Karinrb's Journal, 30 March 2011

I am exactly the same way. I am pretty sure it is genetic, as my mom stuffs her face in stressful situations. I went through a 45 pound weight loss over 8 months last year. I was feeling awesome, running almost everyday and looking amazing-I was 110 pounds (I am 5' 8"). Then I got a DUI. Everything went to crap. I freaked out. I was an absolute idiot-and I felt completely ashamed and horrified by my behavior. I was the most stressed I have ever been in my life. I started to eat. And eat, and eat. It got to the point where I would literally find myself standing in front of the fridge or the pantry with an open container of whatever-usually chocolate, nuts, peanutbutter and the like- without any knowledge of how I got there or how long I had been standing there just eating away my stress. It was like I was being taken over by the need to subdue the horrible shame, and my brain thought that the best way to do that was by eating high sugar and fat foods. Needless to say I gained weight-and boy did I gain it fast. I went from 110:8/27 to 132:10/30 to 152: 1/1. I was stuck in a nasty car consuming cycle. I kept eating because I was stressed that I got a DUI and that I was gaining weight. that's right I kept eating because I was stressed that I was not the weight I wanted. Crazy. I finally got a grip. I realized how disgusting feeding my stress with food is. Food is merely fuel for our bodies so that we can live from one day to the next and do the activities that we want. This is difficult to say for me because I used to be a cook. I love food and all things gourmet, but I came to realize that it was destroying me. I am not back, losing the weight that I gained back after I lost it the first time. I have accepted that I absolutely need to stay away from food when I am stressed, for if I don't all hell breaks loose. I am sorry for such a long story, but I totally related to your comment and wanted to let you know that I think far more people eat to ease their stress than we think. But the first step to overcoming this reactive pattern of stress eating is recognizing that it occurs-and it sounds like you have done this. That is more than most people can say. I hope my comments don't sound too crazy, I know you can work through and get past this pattern.