Emotional Eating/Stress page

[Athena]

So my finals are coming up to end my first year of law school. My school kicks out the bottom 1/3 of the curve, regardless of your grade. This causes me TONS of stress and I know its affecting my weightloss.I totally croaked in a competition in front of all my classmates last night, it was one of the most horrible feelings ever. So i did what any primal law student would do, I hit the wine and ate a yam smothered in butter....then made some coconut oil 100% chocolate bark. It was definitely an emotional eating. Do you guys emotionally eat or eat more when you are stressed? How do you stop yourself? Any tips for de-stressing? Ive been thinking about starting meditation. Any of you meditate and have seen positive effects?

[Tiger]

I'm one of those people who have to vent hard or else I'll bottle everything up and explode, so I "actively" meditate.


I usually pump some hard rock or heavy metal and either do some of the best workouts I ever do, shadow box or simply visualize some ass kicking if my body's thrashed. Either way, my mind and consciousness go out the window and I'm left with nothing but the music.


It doesn't leave me refreshed and at peace sometimes, but it does blow enough steam out of me that I'm calmer and able to function to some better degree.


Btw, good luck with finals! I'm majoring in broadcasting and busting my butt off, I wouldn't survive a half semester in law school!

[Legerity]

Meditation is great...I started a few years back and have done it since then with varying frequency. It has so many benefits really, but stress is one of the major ones. You can check out Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction by Jon Kabat Zinn. It's a program he started in a hospital and it's spread all over the place, lots of people are teaching it. You can order the audio CD's and do the guided meditations at home.


But I sometimes eat more when stressed too. I'll eat much faster too. I tend to overeat less if I'm staying away from carbs. If I'm stressed and have anything with wheat/sugar then I have a lot of trouble stopping until I finish everything, even if I'm not hungry for it.

[jo]

Meditation is great. I find when something bad happens I need to get out and exercise. After about an hour I feel much better.

[elorajade]

I'm an emotional eater as well, have been since I was a child dealing with a mentally ill parent.


If you find a cure for it, I'd be very happy.

[Rheia]

I've been a dancer for about 10 years now so I will dance when feeling stressed.


I was feeling stressed last night for a couple of reasons, so I just went down into my studio and danced. Losing yourself to the music really helps with letting the stress go and reestablishing some balance.

[slesca]

I'm pretty sure I would have posted the same thing if I had know enough to be primal in law school. Every year during our finals, I'd eat a ton of Twizzlers and Gardettos. It was just to try and make the misery of studying for all of those make-or-break exams more tolerable. Little did I know that was probably hurting my brain's ability to focus.


I haven't conquered the stress/emotional eating entirely yet, but pre-planning has helped. So, when I have a trial, I usually know that I'm going to want to eat badly afterward, so I have a huge breakfast and put something in the crockpot that is irresistible for when I get home at night. That's worked pretty well- I am too full to want any crap. Then I usually go to bed early because I'm mentally exhausted But yeah, if I wasn't pregnant, I'm sure that routine would still include wine.

[BayouPrimal]

Sweat and vitamin D work wonders for me.


My goto for stress reduction is physical labor. Splitting wood, mowing grass, building something, working out... basically any activity that gets me outside and gets my body moving without requiring too much brainpower. I'm guessing you're not clearing land in San Diego, but you do have nice beaches to work out on.

[Athena]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I think ill try to meditate for 5-10 minutes (just starting out) every morning and perhaps look into a Yoga class @ my gym. Working out helps a lot but I just can't get to the gym more than 2x a week. This will change in a few weeks, but its just frustrating!


I weighed myself yesterday and I havent gained or lost so even if I maintain throughout this stressful time I will be satisfied with that. I really want to get a sledge hammer! I wonder how much those are...