What are your eating triggers?

lessismoreohio

I've been on MFP for about 2 years and have had some success. But I've been hot and cold on my food tracking as of late and have plateaued in my weight loss. Now I'm back to getting serious about this whole MFP thing and I started losing again this week.

I'm also starting to understand my food triggers; what causes me to eat too much and what causes me to eat the wrong things. One big one for me is family drama (emotional eating). Another one is visiting certain relatives (being around people who make it easy for me to rationalize bad choices). I find that certain situations and certain people can bring out the worst in me from the stand-point of what I eat and how much I eat.

What are your eating triggers? I'd really like to know.

Incidentally, 2 important things I've learned in my 2 years on MFP:

1. The social side of this journey is important; MFP friends help to motivate and can be powerful role models. Some of the people on these boards are simply amazing.

2. For me exercise is important (I lift weights and/or get some type of exercise on most days), but calories in/calories out is the key. As they say, you can't out-run a bad diet.

Sirius_12

Eating is my eating trigger. Seriously. The "that's enough" switch in my brain just has never worked.

vmiller1941

Hi Lessismore: I am a recent participant in this journey to health. I don't know if I have any advise, but I am fortunate enough to be divorced which was a huge eating excuse. My circle of friends strive to make healthier choices. I do take responsibility for my weaknesses. I feel no one is responsible for what goes in my mouth, but me. I LOVE peanut butter. That is a huge trigger. Also not have fruit in the house is another way I leverage toward the pb. I love MFP and seeing what I am eating and the numerical content really helps. I think I've found my ally. I'd like to be your friend and provide some truth in my journey. My name is Vivian.

lessismoreohio

Loser_Winner wrote: »

Eating is my eating trigger. Seriously. The "that's enough" switch in my brain just has never worked.

Yep, I can relate to this as well......

Thanks for sharing this.

ruffalicious

Boredom. Sometimes just binging

vmiller1941

Peanut butter. Urg....

kilbyrunning

lessismoreohio wrote: »

Loser_Winner wrote: »

Eating is my eating trigger. Seriously. The "that's enough" switch in my brain just has never worked.

Yep, I can relate to this as well......

Thanks for sharing this.

Truth! I could fast for ages, but as soon as I take that first bite, all self-control goes out the door.

Also for me, when I don't want to do what I should be doing, I use eating as a delay or transition. Not drinking enough water makes me want to eat more. And I take out my emotional frustration with food.

Accountability and company is a definite must! And if you only keep clean food in the house, you're likely to eat fewer calories even while you're staying full, and not crave more. I have a basic grocery list of dairy, meat, fruits, and vegetables. Anything else is an occasional treat.

SnackySnackPants

Loser_Winner wrote: »

Eating is my eating trigger. Seriously. The "that's enough" switch in my brain just has never worked.

Same! Full? What's that?

Other triggers... Feeling sad, happy, sick, mad, bored, being social, being anti social... Just bring awake, I think! :-P

glassofroses

Stress. Everyone in my family is a bit of a stress eater and we have a lot to worry about so sometimes it's just hell. I'm doing okay though.

Winterlover123

Chips are a huge one as well as feeling sad. Put those together and I've eaten full bag of chips because my mind thinks 'I'm not full yet, I'm still sad'

myheartsabattleground

Multiple montly and bi weekly doctor appointments, taking care of my POS mother, living in a POS rural town... I could go on.

Tialuna18

Being around others eating/social gatherings (pressured to eat) also being completely alone at home.

lizzocat

alcohol.

SJanesWeightLoss

Loser_Winner wrote: »

Eating is my eating trigger. Seriously. The "that's enough" switch in my brain just has never worked.

Pretty much. Junk food in excess most of all.

meggrose1985

My mother in law. She takes it as a personal affront if I don't eat her food, and lots of it. Or her family's food if we're at a gathering.

Boredom is another one. "Oh, I don't know what to do with myself. Might as well see how the fridge is doing!".

I don't stress eat. I stress starve, and then stress binge.

noobletmcnugget

Alcohol.

Agatefairy

Work. I have a stressful job. Who doesn't though right? I work in mental health.

mcollier123

vmiller1941 wrote: »

Peanut butter. Urg....

I feel your pain!!

bennettinfinity

Apathy... it's hard to make good choices when you don't care about consequences... or anything else.

jaqcan

Not having a weekly menu and a meal plan
Running errands without having lunch first

claremason159

It's suchlike relief to hear other people have emotional triggers not many people understand them especially if they don't have them so thank you for putting this out there to help others like me x

lessismoreohio wrote: »

I've been on MFP for about 2 years and have had some success. But I've been hot and cold on my food tracking as of late and have plateaued in my weight loss. Now I'm back to getting serious about this whole MFP thing and I started losing again this week.

I'm also starting to understand my food triggers; what causes me to eat too much and what causes me to eat the wrong things. One big one for me is family drama (emotional eating). Another one is visiting certain relatives (being around people who make it easy for me to rationalize bad choices). I find that certain situations and certain people can bring out the worst in me from the stand-point of what I eat and how much I eat.

What are your eating triggers? I'd really like to know.

Incidentally, 2 important things I've learned in my 2 years on MFP:

1. The social side of this journey is important; MFP friends help to motivate and can be powerful role models. Some of the people on these boards are simply amazing.

2. For me exercise is important (I lift weights and/or get some type of exercise on most days), but calories in/calories out is the key. As they say, you can't out-run a bad diet.

redperphexion

Poutine. And bloody ceasars made with gin.

(Yes anyone who is not Canadian may need to do some googling....)

spearmintskies

-Boredom is a big one. Especially when I'm alone in the house with nothing to do. I'll habitually look for something to eat.
-Being bored at work (I'm a bartender at a taproom) is also a big one, because I want the time to go by faster.
-Alcohol is big. I like having a social life and because of my job, I have a lot of friends who get together and drink beer, which is of course one of the worst things for you.
-I've dealt with disordered eating for about 9 years and my own mind can be the trigger. A negative self-image, bad self-esteem, or slipping up and eating something I know wasn't good for me are all things. I'll get out of mental control and think of myself as a failure, and end up eating much more or much worse until I learn to forgive myself and recognize that it's not the end of the world and that it's okay to occasionally mess up.

Also for me, when I don't want to do what I should be doing, I use eating as a delay or transition. Not drinking enough water makes me want to eat more. And I take out my emotional frustration with food.

^^^^ THIS. All of that.

abrooks54

Being home and sitting around. Workdays are easy to stay on plan, even with coworkers eating whatever and all the time. Active weekend days are no problem. But that day where u sit around and only do laundry and watch alot of tube, etc, you are just constantly going to the kitchen and back for no good reason. So dumb.

TamLam99

I'm not a boredom or a stress eater but I have a huge appetite. I find if I go too long between meals without a snack it will trigger a high calorie out of control binge. I need my 3 meals and 2 snacks. The other trigger for me is eating at restaurants. I have good intentions and always plan on ordering something healthy but when I actually sit down and smell all the wonderful food my appetite becomes stronger than my willpower and I don't make the best choices. I try to limit eating out to 1or 2 meals a week.

ClauSanchez93

For me , its forgetting to drink enough water and instead snacking.. Dumb I know. Another one is beer I never realized how many calories it packs in

xsunshine02x

Uhhhh, food it's self is a trigger for me. If it looks and/or smells good, consider it eaten. Even if I'm full. Even if I'm so full I feel like puking. Yup. And that right there is why I'm fat. I eat when I'm happy. I eat when I'm sad. I eat when I'm bored. I eat to celebrate. I eat when I need to vent. You name an emotion or an event, you can bet I'm eating. Lol!

cam_fat2fit

Ice-cream cones are my trigger foods. I have to keep it out of the house or I will eat the whole box easily. I mainly binge at night.

AhDinnaeKen

When people bring in food to the office, which happens all of the time. I can only walk by a tray of frosted brownies so many times before one goes missing.

_The_Lone_Wolf_

I dont have eat triggers, i have alcohol triggers which im controlling now

MondayJune22nd2015

Typically just having the food, in the house. Since I lost more weight, than I expected to; I decided to try bringing in 1 of those items. Usually I'd eat the whole box of 6 Little Debbie Boston Cream Rolls, in 1 or 2 sittings (2 hours total time) but this time, I only ate 1 at a time; over a course of approximately 12 hours. My goal was to have only 1, a day. So obviously I'll have to wait, to try again until I lose more weight, than I expect to.