Keeping a deficit under extreme emotional stress

One day at a time and do what you can do. You've lost 78 pounds, this is ingrained in you- you've got this!

remind yourself I have to take care of myself!

have to agree with the others I literally plan everything if i'm going to eat junk I exercise more so it works out. Definitely have stuff in the fridge that will satisfy the urge that is good for you too. You look fabulous you can do this you have proven that!!!

I've got a lot of emotional stress right now. Some days have been really bad and I come home at the end of them and really just need to eat cheap chinese food and have a couple of beers. I don't beat myself up over it. I eat probably half to 2/3 the portion of chinese I would have in the past and I make sure that I get up the next day and get back on plan. I find that usually it's so up and down that there's only 1 or 2 nights/week max that I really need that, but it's easy to fall into bad habits. So on the nights I need it, I need it and that's that. But on the nights I don't, I stick to plan. I will also try to eat a little less during the day (which is easier for me) so that I have more calories for evening stress eating if needed. And exercise is a total release for me. It makes me feel better and often helps to clear my head so that I have more emotional resources to deal with the stuff I need to deal with. AND, it really helps to keep the deficit when cutting food is harder.

marissafit06 wrote: »

Are you able to get any exercise? I have found that exercising, even if it's just walking, can help me de-stress and acts as an alternative to emotional eating.

Another vote for regular cardio. And yoga. And massage if it's in the budget.

My fiance is the caretaker for his elderly mother, and this is stressful. I suggested he get regular massage - caretakers need to be taken care of too - and am glad he agreed.

Yoga is an amazing stress reliever

I understand. I'm an emotional eater too. I've done great over the past several months, and then today got really bad news and all I wanted to do was eat. I went a couple hundred calories over for the day, but only nothing significant. Tomorrow I'm going to force myself to do a nice long work-out, and then I'm going to order pizza with my family and have a movie night and just relax. The stress will still be there, but I'm hoping a little self-care (that includes food!) will help.

You need stress relievers and ways to comfort and protect yourself that are not food related. Recognize your triggers and write down things you might try.

For introverts, do alone things. Escape in a book, light a candle, diarize your experience.

For extrovert, get out with people. I guess. I'm an introvert.

I think a simple meditation can help and walks are always good.

Another possibility is to eat at maintenance for a while. If staying on track with weight loss boosts your mood and cognitive energy, stay with it. If eating at a deficit wears on you, a few more calories could boost your mood and help you weather the storm. Deficit eating can produce a little stress (higher cortisol), and a little sporadically is good. Chronic intense stress/elevated cortisol disrupts other endocrine processes and can be harmful. All the stress relief suggestions are great, and I hope they work for you. I know getting out for a run or walk does my head more good than it does my body. I also know I am more apt to feel a little depressed (less resilient) when eating in a deficit, especially a big one, but there are many other factors.

A big factor is sleep. Do what you have to do to prioritize that. Personally, it makes no sense to exercise if I'm not getting enough sleep. Insufficient sleep messes with leptin & ghrelin, hormones regulating hunger, so it makes deficit eating harder, too. If your sleep and mood are good, and you feel well other than the stress, then by all means, exercise and maintain that deficit. If you feel your mood or sleep slipping, it might be good to reevaluate. Best of luck to you!

About a week after I decided to get serious about my weight loss last fall, I went through a period of intense emotional turmoil. I won't get into details, but suffice to say, it was the sort of thing that normally would've sent me running for the cakes, cookies, and pints of Ben & Jerry's straight out of the carton.

I think I knew I would be successful this time when I didn't do that. In fact, I was so angry and distressed and out of control about everything else in my life, that I made a decision: The one thing I could control was what I ate. I could stick to my calorie goal and not let this particular event derail me. I wouldn't give them the satisfaction. So instead of coping by eating junk, I coped by getting serious -- maybe to the point of obsession -- about following my plan.

Okay, so maybe this wasn't exactly the healthiest reaction in the world. Yes, I clearly have some control issues. But it was leaps and bounds better than running to the junk food and trying to console myself with emotional eating. And it felt really good to control my food rather than letting my food control me. It was something I could do.

Fast forward a year. I'm down 50 pounds. I've had other stress periods in my life, and I haven't allowed any of them to derail me. The times when I've gone over my calories have been in times of celebration (a holiday, a special event) and not in times of sadness or stress, and that's fine with me because I deliberately made the decision to allow myself to go over. Food has once again become something I enjoy, not something I use as a crutch.

I'm new here. First night visiting the community. Your emotional stress post brought me to you. I feel your pain. I understand without knowing any details. I go through phases of not eating then eating everything. Meds play a big part of it and many have side effects as of weight gain and such. Stay focused. You reached out for advice. KUDOS to you.