Coping with the Stress of Leadership Roles and Disordered Eating. Tips from a High Achievers Coach
Working in a high-powered job is tough. Yeah, it can be exhilarating and challenging. It’s still tough. For people biologically predisposed to developing eating disorders, a very stressful job situation can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and sends people into disordered eating patterns to cope. In fast-paced cities like NYC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago, I bet there are a lot of people who rely on disordered eating behaviors to give them temporary relief and numbness so they can keep meeting deadlines and work under intense pressure. If this description captures you, read on for validation and tips to help you get out of the disordered eating cycle.
Under Pressure - Tips from High Achievers Coach about Anxiety
In 2023, leaders are under more pressure than ever. With so many layoffs and staff reductions, increased workload lands on people who are in leadership roles.
Suppose you have a genetic predisposition to develop an eating disorder when living in Colorado, Florida, or California. In that case, that can mean that you end up relying on disordered eating behaviors such as:
The problem is that although these behaviors may help you cope with stress in the short term, they’ll lead to more anxiety in the long term. It’s because when you’re undernourished to whatever capacity (if binge eating or emotional eating is part of the picture, the restriction is there), your brain can’t work as efficiently or effectively. Work performance suffers. Stress levels skyrocket.
We Didn’t Start the Fire - Tips from High Achievers Coach about Stress
Whether you’re in tech, medicine, or finance, you’re not only dealing with the day-to-day challenges of high-powered positions, but you’re also interacting with organizations that have bureaucracy and politics, and other stressful dynamics that turn up the heat. When I was a full-time professor at a university for 12 years, I totally felt it. For four years I was the director of the marriage and family therapy graduate programs. I tried so hard to create the best environment for the faculty, staff, and students. My biggest struggle was gaining access to resources and support for the people under me. It felt like I was letting them down, and I didn’t know what to do. Whenever you have a lot of responsibility and little control, frustration and angst rule your mind. You then turn to binge eating, purging, or restricting food. Euphoria rushes in for a moment, and then you crash. Depression hits you. Hopelessness sets in.
Walk on Water - Tips from High Achievers Coach about Perfectionism
In Eminem and Beyonce’s song, “Walk on Water,” Eminem raps,
Why, are expectations so high?
Is it the bar I set?
My arms, I stretch, but I can't reach
A far cry from it, or it's in my grasp, but as
Soon as I grab, squeeze
I lose my grip like the flying trapeze.
The pressure is real. Sometimes it comes from the career. Sometimes it’s from inside you. Perfectionism is a common trait for people who struggle with disordered eating. When you’re in a leadership role, you’re not only trying to please your superiors, but you’re also hustling to help the people you lead. It’s the pressure sandwich from hell. When we are naturally high achievers, we set high goals and feel supremely satisfied when we reach them. What’s difficult is that often the bar is so high that it’d be impossible to reach. When we fall short, we feel like failures, which leads to shame spiraling. Disordered eating thrives in shame.
The more binge eating, emotional eating, and restricting food that we do, the more we spiral deeper into shame. When I first sought help for my eating disorder, I was a ball of shame. I felt like an utter failure because I couldn’t handle my eating, and I hated my body. Guess what suffered? My work performance. And my work was so much of my identity. It wasn’t until I found a trained eating disorder professional in California to support me in my recovery journey that I could escape the shame spiral and leave the eating disorder in the rearview mirror. If you’re in a leadership role and are cooking inside the pressure sandwich from hell, seek qualified help. It can save your job. It can save your life.
Start Working with a High Achievers Coach for Binge Eating in California, Florida, Atlanta, Colorado, New York, Chicago, and Anywhere in the World!
💜 Save your spot for my FREE, 3-day, live, virtual Ultimate Binge Busters Masterclass. You’ll get up-to-date information on how to overcome binge eating in 2023! It’s daily from Monday, January 23rd through Wednesday, January 25th, from 12-1p PST (3-4p EST, 8-9p GMT).
💜 Sign up for the ELITE BINGE EATING RECOVERY METHOD*. It’s a 3-month, online binge-eating coaching + an online class for professionals, students, athletes, and all-around high achievers who just want to gain balance and control of food.
💜 Watch my Instagram LIVES on Thursdays from 12-1p PST (3-4p EST, 8-9p GMT) . I have conversations with professionals such as eating disorder dietitians and therapists on many topics, such as binge eating, BED, bulimia, body image, etc. Subscribe to my Instagram @drmariannemiller, and you’ll get bulimia and BED info sent to your phone with my reels, posts, etc.
*The ELITE BINGE EATING RECOVERY METHOD is virtual binge eating education and coaching support. The goal of this program is to help people stop any type of distressed eating, such as binge eating or binge/purge behaviors via education, behavioral changes, and mindset shifts. The ELITE BINGE EATING RECOVERY METHOD is not a clinical eating disorder therapy or eating disorder treatment programs and is not intended to serve as such. In them, Dr. Marianne Miller works from her role as a binge-eating coach, not as a binge-eating therapist.