I have a TREMENDOUS urge to eat after physical therapy. I am being pushed hard and I'm grateful, as I am on track as far as progress goes...

I'm SURE that PT sets off that "Fight or Flight" stress response, as I do fantasize about fighting back and giving the physical therapist a swift kick as he is "helping" me to bend my knee, as he can “help” it to bend way more than I would bend it on my own and it is NOT comfortable. And my body attempts to squirm away and flee... but I have yet to squirm off the table and out the door.

So today, I was driving home and wanting to stop for coffee and a treat and trying to think of all my good, better, best options. I decided that a small coffee and a biscotti would probably work for me... but then I decided, I would “be strong” and come home and have some hummus and pita chips and a nap. Well, then I ended up "eating around the craving" and had the hummus and pita chips and some cereal and had to go shopping and was in the grocery store in the afternoon… still craving… and split a pint of that low fat HagenDas with ds. (What do you know... he WILL eat chocolate ice cream...).

So thinking ahead to Wed, Fri, next week…

I just don’t think that coming home and having an apple or garbanzo beans and their ilk is going to do it for me. (I’m sort of disappointed in myself because I got to the point where I could come home after marriage counseling and just carry on with my food plans for the day. And I have the urge to beat myself up... but that has never motivated me to stay on plan in the past.) I think that it just may work out better if I just realistically plan for a “treat” after PT rather than making a plan that I don’t stick to 3 days a week.

I was thinking that I could make some low fat brownies and freeze them… but I KNOW that this is NOT the time to be home alone with 16 servings of anything of the dessert persuasion - even in a frozen state.

So now I'm thinking that I'm going to eat very clean tomorrow. (Doing the exercises at home on my own doesn’t stress me out - and I don’t have the urge to go out for donuts, etc.) I’ll bank some calories, and then on Wednesday, just go and have a coffee and a biscotti (which is probably a pretty good choice when you are standing in front 3 shelves of pastries, doughnuts, cakes, brownies, etc. To my credit… I have made some better choices the past two weeks, given the damage I could do. )

Thanks for letting me think out loud!

PS… I was able to get the bike pedals around in full rotation both frontward and backwards today… so it was a very exciting day… but I was there for nearly two hours and it was both mentally and physically exhausting!

Unfortunately, right now "controlled stress eating" pretty much describes my current state. I have had a lot going on and have sort of back-burnered a strict food plan and have just been trying to make mostly healthy choices. I really do need to get back on track but I just want to finish the last few weeks of the semester before I make it a strong focus.

Don't have lots of time now, but I wanted to pipe in and say that knowing that the PT triggers this level of stress response in you is a great start. You can plan for the aftermath of next session. I know that I have the hardest time when I am hit blind with the urge and the feelings.
Take care. This sounds like really hard work on lots of levels.

Thanks Peg!

So far, so good today.

I'm going to do phone calls for a fund raiser tonight. Last year, someone walked around with a box of pizza, in case we just couldn't get off the phone and go get our own piece. I'd done fine until the pizza was brought to me.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out how much of my weight gain is water weight and how much is fat weight, so I'm really motivated not to eat pizza as it will make me retain water. I've been thinking all day about various health habits. If someone offered me a cigarette... I wouldn't take it... so I don't think that I will have a problem with the pizza tonight.

{{Denise}}

All sounds very reasonable and a plan you can stick to. I am struggling daily with similar stress eating issues and know how hard it is. You are doing great with the PT! Keep up the good work...I bet that knee is going to be better than when you hurt it at this rate.

Peg