How to stop "looking forward" to food?

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sed1217
sed1217 Posts: 228 Member
in Motivation and Support
I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem - I have a busy schedule, a job that requires a lot of time and attention, plus home responsibilities. Over the years, I've fallen into the trap of using food as a motivator to get through a rough day, destress, and "reward" myself for my hard work. Of course, making these choices has also made me obese. Now that I'm on a stricter diet and eating reasonable portions, I am losing weight. But the weight loss lacks the immediate reward that I was using food to create. I know that I should simply get used to not having this sort of reward every day or week, but, frankly, it's been hard to quit cold turkey. Anyone have advice on how to get out of this mindset? Replace it with another small reward or just suffer through? This type of thinking has thrown me off of diets before :-(

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  • littlemermaid1048
    littlemermaid1048 Posts: 55
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    Try to look for rewards other than food. For example, after a stressful day at work, I reward myself by getting a manicure or a deep body massage. When food crosses my mind I switch my thoughts to how beautiful my nails are going to look or how great I'm going to feel after my massage. I always try to remember words of advse of my doctor, "reward your dog with food...you deserve better than that!!!" :))
  • sho3girl
    sho3girl Posts: 10,799 Member
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    "reward your dog with food...you deserve better than that!!!" :))

    ^^^^ read this on another thread and REALLY trying to be mindful of this ... and I think it's beginning to work slowly but surely

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