Stress

This week has been chock-full of stressful events, even more than in the past couple of weeks. I haven’t lost any weight but I have managed not to gain any either. The stress related to several family crisis, getting my house ready to sell and traveling between Maryland and North Carolina on a weekly basis is making it difficult for me focus on sticking with the program. My weight loss plan does works for me when I stay true to it, but sticking with the plan is proving difficult. Even so I am determined to try to lose 10 more pounds before the end of the year. So far the benefits of my efforts have been a fitness level that has greatly improved.

Still I’ve got to better manage the stress that is resulting in the anxiety that I feel these days. I am finding out that maintaining a healthy lifestyle also means managing stress. People respond to stress in different ways. That response just like stress itself can be defined as either positive or negative. When it comes to stress it is not the situation but our reaction to it that causes anxiety. But stress well managed can be beneficial by strengthening you for future encounters. Here are a few tips I found to managing stress while on a diet that I plan to put into practice.

• Make a list of stressors in your life: these can be people or events.
• List your typical response: the food your reach for, in a response to stress.
• List alternate responses, other than food, to the stressors, for example:

1. Call a relative or friend
2. Take a nap
3. Take a hot shower
4. Go for a walk

Use the list whenever tempted to overeat.