Eating when bored.

whatsizbucket

A friend of mine wants to do LCHF. She is wondering what she can do about cutting down her consumption. She says that when she is bored, she doesn't snack, but she eats a full on meal, regardless of whether she has eaten recently. She eats full meals at least 6 times a day, due to boredom.

Any help with what she can do? Because she can't tell if she is really hungry, or if it is boredom.

Sunny_Bunny_

She will have to start off with will power by refusing to eat meals outside of meal times. Hopefully, she will then have a nice appetite reduction that will then relieve the need for so much will power and hopefully see a loss that can help with further motivation. But nobody but her can control whether or not she prepares a full meal to be a snack.
I would suggest David's pumpkin seeds as a grazing, "keep the mouth busy" snack. Calories can get high if eating all day but the carbs would be a problem as long as all other carbs are under control and then the salt they will provide will be good too.
Sometimes I just want to eat lately, which is totally out of the norm for me, I think I have something hormonal going on. Anyway, I like the seeds to satisfy the desire to just eat something for the sake of eating something.

Kitnthecat

Has your friend started low carb yet? I would encourage her to give it a try. Once she is adapted, it is quite likely that her incidences of snacking would be reduced due to satiety. Logging helps too, so if she hasn't joined MFP yet, it would be a good idea for her to join. Perhaps logging what she eats would make her more aware of what she's doing. This is where the willpower will be put to use, if she isn't adapted to LCHF yet. I'm sure once she gets into the swing of it though, she will learn how to listen to her body's hunger cues.

Bob314159

I still sometimes eat when not hungry, but do it much less than before. Keto for sure staves off hunger and is more filling. Logging on MFP is crucial, better to log as you eat or before. I forgot to log this morning, and did it from memory this evening - an hour later a post her triggered me to log 200 calories of macadamia nuts that I had forgot. These little errors can add up.

ladipoet

I agree with everything already posted here! Good luck to your friend!

bluefish86

The first thing I'd recommend to your friend is to figure out why she's bored all the time, and try to fill that time with more hobbies and interests. "Idle hands are the devil's workshop..." as they say.

anna114400

I am a snacker, always have been, that's part my problem. But since reducing my carbs to 20 or less a day, the urge to snack or eat when I'm not hungry has completely gone away. That's the reason I think I can do this. No urges to eat unless my body needs it. Good luck!

KarlaYP

LCHF is an answer to the "snacker"! When executed correctly it makes hunger a thing of the past (most days), and food control the future! I tell people to give it sixty days. The benefits would be seen by then too!