I’ve been working out and eatting well consitantly for the past 2 1/2 months but for the past couple of days my motivation has been fading… i am seeing results (not so much as a lot of weight loss...4 Ibs...but definelty muscle tone) so I don’t know why it is getting difficult to stick with my plan, I’m still working out everyday, but my diet is just EVERYWHERE - on sunday night i ate an ENTIRE tuna casserole by myself and yesterday i when to a concert and they had a dessert table and i ate 5 brownies..and then some...and today i was hungry for a snack so i ate some brocolli to be a good girl, but before you know it i was back in the kitchen eatting a peice of spice cake, 2 chocolate chip cookies and a brownie.. at one sitting! i dont usually keep sweets in the house but its finals week so my roommates mom baked us a bunch of sweets. is this just some sort of a phase? i am doing so well with my workouts and getting up and moving around, but why am i eatting everything in sight lately? It doesn’t seem to be making me gain weight (cuz im sticking to my workouts) but it can’t be healthy and im definelty not losing weight. Help!

kenjarino - 26 April 2006 04:10 PM

but before you know it i was back in the kitchen eatting a peice of spice cake, 2 chocolate chip cookies and a brownie.. at one sitting! i dont usually keep sweets in the house but its finals week so my roommates mom baked us a bunch of sweets. is this just some sort of a phase? i am doing so well with my workouts and getting up and moving around, but why am i eatting everything in sight lately? It doesn’t seem to be making me gain weight (cuz im sticking to my workouts) but it can’t be healthy and im definelty not losing weight. Help!

I noticed in your statement that you said it is Finals Week for you.  Maybe for you when you get stressed out you use food to help calm the stress.  I know for me food and alcohol used to be some things I used to turn too when I got stressed, but I knew that wasn’t healthy( either I was drunk all the time or stuffed from food, not good).  I remember during my college days during finals my diet was terrible and I would eat anything to get me throught it.  Do you think this is the case for you??  Do you feel over-stressed because it is finals and having trouble controlling the stress??  Or is your diet lacking variety in the things you eat and you are getting bored?  I know for me I like to give myself a small treat every so often, but not too frequently of course.  I know the times that I dieted and didn’t allow any treats then I would go on binges like yours where I would eat everything in site that was bad for me.  One day I would eat a whole frozen pizza, then a tub of ice cream, then some candy bars.  So for me instead of cutting out the bad things all together, I treat myself to these things in small quanity’s every now and then so I don’t go on huge binge eating sessions.  Maybe that is the case for you.  I may ponder this one a little longer and come back later with more ideas.

I hope the above helps you out with this situation.  Good job on keeping your workouts going though!!  I know sometimes when I slip in my diet, I also slip in my workouts as well!!  So, keep on going with your workouts!!  Let me know if this helps or not!!

yea, you are totally right about being stressed out with finals - sometimes its the most obvious answer that is the right one...i dont know why i didn’t even connect the two - i only have one more final tomorrow so i hope once its over i’ll get back to my normal eatting habits. I never really thought of myself as an emotional eatter - but i guess this being my last semester of undergrad and my last week of finals ever it’s gotten beyond hectic and i’m scarfing down the food. thanks for the advice...much appriciated

Kendra

no problem glad I could help.  I just remember being there in college too, trying to get through finals and eating very strange combinations of food for no reason at all (once I had beer and ice cream togehter in one sitting, yuck).  It took me a couple of days to come back to normal again.  I know you will come back to your diet too, hang in there.  sometimes life just gets in the way I guess!

kenjarino - 26 April 2006 10:31 PM

I never really thought of myself as an emotional eatter - but i guess this being my last semester of undergrad and my last week of finals ever it’s gotten beyond hectic and i’m scarfing down the food.

Hi Kendra,

Congrats on being almost done!  I just went through my last semester of school for the foreseeable future, too.  The last always seems the hardest, doesn’t it?

I’m sure once you’re through the stress, you’ll go back to normal.  For me, I used to eat when I wanted to do SOMETHING other than study.  My fridge got raided a lot during my undergrad years.

I found, during my M.A., that a good way to release that excess energy is to take a walk—get up, walk around the block, and come back.  It doesn’t have to take longer than 5 minutes.  You feel good, you’re getting away from the books, and you’re doing something useful instead of gravitating towards the kitchen.  It’s hard to do at first, but it really does become a habit after a few hours.

Good luck!
Julie

"i am doing so well with my workouts and getting up and moving around, but why am i eatting everything in sight lately? It doesn’t seem to be making me gain weight (cuz im sticking to my workouts) but it can’t be healthy and im definelty not losing weight”

It probably is mostly stress of finals, but I had another thought that might help.  You said you are sticking to your workouts, which is great, but are you eating enough of the healthy stuff.  I wonder if maybe you’re not getting enough energy from the other food you’re eating and then burning it all on the exercise and working out that your body says I need some energy quick because I don’t have enough!
have you ever tried a protein shake or anything after you workout.  It might curve the cravings a little bit by re-energizing your body!
and then when the stress of finals goes away, you’ll be golden!

Just a thought...Good Luck!