5 Weight Loss Tips for Stressed Out Career Women

Adding more to your plate (no pun intended) isn’t exactly what you had in mind when it came to weight loss. You’re experiencing stress as it is and your schedule is already busy, right?

But, you want to lose weight. You want to stop eating the muffins after the meetings. You want to stop eating the cookies or chips as your reward for a long day.

So, you’re willing to make the time for weight loss. You just don’t want it adding to your stress or feeling like one more thing on your schedule.

The great news is, you can lose weight with minimal time commitment. You can lose weight in an easier way that won’t seem like you’re completely changing everything (which feel be stressful).

To help you, I’m sharing 5 weight loss tips for stressed out career women. That way, you can have a non-overwhelming place to start. Or, if you’ve already started, modify what you’re doing to make it easier on yourself.

Don’t try to change your entire diet at once.

When you go from eating certain foods and amounts, to doing a complete overhaul in a short period of time, that can be way too much for your brain and body to adjust to.

You don’t want the stress of this. Plus, this can make it very easy to NOT stick to the changes.

Just like you wouldn’t have an easy time adjusting to massive change, your brain and stomach don’t have an easy time adjusting to massive change.

So, baby steps. Pick one or two foods you’d like to swap out for a healthier option a few times a week. Don’t try to make salads for every meal when you’re used to pizza, pasta, hamburgers, etc.

Also, leave a few extra bites of food on your plate. Don’t worry about throwing them away. Better that they stay out than go in if you don’t really need them.

Humans have a tendency to think we need more food than we really do, which is partly why we overeat at meals and snacks. Another reason is desire of course, which leads to the next tip.

• LISTEN OR READ: Habit Change for Weight Loss (Podcast Episode)
• LISTEN OR READ: 8 Time-Saving Tips for Healthier Eating Habits (Podcast Episode)

Ask yourself if you’re truly hungry.

Knowing the difference between hunger and desire is extremely valuable when it comes to losing weight and maintaining. You’re going to need to know the difference.

So, start taking notice of your hunger signals. Are they coming on gradually? Or are they coming on suddenly? If gradual, then more likely to be true hunger. If sudden, then more likely to be desire or craving.

A desire or craving can be triggered by seemingly nothing, or it can be triggered by smell, sight, taste, being offered something.

So before you start eating, just ask yourself if it’s truly hunger.

• LISTEN OR READ: Food Craving vs. True Hunger (Podcast Episode)
• LISTEN OR READ: Mindful Eating for Weight Loss (Podcast Episode)

Make your mornings easier.

Set yourself up for success the night before, so it’ll make your mornings easier. Rushing out the door is no fun and starts your day out in that urgent, stressed feeling.

So, if you intended to bring lunch to work, then make it the night before. If you intended to eat a healthier breakfast at home rather than grab something on the way, put a couple things out on the counter the night before to make it quick and easy the next morning.

If you intend to exercise that day, put your exercise stuff out the night before to serve as a reminder and make it a no-brainer to get dressed to exercise.

Of all the 5 weight loss tips for stressed out career women, this one is the one that takes a smidge of planning. However, you can easily remember to do this by setting an alarm on your phone for the evening before to remind you.

• LISTEN OR READ: Losing Weight With a Busy Schedule (Podcast Episode)
• LISTEN OR READ: Weight Loss That Fits Your Lifestyle (Podcast Episode)

Be okay with stress.

Stress is a normal human emotion. It’s unreasonable to expect to eradicate stress from your life completely. But right now, your brain sees stress as a terrible thing and you’re probably eating in response to stress to try to ease it or make it go away. This is called stress eating.

So to start breaking a stress eating habit, you need to start being okay with stress. Acknowledge that it won’t hurt you. It’s just a feeling in your body. A collection of sensations.

If you don’t resist the stress by trying to get it to go away immediately, and instead welcome it to sit with you for a short bit, you’ll start being able to tolerate it better.

Say “hello” to it like it’s a harmless little creature. Then just notice the collection of sensations it’s producing in your body and remind yourself that it’s just sensations and nothing has gone wrong.

Getting good at this is key to breaking a stress eating habit, and breaking a stress eating habit is key to losing weight and keeping it off.

• LISTEN OR READ: Over the Overwhelm (Podcast Episode)
• LISTEN OR READ: Stress Eating (Podcast Episode)
• LISTEN OR READ: Stress and Eating Habits (Podcast Episode)

Choose a reward other than food for your long day.

Of course you deserve the ice cream with the warm chocolate fudge drizzled on top at the end of your long, stressful day. But as you know, although a fun short-term reward, will only cause weight gain (and other health issues) long-term.

Instead of looking at food as a reward, you’ll need to start finding some other rewards. What are some quick and easy things you can reward yourself with at the end of a tough day?

For example, can you change into the softest lounge clothes ever after you get home and settled in? Can you light a candle and take a few long, deep breaths? Can you take your dog for a walk?

Make a list of 5-10 things you can use as a daily reward at the end of your day and start swapping out food for one or more of these things.

I’d say this is the most fun of the 5 weight loss tips for stressed out career women.

• LISTEN OR READ: Rewarding Yourself (Podcast Episode)
• LISTEN OR READ: 4 Ways to Make Weight Loss Fun (Podcast Episode)

What to do Next:

I recommend jotting these thoughts down and then choosing your favorites. You can change them around to suit you better, or you can even come up with a few of your own.

To start making it a habit of thinking or saying your favorite one to help you lose weight, put the thought in a place you’ll see it every day.

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I can help you break bad eating habits and form the habits that will help you lose weight and keep it off for life.

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