Morning all! I was wondering how you all deal with stress? When I get stressed out it goes straight to my head and my head feels like it's going to explode. That's usually when I turn to food and say 'f-it' and binge.

I started the sbd on thursday and was doing well thurs & fri. But when the weekend hit, my husband came back from a week of travel and although I tried to stay on track I did end up with mini-binges over the weekend and ended up gaining a pound back.

Any suggestions??? You all seem to be doing really well and I hope that I can learn from your examples!!! Thanks!

~Flavia

I think one of the first things you can do is to anticipate stress eating. When you know something stressful is coming up, plan ways to cope that will help you deal with it, and consider ways to make it less stressful, from affirmations, to asking for help from others.

There are tons of healthy (or healthier) ways of handling stress. I'll list a couple of mine and I'm sure the other Beachies can list lots of their own, too!

• Chew SF gum (also works great for anxiety)
• Exercise--if time doesn't allow for much, just go for a brief, brisk walk.
• Talk with someone--here in the forum or IRL
• Hug! Physical affection helps me slow down and relax.
• Breathe--take a couple of deep breaths
• Yoga helps a lot--both with breathing and with being more mindful and less stressed-out.
• Pamper yourself--take a long bubble bath, read a good book, get a massage (swap with a friend if you can't afford a professional one), etc.
• Journal--write down what you're feeling. It works wonders!
• Hang out with or play with a pet. Playing with my dog makes me laugh and snuggling with her or petting my bunnies makes me feel calm, centered, and happy.
• Play with kids--they make you put things in perspective and if they're your own, bonding with them is great, too!

Flavia!

I tend to do the same, and although I haven't come up with any fool proof remedies, I just wanted to say that that lb was probably water I find more and more that weighing myself everyday isn't good for me, or my mentality of well, I already gained a lb I will eat this ice cream

I tend to (over)eat when I'm stressed out as well. I still haven't found a reliable way to prevent myself from doing this, except to continuously recommit to counting my calories and carbs and forcing myself to exercise (I also deal with stress by curling into a ball and not moving lol).

I dunno... it's tricky... I find that I can plan out what I want to do, eat, how much I want to exercise, etc. in advance, but then the actual realities of what I'm feeling often prevent me from inacting my plan. Like, I will plan to eat X for breakfast, Y for lunch, Z for dinner and A, B, and C for snacks and then workout for an hour or so, but then when lunchtimes actually comes, I will wind up eating Y plus five other letters because I feel stressed out. And then I'll go home in the evening and veg out in front of the TV instead of exercising bc I feel stressed.

So... I can't offer you any advice, but I CAN commiserate. It sucks to be the kind of person that turns to food for comfort.

I am an emotional eater as well. I still struggle with this. But, somethings that help me.
Drinking A LOT of ice cold water when I feel like I really need something.
Exercising has helped a lot.
Finding a hobbie that involves keeping my hands and mind busy, like scrapbooking, cross-stitch, etc.
Hang in there.

fmb101, this is such a hard issue for all of us. I am battling this every day. since joining last week, I have found that coming here to 3FC has helped because I am able to read that others are struggling too. It helps incourage me to look at what they do and try to apply it to my situation. No, it doesn't always help, but in the last few days, I have had such a strong sense of support.

I really hope that talking about your stress helps to ease some of it. One day at a time. That is my moto!

If I get stressed out, it's usually at work. I try to have a bunch of healthy snacks on hand so that if my boss pisses me off and I do eat "too many snacks", they're healthy ones (like celery & peanut butter, nuts, or jello) so they won't impact my diet too bad.

I also have to avoid any snacks around the office when that happens. I usually just "confine myself to my cube" if I'm stressed to keep me from eating something that might trigger a binge.