Stress (Part 1)

So I've been sick the last few days. How in the world did I get sick when I've been eating healthy and working out?  WELL.....I have been stressing myself out and running myself into the ground. Every day, I'm thinking about how to coordinate my day. Workouts, meals for the day, puppy care, work, social outings, getting enough sleep.... I run around from the moment I'm up, then next thing I know, it's 9:30pm and I'm like crap! I need to get in bed, I need to be asleep right now or tomorrow will be miserable. 5am comes so early and it's hard enough to get out of bed.

I never realized how exhausting and stressful it is to change your life. And that's the reality that has hit me lately. It's not just losing weight, it's changing my thoughts and actions in every situation I encounter. A complete life makeover and I haven't taken a moment to realize just how big that is. I'll do great with eating and working out, but then feel lonely because I haven't seen another person all weekend. Or I'll be social and then beat myself up over making some bad food choices. This last weekend, I did great with working out, eating, being social, but then felt horrible about how much time my dog spent in the crate on Saturday. Seriously, you might ask, can this girl ever be pleased??!!? I wonder the same thing ;) 

I'll be honest. I think I'm super woman and if I think it's possible, I get mad when I can't achieve it. I'm realizing that I need to take a step back, several deep breaths (x1,000), and really think about what's possible in 24 hours. I've read several articles about stress and it has been eye opening to see that stress has been affecting me mentally (anxious/racing thoughts, worrying), emotionally (agitated, feeling overwhelmed), and physically (acne, shoulder/neck pain, hard time sleeping).

Your body reacts to stress the same way, whether it is physical or psychological. I have my body in a constant alert state and that is not at all healthy. It raises blood pressure, suppresses your immune system (hello being sick!), causes sleep problems, and can lead to obesity and depression. Depression  does run in my family and I can personally attest to the fact that stress eating was part of how I gained weight. Plus this becomes another nasty little spiral when you think about not sleeping, means my body doesn't recover, means my workout suffer, means my weight loss efforts suffer, I lose momentum, and then I mentally freak out over that. 

Stress is an issue for everyone and I have to admit, a very big one for me. There's no way I'm going to get rid of it completely, but I can change my response to it. I have several other articles to read about stress management so I can learn healthy ways to cope because I know food is not the answer. I'll share as I read and try some of these out because I seriously may give myself a heart attack if I don't figure this out!