's a vicious cycle.

I knew I could clean house and never have any I loved on hand - but who are we kidding - we're adults with the ability to get food whenever we want it.

I recommend that you start trying to delay the urge to eat something when you have these feelings. Maybe you only make it 2 minutes. Next time, maybe you'll make it 3. Then tighten up on your portion control during meals. Work diligently to stay within a healthy calorie deficit. TEACH yourself to make good choices. Retrain your brain to understand why you do what you do.

Learning moderation is a skill. Once you master this skill, you will find that you feel stronger about your ability to control your cravings and bingeing. In the long run, it's what is going to keep you healthy.

I am a stress eater also, read a good book lately that I got at the library, Geneen ROth has a wrote a lot of good books on this subject. I think being aware is the most important and saying ok I am stressed I do not need to eat right now or like others have said grab some strawberries or something like that. I have had to do some confrontation here lately and that is hard but necessary. Knowing we can get thru some painful life situations without food feels good. I guess I am like an alcoholic.

You know what? I don't.

Sometimes, I just need a day for me. Not all the time. Not even once a week. But when things get nuts, I make the conscious decision to not fret about my calorie count that day, rather than just saying "F--k it!" and giving up control completely.

If you get a flat tire, you don't get out of the car and slash the other three tires. You fix the flat and carry on.

Now, if it was EVERY DAY that I felt like that, I'd probably look into other options, like therapy or counselling. I've done that in the past for my anxiety and it helped a lot.

I like to eat crunchy foods that are low cal, like baby carrots or an apple or pickles. You can crunch them all angry like, which is fun. I also eat chewing gum like a maniac when I'm driving. I can go through an entire pack during one commute. And lastly, if I feel the urge to binge I try to allow myself the behaviour but with low cal foods like strawberries. It's not the greatest but it can help in a pinch...

Good luck!

TOTALLY going to crunch my next carrot or apple "all angry like". I lol'd. Love it!

I just did this as I was reading and it was very satisfying. I wasn't even angry. I recommend it!

I've been stress eating this week as well. (Though I've also been bad and not recording all of it.) I work at a small law firm and we went from 3 property closings to 5 property closings today on Tuesday in the space of less then an hour. I've been working 10 hour days to get ready for them and have spent 3/4 of my day today just writing cheques and getting money going here there and everywhere today. (Not done yet. 2 more closings to finalize yet)

At home I am working on a scrap book my church's 35 anniversary celebration this Sunday. I was asked 2 weeks ago. I have about 300 pictures to do up. (I've got about 200 left to do before Sunday morning.)

I've had no time to workout. I haven't been careful of what I eat. I've been averaging 4 hours of sleep a night. (Instead of 6 or 7). I'm afraid to step on the scales this week as the couples weeks before that weren't good weeks as I was feeling under the weather and had no energy to workout.

Stress eating will stop as of today, simply because I ate all the candy in my place and there is only healthy food left!! (I won't get into the cake I will get this weekend at the church anniversary celebration followed by my birthday celebration - both the same day)

Exercise, water, and friends!