Stress + Depression = Weight Gain

Yesterday, as I lay next to my sweetie and he was holding me as we were talking about some things, I was thinking about how comforting it felt to be there. I am so in love with him for many reasons and one of those reasons is how he makes me feel when we're snuggled up together and discussing things in our life.

There are days in my past where food has done the exact same thing. I'm sure we all can relate to this at some point in time. Life can be really tough for us at times, knocking us off our feet, and sending us in a whirlwind of depression or we can be stressing severely about whatever issue is going on.

Do you have a comfort food which soothes your senses, even if only temporarily?

Even if you don't, I do. When I get downright depressed or bothered by every day issues in my life, I normally avoid stuffing my face with that comfort food. You're going to be surprised to know what it is because talking with others, I know they eat fried chicken or have a milkshake from McDonalds. Some bake cakes or order take-out Chinese. As I think about mine right now, my eyebrows crinkle up, asking myself, what exactly is so good about this combination. Okay, let me show you:





That's right. Jalapeño Cheddar Cheetos with Philadelphia's Whipped Cream Cheese. I'm going to be downright honest and go the full length here. When I do this? It's not the small, snack-sized bag you see pictured here, but instead, the full-sized bag and nearly the entire container of cream cheese is demolished when I cower in my corner and eat this mess. Let's break this down because many of us are in denial when it comes to just how many calories, carbohydrates, fats, and etc... that it is we eat in our time of comfort.

Cheddar Jalapeño Cheetos Nutritional Information for ONE serving:



A one ounce serving has all that, but when you buy a 9-ounce bag, broken down is:

Calories: 1530
Fat: 99 Grams
Carbs: 135

Read that with me, ONE THOUSAND and THIRTY calories. Let's move on to the cream cheese:

There wasn't a nutritional label available, so I went to SparkPeople and put the information in there for one bowl of whipped cream cheese. Just look at this:



So basically, what you are seeing is this:

Calories: 720
Fat: 72 grams
Carbohydrates: 0

For a grand total of 2,250 calories and 171 grams of fat.

I'm simply disgusted right now. I've never broken it down like that before. I've never even justified that eating this comforting garbage would've added so much damage to my body. Compare this with my daily nutritional goals and you'll understand my upset. My daily nutritional goals in these the three areas are:

Calories: 2,200
Fats: (varies)
Carbohydrates: 75

I can't really add in the fats because it does vary considering I somewhat follow a low-carb plan. I do say, "somewhat" because I don't intentionally do it. If you are new here and haven't seen me mention it before, I simply stay away from most processed foods. It's a rare day that I will eat pasta, rice, or breads or even refined sugar, corn syrups, etc... basically, my eating style is that it has to be less than 3 ingredients and must be grown or once walked the earth. So my fats do vary, but back to that comfort food. From this point on? I'm going to refrain from buying those Cheetos. At the end of eating that mess, I feel worse than I did before I started because the guilt eats me up. It's rare that I do eat that, but I believe it was just a week and a half ago that I found myself in a bag and a bowl.

The next time you find yourself eating emotionally like this, do what I just did... look up the information and put yourself on blast for the world to see. I'm sure if you're anything on the mindset that I am while trying to get this weight off, you will be ashamed and will look at your food differently.

Have a great day!