Stress, weight and weather, what do these all have in common? Seems to me they go together hand in hand, you can put them in any order and you still come up with the same results. If you are under stress you tend to put on a little weight. If you put on a little weight you tend to blame stress or the weather. If the weather isn’t suitable you can over stress about better days, thereby putting on weight. It’s a cycle and we must work to overcome out tendencies.
Any time you’re upset about anything your stress hormone cortisol rises and that nudges your sweet craving or high fat food craving. You know these time periods because you are either in the donut shop or the drive through as it “helps” distract you from your stress until you finish eating this decision and they you have more stress because you ate what you told yourself you were not going to-ugh-cycle:-(.
If your weight is an issue you tend to overthink every choice and can become obsessed with what you “can’t” have that you don’t spend proper time on all that you can have. This causes you stress and well you know what happens then. When you are making healthy eating a priority you need to focus on the wide variety of foods you can have and write them down. Recording your choices and being able to see them helps you to stop revisiting the same stressful decisions over and over again. I am a big believer in tracking so you can write it down, refer back when needed and let it go as you begin to change your habits to healthier ones in little steps.
The weather plays a factor in stress and weight as well. Have you noticed how much happier you are when it is sunny outside, it doesn’t necessarily have to be warm but the sun plays a big part in happiness. When we are happy we don’t feel as much stress and we tend to eat better. Cold and dreary brings on comfort food, big clothing and a little case of the “I don’t cares”. So when it is less than optimal looking out the winder be mindful of your mood and food choices.