Mindless eating

For a while I thought that I was a binge eater, but I never felt guilty afterwards. After mom yelling at me earlier about what I got into lately I realized I'm a mindless eater. When I'm home alone I tend to watch TV in the kitchen instead of working on cleaning and laundry. For about 30 minutes or so I'll eat random foods right out of their packages. I'll still eat my next meal as normal. At work if there's food laying around with no name on it. I've been this way since I was a kid.
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Replies

  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    "Breaking Free from Emotional" by Geneen Roth
    Also start a yoga practice as it helps with body-mind awareness.
  • Talanch
    Talanch Posts: 21 Member
    Maybe you should try mindfulness. Basically means that you pay your full attention to everything you do. Mindful eating is helping me quite a bit.

    Futurelearn.com has a free course on mindfulness if you're interested.
  • Michael190lbs
    Michael190lbs Posts: 1,510 Member
    Grocery shop after eating not when your hungry and don't buy the stuff your mindlessly eating.
  • MelaniaTrump
    MelaniaTrump Posts: 2,694 Member
    This place will work for you. Trust it and log everything. Go buy a food scale.
    Take a before picture, so in a year you can post your success story here.
  • janjunie
    janjunie Posts: 1,200 Member
    Make each room have it's purpose, take the TV out of the kitchen.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    That's a good thing to realize. Mindless eating can lead to lots of calories but is probably easier to kick than something like stress eating. What helped me was just to decide that I'd only eat at mealtimes or have planned snacks and certainly never to eat while watching TV or surfing on the internet or to eat out of packages. Decide how much you will eat, measure it out and put it on a plate, and eat that, period. Once you get out of the habit of mindless eating you really won't miss it. I think of those kinds of calories as so worthless, because you didn't even really enjoy the food while you were eating it.
  • tcunbeliever
    tcunbeliever Posts: 8,219 Member
    I like to keep my hands busy with a puzzle or sewing when watching TV - keeps me from snacking and I still get time to rest and catch up on shows/movies.
  • friendlygirl316
    friendlygirl316 Posts: 40 Member
    Sorry I'm so late responding. I think I have that book Roda. Talanch I'll check out the website when I have time. Michael I mindlessly eat just about anything, mostly my parents food. Janet I've been using this app off and on for the past 2-3 and have a food scale. Junie the TV was mainly placed in the kitchen so mom & dad could watch the news. In my opinion it seems to slow me down when eating because I use closed captioning. Lemur I do try to portion my food. I think when I eat mindlessly it's because I don't want to get caught in action so I stuff my face and clean up. I only eat what I like. TC I watch TV as soon as I get home because I'm putting off something I don't like doing.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member

    That statement about not getting caught in action is important.
    You can change how you eat your food: set a place setting, eat slowly, pay attention, . . Those kinds of things. If there is any way you can eat without the TV, you could change your life.
    If you keep the TV, change something else that you are doing that is getting in the way of your goals.
  • friendlygirl316
    friendlygirl316 Posts: 40 Member
    I'm not even hungry when I eat mindlessly. I just automatically do it when I'm home alone. I know I have things to do but don't feel like doing them as soon as I walk in the door.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    Can you do something else when you first walk in the door? Put sneakers on and go for a 15 mins walk?
    Do some stretches? Soak your feet. Take a shower or bath?
    -- any of those can help break the pattern.
  • friendlygirl316
    friendlygirl316 Posts: 40 Member
    I probably could but most of the time I'm still groggy from sleeping on the bus. I use a paratransit service since I'm unable to drive.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    Then maybe you need more restful sleep. How is your sleep? :)
  • trjjoy
    trjjoy Posts: 666 Member
    I see nothing wrong with mindless eating IF you're eating baby spinach, baby marrows, or cucumber slices. Give it a shot. I find that I'm the same: my jaws want to move and it doesn't matter what I'm chewing, as long as I'm chewing.
  • friendlygirl316
    friendlygirl316 Posts: 40 Member
    My sleep is poor. I've got sleep apnea, chronic anemia, and recently told that my ferritin and isat levels showed that I have inflammation through my body. Joy I'm not crazy about vegetables and fruit.
  • Vortex88
    Vortex88 Posts: 60 Member
    Some studies have shown that overweight people actually enjoy food a lot less than slim people. The conclusion was that they were eating mindlessly, almost robotically. Try staying in the moment and enjoying every bite. You might find that a lot of the mindless eating stops and food intake reduces significantly,
  • friendlygirl316
    friendlygirl316 Posts: 40 Member
    I love food that's why I can't say no unless it's fruit and vegetables.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited February 2016
    Vortex88 wrote: »
    Some studies have shown that overweight people actually enjoy food a lot less than slim people. The conclusion was that they were eating mindlessly, almost robotically. Try staying in the moment and enjoying every bite. You might find that a lot of the mindless eating stops and food intake reduces significantly,

    I can agree to this. I thought I loved food too, and that that was why I ate too much (or that I was an emotional eater). I hated the feeling of wanting and eating all the wrong things, but I couldn't help myself. After I've changed/restructured my diet and attitude (thank you, MFP!), and plan my meals and portion out my food - so that I know I won't be starving, but at the same time the amount of food is limited - I find that I love food more, I appreciate it in a totally different way. I think I used to eat just because there was food. And I didn't even want food, I wanted junk. What I want, has changed somewhat - I still want tasty delicious things, but I want healthy tasty delicious things now. I enjoy my vegetables now, eat some at every meal, beacuse they make me feel full and energized and while I still desire junk, I don't want it anymore, so I don't buy it, and don't eat it.
  • CollieFit
    CollieFit Posts: 1,683 Member
    I love food that's why I can't say no unless it's fruit and vegetables.

    So your eating isn't quite as "mindless" as you made it out to be. In fact it's not mindless at all. You make choices.

  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    CollieFit wrote: »
    I love food that's why I can't say no unless it's fruit and vegetables.

    So your eating isn't quite as "mindless" as you made it out to be. In fact it's not mindless at all. You make choices.

    Right.

    From my own experience, my "mindless" eating was an attempt to block conscious acceptance that the choices I was making were not in my best interests so I could perform the action without having to deal with the negative emotions that came with it.

    Sometimes it is a case of facing up to yourself and what you are doing.