Stress eating

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I stress out so much at work, then I come home and pig out! It is just awful. I do good all day at work, and usually I do well on my days off, but when I get home and I am tired, I am weak and I always seem to find the hidden fudge bars, or the cookies my husband stashed where he thought I would not find them. Yeah, it is pretty sad when your family has to hide food from you.

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  • mary34reilly
    mary34reilly Posts: 59 Member
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    Sugar can be such an addiction! I totally understand, as I too am called to the goodies in the pantry....cookies, cake, chocolate...It's terrible really, because even though we know it's not good for us...our willpower is powerless. I'm sitting here, wanting to give you some advice, however, I totally do the same thing. Lately, what I've been doing to combat the after work binge, is just take it one day at a time. One day of ignoring the craving, is one day towards conquering it. Maybe a good trouble shooting plan, could be to have some sort of snack just before heading home from work, like a smoothy or a big glass of water. What do you think?
  • 4thehardman
    4thehardman Posts: 731 Member
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    I eat the kids sweets sometimes and then feel really guilty about it. I eat more when I'm bored. I did ok today because I took sops and the trips to ikea and then for a 3hr walk in the park. I was so busy that I didn't even think about food. Tomorrow though is lazy day and if my husband wasn't at home I'd probably spend it with my head in the fridge. From tomorrow I will be taking a pill called wellbutrin which helps with obsessive behaviour. my doctor thinks I have obsessive food related behaviour related to stress and fatigue. It will be interesting to see if there are any changes. I've been keeping strict logs of when I think about food and will do the same with the drugs.
  • Gshepmix83
    Gshepmix83 Posts: 99 Member
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    I am one as well. I tend to eat more when I am stressed, peeved, bored, depressed or when I just don't feel full.
  • libland
    libland Posts: 285 Member
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    Two things are helping me with the evening stress eating. I make sure I have a snack in the afternoon. If I get stuck in meetings or forget, I make sure to take 5 minutes before leaving the office to eat part of my snack and the rest in the car. This prevents me from wanting to stop and grab something on the way home. Second, I have started planning my dinners. This way, when I want to stop and get junk food on the way home (not because I am hungry - I had the snack), I tell myself, I have <???> planned. Seems to be working so far. I am off work this week and I didn't plan my meals for the last couple of days and I found myself falling into the same pattern. I am back on track today and I have the rest of the week planned.
  • angieread
    angieread Posts: 36 Member
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    After work is my worst time too! I stay on track during the day, and sometimes on my days off, but the evenings after work are SO HARD! Personally, this is my biggest hurdle, and one I plan to tackle this year on a DAY-to-DAY basis. I don't expect perfection from myself, but I DO expect to hold myself accountable. Having a late afternoon snack is a great idea - something on my drive home from work to curb the appetite. Maybe I'll fill up a water bottle and drink the whole thing on my drive home too, to make sure I'm not just thirsty at the end of the day.
  • PINKSPARKLEQUEEN1965
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    Yes I find that if i eat a lot of sugar I tend to go off my diet so everyday I limit high sugar foods
  • abfit4life
    abfit4life Posts: 220 Member
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    When the stress kicks in refined carbs are my drug of choice. If its salty, sweet, spicy, crunchy it will trigger an unbelievable and uncontrollable binge. I'm working on accepting that most of the time the things I'm stressing over really isn't worth it. So I'm working to put things in perspective. So if its not truly life/death....it will be there tomorrow so it can wait. Haven't mastered it yet but I'm seriously working on it.
  • aimfocused
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    I tried to prevent this by not eating any sugar containing food, although they are irresistable and I always eat in final exams time :)), in general try to avoid them because, for me in stressed even a sugar containing gum sparkles the "attack sweet foods!!!" region in my brain and I cannot resist and eat :)
  • Alinat305
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    I have the same problem but I tend to get hungry here at work, once I get home I'm fine. It must be stress related. I'm trying to drink more water or green tea to try to curb my appetite.