Always thinking about food

Roboticist

I think constantly about what my next meal is going to be. After lunch I dread the hours I'll have to wait before being able to eat something again. Being meticulous about logging my calories also contributes to the constant thought of food, and I worry some days that it's harmful for my mental and emotional well-being. Does anyone else feel that way? How do you deal with it?

bmele0

I also struggle with this mentality.

Something that helps me is planning my food for the next day beforehand and having somewhat set meal times. In between those times, I try to do things that take my mind off it- you know like all those other things humans do on a daily basis like cleaning, working, reading, exercising, or watching tv. Lol But now that I'm getting more into my workouts, I'm thinking about that instead a little obsessively. I figure that can't be too terrible a thing.

nickycat73

Yes, I do as well. I am going to try and do more food prep and pre-log to help with this.

NobodyPutsAmyInTheCorner

I used to think about food all the time. I would then eat all the time. I ended up fat and then ended up here.

It is difficult to get out of the living to eat mentality. Especially when we are trying so hard to change that round to eating to live. It can be done. What you may find helpful is prelogging your days. That way you only really need to to think at each mealtime. You'll have logged your day, you know what you are having, you know what is coming and that way you don't have to sit daydreaming about your next meal.

We've all been there. I'm 5 months down the line now and I hardly think about food. I eat when my stomach growls and then I'm done until the next meal.

isulo_kura

Roboticist wrote: »

I think constantly about what my next meal is going to be. After lunch I dread the hours I'll have to wait before being able to eat something again. Being meticulous about logging my calories also contributes to the constant thought of food, and I worry some days that it's harmful for my mental and emotional well-being. Does anyone else feel that way? How do you deal with it?

My first thought is are you actually eating enough? Just guessing but are you set to eat 1200 calories a day?Looking at your profile you only have a relatively small amount to lose so you goals should be set at .5 pound a week. That added to any exercise calories you eat back would give you a good amount to eat which would mean you're not desperate for the next meal and still losing weight

atypicalsmith

Take a walk. Breathe fresh air. Do it early in the morning or late in the afternoon so it's not so hot. My stomach growls all the time. I don't care except when it embarrasses me in church. I walk with my dog at least two miles a day, walk in place in front of the TV. No excuses!

bmele0

See I was opposite to Aimeerace- I didn't think about food all the time when I was morbidly obese. I remember I wasn't hungry much and I certainly wasn't paying attention or thinking about food before. Part of the problem was me not giving much thought to what I was putting in my mouth.

Now I'm like hyper-aware. They say knowledge is power and their right! I don't think I could ever go back to thoughtlessly eating food.

TimothyFish

Perhaps, allocate some of your meal calories for snacks between meals.

NobodyPutsAmyInTheCorner

bmele0 wrote: »

See I was opposite to Aimeerace- I didn't think about food all the time when I was morbidly obese. I remember I wasn't hungry much and I certainly wasn't paying attention or thinking about food before. Part of the problem was me not giving much thought to what I was putting in my mouth.

Now I'm like hyper-aware. They say knowledge is power and their right! I don't think I could ever go back to thoughtlessly eating food.

I lived to eat. Hence I ate... A lot! DOH

RoxieDawn

MFP feeds those with OCD pretty well...

and yes I do think about calories and "will it fit in?", etc.. all the time..

pumpkinpocalypse

Same over here. Heck, i plan my whole week's meals ahead in details, and sometimes even further...my mom living with me say i'm obsessive. Maybe she's right, but i feel a need to be greatly organized..
Even though my stress about food used to be a lot more worse (like literally the only thing on my mind at all time, getting sad over food, meals not being what i planned them to be on that exact day, or calories etc), it's still a big part of me. I just started to approach it another way...I cook a lot, and doing so is my little happiness. I just love cooking so much!
I think its more or less about learning how you see food, your relationship with it, and fix what got messed up (after some time into a diet it does that i guess). If you were like me, maybe youre restricting too much things or nutrition groups out of your diet, and it gets you 1. Always thinking about those "bad" foods 2. You end up having limited, a bit fad, not exactly fulfilling or enjoyable meals. Either your brain and feelings arent satisfied, or even worse, your body isnt being fed enough. Therefore it sends signals to your brain, telling you youre hungry and to eat xy food. That happpens a lot to people on low fat/ low carb. They actually are necessary to your diet, and when i myself found out about it and started eating more, more healthy fats, more good carbs to fuel my workouts, that's when I started stressing and thinking less about food and having a life that seemed more normal to me again. Kinda felt like ditching the whole diet thing, except ot's faaar from being true.

hupsii

Roboticist wrote: »

I think constantly about what my next meal is going to be. After lunch I dread the hours I'll have to wait before being able to eat something again. Being meticulous about logging my calories also contributes to the constant thought of food, and I worry some days that it's harmful for my mental and emotional well-being. Does anyone else feel that way? How do you deal with it?

This happened to me when I was doing WW, what to eat, what to cook, how much can I eat, what are the points / kcals of this or that, what can I eat next, etc. If you have little to lose, I would suggest to maintain for a while and listen to your body. Eat only when hungry -if you want, you can still log. When you feel more relaxed, you can start again your weight loss.

zyxst

I think about food all the time now. Didn't half as much when I was fatter. I look at a lot of food porn which helps.

Francl27

I think about food all the time too. Before, I would just eat it and be done with it...

ruggedshutter

I used to and then I had to break a few habits. First was how early I ate breakfast. I would wake up at 4am, exercise 30 minutes and eat breakfast by 5am. Now I push breakfast back to 9:30 or 10 because I was snacking between breakfast and lunch because I was getting hungry again. My breakfast was about 250 calories and wouldn't hold me over.

The other habit is a little harder and that is an afternoon snack. I eat a larger lunch now at around 700 calories. This combined with my later breakfast helps keep me full the rest of the day until I eat dinner at 6 or 7pm. If I get hungry, I have tea that I can make at my desk. My calorie goal is 2000 calories so I try to leave the remaining 1000 calories for dinner and evening snack.

So I have removed 2 snacks and eat basically 3 meals and a night snack if I have remaining calories left. The constant eating snacks all day was leaving me with too few calories at meal times to make me feel full.

livingleanlivingclean

I struggle with this too - it drains me emotionally, especially when trying to plan food for myself and my husband to fit our different macros to support our goals (we both compete in bodybuilding).... Then there's the prep after the planning!

I do have periods of not tracking and not worrying so much about what I'm eating - i know roughly how much I need to eat, and just keep an eye on the scale and how I look in the mirror.