For most of my life I have a serious issue with eating mindlessly. Compulsive eating if you will. I know many people think of it simply as a lack of willpower but there is much more to it than that. It's a compulsion. Most of the time I was completely unaware I was doing it. It's like being in a trance, or an out of body experience. Having no control over your own actions. When you aren't aware of it, it doesn't bother you, until you wonder what happened to the food you know you had and then realize that at some point in the day or week you ate it and had no idea you did so. I've got this issue under control these days, for the most part. I have an occasional relapse but they are few and far between.
The problem I do have these days, one that I am struggling with, is eating simply because I'm bored. Eating more for something to do than out of hunger. Now, I've always had this problem, I've always been a grazer, since I was a kid. Now I'm more aware of it and in need of changing the pattern.
I make sure to not keep easily accessible foods around. Certainly no "snackables". I can't have those in the house or I eat them, this I know. Even leftovers can be an issue.
So, the question is, how do I address this issue? The most obvious answer seems to be simply willpower, but hell, if I had a ton of that I wouldn't be so fat. I need distractions. I need other things to think about and focus on.
1 comment:
Rain I have this same problem! I eat when I am bored and I eat when I watch tv cause that is what I always did and it is a set pattern now...I hate when people say just don't do it or just don't watch tv, cause that is not gonna happen. I am GOING to watch tv and if I don't have something to eat while I am then it is like I go through withdrawls! I feel antsy all over! So I have figured out how to work it in. I try to save calories for the times of day that I watch tv which is about 3 hours a day. Then I find something that will either be low calorie to eat or drink like tea or a piece of fruit or even come carrots and a tiny bit of ranch..or that will take me a long time to eat, which the only thing there is sunflower seeds. So they give me a lot of salt but for one serving (190 cals) I can watch an hour of tv!! It works for me. I don't really have many options on keeping busy to keep my mind off it so this works for me. If you want I could try to come up with more ideas of things you could eat at those times that would be less calories. OH and another thing I try is mouth wash or brushing my teeth...that deters me sometimes from eating when I am not supposed to.
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