Stress eating a.k.a. emotional eating or mindless eating, is one of the top reasons people have so much trouble losing weight. It happens when you least expect it and can even go undetected. It happens to men and women of all ages and even happens to the fittest leanest people. It's a hard habit to break and often leads to more stress and weight gain but how do you stop it when it seems to just take over? What do you do when all the best tips the healthy eating experts suggest just aren’t working?

Have A Complete Emotional Meltdown
If you think about what stress eating really is, it’s a way to calm down when things are out of control. It’s a way to comfort yourself when you can’t take the stress anymore. Well what if you gave in to the stress and allowed it to just completely take over. What if you started screaming, hitting a punching bag, or really crying it out like a toddler? Having a complete out of control adult temper tantrum may sound ridiculous but it can provide exactly the kind of relief you are looking to get from food without all the calories. Try sandbell slams instead of sweets for stress relief.

Change Your Environment
Same stress different day? "Take control of your environment – If the evening news makes you anxious, turn the TV off. If traffic’s got you tense, take a longer but less-traveled route. If going to the market is an unpleasant chore, do your grocery shopping online" recommends HelpGuide.org a non-profit resource for dealing with life’s challenges. Changing your environment can stop stress eating dead in it’s tracks especially if you do it as soon as you feel the urge to start eating. Walk outdoors, call somebody, run an errand, or log onto your favorite weightloss site and chat about it with others. Distraction also works for many successful losers who have struggled with this problem.

Take It Easy on Yourself
In a perfect world everybody would cook healthy meals and exercise with great intensity consistently but the reality is that we don’t live in a perfect world, we are not perfect and we need a break from time to time. It’s o.k. to take it easy from time to time. Buy yourself a healthy meal instead of cooking one, exercise for 10 minutes at a lower intensity you can handle instead of avoiding that high intensity 30 minute workout. Trying to be perfect all the time about diet and fitness only creates more stress that contributes to more stress eating and weight gain. "Aim for progress not perfection" says Dr. Pamela Peeke author of Body for Life for Women. If all this still doesn't work then own your stress eating but get back to healthy eating as soon as you can!
End stress eating and start losing weight again with The Emotional Diet: How To Love Your Life More And Food Less