​
What can I do about this stress eating?
It happened again over the last couple of days. I’ll be doing a fast, it’s going great, and then I get stressed out at work and I end up binging on a ton of junk food.
It is getting really really bad, and it is honestly ruining my diet. Every time I get stressed out at work or from life, I end up going to Walmart and buying like $20 worth of candy, chips, ice cream, and just lots of stuff that is horrible for you. Then I eat thousands of calories, and my deficit is ruined.
What can I do to stop this? I tried eating lower calorie foods, and that didn’t help.
Is it as simple as accepting the fact that life is really really really hard, and if I want to have a good physique and succeed, I can’t cope by stress eating? Maybe if I’m working on a stressful project, I could take 5 minute video game breaks to destress instead of eating everything in sight, ruining my chances of having a nice physique? All this stress eating is kind of ruining my fasting “flow,” and it is for sure putting me into a surplus.
Just wanted to know what you all thought as well. Get some more opinions on this subject.
Please do yourself a massive favor and watch this guy – he has tons of amazing content and this short three part video might help you understand yourself and your problem and your solution in a whole new way.
What were the lower calorie foods you tried? I loooooove to snack and it’s the hill I’m currently battling in my own relationship with food. I’ve found that higher fiber or protein can really help. Are you a high rep snacker (lots of pick up put in mouth like popcorn or chips) or a big mouthful of yum (like ice cream, chocolates ) or chewy (like gummy candies)? Identifying what you like might help find good alternatives.
Also sometimes it just sucks and you have to tell your snack gremlin to shove off. Even if it’s for 20 minutes, sometimes that’s enough time to not feel like the snack anymore.
Okay so I had a real problem with binge eating at times of real loneliness or stress, and intermittent fasting really helped so much with it, but I fully have experience what you’re talking about too. I find that one those stressful days, if continuing my fast is likely to result in me having a blowout binge and eating all the foods I’m tempted by, then I just don’t fast for that day. It’s easier to make better choices when you’re not hungry, so on those days it’s actually okay in my opinion to eat outside of your window, ie break your fast earlier. For me the longer I go without eating the more I want to eat, I keep thinking of all the mad food I’m gonna eat! Instead of you just allow yourself to eat, you can mitigate the damage, and you can still stay in a calorie deficit quite easily. I hope this works for you because it really works for me.
Meal planning will also help. Plan healthy snacks you like that are readily available so going all the way to the store and loading up in a moment of weakness doesn’t sound like a good idea. Plan your meal that you want to break your fast with and have it be something you look forward to. Even though the junk seems nice in the moment really think about what it is going in your body and how you’ll feel afterwards if you choose the junk meal vs your planned meal.
Right now it sounds like food is your only stress reliever. Time to build yourself an arsenal so you have a variety of options you have to go through first. Also, make yourself drink two-three cups of water before you’re allowed to do anything else. It breaks your thought pattern and gives you time to make intentional choices.
Can’t you just eat your favorite dinner?
Eating your favorite entrée would be better than candy. You need dinner anyway. (I’d rather pick up barbecue, lasagna or chicken fried steak from my favorite restaurant when upset)