This is me! I'm doing 2 people's jobs at the moment (not getting paid for the higher level) and am not able to fill one of my admin positions (& this after a year of having that role unstable so the backlog is horrifying) so I'm really, really stressed.

Anyhow I shouldn't vent - The last 2 days I haven't been eating and then get so starving that I reach for garbage instead. Today I ate subway bacon and egg, brumby's bun brought in by one of my team, my sister's macaroons which I stole (since I don't keep that type of food around)....

I'm not going to beat myself up for what has happened. I just need to think of strategies to deal as I am exercising but it isn't helping keep the stress down the way people say - not having that extra bit of time to work is stressful actually. I'm going think about what can I eat that literally can be gulped down at the desk as putting my containers of salad together and chewing or gettin out yogurt even is just not working as I am madly trying to meet deadlines.

Sorry I don't really have any suggestions for you (as I'm in that same head space). We need to recognise that what we are doing isn't helping us cope and will make it harder on us in the long run. Congrats on lasting a year - we don't want our hard work to go backwards now. Hoping others will post.

Edited for all the typos, man I'm tired - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it

Good luck with your party.

A party is what ''broke'' me last week. Not so much the party itself, but the drinking. Unfortunately, drinking and smoking go together so well in my mind. I hadn't smoked for a month and was feeling pretty damn proud of myself so I figured I could have a few drinks and be fine... I ended up smoking like a chimney and woke up the next morning feeling disgusted with myself for ''failing'' (and my lungs felt pretty nasty too).

In the past, in situations like these, I'd just tell myself that I failed and that it was useless to keep trying. This time was different. I've accepted that I may have screwed up, but am not making a big deal of it. I just picked myself back up the next day and did not go buy any smokes and continued to not smoke for the rest of the week.

Don't let yourself think you're a smoker again just because you cracked yesterday. I mean 1 day in 365 of not smoking is 99.8% non-smoker. That's really impressive!

The best way to overcome these things I find is to identify your triggers and either avoid them altogether or come up with a plan on how to deal with them the next time you're faced with them. Right now, I've realized (through my mistake) that because I only quit a month ago, I'm still too vulnerable to let myself drink. In a few months, when I'm stronger, I'll come up with an alternative to smoking that I can enjoy while drinking so that I can re-intergrate having a cider in my life

Unfortunately, it's not exactly possible to avoid your work and those stresses, but maybe there's some things you can do to manage that stress so as to not cave in to the smokes/junk food?

That's a really good way to think about it beansnsprouts. I like your advice.

I hope you both feel motivated and Damen that you are handling the stress. I've had a think mainly on why I want this so bad to focus on that again and strategies to deal with bad eating at work (have rediscovered banannas are a good grab and eat today). I've heard it several times but it is still true that it is how you pick yourself back up the matters.