Stress eating

[Bd357020]

Anyone have strategies on avoiding stress eating. By the time I know I am stress eating, I already ate too much or the wrong stuff

[TheTabbyCat Administrator 10 kg]

Hi Bd357020 and welcome to Weight Loss Support.

You don't mention if you are following any sort of plan or what is causing stress.

I'm sure that if you can identify the cause of the stress and try eating healthy meals the problem will disappear.

[Jared71]

Really helpful questionThank you for putting it on here

I would be very interested to learn how others deal with stress eating

It’s a really unhelpful coping strategy

I try and do something else I enjoy more than eating

Read, play my guitar, going onto this message board and reading some of the posts has been a help as well recently

But it’s hard not to do the easy thing and try to eat the stress away without even thinking

I wish you every success

[dolphintale2 in reply to Jared71]

I do too but sometimes you should try drinking water

[Sleeve 2 stone]

Hi Bd, stress is a hard one because it causes butterflies in the stomach which can be similar to hunger pangs. If I eat when Im stressed does that mean I stop eating when Im relaxed? (nope!) Food companies invest millions in research to make us want to eat when we are stressed, relaxed, bored, happy, sad, lonely in fact many emotions, they make money selling more food to us! I try and separate emotion from food and just plan a daily menu however I feel. Hope that helps

[Fatpizza 1kg]

I stress eat too. I know exercise helps, I just struggle with it as I'm not very good and I don't enjoy it. I'm going to try couch to 5k in the rain in the dark... probably not Tue best time to start but I'm hoping regular exercise will reduce my stress which I hope will stop me binge eating

[Tony_Singh Visitor]

Honest answer, eat fruit, stress eating is a form of comfort eating.Also do you use alcohol before stress eating.

The two big changes which help weight control are to stop using alcohol and to adopt a vegetarian diet.

It seems a little difficult at first however not that difficult when you notice the weight loss results of your efforts.

[Greendream123 in reply to Tony_Singh]

That's great if you've found those strategies to work for you, however it is still very possible to be very unhealthy on a vegetarian and no alcohol diet!

[EmTee]

Bd357020 it is worth trying to identify what triggers your stress. Also trying to find some healthy alternative ways to deal with it before it happens could help to break the cycle. It is easy to learn bad habits but identifying them is a step in the right direction-well done for that🙂. I try to keep a diary, recording how your day/week is might help.

[gman1961 Restart April 2024]

Keeping busy is my tactic,I'm working from home and stressed A lot of the time .

I work in the kitchen definitely not the best place to be.

I go running ,play my guitar , go for a walk anything even if it's a few minutes change of routine .

Good luck,

Gary

[Tony_Singh Visitor]

Hi there, yep absolutely true, however my BMI is below 20 and I am hanging in on the welterweight limit of 147lbs.I have fought back against Covid-19 and am now attempting to defeat the effects of Long Covid.

I struggled and I say that with all sincerity to jog 1 mile in April of this year and now am looking to complete my first official 1/2 marathon.

It is a matter of how seriously we regard Obesity as a global pandemic and how serious we are as individuals when we say we care about the countries NHS.

If we do care about the country and want to be part of those who want to do what is expected moving forwards, giving up the alcohol, kebabs, fried chicken and fast food outlets is going to be the new mantra.

It is never going to be easy but it is rewarding when one feels the pleasure of saying I am genuinely trying to do what the country expects rather than just being part of the obesity epidemic which is weighing down the country 😊.

[Lytham 3 stone]

It might help to post your food plans on our Daily Diary, here's the link to tomorrow's, hope to see you there! x

healthunlocked.com/weight-l...