Struggling student -too much stress!

BlodynAur

Full Member
It's coming up to essay deadlines and exams which means my stress level is sky high. I've always been a stresshead, even little things get to me, so you can imagine how difficult I'm finding balancing SW with uni work right now. I was at home for the last two weeks for reading week, and although all my meals were sw, I snacked more and more as the time went on because I got more and more worried about work. I'm seriously considering not counting syns and thinking too much about sw for a while but I'm worried I'd gain weight. Any tips?!
 
you could try a snack tin.
try to eat meals low syn and then have a tin with snacks, that makes up for a set amount of syns, when its out its out. and u could put a big fruitbasket next to it, so for every syn snack you try to have a superfree snack.
Good luck with your exams!
 
I think the snack tin is a great idea as it means you have less to think about.

you have done so well losing the weight you already have so I think it is a case of damage limitation during this stressful time. Would it help to not keep high syn foods in the house and stock up on loads of free and super free foods so naturally you snack on them. Even it means you eat more of those than you normally would it is better than eating high syn foods.

the best of luck with your exams
 
I agree with the previous posts. I think a snack tin with low syn snacks you enjoy would be good. If finances permit get some other free/low syn foods/fave fruits to have in the house, stuff you can do quickly such as the pasta n sauces etc. If you really want to try to stick to things you could possibly just take two hours out of your schedule at the weekend to batch cook a couple of different meals and freeze them into portion sizes so you don't have to both cooking during the week, just keeping things simple and alternating your fave free/low syn foods. If that would be too much then just go with the attitude you'll try to maintain till the stress is over with and then get back into it later .... good luck! x
 
When I was doing my finals our director of studies advised us not to try and think about any other life goals, like losing weight specifically! But a lot of people do gain a lot during exams so it's very sensible to want to avoid that, or at least avoid too much of that - I'd aim to maintain myself, or just to gain a few pounds max. It'll all be over soon!

I'd advise trying to think of some other 'treats' you can have that only take a little while and can be built round your studying, because I know I tend to turn to food as a comfort when I don't have time to relax in other ways. Even if it's just having a bath instead of a shower or singing along to some really cheering music as a break once in a while.

I know I got through a LOT of diet coke during exams and while not that healthy, at least it was something 'interesting' to enjoy instead of just having lots of snacks. If you can, buy some nice exotic fruits and I liked the idea above of a snack tin and alternating healthy and not-so-healthy snacks.
 
I'm a stresshead student too! it's normal! what I do is make sure theres chocolate muller light desserts (5 syns each) also I have a lot of snacks for my treat tub.... What I do is count 15 syns worth of my treats and put it in a tub along with my HE B.... I know I can eat all of the tub and be within my syns as long as my meals are free...

best thing to do, I know there are deadlines but have a day off!! or half a day! thats whats got be through my essays... I'm better at essays than exams but stressing as the uni has decided we need an exam to pass our year!! its apparantly stuff we know already just need to get our head around certain stuff but thats not gonna stop me from crapping myself lol! hold in there hun!

If you do go way off track, try and have syn free meals so you can snack throughout the day... also try flexisyns... if you know you're having a stressy day, then add i dunno another 15 syns or more to your usual syn allowance... this takes the guilt away from having treats or going out which in turn will make you eat more or get more stressy... but what it doesn't guarentee is a weightloss... it's a good compromise i find :)

GOOD LUCK with your exams and essays xxxx
 
I'm in the same situation at the moment, nearing my final law exams and a mountain of coursework to get done over the next two months. I also found it tempting to knock this on the head for a while in order to focus all my thoughts on uni but I didn't and am glad I have (so far!!) managed to keep going. I'll tell you why. My concentration levels have SOARED in the last few weeks! I can't tell you how much of an improvement I have noticed- I am a part time student so tend to spend a whole weekend in the library at a time and these were previously powered by chocolate buttons, biscuits etc. I now take fruit and low syn snacks and have noticed a huge improvement in the amount of work I get done in a day. And I didn't think anything was wrong before!

Do you know what though, if you need to be a bit more lenient with yourself in order to get through the next couple of months then so be it. Once this stressful period is over you can then turn your full attention to SW and maybe up your exercise and things like that.

So whilst my personal advice would be to try and view SW as an aid to your studying and not a hinderance (easier said than done), if you need to give yourself a bit of a break to get through your exams then nobody can criticise you for that, and you certainly shouldn't criticise yourself.

Good luck!

J x
 
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