What do you guys do to stop yourself from eating when you aren't hungry?

maea5040

Ive been chewing gum, but I still want to keep eating throughout the day.

dhimaan

Smoke and drink coffee.

Liftng4Lis

I get up and move.

reclinton

I can't stop eating either..

Kalikel

I try to stay full by eating a lot of low-cal food. Fruits and veggies. Fruit is so sweet and tasty.

As for wanting sugary-fat treats like candy and stuff - I usually don't. When I do, I know I want to be healthy and thin more than I want brownies, so I skip the brownies and peanut butter cups.

It's really just about what you want. Do you want to eat that or do you want something else? You choose and then go with it. Enjoy it, either way.

ariana_eatsandlifts

I've been surprised with how a big glass of ice water can curb my instinct to mindlessly snack.

jkal1979

During the evenings I crochet. It keeps my hands and mind busy and I'm not about to risk getting food on whatever I'm working on.

Machka9

Drink a glass of water
Drink a cup of your favourite tea
Exercise


And also, I space out my meals and snacks throughout the day so that I know that I've only got an hour or so before I can have a banana or my afternoon yogurt or whatever.

Plus, over the months, I've determined which foods are worth it, in that they are not too high in calories and have good staying power ... and which foods are not worth it, somewhat higher in calories, but I'm hungry again 20 min later.

cafeaulait7

I don't do this often (I get actually hungry more often, lol), but I eat a Roma tomato/some cherry tomatoes or I get a lollipop. Sometimes even a cough drop works great.

ilovecereal1982

I usually save about 5 buffalo wings for times like these...the only though is I'll mix up like the type of sauce so it could be parmesean garlic or I could go Caribbean jerk...just depends on the type of hunger and also what sides I'm having...either wedge cut or steak cut fries....I dunno...hope this helps...great thread!!!

Cahgetsfit

brush your teeth

rstephensmorales

I find when I eat a dinner that is high in protein, it helps to curb the evening hungries. I also like herbal tea after dinner.

juliebowman4

A motto:
If hungry isn't the problem, food isn't the answer.

I'm finding that journaling/blogging is helpful to drill down and find the root to some of my self-defeating patterns......one of which is eating when I'm not even hungry

kshama2001

I rarely have the urge to graze mindlessly and attribute this to a combination of:

1. Exercising more and getting happy hormones from that.
2. Eating more protein (and fat and fiber) in relationship to carbs, which fills me up better. When I eat higher carb meals, I'm not satisfied, and want to keep eating.

rkcampbell

I drink hot tea. It fills me up and I have to drink it slowly. Usually the craving is gone by the time I'm finished.

niniundlapin

camilacreme wrote: »

brush your teeth

That^
I floss, brush my teeth, use mouth wash, and put on my refreshing minty lip balm.
Feels too clean to keep eating! (until I'm really hungry)

kjs5z970

I agree drinking a big glass of water helps me too

ruthtruman

I walk instead. I eat when I'm bored so I have to get out of the house, or engage my mind in something interesting. By the end of every week for 6 months now, I've logged over 5 miles a day on my Fitbit. Walking not only diverts by attention and boosts my metabolism, it takes away my hunger (unless I'm really truly physically hungry).

vivmom2014

Call it a day and go to bed. (This really only works at night.)

chelseamckell

Great thread! I'm getting lots of good ideas here. And it's nice to know I'm not alone!

HealthyVitamins

I don't keep any snacks in my house, and don't bring cash to work to buy from the vending machine. I find a cup of tea with sugar and milk fills me up

ninerbuff

Play video games. Hard to eat when hands are being occupied.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Merkavar

ninerbuff wrote: »

Play video games. Hard to eat when hands are being occupied.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

That's exactly what I was going to say.

I can eat all the radioactive meat I want in game

RECowgill

I just don't eat. If I'm not hungry, I don't eat food.

runrascal

Maybe slightly off topic but I found myself standing at the fridge the other night saying "I want something to eat but I'm not hungry - it's not fair." and very sadly I walked away. Maybe my eating habit is getting better!

Itisibigj39

Play my PS4

Soopatt

I try not to snack as little bites of things activates my hunger although I know it works for other people.

I stick to 3 planned meals and have just told myself "I don't snack and eat between meals". I just don't do it, its not a thing I do - not negotiable. Changing my thinking has really helped me so that I don't need to negotiate and ponder over it - it is just a thing I no longer do, in the same was a vegan will tell you that they do not eat meat - not sometimes, not just when they feel like it - they don't. Ever.

With the option to snack eliminated, I need to deal with occasional hunger and tea, coffee (I don't take sugar so its an almost zero calorie option) and lots of water works for this. I am also less likely to be hungry when I am busy so I do my best to avoid boredom.

I leave my bag in the trunk of my car when I visit places where snacks and treats are easy to buy, as an added strategy. This works very well at the movies. I buy my ticket online and don't take any money or cards with me so that I am unable to buy from the concessions.

amusedmonkey

When I have one of those days it usually makes itself known early, so I prepare for this by allocating calories to items that take a long time to eat. 50 grams of unshelled sunflower seeds takes me about an hour and a half to eat and costs about 130 calories. Half a scoop of protein powder + 3/4 cups of semi skimmed milk + xanathan gum and whatever flavoring I feel like having (usually it's a bit of vanilla extract or mango flavoring) makes a huge bowl of protein fluff that I eat slowly with a dessert spoon for another 150 calories. A large head of lettuce that I slowly peel and munch on is also a snack that keeps me occupied for a while. Lots of tea and some coffee (chai tea with semi skimmed milk and a couple of splendas is one of the more satisfying variations).

Basically, I allocate about 1/3 of my daily calories for snacks that take a long time to eat, and by the time the day is over my calories are either spot on or only a slightly higher than I planned for. The keys is to eat slowly and enjoy every bite/sip.

MorganMoreaux

I try not to snack during the day as that just seems to trigger a desire to continue snacking. I've found that by increasing protein and fat earlier in the day I don't get hungry as frequently. I also have a huge salad for dinner, sometimes that's all I have for dinner or before I eat the rest of dinner. It's hard to fill up on more calorie dense food when I've had a huge salad. This is useful for pizza night. If left to my own devices on pizza night I could easily eat the entire pizza, but by having salad first I can only eat 2 or 3 slices. I also log all treats in my snack section in my food diary, I can quickly see what I've eaten and it helps to keep me more accountable. I also don't keep snack food (other than fruits and veggies) in the house. If I want something to munch on, I either have to go to the store or make it myself which is convenient because I tend to want to aimlessly eat in the evenings before bed. Odds are I'm not going to want to cook (don't really use the microwave) and I'm also not going to want to change out of pajamas to go to the store.

kommodevaran

I struggle with this too, but for me it helps to just decide to stick to the meal plan - four delicious, balanced meals every day - I'm including plenty of fruit, vegetables, protein and fat, all the food I love, in due time, and that's all I need. I plan for some sweet stuff regularly, but not too often - for instance pancakes w/sweet fillings every other Saturday, tapioca pudding w/maple syrup as dessert sometimes if I have soup for dinner. My smoothies are sweet enough from banana. Between meals, I will only drink water, tea and coffee. This is what I really want! It's working well, as long as I do it. But I can't just want to do it, I have to do it.

Included in the meal plan is a running inventory of fridge, freezer and pantry. Whenever I need to buy food, I write a list of what I need, bring it and stick to it. I cook my own meals as far as I'm capable of.

I don't buy "treats" and don't linger in front of those shelves in the grocery store either.

suziecue20

Being on a calorie allowance of 1200 a day means I don't have the option of eating when I'm not hungry loll