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Apparently stress-eating is still a problem for me. I had a very tense day at the office today. When I got home, the first thing I did was microwave two pieces of chocolate cake, stick them in glass, and cover them with milk. Comfort food. And calories.
But I don’t actually feel any better after eating. I’m still stressed. At least I know better than to go spend money…
(At times like this, I’m always reminded of Bill Cosby’s hilarious “Chocolate Cake for Breakfast”.)
Mac
13 responses so far ↓
1 Anne Keckler // Jan 28, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Recognizing the potential pitfalls in your diet plan is the first step to overcoming them! What do you think you’ll do differently the next time you come home from work stressed?
~Anne Keckler
ACSM Certified Personal Trainer
http://www.annekeckler.com
2 TosaJen // Jan 28, 2008 at 5:56 pm
LOL! Why is it that other people’s comfort food sounds gross? (No, I’m not going to share some of my more creative concoctions.)
May I be the first to ask you why the heck you had chocolate cake in the house? Whenever I start feeling on top of my eating, I allow (bake, usually) something like chocolate cake or brownies — heh, I can handle this! Not. I have to keep trying it though, for some reason. I’d be a bad recovering addict.
3 J.D. // Jan 28, 2008 at 5:59 pm
4 metroknow // Jan 28, 2008 at 6:53 pm
For me, its pepperoni pizza.
I knew it was a problem when I got really upset with my now ex-wife (we parted ways much later) and my reaction was to get in my car, go down to the pizza joint, order a large pizza with extra pepperoni, and eat the whole thing sitting in my truck, frustrated and angry.
Yeah, uh. I-S-S-U-E-S.
5 TosaJen // Jan 28, 2008 at 7:20 pm
I am with you on the stress eating. Wait until you work at home . . .
At our house, dessert leftovers go home with someone else. Or else they get thrown away. Or else I end up wearing them as soon as I have a frustrated moment (and I work at home 100% — ‘nough said?). Our rule on dessert-making is that it’s verboten unless it’s for guests (see above) or a potluck elsewhere.
For those who say “willpower” — sorry, but I need my willpower for things like being patient with my kids, getting regular exercise, doing my paid job — I have neither the energy nor inclination to waste my “power” fighting off a piece of food. I did once, but now I’m too old and too busy.
6 RedRose // Jan 28, 2008 at 7:32 pm
I just did the same thing a couple days ago (we had cake left over from my birthday). Next time I think I’ll make sure to send the leftovers home with the guests and get it out of my house. I loved the reference; that Bill Cosby segment has been one of my favorites for a long time…right along with “Ice Cream! We’re gonna get ice cream!”
7 metroknow // Jan 28, 2008 at 7:41 pm
TosaJen: GREAT point on willpower. hadn’t thought of that before, but its very true. I too work at home and having access to a beer in the fridge or leftover chocolate cake is deadly.
8 monica // Jan 29, 2008 at 3:20 am
Sigh. This post really hit a familiar nerve. I am a combo stress-drinker and stress-eater (the worst of both worlds). In graduate school, I would combat stress by drinking, smoking, then eating quesadilla after quesadilla. It’s messed up - it’s like I seek out social avenues to relieve stress, but socializing also stresses me out a little bit, which just makes me indulge more. It’s been a while since grad school, but these old habits still come back to haunt me, and it scares the shit out of me. Last Sunday I was at a party and, while I didn’t get shit-faced, I did do a fair bit of drinking, and ate maybe 3 plates of food. I still feel like crap about it. It makes me enjoy going out less which sucks because parties are supposed to be fun. I don’t like to be absolutist about things, but I see why people quit stuff cold turkey. Sometimes I think it’d be easier to just kibosh these stressors completely than go through the mental anguish of trying to manage them. In a nutshell, it’s all very fucked up psychology. But at least writing about it here makes me feel a little better. So thanks for listening. =)
9 Leslie // Jan 29, 2008 at 6:48 am
On Friday my son and I made Chocolate Chip Cookies. I basically ate Chocolate Chip cookies from Friday afternoon until Sunday night when they were finally all gone. I felt sick all weekend from eating so much fat and sugar. Didn’t stop me from eating them though. I just need to accept that chocolate chip cookies are a problem for me and only make them on a day when they can go into the office with my husband immediately. Of course, all of this happend over a period when I couldn’t get to the gym because I was potty training my daughter and am sort of stuck in the house (kind of stressful too) so there was no working off any of the calories. BUT, I have faced up to the scale and the damage I did. Now I just need to undo it.
10 Melissa // Jan 29, 2008 at 7:20 am
Well, you fell down. It’s good that you recognized it, but it’s time to get back up.
Try taking a minute before you eat anything, especially if you’re stressed, and ask yourself if it’s what you REALLY want to be eating, and/or if there’s a better choice for you to make.
And for goodness sake, get the cake out of the house!
11 Amelia // Jan 29, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I loved what you said about willpower, TosaJen. I never thought about it that way before but it’s so true! I’m pretty good about not bringing trigger foods into the house but every once in awhile I think “I can handle it”. It’s funny because I can totally handle having a bag of chocolate chips in the house and dole them out a little at a time (I’ve become friends with my food scale) and accounting for the calories. But I absolutely cannot have white flour in the house or I will *find* something to bake. Whether it’s chocolate chip cookies (I feel you, Leslie!) or cake or bread. I will find a way. And then overeat what I make. I guess it’s all just a matter of finding a way to cope with situations in a way that works for each of us. I am definitely all about giving away leftover goodies.
12 greenman2001 // Jan 29, 2008 at 5:37 pm
I’m curious, J.D.: at the moment you put the cake in the microwave, how long had it been since you had last eaten?
You already know my mantra: if I turn dieting into a contest between willpower and impulse, willpower is going to lose. Satisfying my impulses feels WAY too good for me to say no. I have to put in place structures — systems, protocols, decision rules — that prevent that contest from being created in the first place.
In my case, I would start with the decision to provide 40 guests with chocolate cake at my party. (What’s a party without chocolate cake, right?) Then I’d look my getrichslowly self in the mirror and ask myself if there might not be a cost associated with the money I’m saving by not throwing the leftover chocolate cake out (this is analogous to your feeling proud of buying that handful of hot tamales from the candy machine in the bank because it only cost 25 cents). Then I’d look at those stressors and ask myself if there might not be some changes I could make to strip some of those out of my life completely. I’d look at whether and why I arrive hungry or not hungry at decision points like this (remember greenman’s other mantra: hunger is your enemy).
The fact is, the whiteknuckled, index-finger-on-the-Quick-Defrost-button contest between willpower and impulse comes at the end of a long line of decisions you’ve made and beliefs you hold, and within an environment that you’ve CREATED in your own life. This is what diet book writers mean when they refer to “lifestyle changes” that must accompany your decision to eat less. Eating less isn’t a lifestyle change. Throwing out the leftover chocolate cake is a lifestyle change. Spending time learning to make vegan chocolate mousse for your guests is a lifestyle change (less time blogging, more time cooking). Getting out of a high-stress environment at work and into a low-stress environment working at home for yourself is a lifestyle change. These decisions are many, many steps removed from the high-stakes contest between willpower and impulse.
It’s easy to say, “think of other things to do instead of eat when you’re stressed.” That would be a good blog post topic, wouldn’t it? Ten Things To Do Instead of Eating When You’re Stressed. You could have a contest, increase your hits and your linkbacks or whatever they’re called. Except that this is the wrong question to ask. At the point when you’re fragile willpower is facing down you’re muscular, highly developed impulse, you’re intervening at the least tenable point in the chain of decisions, and relying on overcoming your weakness to succeed rather than playing from your own strengths. I don’t have great willpower, so I want to create as supportive an environment around me as possible to help what little willpower I have get me through when I need it. And, over time, slowly, with practice, and outside the negative feedback loops created by catastrophic failure, I can strengthen my willpower. Now there’s a blog post I would want to read: 10 Exercises to Strengthen My Willpower.
For the record: when stressed, I can easily consume 3000 calories of Chinese food, particularly when watching 3 or 4 episodes of The West Wing back-t0-back. Barbecued spare-ribs (bone-in) to start, followed by Peking Duck, broccoli in oyster sauce, scallops with ginger and scallion, and a Tsing-Tao. If things are really bad, consumed entirely in a reclining position on the couch, all dishes within arm’s reach on the coffee table, phone unplugged. You see my problem? I can’t let it get to this point, because the rewards far outstrip the cost.
13 Susan // Jan 30, 2008 at 6:55 am
Stress eating, or emotional eating in general, is a tricky beast!
Do we set up rules for ourselves and try to go off of willpower, or do we try to listen to our bodies and only eat when we’re hungry? Do we restrict foods or allow just a bite of anything we crave? Do we try to substitute calming activities for the ch0colate cake we want in times of stress?
Actually, I believe using a journal (or in this case a blog) to write about trials and triumphs, frustrations and discoveries can be quite helpful when dealing with wanting to eat for other reasons than hunger.
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