Stress eating and weight gain

[Anonymous]

I was fairly skinny in my early 20s, gained a lot of weight in my late 20s while in a bad relationship. Once that ended at 29 the weight came off and I kept it off for a solid 7 or 8 years. At 37 I got a new job, moved with two kids and husband in tow, and was still finishing off a grad degree while working. I have put on a solid 15 lbs over the last year. I am having issues dealing with all the stress and I think I am stress eating and internalizing it. Any ideas of suggestions? All I can think of is go to therapy and defend my dissertation at this point.

[Anonymous]

Ah, sorry. I do the same thing.
Exercise for stress release? Yoga? Meditation? Mindful eating?

[Anonymous]

I'm also a stress eater. And an anxiety eater plus a depression eater. I sometimes envy people who are the opposite. I'm under stress that won't be going away any time soon. Even if I stop the crazy eating my weight stays the same. It stops climbing, but it's like my body won't burn
stored fat when I'm stressed.

I think its the hormones.

Meditation helps sometimes but I think you can only do so much until the stress levels change.

[Anonymous]

Have lots of easy healthy food you like around the house so when you snack, the snacks have less of an impact (for me, I do air-popped popcorn or pickles when I'm in the mood for savory and frozen berries when in the mood for sweet). Also if you can find some noncaloric beverages you like (water, unsweet iced tea, herbal tea, flavored seltzer...ideally water mostly, with the rest in moderation) drink as much as you can, so you're less hungry.

Any amount of exercise you can work in will help with burning calories, stress relief, and having more time when you aren't eating. Maybe bring your kids ice skating or to an indoor pool? When it gets warm, go for walks or bike rides or to the playground.

And try to get as much sleep as you can. Good for stress and you won't snack while you're asleep.

This is a hard season of your life. It will get better and you'll have more time for weight loss.

[Anonymous]

I also experience emotional eating (stress is the trigger).

Ughhhhhh it’s so hard because I’m in a bad place in life lately and couldn’t eat healthy if I tried.

I had a few months of exercising and eating well, but if I experienced high stress with kids, id go for chocolates or sugary snacks. Even if I generally kept them out of the house. Or if go to my backup snack (for example I had a bag of dark chocolate to go to while eating healthy. Instead of eating the one piece to give me a little fix....id eat the whole bag!)

Eventually over time I couldn’t eat healthy anymore. meaning I couldn’t think ahead, not able to prep delicious veggies, etc. frankly it takes work to prep healthy food unless you can
-spend $$$$ on healthy convenience foods
-ok with eating so much raw or bland food
-have time and mental space as I said to put into it every day

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you for the suggestions and commiseration. I premade 250 calorie breakfast burritos today and I am trying to put together snacks and foods such that I take a bag to work and have an allotted number of calories to eat without going over. I also bought a bunch of veggies. I used to live on roast veggies and veggie soups but all that went out of window with all the stress. I tell myself once my defense is done it will be easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also experience emotional eating (stress is the trigger).

Ughhhhhh it’s so hard because I’m in a bad place in life lately and couldn’t eat healthy if I tried.

I had a few months of exercising and eating well, but if I experienced high stress with kids, id go for chocolates or sugary snacks. Even if I generally kept them out of the house. Or if go to my backup snack (for example I had a bag of dark chocolate to go to while eating healthy. Instead of eating the one piece to give me a little fix....id eat the whole bag!)

Eventually over time I couldn’t eat healthy anymore. meaning I couldn’t think ahead, not able to prep delicious veggies, etc. frankly it takes work to prep healthy food unless you can
-spend $$$$ on healthy convenience foods
-ok with eating so much raw or bland food
-have time and mental space as I said to put into it every day

Yes! I realized the forgetting what it means to eat well part! I am trying to up my veggie matter as much as possible!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have lots of easy healthy food you like around the house so when you snack, the snacks have less of an impact (for me, I do air-popped popcorn or pickles when I'm in the mood for savory and frozen berries when in the mood for sweet). Also if you can find some noncaloric beverages you like (water, unsweet iced tea, herbal tea, flavored seltzer...ideally water mostly, with the rest in moderation) drink as much as you can, so you're less hungry.

Any amount of exercise you can work in will help with burning calories, stress relief, and having more time when you aren't eating. Maybe bring your kids ice skating or to an indoor pool? When it gets warm, go for walks or bike rides or to the playground.

And try to get as much sleep as you can. Good for stress and you won't snack while you're asleep.

This is a hard season of your life. It will get better and you'll have more time for weight loss.

Thank you!! These are great suggestions!

[Anonymous]

I prep veggies whenever I’m in the mood. Sometimes that’s early morning, sometimes late at night. But I prep 5+ days of veggies, that way I’m guaranteed to not run out.

[Anonymous]

When I first started transitioning away from sugary processed snacks (my favorite thing to stress eat), I really craved the sweetness, but these three things really helped:

1. Banana ice-cream: Just freeze ripe bananas then mash or blend. It really does take like ice-cream!

2. Dates: They are so sweet, and if you spread a little almond butter in the middle of them, they taste like a candy bar.

3. Smoothies: I would make a small smoothie for dessert until I eventually stopped needing to have a dessert.

[Anonymous]

I used to drink this tea that is supposed to get stress hormones and increased blood sugar level down. Rhodolia rosea. I actually used it against fatigue syndrome caused by ms but found that I was slimming a lot easier without changing diet. It can boost your energy if you drink it before a work-out. Would not recommend this in the late evening as it may keep you up.

[Anonymous]

Stress eater here as well. Something I'm experimenting with is to get more sleep. When my defenses are down, eating goes up.

At 9pm, I'm turning off the lights, putting LED votives on and reading rather than electronic entertainment.

It feels good so far. Steadier mood.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Just finish the damn dissertation.