New job stress eating

teardrop40 · February 2022

Hi everyone 👋
Six months ago I started a new job, where the expectations were quite high and all the pressure was really taking its toll on my mental and physical health. I was all day on my PC and didn't have time to do any excercise, because I felt exhausted all the time. I noticed myself eating more sweets and snacks and I'd say to myself it's nothing I'll shake it off etc., but as you might imagine I started gaining weight fast.
The things at work seem to be better and calmer right now, therefore I've decided to get back on track.

Anyone else who has a similar story, I'd love to hear how you managed to stay healthy on a demanding job.

Deviette · February 2022

I'm not going to lie to you: it's going to be hard. I found that changing my job was the biggest contributor to my weight gain for a handful of reasons. For context: I went from a fairly low powered job, to a much higher, much more engaged job. And suddenly I went from being able to spend some work time meal planning, not being that tired in general to being very time and energy poor. And yeah, I gained weight, that's the reason I'm back on MFP right now!

I'm not surprised that you've got to this point in about 6 months. Starting a new job is exhausting, all your habits and routines have changed, you're learning A LOT in a very short period of time, and you're probably putting a lot of pressure on yourself to "do good" in your new job. Around 6 months is about the length of time for all of that to settle down. So yeah, you probably did find yourself sapped of energy and feeling the need to snack to keep your energy up. So don't be overly hard on yourself, not only is it totally normal reaction, but it should be a fairly easy habit to kick.

So my suggestions:
- Get up out of your chair. Once an hour, get up. Even if it's just a quick walk around the office. I drink a lot of water from a regular size glass, so either I'm getting up once an hour to refill, or to go to the toilets.
- Don't eat lunch at your desk. If you have a kitchen or canteen, go eat it there. If the weather is nice, go outside. It doesn't matter how busy you are, use your lunch break to get away from your desk.
- Bring lunch with you to the office, even if you just buy it on your way to work. I find it much easier to control my urges if I have lunch ready and waiting for me. If I have to nip out and buy it at lunch time, my food choices are generally poor.
- Exercise in a way that your love. If you're tired after a long day, and you hate going to the gym, it's so much easier to sack it off than if you're due to exercise in a way you love. Mine is Judo on Monday evenings. Mondays are especially busy for me at work and every week I am tempted to sack it off, but every week I go anyway. Not because I need to exercise, or I need the calories, or because it's good for me (even though all those things are true). No, I go because I love it. It's much easier to fight off those tired thoughts with that than any of the health related reasons.
- Build new helpful habits. A new job means that you've just changed a load of your habits, now is the time to make sure that the habits you want to keep, are installed now, and the habits you don't, are ditched.

I can't really think of anything else, but good luck. It's very possible to maintain a healthy weight in a high powered desk job, but you will need to make changes. My mistake was assuming that I could just carry on the same as before when I changed jobs and it's not worked for me. Now I'm experimenting with strategies to get me back to that healthy weight and it's just different to things before.

MarieBuch10 · February 2022

I started a new (very busy, very very stressful) job about a year ago. I also began working from home. With the demands of the job and long long days, plus working weekends on top of it, I began eating more and more trying to keep myself energized and full enough to concentrate. Activity also dipped. My good habits started slipping more and more. Finally I weighed myself and was up 20 lbs from my comfortable weight I was at before I started (at 5’10”, it’s about 155).

That was my wake-up call to get focused on building back my good habits. I had discussions with my manager and let her know that I needed more support from my team so that my workload was more balanced. Slowly but surely my hours have been scaling back to a manageable 8-9 (sometimes 10, but less often) hour workdays typically, and the occasional weekend. I’ve been getting more regular activity, and have been sticking much closer to my calorie goal for weight loss every day. I needed to start weighing myself every morning to stay focused, and not lie to myself about how much I’m eating. I’ve lost 3lbs in the last month since I re-focused, which although it is too slow for my liking, I know is probably a healthy pace for the amount I have to lose.

It can be so hard trying to maintain a healthy weight while putting so much energy and focus into a new job. But the good news is it won’t be new forever. At some point, many of your responsibilities will become second-nature, and won’t require as much thought and energy. Your bandwidth will increase, and you will be able to focus more of your energy on your health.

teardrop40 · February 2022

Thank you @Deviette and @MarieBuch10 for sharing and for the insights. Really appreciate it!

I'll consider what you said in my journey. Wishing you luck on yours as well.

Xellercin · February 2022

I learned healthier coping mechanisms for managing stress.

I haven't eaten in response to stress in a very long time, and I have dealt with A LOT of stress over the past few years, like losing my ability to walk and facing 2 years of 6 major surgeries that might not work.

There are tons of really effective stress management strategies out there. You can do the leg work to track them down and learn them yourself, or you can speed the process up with a really good therapist doing targeted work.

I used to stress eat and stress drink red wine, but it's been a few years and it would never now cross my mind to consume in response to stress now. I still get stressed, I just react differently now.

As long as eating is your go-to response when you are overwhelmed, you will always be at risk of over eating because life will always have the capacity to overwhelm you.

valeribenoit · February 2022

teardrop40 wrote: »

Hi everyone 👋
Six months ago I started a new job, where the expectations were quite high and all the pressure was really taking its toll on my mental and physical health. I was all day on my PC and didn't have time to do any excercise, because I felt exhausted all the time. I noticed myself eating more sweets and snacks and I'd say to myself it's nothing I'll shake it off etc., but as you might imagine I started gaining weight fast.
slope game
The things at work seem to be better and calmer right now, therefore I've decided to get back on track.

Anyone else who has a similar story, I'd love to hear how you managed to stay healthy on a demanding job.

Try exercise after work. That way if you have had a bad day you can take it out by pushing yourself harder on the treadmill/bike or even using a punching bag. I also found after exercising I have less cravings for junk food. Part because I don’t want to ruin what my workout, but also because I always feel better afterwards.

kshama2001 · February 2022

Sometimes we are our own hardest taskmaster.

At my last job, everyone took lunch, but at different times, and I often found that I was blowing off my lunch break to attend to things as they came up. Well, my break is important too! In fact, studies show office workers are more productive and creative after exercising at lunch.

After I imposed the discipline to create the habit of getting away from my desk to exercise at lunch, my afternoons were much more productive AND this (plus a moderate protein meal at my desk) eliminated the afternoon munchies.

https://aaptiv.com/magazine/working-out-on-your-lunch-break

...Raise your hand if you’ve ever encountered the notorious 3 p.m. coffee slump. Productivity naturally dips after eating lunch. That’s why many of us reach for sweet snacks or strong coffee to power through the afternoon. It doesn’t help that we sit way too much throughout a given workday, which research shows to be as deadly as smoking.

Lunchtime workouts allow you to step away from your work for a true break, then come back after an hour or so feeling refreshed and ready for the afternoon. Giving yourself a mental break means your odds of being super productive are much higher. You’ll also have more stamina to tackle difficult strategic projects or finally finish your pesky to-do list.

Boosts Creative Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills

Ever had your next brilliant idea in the shower, miles away from a computer? Research shows that a relaxed state of mind allows you to make better, more thoughtful connections. It’s the same for taking a true break at lunchtime. This might seem a little counterintuitive, especially since 65 percent of Americans either rush through lunch at their desk or skip lunch breaks entirely. But, exercise releases endorphins, which introduces dopamine to your brain and reduces stress.

After exercise, your creativity could ramp up for nearly two hours. One study even suggests that your brain can sharpen by 5-10 percent in terms of cognitive function. Studies have found that workers who spent 30 to 60 minutes exercising at lunchtime saw an average performance boost of 15 percent (tell that to your boss!).

rosebarnalice · February 2022

Repeating what many have said already: putting exercise on my calendar and sticking to it was the answer for me. I sometimes go at lunchtime and other times after work. Burn calories, release stress, tell the stripe at the bottom of the lap lane what's on my mind, sleep better that night.

I started the habit of sipping water at my desk regularly. In addition to the hydration, it means I have to get up and pee every couple of hours. I made a point of using the restroom farther from my office and on a different floor so I'd get a short break from my computer, stretch my legs, take a few deep breaths, and go up and down a flight of stairs. I also committed to the practice of packing a healthy lunch, and clearing the snacks out of my office.

anew45 · February 2022

Just a thought, it may not just be stress your N.E.A.T. calories mat have dropped as well because in the new job your simply not moving as much. This happened to me and my maintenance calories dropped so significantly that my dieting calories became my new maintenance. If that’s the case you need to combine cutting calories and trying to add some cardio while you deal with those stress issues. Also focus on getting sleep.

AnnPT77 · February 2022

anew45 wrote: »

Just a thought, it may not just be stress your N.E.A.T. calories mat have dropped as well because in the new job your simply not moving as much. This happened to me and my maintenance calories dropped so significantly that my dieting calories became my new maintenance. If that’s the case you need to combine cutting calories and trying to add some cardio while you deal with those stress issues. Also focus on getting sleep.

Giving some thought to intentionally increasing NEAT can also help, if that's part of the scenario. It doesn't always require more time, there can be a meaningful impact from just doing things a little differently.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1

Yes, increasing exercise can create a bigger calorie expenditure all at once, and be easier to estimate/eat back, but it does take extra time. Both strategies are useful, IMO.

MaggieGirl135 · February 2022

@kshama2001 Oh, yes, I would have new ideas or resolutions to work problems pop into my head in the shower! I wondered if there was something to massaging your scalp while shampooing and increasing blood flow, lol (I really did wonder about it). That, along with letting a problem not be resolved until the next day, I found really helpful. It’s not as though I would think about the work problem at home in the evening; I would just go to my work desk in the morning and realize that the solution has always been right in front of me, I just had to stop and give it a moment. Sometimes, you have to give yourself permission to not solve every single last problem before you end your workday (as though that were possible!). Granted, some problems may be blazing-hot urgent, but usually not.

New job stress eating

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