How to stop mindlessly eating

whisperfitandhappy

How do you resist the urge to mindlessly eat? that seems to be my main problem these days. I try to distract myself but my mind always drifts back to food..

AnthonyThrashD

When I'm thinking about a problem, or stressed out, I like to stand in front of the kitchen stove and munch out on Doritos. I moved my stove out of the house. J/K! :-)

I haven't really stopped the behavior, but now I will not stand with a bag of chips, I measure out 28g of chips on the digital scale, log the 160 calorie hit at MFP, and put the bag up. If I want chips again, I open MFP on my phone, check how many calories I have, if I know I can't have more chips and eat a decent lunch + dinner...I just won't have the damn chips, and I'm not going to lie, it feels weird telling myself "no, you can't have chips"...and not eating the high carb|high fat stress food, that I'm so used too. Makes me mad at my new diet/lifestyle for a few minutes, but it passes. An hour later it hits me, I didn't really want chips, I wanted a distraction from whatever was stressing me out.

I keep food away from my desk while working. If I want something to eat, I have to go get it, and I log everything.

whisperfitandhappy

I want to start doing that, or at least making sure I'm doing something to keep me busy. I was thinking if I feel the urge to eat to just go for a walk.

AnthonyThrashD

Some things I never changed. I like a snack and soda when I watch TV around 8PM. So, I make sure I have 240 calories for it, and I switched to diet soda. I like chocolate, I have my veggie drawer in my fridge...full of miniature chocolate bars, and expensive dark chocolates. Most of them are 50 to 90 calories. When I'm really craving chocolate, I have a couple.

Some things I did change. I won't eat blind. I weigh most foods on my digital scale, or scan bar codes. Once I commit my diary for the day...I will not eat anything else. I've stopped paying attention to what other people eat...they don't need to lose weight, I do.

The trick is to alter your behavior the least amount possible, log your calories as accurately as possible and stay under your goal limit. It's simple, but not easy.

weatheredcheese

As Anthony said, it is making yourself aware of what you are doing, like with his chips, making yourself aware of "hey I can treat myself but I am not eating the whole bag" is key.

Basically changing from MINDLESS to actually thinking about what you are eating and using your MIND

cebreisch

Finding stuff to occupy yourself does help:
Magazines
Crossword puzzles
Knitting
Walking
Going to fill the car up (even if it's over 1/2 way full)
Clean out the closet
Do laundry

Sometimes, you just can't though.
When "I just can't" get it off my mind, I'll look at my food journal, and see where I'm short....meaning do I need more protein? Do I need more carbs? I'll try to base my decision on what to have around that.

Also, I'll get a bag of pretzels, and a box of snack sized Ziploc style bags, and portion them out into single servings. That way, I can just grab a bag, and know that's a serving. My daughters like it too - they can just go grab a baggie and not have to worry about closing up the big bag or having too much.

I also keep a "snack box" that has those baggies in it, and protein bars that are about 100 calories with about 10 g of fiber (Chocolite protein bars - www.heatlhsmartfoods.com). That box sits right next to a dorm fridge that has yogurt, light string cheese, and bottled water in it.

Those things help me. It changes it from "mindless" to "being prepared" so the least amount of damage can be done.

sherambler

Sometimes, you just can't though.
When "I just can't" get it off my mind, I'll look at my food journal, and see where I'm short....meaning do I need more protein? Do I need more carbs? I'll try to base my decision on what to have around that.

This is such a good idea. I don't know why this hadn't occured to me before. I sometimes check my log before I know I'm about to binge or mindlessly eat, but I never thought about looking for nutritional deficiencies.

Some things my therapist has me try:
waiting 20 minutes between food items (I had to work my way up to 20 minutes)
Drinking a glass of water between foods
Savoring each bite
Look at what I want, take 10 seconds to think about whether I really want it, and either eat a small portion of it or choose something healtier.
I keep veggie broth, frozen spinach, and lots of different flavors of teas around to fight off a session of overeating.

These don't always work, but I tend to feel better about the whole thing, especially if I go over my goals, because I know I tried all the tools I had.

Lizzy622

If everything is prelogged (which I haven't been as good with lately) I tend not to think of food as much. I already know what I will be eating so if I eat anything more it will mess up my numbers. It keeps me from grabbing anything else.

Llamapants86

My mindless eating tends to happen in front of the computer, either school, work or random internet forums. I just take one serving upstairs with me (because I still am going to have something). If I want more, I have to first record it, then go all the way downstairs, weigh it out, come back upstairs, figure out what the hell I was doing and then continue. This tends to be enough work to deter me from going for seconds.

Also the more stressful the stuff I am working on is, the more munchies I know I will need, so I stick to something like carrots or salad so I can have a lot for my one serving.

Rolande55

Replace the high calorie foods with healthier choices until you get into a healthier habit of doing something else with your hands. What about replacing the chips with grapes? Or sunflower seeds still in the shell? Have chopped veggies handy with hummus or cut up fruit to eat in smaller bite sized pieces to feed that "feeding" habit.