living alone is making me FAT!!!

does anyone live alone?  have you noticed that you eat better when you are with other people? 

i just got back from a two week vacay with my whole family, during which i lost 5 pounds.  during these two weeks i exercised less than normal (walked about 3 miles a day as opposed to 5-6), ate three meals of whatever i wanted and had dessert pretty much every day. 

this has made me realize that i'm naturally supposed to be skinny if i just eat like a normal person!!  but this is soooo so so hard for me to do when i am alone.  with family, i waited to eat until everyone else did.  i ate good, delicious meals at restaurants where i stopped when i was full.  i didn't think about food one bit and i ate what i wanted.  but back in the real world, i find myelf eating chocolate at 2 in the morning because i am bored or lonely or both.  i obsess about eating enough fruits and veg.  it's so hard to explain the differences in how i eat by myself and with others.  it's like i am a different person.

has anyone else noticed such a difference???  how do you deal?  i guess i don't really know what i'm looking for with this post, but i've had this revelation.  to be skinny, i just need to eat normally, not think about food, eat regular meals.  i just find this impossible to do living on my own, especially since i can barely cook. 

gah.  sorry this is so long.  maybe it should have been a journal post!  but please, if anyone has any advice, please fill me in......

 

I live on my own as well and the best thing to have a budget for your groceries so you don't overspend (coupons are great!), stock up on a few recipe books, and learn to cook.  I didn't have a clue of how to cook a single item when I first moved out of my parent's house, but I had to learn otherwise I would've starved or spent all of my money by eating out.  Also, plan your meals ahead of time for the entire week (including lunches & snacks to bring to work) so you can stock up at the grocery store on those particular items & you will know what to prepare for each day.  As for fresh veggies--get only what you can eat within a few days because they tend to go bad quickly!  I prefer frozen vegetables because I can just use a small portion & put the rest back into the freezer.  Overtime you will find that you will want to spend your hard earned money on healthy choices rather than junk & it will just come naturally to you.

Good luck

I have this problem all the time. You just need to learn what your specific vices are. For me, if I don't stock up on any bad food then I will not eat it. I am usually way too lazy to walk to the grocery store and pick something up. If it's 2am and there is no chocolate around, I wont be able to eat it :). At first, I found it very hard to stick with this and never felt very satiated with fruits and veggies as a substitute, but as time goes by and you begin to see progress in the little things, you will become motivated. Just yesterday my boyfriend ordered pizza, and I didn't have a slice because I told him to order an all meat pizza (I'm a vegetarian) so that I wouldn't be tempted. Once it's in front of me I can't say no, but if I plan out my days then I can control what I eat.

Before I moved out, I also never cooked a thing in my entire life. Now I am cooking tofu, cutting out spaghetti (pasta is the easiest thing to make when you live alone), and finding new and creative ways to make salad :) You just can't let yourself be intimidated with the oven. It doesn't happen over night, you will suddenly not be able to cook an entire delicious feast like a pro. You need to work at it like anything else. If you really want to change you will. Also, I use "allrecipes.com" for recipes. It's an awesome website, and really helped me to slowly gain confidence in my cooking abilities.

tahiti also gave some great pointers :)

There are so many people who write posts on CC about how they live with others with bad eating habits that influences them to eat badly. Or their family hate healthy foods. Or they can't get to a gym because they don't have babysitters.

What I'm saying is that you're actually really fortunate living alone because you're 100% in charge of your lifestyle If you can't cook there's a huge opportunity right there..... Seek out a local cookery course and go along. It would help you in two ways by enabling you to make good quality meals and also by getting you out of the house where 'boredom' seems to be your main issue.

And if you miss the company of living with other people, how about renting out a spare room?

Good luck

Yuyu

I agree with GI Jane in that you have control over your lifestyle. I live by myself and have done for nearly 2 years, and I think that has played a major role in my weightloss and lifestyle. I am the opposiite to you, if I live with friends/family there is much more temptation, eating out/ takeaways, sharing food shopping etc..

A few tips for you:

Plan out your meals for the week and buy only the ingredients for those meals, do your food shopping weekly.

Do not buy junk food or chocolate if you think that you will be too tempted to eat them all, stock up on healthy snacks.

If you cook too much, freeze off portions straight away so you are not tempted to eat leftovers, you save money this way too!

Hope this helps

 

I'm the opposite.  I gained a ton of weight over the year that my sister lived with me because I felt like I had to eat if she was eating.  Now that I'm on my own, I feel more in control and I only eat if I'm hungry (which is lots - no danger of me undereating!)  Plus, I get to cook the foods I like.

Remember that you have control of what goes in your cupboards.  If you have problems eating too many sweets, etc., just don't buy them.  If you want them for a special occasion, buy exactly how much you need and no more.  And if it makes you lonely to eat alone, invite people over for dinner. 

We're quite similar. I'm struggling with binging, and when I'm around others - I dont binge. Im more likely to overeat, but not binge. When I'm all alone, I'm prone to binging, whether its out of boredome or loneliness or curiosity to try something new ("hmmm....I wonder how it wud taste if i mash a banana, freeze it, then put melted peanut butter over it, some jam, and hmm maybe some chocolate sprinkles....wow that was too sweet - so how about something cheesy, ooo now i feel like a massive amount of oatmeal mixed with a couple hundred grams of cheese and some curry powder? oh well that was a bit too hot...i guess some cereal with yogurt and berries sounds good...." and it can go on and on and on...).

Around other people I'll eat normally and stop when full (okay, maybe I'll feel like I need to stop a little after I'm full, but nothing crazy). When alone, I also start to obsess over what to eat - particularly because I've never really cooked much, and because theres so many more options and IM in control of my nutrition. Right now I dont live alone or have control over what I eat (mostly), but soon I will have more control.

Actually, I'm dead scared that next year when I start university and having more control over what I eat (although tahts arguable, considering there's alot of baad dorm food), my binging will get more out of control.

I'd say you should keep away foods you dont want to be *constantly* snacking on. Having chocolate is fine, nothing wrong with that, but dont ALWAYS have it around. have a bar once or twice a week - cut it into pieces and store them in seperate places. make obstacles around it so you have time to think and consider what you're doing - are you really craving it? or are you just bored?

When you are cooking or preparing your food, tape your mouth so that you dont eat more than half your meal before its fully prepared (I dunno if you have this problem, but I know I do).

I think the best best best way to combat this is to keep yourself busy. If you're eating out of boredome, or obsessing and thinking too much about what to eat, etc, then you need to find something to do, or someone to hang out with. Call a friend, watch a movie, excersize, join a club or activity or course. on free days dont sit around at home, but rather go out and do something interesting - sinema with friends, museum, park, picnic with friends/family? try cycling or walking around the entire town/city - make it an adventure. just have a "mission" to do during your free time (whether it be going somewhere, finding a random spot on a map, running a few miles, finishing a book, getting to level 20 in that wierd online mini-game,  or doing a crossword puzzle), and keep your mind off eating and food.

At a point when you're not obsessing over it all, sit down and plan what you'd like to eat and the groceries you need to buy. Also think about what you'd like to learn to cook, and look up healthy recipes and cooking techniques, etc. Maybe you could take a cooking course too (although it might not be a good idea if you;re like me and will not be able to control the curiosity of trying new things all at the same time).

 

hope this helps

For me its the reverse, I have full control when alone but binge when im with family and friends. But my weakness is also chocolate. Yeah chocolates at night is great. My allowance of two kisses a day would end up to alot of kisses. I think i have to trade this with a real kiss.

I lived alone for a while and I was kind of depressed living alone because my parents were over 30 minutes away and my friends had all gone off to college and I wasn't really doing anything besides sitting around, shopping, etc.  I ate a lot of fast food and maxed out all my credit cards that my parents had given me.  Bad idea.

It is also very hard for me to simply eat when hungry, stop when full, and to not eat for any NON physical reason when I am alone.

I live alone - and have had eating disorders and am planning to study food science and have a food/nutrition/ alternative eating directed life (career wise) and although I am healthy, my past precipitation with food, and the fact it is still very much part of my life (albeit in a healthy way) BASICALLY makes it tempting to snack every few hours out of HABIT, NOT because I am hungry.

Agh, it is not even that I over eat necessarily - I never know how much I truly need because I never wait until I am hungry to eat!

The only easy way to just sit there and wait until I am physically hungry, is to just spend the day with my parents when they are visiting from over seas, and to get out of the house and keep busy!

If alone - food tends to break up the day for me… study for 3 hours, stretch, then look forward to food. Do something else, do the washing up, study for an hour, knowing that I can look forward to eating when done.. Etc

And don’t get me started about night eating - it is so easy to want a little chocolate when you are bored, cannot sleep, and a good thing on TV comes on.

　

　

My BMI is 18.5 - 19.5 , about 5 ‘ 5 and about 111 - 115 at heaviest…. And this is when I eat when I am NOT hungry, and eat more then I need. So, if I ONLY ate when hungry I would lose weight, only eat about 1000 - 1300 calories a day, and be very under weight.

So obviously I am not good enough at recognizing WHAT my physical hunger feels like, OR my body does not give out strong enough signals. Lol.

out of interest personal trainer? calorifically what do you take in in a day???

　

　

I recently heard from some one about how when they lacked certain things, they never felt hungry; their body only started to emit hunger signals once they ate enough of the right things/foods. So maybe a lack of something can stop hunger. Who knows.

　

FIDGET - From 1750 min - 1800 sedentary, to 2200 active, depending how active.

Some days I eat more - once or twice a week when I want an extra chocolate bar or other fave treat.

I eat slightly more then all those calculators say will maintain my weight. I do this mentally, not because I am physically hungry; after restricting years ago, having a little extra food makes me feel better ,it reinforces the fact that I am now kind to my body.