I can't stop eating but I'm not hungry

Jennym93

What do I do?
I think I'm hungry cook food then realise I'm not hungry, I'm eating for the sake of it but I don't know how to get out of this routine.
I don't do it every day but sometimes I just can't stop eating even though I'm not hungry, the only time I don't think about food is when I'm really full, if I don't feel full I feel like eating, I sometimes can't even tell whether I'm hungry or my stomach just isn't full any more.
Anyone else struggle with this?

kindrabbit

Yes, that's what got me 4 stone over weight and very very unhappy.
I can only tell you what worked for me and that was seeing a photo of myself that just about killed me. I just hadn't realised. It took me about 2 weeks to stop feeling sorry for myself and really push to actually do something constructive. luckily I am quite obsessive so i had to find something healthy to obsess about. I joined a slimming club and started ct5K and haven't looked back. My enthusiasm has dipped and peaked over the last 2 years but I have always tried to better myself.

Something has to click in you that makes you want to change your habit more than you want to keep eating.

TofuCat82

This is a daily struggle for me too. Food tastes good! I want to eat all of it!!!

It's something I am working on. I'm trying to change my relationship with food by eating slower, eating smaller portions and increasing my water intake. I've also been drinking herbal tea because it has a lot of health benefits and zero calories.

MindySaysWhaaat

The first thing is to discern the difference between feeling emotionally hungry and physically hungry. I can honestly say before I started thinking about it seriously, I NEVER felt physically hungry, but at the same time I was almost ALWAYS emotionally hungry.

Then I had to learn how to be okay when I was feeling hungry. Pre-log what you're planning on eating, and then when it's done, you have to try to focus on stopping yourself from overeating. Try to cut back slowly so you can have time to adjust to lesser portions.

Momjogger

What helps for me: Not eating processed carbs during the day (yogurt and fruit for breakfast - chicken and vegetable soup or salad with chicken on it or chicken chili for lunch), eating a TON of veggies with meals so I DO feel full on (healthy) bulk - not lots of calories, and eating lots of fruit during the day helps for some reason - strawberries, melons, apples, bananas and pineapple. I probably eat at least five servings of fruit a day. That's only 250 calories though - the same amount of calories in one bag of chips, but a lot more filling!

LAWoman72

Could it be that you're just bored and in a rut? What about taking up some stimulating new hobby, like painting, hot yoga, ghost hunting?

TimothyFish

Are you weighing everything with a food scale? For me, the effort required to log everything makes me decide it just isn't worth it to eat. Weighing everything would make it that much worse.

Arliah

Maybe you are not really hungry but thirsty. Thirst can sometimes be mistaken for hunger. Next time you feel hungry, try to drink something (water or tea).
And if you still cook ... just wrap it up and save it for later

harmar21

I did that to, which got me to 350lbs.

Things I did to stop --
No longer buying food that I just can't seem to help myself around. This is usually salty foods. I no longer buy nuts for this reason, the other week I ate 1.5lbs of macadamia nuts in 4 days. I still accounted for most of it, but basically meant I had to give up almost 1000 calories each day of other foods. Salty foods trigger this addiction type thing in me where I find it almost impossible to stop.

Drink more water. I find this helps a lot for hunger suppression. I went from drinking maybe a litre of water per day to 4L (1gallon). If there are days I am having trouble drinking that much, I will put in some crystal lite or something to make it easier to down.

Keeping photos of how I used to look like. Dont want to go back looking that way.

Momjogger

I agree with the keeping foods out of he house you can't control thing harmar 21. Try this: juice of half a lemon with 12 to 16 ounces water and 4 packets stevia - inexpensive, calorie free lemonade.

urloved33

eat at scheduled times of the day only until you are used to knowing what hunger/full feels like.

confusedtracey

Jennym93 wrote: »

What do I do?
I think I'm hungry cook food then realise I'm not hungry, I'm eating for the sake of it but I don't know how to get out of this routine.
I don't do it every day but sometimes I just can't stop eating even though I'm not hungry, the only time I don't think about food is when I'm really full, if I don't feel full I feel like eating, I sometimes can't even tell whether I'm hungry or my stomach just isn't full any more.
Anyone else struggle with this?

Nuts are a good thing to have when this jappens babe. They take ages eat taste nice and because you chewing for longer the brain tells you when you.ve had enough xxx ( i mix my own)

harmar21

confusedtracey wrote: »

Jennym93 wrote: »

What do I do?
I think I'm hungry cook food then realise I'm not hungry, I'm eating for the sake of it but I don't know how to get out of this routine.
I don't do it every day but sometimes I just can't stop eating even though I'm not hungry, the only time I don't think about food is when I'm really full, if I don't feel full I feel like eating, I sometimes can't even tell whether I'm hungry or my stomach just isn't full any more.
Anyone else struggle with this?

Nuts are a good thing to have when this jappens babe. They take ages eat taste nice and because you chewing for longer the brain tells you when you.ve had enough xxx ( i mix my own)

Im the complete opposite. I could easily eat 400grams of salted macadmia nuts in 1 sitting which is almost 3000 calories. Even unsalted I could eat a ton. Nuts contain A LOT of calories. I was shocked how much they had when I first looked them up.

How about eating a lb of brocolli. Most likely fill you up long before you could finish it and only about 150 calories.

creativeshaun

I feel the same. I always eat when im not hungry usually because im a comfort eater and all i do is eat,eat, eat..... I try so hard to be good to myself but i can't.