My job can be pretty stressful at times. It’s a desk job and I work from home. When I get stressed, my body wants to eat.
If I have a low stress day, I can hit my 18 hour fast no problem. Medium stress, I’ll chew some gum to get through it. Even though him has some calories, I don’t personally count it because I’m not snacking hundreds of calories.
But some days. Some days everything goes wrong and I’m munching comfort food before 9 (I start work at 7am).
I’ve done some research and have tried drinking salted water, I’ll take a walk around the house for a few minutes instead of eating, or I’ll clean something, but it doesn’t always work.
Anyone have a tip that works for them? Looking for more things to try.
It’s no more than developing a new coping mechanism/ new habit and that takes time.
>When I get stressed, my body wants to eat.
That’s a habit and poor self-talk.
When you hear yourself defined in this manner, when you use those words in your head day after day it sticks. If you scoff google neuroplasticity and find out how you CAN change your inner dialogue which changes YOU.
Try this instead:I used to have difficulty avoiding stress eating but that is no longer the case.
Say that ten times an hour.
Me- I would put on shoes, go outdoors and walk.
It clears your mind and resets everything.
What if you move the strategies you’ve been trying for high-stress days down to the medium-stress days, with a goal of avoiding even the gum on those days? Basically showing yourself that you can handle some stress without any flavors/calories, versus what you’re currently trying to do, where you haven’t really broken the link so much as come to a compromise with yourself, and then that compromise stops working when more stress is applied. But if you didn’t consume anything under medium stress, then maybe the gum could only be deployed on high-stress days.
I just removed anything remotely easy to snack on out of my house. If it’s there, I’ll talk myself into eating it. Not having anything except the thing I plan on eating for the day or things that take tons of prep and other items to prepare is the only thing that works for me.
It’s not your body telling you that it wants to eat, it’s your mind. This is all in your head. It’s not like you’re eating out of hunger. If you were, then your body would literally be telling you it wants to eat. You have a compulsion. I think the only way to stop it is to quit doing this behavior, cold turkey. Also cognitive behavioral therapy or an online emotional eating program might be beneficial. You’re going to have to actually work at that it’s not just ask for advice that you don’t implement. Sad but true. A lot of people are addicted to food. I’m guessing you’re not emotionally eating celery sticks.
This doesn’t mean it’s your fault, as we live in an obesogenic environment. You probably learned these behaviors as a child or a young adult. You are the only one, however, who can change your behavior. And you can do it, it just requires persistence and continuing to work at it until you are successful. You don’t give up just because one day you give in. You get back up and try the next day and the next day until you find strategies that work.
I’m in the same position work from home. For a lunch break I’ll usually heat up some tea and read a book and relax. Seems to take my mind off of eating. Currently 72 hours into a fast. I also do this in the morning before I work plus some exercise throughout the day.