My Dad's surgery date is March 23rd. I had mentioned in some of my posts that my Dad has cancer. He is having his kidney removed. I'm glad they finally set a date. He has know about the cancer since the end of January.

My husband keeps bugging me about staying on my plan. But the stress is causing me to overeat. I have been working out a little. I will keep trying.
Maybe, after the surgery I won't be as stressed.

Any ideas on how to deal with stress by not overeating?

You'll have to excuse me if this sounds absolutly crazy to you...but working out...(a lot, harder or more than you are used to) relieves stress better than anything. It also helps me deal with my anxiety and my frustrations. But exercise is proven to elevate your mood...try and do some research. I hope that helps.

I've had some family stress too, and I did what mescelestus suggested, which is exercise more. I also kept reminding myself that going off plan and eating food I didn't really want to be eating wasn't going to do anything to fix the issues, it was just going to make me fatter while I dealt with them.

But having said all that, don't be too hard on yourself, this is an awful thing to go through and while it's great if you can stay on plan, you don't need to put yourself through any further stress if you don't.

Your dad is in my prayers.

I'm sorry to hear about your Dad, but glad he has a date set.

As far as staying on plan; I agree that exercise (while it isn't doing much to counteract all I'm eating these days) DOES make me feel more balanced mentally and emotionally when I'm feeling out of sorts. So, I would concentrate on that more than what you're eating until you're through this.

Also, you could try all the standard things you hear about; throwing out trigger foods, stocking up on crunchy things like veggies, rice cakes, etc. to munch on.

In the end, you can only do what you can do. Take it a day at a time and don't beat yourself up. Good luck!

I am glad your dad has his surgery scheduled. I wish him well with a swift recovery.

When you feel stressed it may help to:
Deep breaths - several deeps breaths can calm down anxiety.

Distance yourself from food you don't want to eat.

Drink lots of water.

Distractions - when you are wanting to eat and feel stressed distract yourself with music, call a friend, take a walk (even around the hospital), internet, exercise, play with children or pet, etc.

Destroy any food that you grab for.

I call these the five D's.

I don't really have advice as I can't even imagine that kind of stress. I just wanted to say that I hope your father's surgery goes well and relieves some of your stress.

Hang in there!

Thank You All for Your Support! My Husband has been bugging me I don't workout very hard. So a week ago I upped my Level and Incline on the treadmill. Unfortunately, I restraigned my knee and coundn't workout for a week. But, I am back to exercising now. I decided to stay off treadmill for awhile. I have been using the elliptical, and seated bike. I have been walking a little too. Got to the gym last two days. Will try to workout 30 minutes minimum a day. Still need to work harder on the food.

I'll say a little prayer for your dad. You hang inthere, girl !!

I hope your dad's surgery goes smoothly and he's on his way to a speedy recovery.

Please PLEASE try to stay on plan. I was 50 pounds into my weight loss last year when my mother died and it threw me for a loop. The stress of the last few weeks of her life consumed me. After she died I just fell apart. I was pretending to be on plan but I wasn't.....and I gained all of the weight back. Here it is almost a year later and I am slightly less sad but I'm still fat. What a waste!
We have to remember this is a lifestyle change. This is a forever way of eating/living.....even through the hard and incredibly sad times.

Exercising is a good way to balance my moods....therefore avoiding overeating. Some days I have to FORCE myself to exercise. I have to admit, once it's done, I never regret a workout.
Try to preplan your meals and snacks once a week to stay on plan. This way you won't have to be preoccupied with it daily.

Ultimately, it's one day at a time. One day on plan turns into two and so on. Just hang in there and keep your health a priority.
I am so sorry you are going through this difficult time
We are here for you!

Gumboot Sorry to Hear about your Mom.

I am trying to maintain my weight for now but hope to get back on plan after this weekend. We are going out of town so I will just try to keep portion sizes down. It's hard to count calories when you don't know what they put in food. My Mother in law wants me to lose weight but doesn't cook low fat food. She made a lamb meat ball dish and it was swimming in grease! But I can't offend them by not eating. I just will take smaller portions. Also cut down on my carbs.

For me when stuff like this is happening, walking outside and not listening to music or anything clears my head and gives me some peace.

I"m sorry you are going through this and I sure hope your Dad does well.

YOU CAN DO IT!

Instead of denying yourself the food for comfort, can you find something else to hold close that gives you comfort? Merely taking away your coping source won't help unless you can replace with something that is better for you that is still soothing. In this time, you need a lot of comfort and support. I hope DH is providing that (or other friends and loved ones). Reach out to them. From someone whose been there - you really don't have to do this alone. There are others out there that care about you that will sit with you and listen as long as you need. Use them. That's what they are there for. I don't know about your faith, but that might be a comfort to you, too. Food doesn't really comfort us anyway. It just makes the problem worse and will ultimately make you feel worse. Make eating healthy mindless. The less you have to focus on food, the better. If the good foods are around, eat those and then move on. I am sending lots of hugs your way and praying that you will find that thing that brings you comfort more than food ever could.

Stellar suggestions! I love the 5 D's.

For my own emotional eating, I always try to keep a list of appropriate distractors for various situations and make certain I have access to on plan food. Nothing like almonds and a bottle of water at the hospital to calm a hungry stomach.

The Doctor said to risk to do surgery. So went ahead and finally did the biopsy. It came back NO CANCER! The doctor is going to get a 2nd opinion.
My Dad and Mom are travelling home as I speak. They are snowbirds. Coming home from TX to WI. Thank You everyone for your Prayers and Support!

Are there healthy things that you like to eat when you feel stressed? For me a BIG salad, the bigger the better! It is satisfying to the eye, very very filling and tastes good yet does no damage. Eating big like that helps a lot during stressful times for me. My biggest salad clocks in at only 400 calories. I often feel like I've cheated when I've eaten like that!

Also a bag of baby carrots works wonders for me. The crunch and the workout it gives my jaw to power through a bag of them (I buy them by the 1lb bag and consider that a serving!!) helps with feelings of stress.

Other than that, I'd say maybe just focus on maintaining during this stressful time. My heart goes out to you, sweetie!!

*Edited to Add: Ooops, didn't read the update! Good news!!