Eating when bored!!!!! Stop the madness!!

I need help!! I eat when I am bored. To fill the time. I love food I really love eating and enjoy it but I hate it when I eat to eat. I need help in what to do during these times. It is so hard to keep myself from eating and eating.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Stacie

Oh yeh & drinking 2-3 ltrs of water a day helps fill you up like others have suggested.

thats my problem too but i dont seem to have much boredom time lately!! Biggest tactic is keeping busy, i go to work then about half hour after getting home im off to the gym, then i have a late dinner and dont really feel that hungry after the gym either, i will not buy anything junky anymore, dont have it in the house and you cant eat it!! sometimes i get crazy cravings for chocolate or chips but i refuse to go out and get it!...i find the hardest time to keep on track is when we get stuck on a plateau, iv just had over 2 months of not being able to lose anything..up and down a pound or two every few days, so frustrating!! then finally this week the weight is dropping off again, I AM SOOOOOOO HAPPY and truly motivated to clamp down on my eating again!!

try writing or typing out what you want to eat, why, why you don't want to, what you would enjoy doing instead of being bored

orrr,

try setting a timer for fifteen minutes and telling yourself that if the fifteen minutes is up and you still want to eat something you can then and then at that fifteen minute end you might as well try setting it for another fifteen! you can kinda trick yourself into finding something else to do

orrr,

clean! i clean alot to distract myself

ha ha sparkle!! i use that tactic at the gym with exercise, like im only gonna row 2,000 metres and then when u get to it, i i can just manage another 500 and so on till u really cant do anymore, its easier than thinking you have 5,000 to do at the beginning and feeling worn out by the 3,000 one...also drinking lots of water works for me too

Gum.. Lots of Gum, seems to work for me... Try sugar free though (have to look out for cavities)

Really I don't see anything wrong to eat just for the sake of eating. It is your body and if you feel like eating , well then go for it.  I have recently gained weight ... whoopie ..... like it is anyone's business in the first place. A true friend will stick with u even when you are overweight, and I dare say obese .. like me. I have become to reallly enjoy being heavier than I used to be. People who don't know me don't care, just the people who knew me B4 when I was thin seem to make a big deal out of it... not verbally, but I can tell that they are kind a taken aback by the whole weight gain thing. Really if you want to eat to eat... well okay, just as if you don't want to eat then don't. Being overweight and obese is not a crime and with time you will see who your real friends are.

I get bored on my job. I am often waiting for appointments. I am starting to read books. I go to coffee shops but that is dangerous with all the cake around. It seems when I stop eating compulsivly realize that I don't have a lot of hobbies or enough people in my life to just shmooze with. Scary all the stuff that comes up when I am not overeating.

Original Post by sowhatifimbiggerthenb4:

Really I don't see anything wrong to eat just for the sake of eating. It is your body and if you feel like eating , well then go for it. 

Since most of us are here trying to lose weight, we are trying to resist that urge to eat just for the sake of eating.  I struggle with this too.  When I find myself reaching for everything and anything in the pantry, I ask myself what I want.  Then what do I really want?  I may want a cookie or some chips, but what I really want is to eat more healthfully and stop carrying around this extra weight.  I also find that if I focus more on eating enough of the foods that are good for me, I don't reach for the empty-calorie snacks as much.  I try to eat 5-7 fruits and vegetables a day, so I make a deal with myself, that I can eat a bit of the junk once I get those fruits and veggies in.  The more I am eating healthy foods, the less I want the extras. 

sparkle you are too funny.  Love your ideas I am on that!  My kids are going to go crazy with me typing to stop eating snacks, they are gonna jump right on with me I bet.  Silly name since you list cleaning as a busy buster idea!  Wish I had the cleaning bug my house could use a little of you!  I gotta say I agree with sowhat too.  though sometimes eating to eat is just fun!  Especially with kids! But yes viki we are here for a purpose and must stick to task!  Thanks for the ideas sparkle let you know how I make out with that since my mom just bought the kids 2 halfs of ice cream last night.

I am definitely a boredom eater... First, I try to stay away from my "food triggers", like watching tv or reading... then, I try to get busy doing something that does not go well with food.... talking on the phone to someone who would be disgusted to the sound of my chewing, weeding a garden, cleaning the bathroom... all right, not necessarily exciting stuff, but it does make me stop thinking about food! Now, off to the gym-- it is time to start over on an exercise program... again.

mcboddy: i am an endless string of nervous energy lol so cleaning till things sparkle helps but i never noticed that my username might reflect that! haha

sowhat: i'm confused as to why you are on the forum then?

Original Post by stacie48:

I need help!! I eat when I am bored. To fill the time. I love food I really love eating and enjoy it but I hate it when I eat to eat. I need help in what to do during these times. It is so hard to keep myself from eating and eating.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Stacie

chew on GUM. Its the best reliever. You can chew on it as long as you want and you can chew on it to fill in the boredom and you wont even gain anything! (I used to get Blow Pops but they were too expensive to suck on everyday so I just decided to get myself the cheaper alternative which is menthol gum)

It's really hard, but it gets easier.  That first time that you say "I'm going to bed without that delicious cookie...or 3!" then you know what? the next day it's so much easier because you exerted that self-discipline!  It's tough when your willpower is broken and sometimes it feels as if you're in a downward spiral, but don't let youself get down.  Just acknowledge that you're human, you ate b/c you were bored, but be able to stop it, go brush your teeth, have some gum or some nice tea...better yet, run up and down the stairs 10 times, exercise is a natural appetite suppresor!  Good luck to us all that have a hard time with this; but we can do it!!! :)

What I do when I'm bored (which is rare), I blast some music and just start dancing. That usually take my cravings away or I'll watch a couple of movies on Netflix...there's so many movies to distract me from the kitchen...being since when I'm watching a movie I've never seen I never want to get up.

Plus I also learned a technique about my body...after eating lunch I usually still feel hungry like I barely ate...but what I do is log on to Netflix, watch a movie or a show and by the time what I'm watching is finished the feeling of wanting to eat more is gone.

Clean your house, that always gets your mind out of the kitchen, because when you're cleaning you want to get it over with. If you clean each day, try not to clean for a week and then start cleaning, you'll see that you'll have so much to do that the kitchen will be far from your mind lol

Drink a glass of water and wait 20-30mins, if that doesn't work and all else fails and you know that it's really hunger then eat something healthy like an apple.

What also helps me if my house is clean I feel alive and organized...just the feeling of not having to clean anything...cause your house plays some part on wanting to eat.

Also break the habit of eating while watching television...it distracts you so much that you don't know when you're full.

Ok I'm typing too much

Pretty much sing, dance, read, walk, exercise, knit, if you like video games-play something that is intense...if you play SIMS you're gonna get bored and hungry lol it always happens to me. Have green tea, drink water, call someone and talk until your next meal, go into the boxes and places in your apartment that you usually don't go to and discover a lot of things you haven't seen or used in years and mesmerize.....Do whatever you can to keep yourself busy

Rawr!  This week I've been having such a problem with boredom eating!

I eat when bored too... for me it's usually later in the evening. To try and stop myself I have a glass of water or a green tea. Or I just do something to keep myself occupied. Like the washing!! I love eating so it can be really hard not too give in. I make sure I don't buy naughty foods though - like biscuits, sweets and crisps... That way if I do give in to temptation it's more likely that I'll be grabbing and apple!

like all the people who have posted in this tread i to eat when im bored, i havn't really found anything that helps my self, but not having junk food around or near me but if i do give in i usually cook, instead of getting something quick. alot of the times by the time im cooking im not bored anymore so im not hungry and Dinner would have already been made! hahahah

I too eat out of boredom but for me it's the after 7pm time.  I try to factor in some night time eating in my calories during the day.  Your body should eat every 3 hours to regulate the sugars.  If you eat dinner at 5pm and go to bed at 10 or 11, that is a long time until morning without eating.  I disagree on the whole gum chewing thing.  Gum does nothing but make you hungrier.  It puts air in your stomach and I just get a stomach that growls.  I'll pass on the gum theory.  I will have a low fat cereal.  For me it's puffed rice.  Not the best thing to eat but it does it for me.  Some people can have the veggies to help them.  Just try to work in some calories for when you have the craving or need to eat.  I find surfing online or playing online games helps me keep busy.  Doing something with your hands like knitting could also help. I find working out makes me more hungry during the day.  My friends find the same thing happens to them.  The body is burning those calories during the day.  Those days I have to really try hard not to eat more.

Keeping your mind busy is key!

I'm the same way.  Generally I just brush my teeth.  Nothing tastes good afterwards, and tadaa you have beautiful sparkling teeth :)

What you should do is simple drink a glass of water and your stomach will be tricked into thinking it's full or do an activity to keep your mind busy...