I'm a Stress Eater!

For several years now I have know that I am a stress eater.  Before I joined Weight Watchers, I never thought about why I ate.  I just knew that I ate too much.  I just chalked it up to bad habits and a love of food. Then in my WW meetings the topic of why we eat would come up.  We would talk about emotional eating.  The first couple of times it was talked about I truly thought it didn't apply to me.  I didn't consider myself an emotional eater at all.  I really just thought I needed guidelines on what and how to eat.

After being a WW member for a longer amount of time I became more aware of the times that I ate and how much I ate.  I became aware of the fact that I am certainly an emotional eater.  I am very thankful to WW for helping me realize this and giving me tips and ideas to combat it.

I have also learned that in times of stress I need to think ahead.  I know that I have a stressful week ahead of me.  This Saturday my son, Ethan, will receive his First Holy Communion.  It's a very exciting time in our house.  This morning he insisted on baking bread for breakfast and breaking it just as Jesus did.  He's such a sweet boy with a sweet soul.  Even though this is an exciting and precious time, it can be very stressful for me as well.

As you well know, I have 5 kids. These 5 kids, as precious as they are, keep messing up my house!;)  It's a fact of life.  I don't send them to school.  I school them at home so they are always here to keep making a mess. It's something I have learned to live with.  I have come to terms with the fact that on a daily basis my house is never clean, my dishes are never done and my laundry always has a dirty pile.  If I don't come to terms with this I will drive myself crazy. When it comes to having a bunch of family members in my house for a party though I refuse to come to terms with a messy house.  This week is crunch time. I will be cleaning feverishly.  Then I will be grocery shopping.  Thankfully, my mom, mother-in-law, aunt and sister-in-law have all graciously offered to bring something so that will lighten my load with the food preparations.  My mom always comes to help with preparations too.  I will bake Ethan's cross cake though. That has become something very precious and special for me to do for each of my kids. Again, even though it is special, it will take time and add a little bit of stress.

I know right now that I need to plan ahead for this stress.  That way I will not grab for the stress food instead of following my plan.  This is my plan of attack:
-I will track every bite, lick and taste that I have all week.
-I will give myself a day off from tracking on Saturday for his First Communion.  I will not have a lot of time to overeat anyway.
-I will not use any of my extra weekly points during the week.  They will all be saved for the weekend.
-I will go to my WW meeting on Friday.  This will help me tremendously with accountability.
-I will have plenty of healthy fruits and vegetables handy for snacking when I want to do some stress eating.
-I will have easy, healthy meals planned for this week.  I know I will not have a lot of time for complicated cooking but I don't want to order out or eat pizza every night.
-I will take the time to exercise every morning before I start my busy days.  I will need the energy, stress relief, time to myself and calories burned.

I have a plan.  Now I'm off to execute it.

Have a great day,
Corinna

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, 'I am going way, and I am coming to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe." -John 14:27-29