What are your best tips for staying on a diet, while you are under stress?

I am a food addict, my weight shows it. I feel disgusting and either I am eating or putting myself down, so I am not eating now but putting myself down instead. Very healthy I know but I wish I could give you advice because I need some too. I am always stressed, dealing with a special needs child is stressful and with everything else, so what do I turn to to fix it?

I have a jar of sunflower seeds that I keep for *stress* eating. They are the kind you have to split open. This was suggested to me by my counselor. I tend to stress eat a great deal and have gained some weight. I had weight loss surgery a few years ago and lost a whole bunch of weight. I needed to find a way to keep me from over doing it. The sunflower seeds have kept me from gaining weight, but have not caused me to lose an weight either.

When I am under stress first of all I take bath and pray to God. After this action I feel very releax.

I have been staying away from sugar for about 2 months. I have started to drink a gallon of water a day and I lost 15 lbs. This is thr easies thing I have done to lose weight. I think the water is the trick

Get the book "French Women Don't Get Fat". It will change how you look at food and you will start to not only lose weight and keep it off, you will start to feel really good about yourself. It changed my life. I have lost 77 pounds so far. The best part is that I can eat anything I want. If I want to eat a brownie I eat a brownie. In the past my diets never worked. Why? Because they were diets and not lifestyles. I would deprive myself of everything that I saw as fattening, yummy or not good for me. I would lose some weight, get off the diet and gain it all back. Not anymore. Stop dieting and start changing your lifestyle. If you want to eat a brownie, then eat ONE brownie, but make it a sensible serving size and only have one. Don't feel guilty about it. I used to feel so guilty for even thinking about having a brownie, not anymore. I have a cake in my fridge right now that only has one slice out of it. It has been there for 3 days. I statisfied my craving and I haven't wanted any more of it. Here are some books that really helped me change how I looked at food and how I ate. They saved my life. I was headed toward the 400lbs marks and now I am headed towards the under 200lbs mark. Only 41 pounds to go to hit 199. French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating For Pleasure by Mireille Guiliano French Women for All Seasons: A Year of Secrets, Recipes, and Pleasure by Mireille Guiliano The Best Life Diet by Bob Greene

1 brownie does not a wagon fall off make. Every while once in a while, when you are on a diet your body reaches a plateau, needs a bit of a boost. As far as dealing with stress, I can only tell you what I do...go for a long walk at least 45 min ( then if you have the brownie doesn't feel so bad.) Vacuum! Scrub the floor! Clean something you work up a sweat! you'll be less angry and house will be cleaner. lol Other tines I turn on my stereo LOUD and yell to one of my favorite cds..neighbors may complain but you might feel better. Good luck

How can one brownie set you back a whole month. You did not eat as planned, you ate a brownie. Since you ate it, appreciate it, then go back to your healthy plan later.Do not beat yourself up, savor the flavor. That is, if it was a good brownie. If it was yucky, then you should beat yourself up.Never eat yucky food, even if it is healthy. Some experts believe you should build in a "cheat day" in order to maintain healthy eating, and so you body does not go into fasting mode and refuse to let go of the weight. My problem would be that I would have eaten both brownies, then looked for some icecream and chocolate syrup and so on and so on. Actually, when we (hubby and I ) eat one piece of really good chocolate a day, I do not crave the everyday sweets when they present themselves.

My husband and I do life coaching and group facilitation and run a workshop that helps clients to lose weight 'from the inside out.' The reason you are struggling is because there is something internal that is going on through the stress responses and you are using food as a coping mechanism rather than dealing with the underlying triggers. I know this from years of personal experience. I struggled with two eating disorders (bulimia and anorexia nervosa) for years in my youth and know the whole binge/purge/starve/deny/eat/regret/diet cycle so well. How did I overcome the pattern and move on to show others how to do the same? Well there are no simple answers here because it involves changing the relationship to food and oneself. If you know you eat during times of high stress the first step is to find inner ways to relieve the pressure. I began by promising myself that I could binge (or eat a brownie) only AFTER I sat down and wrote down everything I was feeling. Then I's ask myself...what else could I do to make myself feel better other than stuffing my face to push down feeling I either did not want to deal with..or did not know how to deal with? Using food or any other thing to avoid addressing what isn't working is what leads to compulsive coping mechanisms in the first place. A willingness to ask ourselves the hard questions and becoming aware of what isn't working is the what self-change is all about. In all my years of working through my own weight and body image issues..and now assisting others it is clear that people use food to avoid looking at what needs to change. Emotional eating is only a Band-aide solution to other things that need to be addressed and worked through before anyone can ever expect lasting changes to occur...in weight loss or any other area of life. All choices have consequences...and when you make a choice to avoid nurturing yourself in other ways it is still a choice. When we choose something different we will always have different outcomes. I know this is no easy fix...but let me assure you once you assess who you are, what you want and what you are prepared to have it you will be amazed at how different life can be. In the meantime please don't beat yourself up about using food to cope...we all need to feel nurtured during tough times and if food is how you do it for now accept that and move on. It has been said that even God cannot change the past so no point in fretting over what's already happened...instead focus on what you can do to create different choice-making as stressors build up. Do you need to call a friend, go for a walk, pray, meditate, exercise, sing, dance, cry, have a warm bath...once you figure out the trigger...then do something else rather than eat...you will be on a new path to healthy, balanced living. Choices...it is always about choices. Good luck and warm regards from someone who has been there...and now I am here...and believe me doing the inner work pays the big dividends and why I do the work I do. I have seen people transform their lives and so can you if you believe in yourself! Raia