Managing stress AND loosing weight!

I've gotten into this mind set that I have to loose the stress to loose the weight. So I am in this constant yo-yo back and forth - lose some - get stressed and stop trying. I think it will be awhile before the stress is gone. So is there anyone else dealing with this and how!!!

Some level of stress is always going to be there, no matter what.  We can't change our eating habits based on that.  It will just make you feel worse.  Make your daily plan and stick with it, no matter what happens and find other ways to reward yourself or to relax other than eating.

It's tough, but you can do it!

I think you are absolutely correct.   I used to smoke and handled stress with another cigarette, now i need to find a new outlet and so far it has been food.   Exercise really helps.  Anyway I just  might be using everything under the sun as my excuse for not getting serious.   I think I need to spend more time here!!

But I  do wonder if high stress levels prohibit loosing weight.  The Cortisone commercials saying that stress can cause weight gain!!!

Original Post by tuff_n_nuff:

But I  do wonder if high stress levels prohibit loosing weight.  The Cortisone commercials saying that stress can cause weight gain!!!

Is that the commercial with the "scientific" graph that shows weight going up as he lists "poor diet, lack of exercise, stress at work..." and also has the ever helpful fact "belly fat is unattractive..."

I haven't seen it lately - either I'm watching less tv, or they've taken it off the air.

I do think that stress can affect weight loss, as can lack of sleep (another side effect of stress). Just relax!!! :)

There is some evidence that cortisol can promote belly fat, BUT, if you are taking in fewer calories than you are expending you will not gain weight and you will lose weight in the long haul.  Don't sweat stuff like that, just make a plan you can live with easily and then stick to it and the results will come!

Hey is is good to see you.  Come to think of it, I have not seen that commercial in a very long time.   Funny how somethings just stick with you!!! I am thinking that I Might have to go back to my quit methods to handle my latest addictions.  I handle stress by eating - eating when I am not hungry and eating when I am bored and eating when I am not bored.   Sigh - time for a new habit.

Knitting helped me....

Nucurlee,   there is the secret.  So far I seem to use every excuse in the excuse in the book. That is a personal problem that no one can cure - and no one can fix but me.  It helps to get it out because I really have been thinking that I am stuck with the stress for a few more months and I honestly have thought it was effecting my weight loss efforts.

But after talking about it I feel kinda silly and weak.  Hmm perhaps whinny!!!

I need to learn how to knit!!  I used to know how to crochet but that has been a very - very long time now and I can not remember stitch one.   But yeah I need a new outlet instead of eating. 

It helped me to just accept that stress is always there. I cannot change that. But I can change how or if I react to stress. I am in control of me even if I cannot control other issues. I find that an empowering thought.

So much stress comes from things that have not happened yet but we fear that they will. Don't remember the exact quote so I modified it to think in my head whenever things get tough - "95% of the things that people worry about never happen". That means that you are worrying pointlessly and creating internal stress which leads to ill health over things that will not happen. For the other five percent, you might as well save up your worries and focus them on the real stress.

I would think that phrase every time I worried over my husbands 15 month unemployment, my mother's brain tumor, expensive college tuition, a horrid work environment, etc. I also practiced bringing my breath to a deeper, slower, quieter, and more regular pattern when stress tried to make me crack. Eventually I began to feel calm with just with the phrase or the breath. Give it a try, it might work for you too.

There's a lot of great ideas here. Different things work for different people. You will find one that is right for you.

When I started CC I weighed 226 pounds and resolved my horrendous stress issues by eating until I thought I would vomit.  My blood pressure was out of control as well.

I still have the stress, but I come home everyday and do a 3 to 3.5 mile run.  You know what, I feel SO much better afterwards and can focus on more important things, like enjoying my family.  I've lost 69 pounds to date and my blood pressure is normal with no medication, so it is working!

Running, running, running, this is how I cope.

Crappy day at work...I am lucky enough to have flexi time and to work on the outskirts of town, near a country park, so if I cant concentrate, stuff on my mind I take myself for a run at lunch.

And when I run, it's almost like you focus so hard on just breathing or your times etc, that everything else is GONE for that 30 minutes or whatever. 

Yeah, everything is still there when I get back to my desk, but for those 30 minutes, I own it! Just me and no one else :)