Does anyone know how to watch TV without eating?

Try sleeping:happy:
I'm the same way, so I try to only watch T.V late at night.

I tend to want to eat whenever I even sit down!

I know I'm not the only one. Have any of you had this problem in the past and found a solution?

you are my spirit animal. i used to be this same way! i would just mindlessly shovel food into my mouth and never ever even get full. just eat eat eat. i just woke up one day and knew i had to cut it out. on days where i'm snacky, i make something called whipped awesome which is egg whites, spinach and seasoning all whipped together in the processor and i pack it tight in a tupperware so when it hits, i can just scrape and nibble on something healthy for pretty much forever. i realized it was pretty genius of me because my worst snacky foods i'd chain eat were scrapey like peanut butter or yogurt or ice cream, etc. so i am using the same motion.

I'm retired and have to admit my tv is on all day when I'm home. I do find myself sitting down a lot of the time catching a bit of whatever I have on. I do get up and do "stuff" whenever the commercials come on. AND I hate to admit but I have my laptop on my lap, or the dog on my lap when the shows are on. Over the last 7 months I've been serious about this journey I have pretty much re-trained myself not to eat or rather not to have things next to me TO eat when I'm sitting on the couch. But I do always have a glass of water right next to me. I drink ice water, not plain. It's pretty much my go-to item. My doctor told me to have a couple go-to items for when I have to have something. My items are, of course, water. But when I must have something, I have a cup of Maxwell House Int'l cafe Suisse Mocha coffee. I use 2 tbs which is more than the recommended, but an extra large cup. it becomes 45 calories, but it's the best 45 calories of the day. 2 fat, 2 carbs. it's wonderful. and it really satisfies that sweet and chocolate need I have. I also go to a cheese stick. it's about 80 calories and on a no carb diet, perfectly acceptable. but the re-training your brain is #1 and it just takes time. believe me, if I can do it, anybody can. I was one that pretty much had something in my mouth constantly. good luck. friend me if you'd like. I'll really try to help you. I'm on here several times a day ... and I hate to admit it

I knit or crochet when watching TV. Plus learned to eat at kitchen table with no TV on. Now if I could figure out how to read without eating.......:grumble:

Think about how dirty you books will get!
(studying without eating is borderline impossible for me. Recreational reading is not a problem, but studying makes me hungry as hell, so I think about how expensive my textbooks are!)

Push-ups.

In the commercial breaks, do exercises. If you do jumping jacks or burpees, you're not going to want to eat because all that crap sloshing around in your digestive tract while you're bouncing around... well, let's just say... YAK CITY!

On this note.............


Deck of cards workout: Hearts = cardio, Diamonds = upper, Spades = lower, Clubs = abs. Play: draw the 8 of hearts - do 8 jumping jacks, draw 10 of diamonds do 10 push ups .... etc.

I like this idea.
I only watch TV on my kindle, on the treadmill. I just don't ever have time to sit down to watch TV between 2 young kids and working full time. If I do find time, I get bored watching TV after a few minutes. Boredom=snacking for me. But if I do watch something I try to drink tea or decaf coffee, lemon water etc.

I know this may not sound very helpful, but you are in control, not someone else.

Don't eat while watching TV, plain and simple. As someone else pointed out, take TV away from the food equation. If you need to eat, do so at the table, then return to watching TV after.

This.

For the longest time I had to eat something every time I went somewhere. At some point I just made myself stop. There's no miracle solution unfortunately. Just stop doing it... focus on what you're watching and don't eat (or jog in place or something while watching, that way you couldn't eat anyway).

I definitely get this. I used to have this need to eat while watching TV just because I'd been doing it for so long that it was just in my muscle memory and made me feel so incomplete if I wasn't snacking.

I found that occupying my hands with other things took this away completely. I learned to crochet, I would work on grip exercises, I would pet my dog, or fold and unfold paper over and over again. Eventually, it just went away. You could also go the exercise route. Those small pedal sets that act like the bottom part of a stationary bike can be placed in front of the couch and you can watch TV as long as you pedal. It can be used for your arms, too.

I am going to try the idea of only eating at a table. Thanks for bringing up the question!

I don't have a TV, but when my fiancé and I watch Netflix/Hulu/Youtube on the computer, I drink tea. Also, I always save calories for later in the day as a habit to prevent my tendency to want to binge in the evenings, so usually I do have some kind of snack while watching a show online.

Eat only at a table to dissociate sitting down and watching TV with eating. If you want a snack, switch off the TV, sit at a table and eat it. That'll soon make it seem like too much trouble!

This is actually a great idea.