Re: High stress = low awareness

[Guest guest]

Oh, boy, Christy, does your post ring some familiarity bells for me.

I think your realization that the stress had an effect on your eating is awesome. Being aware of eating unconsciously because of stress is, as the IE authors say, a way of seeing a situation in your life that is out of balance and needs a solution. Wowza. Big benefits from this IE stuff!

I have always been someone who stressed myself out over any guests-in-my-house situation, and it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I started addressing the expectations I put on myself at those times, and cutting back on my expectations of having everything Martha- perfect (impeccably clean and organized, and everything home made from scratch). In the last year, I've actually been able to *enjoy* having people over by making compromises here and there. It usually starts with me cutting the list of "to dos" in half and finding ways of letting someone else do the work for much of the remaining half. I pay for ready-made or made-to-order foods as much as I can afford, and if having the house tidy is really important to me, I start the cleaning ahead of time, bit by bit, and don't let myself stay up late at the last minute to finish anything.

A book that helped me get control over planning rationally how to do things I really want to do is "It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys" by Marilyn . is a woman who wasn't naturally organized and learned how to be. She saved my life! No more stress over getting out of the house on time, or getting things ready for an event. I'm much more realistic (and accepting) about what I can and can't do, and much better about keeping in the front of my brain *why* I want to do a certain thing (like have a party) and keeping to the spirit of that, instead of making myself into a crazy woman over it.

I hope this is helpful.

Laurie

Christy wrote:

My son just had a birthday this weekend and we had a party for him. That went great, but there was just so much to do beforehand that it threw everything into a frenzy. We had let things slip and by the time we started planning and preparing, there was just so much to do. I'm not a great housekeeper, but when people come to visit, I want things to look tidy. So on top of the regular party preparation I had to clean the entire house, including getting the kids' rooms presentable.

The other issue that was going on was that I had my period and I always find it hard to interpret my body signals during that time.

I have been working on Intuitive Eating for a few weeks and I found this weekend the most challenging in that practice. Stress certainly makes it hard to stop and feel how you are feeling (other than overwhelmed). One thing that I found helpful is that I was able to not feel guilty about WHAT I was eating, and that meant that I didn't have an eating meltdown even though I'm sure I did a bit of eating when I wasn't hungry.

[Guest guest]

Oh, boy, Christy, does your post ring some familiarity bells for me.

I think your realization that the stress had an effect on your eating is awesome. Being aware of eating unconsciously because of stress is, as the IE authors say, a way of seeing a situation in your life that is out of balance and needs a solution. Wowza. Big benefits from this IE stuff!

I have always been someone who stressed myself out over any guests-in-my-house situation, and it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I started addressing the expectations I put on myself at those times, and cutting back on my expectations of having everything Martha- perfect (impeccably clean and organized, and everything home made from scratch). In the last year, I've actually been able to *enjoy* having people over by making compromises here and there. It usually starts with me cutting the list of "to dos" in half and finding ways of letting someone else do the work for much of the remaining half. I pay for ready-made or made-to-order foods as much as I can afford, and if having the house tidy is really important to me, I start the cleaning ahead of time, bit by bit, and don't let myself stay up late at the last minute to finish anything.

A book that helped me get control over planning rationally how to do things I really want to do is "It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys" by Marilyn . is a woman who wasn't naturally organized and learned how to be. She saved my life! No more stress over getting out of the house on time, or getting things ready for an event. I'm much more realistic (and accepting) about what I can and can't do, and much better about keeping in the front of my brain *why* I want to do a certain thing (like have a party) and keeping to the spirit of that, instead of making myself into a crazy woman over it.

I hope this is helpful.

Laurie

Christy wrote:

My son just had a birthday this weekend and we had a party for him. That went great, but there was just so much to do beforehand that it threw everything into a frenzy. We had let things slip and by the time we started planning and preparing, there was just so much to do. I'm not a great housekeeper, but when people come to visit, I want things to look tidy. So on top of the regular party preparation I had to clean the entire house, including getting the kids' rooms presentable.

The other issue that was going on was that I had my period and I always find it hard to interpret my body signals during that time.

I have been working on Intuitive Eating for a few weeks and I found this weekend the most challenging in that practice. Stress certainly makes it hard to stop and feel how you are feeling (other than overwhelmed). One thing that I found helpful is that I was able to not feel guilty about WHAT I was eating, and that meant that I didn't have an eating meltdown even though I'm sure I did a bit of eating when I wasn't hungry.

[Guest guest]

Oh, boy, Christy, does your post ring some familiarity bells for me.

I think your realization that the stress had an effect on your eating is awesome. Being aware of eating unconsciously because of stress is, as the IE authors say, a way of seeing a situation in your life that is out of balance and needs a solution. Wowza. Big benefits from this IE stuff!

I have always been someone who stressed myself out over any guests-in-my-house situation, and it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I started addressing the expectations I put on myself at those times, and cutting back on my expectations of having everything Martha- perfect (impeccably clean and organized, and everything home made from scratch). In the last year, I've actually been able to *enjoy* having people over by making compromises here and there. It usually starts with me cutting the list of "to dos" in half and finding ways of letting someone else do the work for much of the remaining half. I pay for ready-made or made-to-order foods as much as I can afford, and if having the house tidy is really important to me, I start the cleaning ahead of time, bit by bit, and don't let myself stay up late at the last minute to finish anything.

A book that helped me get control over planning rationally how to do things I really want to do is "It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys" by Marilyn . is a woman who wasn't naturally organized and learned how to be. She saved my life! No more stress over getting out of the house on time, or getting things ready for an event. I'm much more realistic (and accepting) about what I can and can't do, and much better about keeping in the front of my brain *why* I want to do a certain thing (like have a party) and keeping to the spirit of that, instead of making myself into a crazy woman over it.

I hope this is helpful.

Laurie

Christy wrote:

My son just had a birthday this weekend and we had a party for him. That went great, but there was just so much to do beforehand that it threw everything into a frenzy. We had let things slip and by the time we started planning and preparing, there was just so much to do. I'm not a great housekeeper, but when people come to visit, I want things to look tidy. So on top of the regular party preparation I had to clean the entire house, including getting the kids' rooms presentable.

The other issue that was going on was that I had my period and I always find it hard to interpret my body signals during that time.

I have been working on Intuitive Eating for a few weeks and I found this weekend the most challenging in that practice. Stress certainly makes it hard to stop and feel how you are feeling (other than overwhelmed). One thing that I found helpful is that I was able to not feel guilty about WHAT I was eating, and that meant that I didn't have an eating meltdown even though I'm sure I did a bit of eating when I wasn't hungry.

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I think there is some perfectionism in there. I really don't worry about

being " fancy " or anything like that though (not really a Martha type).

But I do worry about making people comfortable and having things organized so

things go smoothly. We have food sensitivities in my family also, so there is

that sort of thing to consider and plan for.

I think the big thing is that I have fear of being embarrassed - of being judged

to be lacking. There's nothing like fear to get the stress level turned up.

Like I had mentioned, it all went well though. But there were times (before the

party) that I was really wishing I had just planned a party at another venue

(like an indoor playground or a pool). It feels like copping out, but I think I

might consider doing that next time. It still would be memorable for the kids I

think. And like you said, it's about managing my own expectations of myself.

The book you mentioned sounds good and I'll look for it at the library.

- Christy

>

>

>

> My son just had a birthday this weekend and we had a party for him. That went

great, but there was just so much to do beforehand that it threw everything into

a frenzy. We had let things slip and by the time we started planning and

preparing, there was just so much to do. I'm not a great housekeeper, but when

people come to visit, I want things to look tidy. So on top of the regular party

preparation I had to clean the entire house, including getting the kids' rooms

presentable.

>

> The other issue that was going on was that I had my period and I always find

it hard to interpret my body signals during that time.

>

> I have been working on Intuitive Eating for a few weeks and I found this

weekend the most challenging in that practice. Stress certainly makes it hard to

stop and feel how you are feeling (other than overwhelmed). One thing that I

found helpful is that I was able to not feel guilty about WHAT I was eating, and

that meant that I didn't have an eating meltdown even though I'm sure I did a

bit of eating when I wasn't hungry.

>

[Guest guest]

I struggle with the same thing, Christy, though for me, it's my job, which

unfortunately is stressful more often than not. I'm definitely the chaotic

unconscious eater described in the Intuitive Eating book. But you're right, not

freaking out about it is big, because that often leads me to eat even more

because of " what the hell " thinking. With practice, we'll learn to tune in,

even when things are stressful. It will all come with time. Good for you for

keeping things in perspective.

Josie

*visit www.artofintuitiveliving.blogspot.com. New post 7/26*

>

> My son just had a birthday this weekend and we had a party for him. That went

great, but there was just so much to do beforehand that it threw everything into

a frenzy. We had let things slip and by the time we started planning and

preparing, there was just so much to do. I'm not a great housekeeper, but when

people come to visit, I want things to look tidy. So on top of the regular

party preparation I had to clean the entire house, including getting the kids'

rooms presentable.

>

> The other issue that was going on was that I had my period and I always find

it hard to interpret my body signals during that time.

>

> I have been working on Intuitive Eating for a few weeks and I found this

weekend the most challenging in that practice. Stress certainly makes it hard

to stop and feel how you are feeling (other than overwhelmed). One thing that

I found helpful is that I was able to not feel guilty about WHAT I was eating,

and that meant that I didn't have an eating meltdown even though I'm sure I did

a bit of eating when I wasn't hungry.

>