All I think about is food...

marybethbeech
marybethbeech Posts: 181
edited September 20 in Motivation and Support
When I wake up in the morning, all I can think about is having breakfast. Then I immediately start thinking about what I'm going to eat for lunch. Then I spend the whole afternoon thinking about what's for dinner. Then I spend all night thinking about what I'm going to eat tomorrow.

It's not even that I'm hungry... But since I started really dieting all I can think about is what I eat, and more specifically, what I don't eat. Is anyone else obsessed with food? What do you do to get your mind off it?

Replies

  • ♥seoid♥
    ♥seoid♥ Posts: 476
    ME TOO! It consumes me!!!!!!!!!
  • aymetcalf
    aymetcalf Posts: 597 Member
    Me too! It's a problem! I just try to stay busy busy... that helps keep my mind distracted :ohwell:
  • hallswan
    hallswan Posts: 90
    I have started getting like that. I have been dieting since the end of jan and the last week has need hard. I am sitting here now, I am not hungry and I just want to eat. I have had a lovely dinner but I just want to eat. I am snacking on fruit or dried fruit, so it's not terrible but it's like I just have to keep eating. I need some advice because I am worried that I am going to undo all the work I have done over the last 10 weeks. Any advice would be appreciated.
  • hallswan
    hallswan Posts: 90
    I have started getting like that. I have been dieting since the end of jan and the last week has need hard. I am sitting here now, I am not hungry and I just want to eat. I have had a lovely dinner but I just want to eat. I am snacking on fruit or dried fruit, so it's not terrible but it's like I just have to keep eating. I need some advice because I am worried that I am going to undo all the work I have done over the last 10 weeks. Any advice would be appreciated.
  • courtney_love2001
    courtney_love2001 Posts: 1,468 Member
    How long have you been at this? I was the same way for a few weeks when I first started. What helps is to plan your menu the night before so you're not constantly obsessing over what's next. You will know what's next so no decisions will have to be made. Hope this helps, and if not, hopefully it will subside like mine did!
  • 8turboturtle8
    8turboturtle8 Posts: 239 Member
    Oh my gosh YES!!!! I have a friend here at work and we talk about food all the time...and look forward to it like it was sex or something...so not healthy! :laugh: :sad:
  • lawkat
    lawkat Posts: 538 Member
    I have started getting like that. I have been dieting since the end of jan and the last week has need hard. I am sitting here now, I am not hungry and I just want to eat. I have had a lovely dinner but I just want to eat. I am snacking on fruit or dried fruit, so it's not terrible but it's like I just have to keep eating. I need some advice because I am worried that I am going to undo all the work I have done over the last 10 weeks. Any advice would be appreciated.

    If you aren't hungry, then it is an emotional reason for your wanting to eat. Are you bored, stressed, tired, happy, angry... pick an emotion and that is probably why. You have to figure out what you are feeling and realize that you want to eat to fill some kind of emotional need. If you are bored, then eating will take some time and then you won't feel so bored. Try to find something else to do with your time and stay away from the food.

    I know it is easier said than done, but it can be done. I am an emotional eater. I finally realized it last year. I would eat not because I was hungry but to fill some kind of emotional hunger inside of me. Once I realized that eating my feelings is getting me nothing but fatter and more unhappy, it changed everything. I eat out of physical hunger now. Every once in a while when I am stressed or bored, the temptation to eat is strong, but I end up finding something else better to do with my time.

    I think a majority of us are emotional eaters. It is a tough thing to break if you don't acknowledge it. We should eat to live, not live to eat.
  • marybethbeech
    marybethbeech Posts: 181
    How long have you been at this? I was the same way for a few weeks when I first started. What helps is to plan your menu the night before so you're not constantly obsessing over what's next. You will know what's next so no decisions will have to be made. Hope this helps, and if not, hopefully it will subside like mine did!

    I've been dieting off and on (mostly off) all year but I just got really serious about counting calories again a week ago.

    Planning my menu ahead of time sounds like a great idea. I'm going to give it a shot. Thanks!
  • marybethbeech
    marybethbeech Posts: 181
    I have started getting like that. I have been dieting since the end of jan and the last week has need hard. I am sitting here now, I am not hungry and I just want to eat. I have had a lovely dinner but I just want to eat. I am snacking on fruit or dried fruit, so it's not terrible but it's like I just have to keep eating. I need some advice because I am worried that I am going to undo all the work I have done over the last 10 weeks. Any advice would be appreciated.

    If you aren't hungry, then it is an emotional reason for your wanting to eat. Are you bored, stressed, tired, happy, angry... pick an emotion and that is probably why. You have to figure out what you are feeling and realize that you want to eat to fill some kind of emotional need. If you are bored, then eating will take some time and then you won't feel so bored. Try to find something else to do with your time and stay away from the food.

    I know it is easier said than done, but it can be done. I am an emotional eater. I finally realized it last year. I would eat not because I was hungry but to fill some kind of emotional hunger inside of me. Once I realized that eating my feelings is getting me nothing but fatter and more unhappy, it changed everything. I eat out of physical hunger now. Every once in a while when I am stressed or bored, the temptation to eat is strong, but I end up finding something else better to do with my time.

    I think a majority of us are emotional eaters. It is a tough thing to break if you don't acknowledge it. We should eat to live, not live to eat.

    I'm definitely an emotional eater. I hadn't even thought about the emotional reasons for wanting to eat, though. Thanks for pointing that out. It will give me something to think about.
  • lvfunandfit
    lvfunandfit Posts: 654 Member
    I plan my day around food. I'm hungry every 2-3 hrs and I get very stressed out if I am out and hungry and don't have snacks with me. The reason for my obsession is I hate feeling starving. I shake and get migraines and I turn into a "less friendly" person. I'm not the type that can go all day without eating. I just don't get that.
  • HealthyChanges2010
    HealthyChanges2010 Posts: 5,831 Member
    When I wake up in the morning, all I can think about is having breakfast. Then I immediately start thinking about what I'm going to eat for lunch. Then I spend the whole afternoon thinking about what's for dinner. Then I spend all night thinking about what I'm going to eat tomorrow.

    It's not even that I'm hungry... But since I started really dieting all I can think about is what I eat, and more specifically, what I don't eat. Is anyone else obsessed with food? What do you do to get your mind off it?

    Eating healthy does take extra planning but after awhile it does get less so. Eating unhealthy only takes looking through a stack of take out menus and a phone call same with buying junk in the grocery store, it's quick and easy. lol

    But the benefits to preplanning and learning to get and keep organized with my food choices makes me really own it. In the past I would eat crap and typically forget what I ate since I wasn't consciously eating it. Then of course the pattern would continue in that same direction.

    Not sure how long you've been at this but in time it does become second nature and it begins to be a bit fun planning out meals and trying out new recipes and such. :happy:

    Eating 5-6 times a day it's hard not to have food on your mind but I don't find I obsess about it like I did when eating unhealthy but just look ahead to figure out what I need to pack for the day if I'll be gone for awhile.

    edited for spelling
  • HealthyChanges2010
    HealthyChanges2010 Posts: 5,831 Member
    I have started getting like that. I have been dieting since the end of jan and the last week has need hard. I am sitting here now, I am not hungry and I just want to eat. I have had a lovely dinner but I just want to eat. I am snacking on fruit or dried fruit, so it's not terrible but it's like I just have to keep eating. I need some advice because I am worried that I am going to undo all the work I have done over the last 10 weeks. Any advice would be appreciated.

    If you aren't hungry, then it is an emotional reason for your wanting to eat. Are you bored, stressed, tired, happy, angry... pick an emotion and that is probably why. You have to figure out what you are feeling and realize that you want to eat to fill some kind of emotional need. If you are bored, then eating will take some time and then you won't feel so bored. Try to find something else to do with your time and stay away from the food.

    I know it is easier said than done, but it can be done. I am an emotional eater. I finally realized it last year. I would eat not because I was hungry but to fill some kind of emotional hunger inside of me. Once I realized that eating my feelings is getting me nothing but fatter and more unhappy, it changed everything. I eat out of physical hunger now. Every once in a while when I am stressed or bored, the temptation to eat is strong, but I end up finding something else better to do with my time.

    I think a majority of us are emotional eaters. It is a tough thing to break if you don't acknowledge it. We should eat to live, not live to eat.
    I enjoyed your post, thanks for sharing what works for you! I used to track why I wanted to eat certain things, you've inspired me to get back to doing that:flowerforyou:
  • sonnacchio
    sonnacchio Posts: 57 Member
    I understand all too well how much a person can look forward to food. Been there, done that! The way I've shaken it is to plan out my meals for the week and then shop for them. All week long, I'm busy thinking about what I'm either going to cook, or what I need to buy, to complete the dinner I've planned. I guess you could say I turned my obsession around a bit and made it more about planning to eat healthily. I find that if I've planned well, I eat well. Hope this helps!
  • simona1972
    simona1972 Posts: 355 Member
    I had an absolute food obsession before joining MFP. Now that I plan my meals the day before, I dont obsess about it. I know what Im going to eat during the day and I dont think about it.

    I pretty much have the same thing daily, so I think that helps too.
  • LittleSpy
    LittleSpy Posts: 6,754 Member
    I think about food a lot, but I think it's because I eat really often. I also enjoy cooking & coming up with new recipes, so it's not like I sit here obsessing about it. I think about it without really wanting to eat it at that exact moment.

    I mean, food pretty much = life. Someone else said they looked forward to eating like it was sex. Well, food is kind of as essential to sustaining life as sex, so I mean, in that respect, I think it's okay to think about it often! :wink:

    Now that we have mass production, we don't have to worry so much about where our next meal is coming from, but before that people's lives absolutely revolved around food -- how to get it, grow it, prepare it, etc. I mean, food sources determined where people lived. Nomadic people followed the food sources & people who weren't so nomadic parked themselves near rivers and oceans for fertile ground & constant food supply. I kind of think it's normal to think about food a lot - that is to say, I think maybe we're programmed to do it.
  • BootCampC
    BootCampC Posts: 689 Member
    Its better to think about what your going to eat then eat the first thing you see.
    we know it will only take a few bad meals ,maybe even one to see an increase in weight
    so yeah we will think about what we are going to eat
    the other reason is my meals are smaller so i am eating much more often then when i am not in diet mode.
    so i am never really full at any time when i am on the diet
    once i am in mailntainance mode then i increase the calories slightly and think about food less
    i try to also think about what type of workout i will do at the gym or how to burn calories during the day.
    preplan your meals or just have healthy food available always helps

    its only food we are in control here..
  • dwarfer22
    dwarfer22 Posts: 358 Member
    I thought I was reading MY personal blog. I am always thinking about food. Even when i am eating i am like "hmm... what am i gonna eat next? What should i make for lunch? I want ice cream. Eggs and toast would taste so good right now. " What is that all about?
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