Any recommendations on how to manage stress?

[SuzieC]

I could have written your message. I am also on thyroid medication and do have adrenal issues confirmed by saliva cortisol tests. Whenever i push my body a little bit too much I gain weight. When I don't do enough, I gain weight. If someone is eating something sitting next to me, I gain weight. My thyroid/adrenal issues were all triggered by stress.

I don't have a magic solution, but what worked best for me is:

- Tracy Anderson: light weight, high reps and it doesn't make you feel "spent". Any time I do something that makes me feel tired instead of invigoriated, I know there will be trouble. I workout 5-6 days a week - I need to workout often, but have to be extremely mindful when i know my body is feeling fatigued and then I step it back a notch (do a "beginner" tracy video).

-Kundalini yoga: makes my stress dissipate. I could never get into yoga until I tried Kia Miller's Kundalini yoga on yogaglo. When I'm feeling really tired, one of her 15 minute practices energizes me like nothing else ever has. It's pure magic. also, the Kundalini has made me be kinder to myself. I don't beat myself up over the fact that I do more more than most people have to, yet I'm the one who struggles with weight. It's made me accept that this is my body and I need to not only accept it, but cherish all it *has* given me.

hope this helps a bit. everyone is different and I hope you find what works for you.
Good luck!

[momofcha]

Originally Posted by SuzieC

I could have written your message. I am also on thyroid medication and do have adrenal issues confirmed by saliva cortisol tests. Whenever i push my body a little bit too much I gain weight. When I don't do enough, I gain weight. If someone is eating something sitting next to me, I gain weight. My thyroid/adrenal issues were all triggered by stress.

I don't have a magic solution, but what worked best for me is:

- Tracy Anderson: light weight, high reps and it doesn't make you feel "spent". Any time I do something that makes me feel tired instead of invigoriated, I know there will be trouble. I workout 5-6 days a week - I need to workout often, but have to be extremely mindful when i know my body is feeling fatigued and then I step it back a notch (do a "beginner" tracy video).

-Kundalini yoga: makes my stress dissipate. I could never get into yoga until I tried Kia Miller's Kundalini yoga on yogaglo. When I'm feeling really tired, one of her 15 minute practices energizes me like nothing else ever has. It's pure magic. also, the Kundalini has made me be kinder to myself. I don't beat myself up over the fact that I do more more than most people have to, yet I'm the one who struggles with weight. It's made me accept that this is my body and I need to not only accept it, but cherish all it *has* given me.

hope this helps a bit. everyone is different and I hope you find what works for you.
Good luck!

This is awesome! I'm glad you found what works for you! My whole life heavy weights, low reps has worked for me - but this was also pre-thyroid issues.

I will give this some thought too.

[BunnyHop]

Originally Posted by shammy902

that DVD looks great, thank you! I just found it on ebay for $5!

Great deal! Glad to share the info; others here recommended it to me, and I can see why.

And as for coffee? I don't have your specific health issues, but a while back I realized I just needed to give up coffee altogether. I drank decaf for years, but even that does have caffeine, and something about it wasn't doing me any favors, so I quit.

I STILL miss the stuff, and only rarely let myself have some coffee ice cream (Jamoca Almond Fudge!) and let myself enjoy it without too much guilt. (Lucky for me, we don't have a Baskin Robbins nearby, and the grocery store is perpetually sold out of the pint containers, so there's not much temptation on a regular basis.)

[Lori_Michigan]

I'm basically echoing everyone else's advice, but I also gained a lot of weight in while under a great deal of stress in my life. I was consistently working out, but gosh, nothing worked. I ended up having to cut out any workouts that furthered stressed my body, and just went with light/low impact cardio and lots of stretching (basically Ellen Barrett, Jessica Smith, Leslie, and CS/Essentrics) for nearly a year.

I still have a great deal of stress in my life, but I find taking the pressure off of losing the weight I gained ended up giving me the freedom I needed to just feel good again. I lost about 10 pounds, and I no longer feel like I have to exhaust myself. When life is stressful, my workouts just can't be!

Hoping for an upturn for you!

[Anny]

I am coming out of a stressful three years, leaving my abusive husband, divorce, trying to get work after being a homeschooling mum, returning to study, surviving on little income, etc, etc. I gained weight , have always kept up working out, and when I tried to diet as I have in the past (calorie counting) then I gained more. In the end, I took a weight vacation....just decided not to worry about my weight, work on self acceptance and that I am more than my weight, deal with other areas of my life, try to do workouts I love, try to get more sleep.

So, fast forward to now. I'm less stressed, I'm sometimes sleeping better, my life is better, I am feeling less stressed all round. This is a good time now for me to return to getting the weight off but this time I'm not stressing about it, I'm giving myself time. The time off has really helped my perspective and stress, and it seems as though my body and mind needed that break but are now ready to work on weight loss.

[buffmama]

Repetitive movements, like walking help.
Sunshine.

[CHAPLYN61]

Originally Posted by laurajhawk

Big hugs. Another vote for yoga - kundalini yoga, including meditation. KY meditations are typically mantra meditations, sometimes including movement, so it's a bit like patting the head & rubbing the tummy ... harder for your mind to wander that way.

ETA, I was posting at the same time as Jeannine - our recommendations for meditation were independent! Definitely worth a try, any kind of meditation.

I have to chime in with the Kundalini Yoga also. Maya Fiennes Detox and Destress on you tube- even the short 26 minute version has been great for chilling. I was never interested in this type of Yoga until a thread was psoted here. I have been slacking off with this, but need to get back into it.

[buffmama]

Books:
Living Your Yoga - Lasater (she used to have a column in Yoga Journal but doesn't anymore, always liked reading these)
Bringing Yoga to Life - Farhi

[momofcha]

Originally Posted by Anny

I, coming out of a stressful three years, leaving my abusive husband, divorce, trying to get work after being a homeschooling mum, returning to study, surviving on little income, etc, etc. I gained weight , have always kept up working out, and when I tried to diet as I have in the past (calorie counting) then I gained more. In the end, I took a weight vacation....just decided not to worry about my weight, work on self acceptance and that I am more than my weight, deal with other areas of my life, try to do workouts I love, try to get more sleep.

So, fast forward to now. I'm less stressed, I'm sometimes sleeping better, my life is better, I am feeling less stressed all round. This is a good time now for me to return to getting the weight off but this time I'm not stressing about it, I'm giving myself time. The time off has really helped my perspective and stress, and it seems as though my body and mind needed that break but are now ready to work on weight loss.

This is great! I'm almost at the point of this because the constant focusing on it is frustrating.

Originally Posted by buffmama

Repetitive movements, like walking help.
Sunshine.

I walk all the time! I log about 15,000 steps a day. Every day i go for a 2 1/2 mile walk (this is new in the past 3 weeks) and sometimes it aggravates my hips...

[lorajc]

Sue, I remember, when i first started yoga....that's exactly how I felt...I couldn't relax and stay still to do it and it took practice to quiet my mind at first. I also discovered Kundalini and I think you may be happier with that type of yoga...its easy to break down into small sections, they do lots of different breath work that is excellent for stress and you sometimes do arm movements in a pose or hold a pose for a long time and sometimes you work your ABS and i think you will relate it more to a workout but all along it will be working on your glands, organs and breath and you will end the session feeling refreshed and revitalized. If someone sent you some try them you may like them.