Possibly developing stress eating/binge eating disorder??

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KaleiAlanaSmith
KaleiAlanaSmith Posts: 133 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm looking for anyone who is/has experienced what I'm going through and how to help kick what I'm going through to the curb immediately!

I've been weight lifting for a year and a half and am 5'8, 141 pounds (and am proud of my current progress). I've never struggled watching what I eat and making healthy choices, with occasional sweet treats here and there. Last summer I was 134 lbs and super comfortable with my body, but now I can't make the scale budge downward - in fact I think it's creeping up more and more due to my new bad habits.

I think my bad eating habits have developed due to starting my new career as a nurse 6 months ago. It is highly stressful, with four 12 hour shifts each week, and each shift could vary from a good day to a horrible day. I eat good on the days I work (salads, protein bowls, veggie bowls), but on my days off I am constantly hungry and crave bad food. I experience insatiable hunger (something I've never experienced before my career), and cannot control my portions or cravings. I eat and eat and eat huge portions or constantly snack on junk throughout the day. I don't keep junk in my house, I end up going out of my way to buy them on off days when I crave.

I beat myself up every night and am sad because of my choices. I work out hard every day but I know I will start gaining weight if I don't fix this before it develops into a serious problem.

Any advice to help these cravings and insatiable hunger due to work stressors? I used to log my food before starting my career but I have put that on hold due to time and business.

Replies

  • KaleiAlanaSmith
    KaleiAlanaSmith Posts: 133 Member
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    TwinThompson wrote: »
    Personally I’d say deal with the main cause, stress at work. I work in care and freely admit I’ve had to seek help from counsellors because I started over eating, over spending, and had angry outbursts, all due to stress at work. Once I learned how to cope with work, everything else slowly fell back into place.

    I definitely have to figure out how to cope in healthy ways. I don't WANT to eat like this at all, my body is just automatically telling myself to eat and eat... and I hate it. I do need to figure out how to make my mind stop this current way of coping.
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,467 Member
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    Meditation? I wish I had a good suggestion. Hugs.
  • TwinThompson
    TwinThompson Posts: 80 Member
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    Are you employed by the NHS or private?? Ask for a referral to OT, stress is a big cause of sickness in any workplace so they should have support available. Or you can self refer to talking changes, that’s who I went with and they really helped.
    In the meantime, stop beating yourself up! If you can talk yourself out of one treat a day, or getting a smaller takeaway/meal, then count that as a win! Focus on one thing, one day at a time
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,108 Member
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    Yeah, my first thought was what mariececila10 said - more energy expenditure/need more food.

    I would go back to logging for a couple months and really try to dial this in. How long were you in Maintenance and logging food before this job started?

    I can see how emotional stress could be part of it, but you won't know unless you get a firm grasp on how much you're actually eating.

    The other part of this is - lots of people eat more on weekends. I know I do and I always have, for ten years in Maintenance. I over-eat my calories but I'm still maintaining my weight, so it's all good. If it ain't actually broke I don't worry about it.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,108 Member
    edited July 2019
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    ...and to just add: I'm also 5'8", 140. I am retired (so - older and not doing daily work.) I do about four to six hours of moderate exercise per week. I maintain my weight on Lightly Active (activity setting on MFP) and then I log 200-300 calories per hour additional for purposeful exercise.

    My base calories are set at 1800 per MFP, but I eat 1900-2200 six days per week, and then 2500+ on Saturday.
  • The_Ta
    The_Ta Posts: 59 Member
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    RN here

    You probably need an extra 400-600 cals a day when you are working if you are on the floor. Bring something dense like nuts or an energy bar because you rarely have time to eat. Try not to just drink coffee and energy drinks to get through the day...you need to fuel your body because our work is mentally and physically demanding

    If you are working nights, you will need to be extra careful with your sleep hygiene too.
  • elfin168
    elfin168 Posts: 202 Member
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    I find that an awesome stress killer is a gym work out or a walk. taking whatever is annoying you out of your system
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,996 Member
    edited July 2019
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    KaleiAlanaSmith wrote: »
    I'm looking for anyone who is/has experienced what I'm going through and how to help kick what I'm going through to the curb immediately!

    I've been weight lifting for a year and a half and am 5'8, 141 pounds (and am proud of my current progress). I've never struggled watching what I eat and making healthy choices, with occasional sweet treats here and there. Last summer I was 134 lbs and super comfortable with my body, but now I can't make the scale budge downward - in fact I think it's creeping up more and more due to my new bad habits.

    I think my bad eating habits have developed due to starting my new career as a nurse 6 months ago. It is highly stressful, with four 12 hour shifts each week, and each shift could vary from a good day to a horrible day. I eat good on the days I work (salads, protein bowls, veggie bowls), but on my days off I am constantly hungry and crave bad food. I experience insatiable hunger (something I've never experienced before my career), and cannot control my portions or cravings. I eat and eat and eat huge portions or constantly snack on junk throughout the day. I don't keep junk in my house, I end up going out of my way to buy them on off days when I crave.

    I beat myself up every night and am sad because of my choices. I work out hard every day but I know I will start gaining weight if I don't fix this before it develops into a serious problem.

    Any advice to help these cravings and insatiable hunger due to work stressors? I used to log my food before starting my career but I have put that on hold due to time and business.

    Do you have a pedometer or other activity tracker? Many nurses here do an incredible amount of walking per shift - that needs to be fueled.

    I bet you're not eating enough on your work days which naturally leads you to overeat the next day. I recommend you do you back to logging for a week or two so you can get a handle on this.
  • KaleiAlanaSmith
    KaleiAlanaSmith Posts: 133 Member
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    I have a fitbit Versa and I walk about 10-15,000 steps on my work days and burn around 2200 calories. On my off days I only burn around 1700 calories, but I do go to the gym and weight lift every day! I think a lot of this is extra energy expenditure on my workdays as well as stress. I still want to kick it all to the curb!
  • Pipsqueak1965
    Pipsqueak1965 Posts: 397 Member
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    Just try eating a bit more on your work days ... you might find that sorts out your hunger. I get really hungry on work days - particularly if I do a work out as well.

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