Trying this again

shellandcharlie

Hi all!
I'm going to attempt this weight losing journey once again. I feel like it's almost useless for me to even try. I don't eat because I'm hungry, I eat because I'm bored. Even though I have a ton of things to do, I can't seem to stop picking. If it's there...I eat it.
Any suggestions how to overview this?
I hope everyone else is doing great and having success!

wakegrrl

I used to do some of that as well. I made myself get in the habit of logging everything before I put it in my mouth. Literally, pick something up to eat it, put it down, log it. That gave my brain time to catch up with what was going on so I could make a rational decision about whether I wanted to eat [whatever it was], whether I wanted to eat something else, or whether it was just mindless boredom and I could move on.

I also found that if it's a trigger food for me, I just don't have it in the house. That may be easier said than done depending on your situation, but at least at first, I couldn't ignore it. Now, four months in, it's easier to have it around and not binge on it - but I still have to be cautious.

Wishing you the best of luck! You can do this, and you're definitely not alone.

kittycatsinunderpants

You said, ”I eat because I’m bored even though I have a ton of things to do.” Are you bored, or are you procrastinating? I am totally guilty of eating to procrastinate. I will make a million trips to the pantry to avoid study time! Amazingly, once my homework is complete I no longer feel the need to snack.

quiksylver296

Another vote for "log it before you eat it"! It's very eye opening to see the snack in your food diary.

jasonfruen9699

Definitely log before you consume. It’s tedious but not horrible and you’ll get instant metrics. I just lost 110 pounds and am trying to work through another plateau on my way to 125. For me, the key was patience in changing my lifestyle. This plateau doesn’t bother me a lot because I know I’ve changed my lifestyle and I’ll get there.

Consider, if you don’t already know, reading about how your body reacts to a “diet.” During and after. It will help you make better choices as you’ll understand what you body’s going to do.

Good luck.

spiriteagle99

You say that if it's there, you'll pick at it, so make sure that the food you have around is not high calorie or highly tempting. Pick at carrots or celery or broccoli instead of nuts and crackers and cookies.

ChickenKillerPuppy

I think it's great that you want to take this opportunity to figure out why you have not succeeded in keeping weight off in the past, and thinking about how you can do things differently this time around.

I would say don't make radical changes, make small changes slowly so that you can sustain them. Don't try to go from zero to 100 and "eat healthy," but rather think of small ways you can start to make changes to what you are already doing, recognizing that you need to turn things around slowly.

If you eat because you are bored, stopping cold turkey may not work, so as others have suggested, log what you eat during those times, and think about ways to cut down. Even if it's just "one fewer X a couple of times a week" and then going from there. There is no rush!

Small sustainable habit changes can lead to real life changes that allows you to not just lose weight but keep it off. Diving into a restrictive diet to lose weight and get to a "finish line" will keep up the yo-yo cycle.

Every change I made I asked myself "can I do this forever?" I cannot eat steamed broccoli and chicken breasts forever for dinner. But I can eat foods I like, in moderation. I had to get there slowly, but reached goal and more importantly, have kept it off, so I could finally stop start-stop-start-stop dieting. It's very liberating, but you have to be willing to take it slow.