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Old 12-10-2006, 02:52 PM   #1  
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Default Eating when not hungry

Hi everybody, I've been on and off here but I'm back.....again. This time is different, I'm here permanently until I lose all this weight! Introductions aside, does anyone else struggle with eating when not hungry and how do you cope with that. I find myself eating mindlessly alot of times and I know that is a HUGE part of my problem. Any suggestions or helpful hints would be amazing. Thanks!!
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Old 12-10-2006, 03:31 PM   #2  
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Welcome back, Florida I just came back too, after... I don't even know how long lol. We're coming back in trickles

I'm also struggling with mindless eating, so I don't know how much help I'll be, lol.

I did pick up the oxygen clean eating special issue, and there's good stuff in there... I'm definitely back in research mode, I'd be more than happy to pass along any links and info I find particularly helpful.
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Old 12-10-2006, 04:49 PM   #3  
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Hi Florida!

I have several skinny friends who SWEAR that many times they just forget to eat! I think that some people just have fewer connections to food than others do. Maybe some of us have made food connections when we were tired or sad or bored or upset or nervous, etc. When we hit any of those emotions or feelings we connect them with eating and ...voila! Add ten more pounds!

I NEVER realized how habits make me have to fight the temptation of food.

I NEVER realized how much of a connection my MOODS and my FEELINGS have to whether I eat or not.

I NEVER really took the time to think, "Why am I eating this?"

All these pieces of information finally hit me when I began reading up more on emotional eating and mood eating. Believe me, it was an eye opener for me!

I think I spent a lot of time in elastic-waist clothing, too, so eating a lot never made me feel uncomfortable. I ate and ate. My clothes still felt good. When I looked in the mirror I didn't REALLY look at my reflection. I somehow looked at what I wanted to see. I was in real denial!!!

If food tasted yukky we would all be skinny! Trouble is, food tastes SOOOOO good! It is a constant battle for me to make the right food choices and to tell myself to have a cup of tea or a bottle of water INSTEAD of eating something. Evenings seem to be the hardest for me. I am trying to exercise, stretch, lift weights etc. INSTEAD of eating. It's tough, but I feel better when I make the choice NOT to just eat because food is THERE! Also I am trying to keep "bad" foods out of the house so that I am not tempted. If the food isn't there, I can't eat it!

I am trying to make it to under 200 lbs. I have been trying for six months! Lots of stuff keeps getting in my way, but I am still trying!

Know that there are MANY of us out there who know EXACTLY what you are dealing with!

Good luck to you! Stay strong! You will do this!

Cheryl
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Old 12-10-2006, 04:53 PM   #4  
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hi Florida,

To some degree, mindless eating is one of the biggest struggles anyone with weight issues faces. I am going to give you some suggestions that have helped me, but keep in mind that there is no magic cure, and you have to find a combination of things that works for you. Good luck!

* Keep your hands busy with something else, i.e, a stress ball.
* Find your triggers, and the foods that you are tempted to binge on. Change the circumstances of the triggers (i.e., when you're stressed, talk to a friend instead of eating) and limit access to the foods.
* Snack on veggies and fruit instead. I've always allowed myself unlimited quantities of these, a binge on fruit is better than one on chips any day!
* When you feel the urge to binge come on, make a conscious effort to distract yourself. Exercise, read a list of reasons why you don't want to binge, write on here. Anything that works.
* Remember that you will cave in. It's ok. Don't beat yourself up, but do learn from your experiences. Start over right away. Write everything you ate on a peice of paper, cross it out and tear it up. You now have a fresh start, without having to wait for a fresh day.
* Repeat this mantra, "I am eating for the body that I want, not the body that I have."

Hmm, can't think of anything else right now. And I'm going for a walk with my sister, so ttyl!
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Old 12-10-2006, 05:49 PM   #5  
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Originally Posted by Cheryl14 View Post
If food tasted yukky we would all be skinny! Trouble is, food tastes SOOOOO good! It is a constant battle for me to make the right food choices and to tell myself to have a cup of tea or a bottle of water INSTEAD of eating something.
I recently read a book called The Omnivore's dilemma that touched on this... we have SO many choices, most of which are really bad for us, processed, but TASTE really good, that we have a nationwide eating disorder... we CAN eat anything, so most of us do... anything and everything in my case lol. It would be much easier to be a Koala... if it looks like eucalyptus, and smells like eucalyptus... it's dinner... no questions
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Old 12-10-2006, 10:07 PM   #6  
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Originally Posted by Cheryl14 View Post
I think I spent a lot of time in elastic-waist clothing, too, so eating a lot never made me feel uncomfortable. I ate and ate. My clothes still felt good. When I looked in the mirror I didn't REALLY look at my reflection. I somehow looked at what I wanted to see. I was in real denial!!!
Wow, I totally identify with this description, Cheryl! If we were all paying closer attention as we were putting on the pounds this would be a much smaller forum...
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Old 12-10-2006, 10:28 PM   #7  
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Thanks everybody for the wonderful advice. I will take it all into account and just figure out what works best for me!
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Old 12-10-2006, 11:23 PM   #8  
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Hi Floridachick. Let's see do I struggle with eating though not hungry? Well I think it would be humanly impossible to be 5 feet, no inches and 287 pounds with only eating when I was hungry. So therefore the answer is a big , fat - yes. It was/is/was a huge issue for me. I ate tons of food just for the heck of it. Huge portions and often. I ate out of boredom, frustration, anger, happiness, lonliness and then probably just really bad habits. When I finally got disgusted enough with myself and tried to change my lifestyle I knew of course that that was going to be my big problem. When I decided that I no longer wanted to be fat I decided that I could no longer eat mindlessly. Everything I eat now is thought out and planned. I now, finally want to be thin and healthy more then I want the food. And I remind myself of this everyday, many times a day. just a dreamy one said it very well, but just to add I will tell you that the first 2 - 3 weeks were extremely difficult, but somehow, someway I got through it. And then you start seeing results, as do other people and it propels you to keep on going. The cravings slow down dramatically and this new way of life, the healthy one actually becomes habit now. It really is kind of cool.

Just so you know we will all be here for you, every step of the way. You CAN do this, you really, really can.
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Old 12-12-2006, 10:33 AM   #9  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PNG 2 View Post
It would be much easier to be a Koala... if it looks like eucalyptus, and smells like eucalyptus... it's dinner... no questions
That cracks me up It would be much easier to be a Koala!

I struggle with midless eating too. I also struggle with amazingly fast eating... like I'm on a mission. When I snack, I power snack... whether I'm hungry or not. I'm trying now to keep already cut up fruits and vegetables ready at all times. I've also found that those 100 calorie snack packs help.... you can eat the whole bag, but it's not the same as a huge bag of chips and you already know how many calories you'll be consuming.
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Old 12-12-2006, 11:36 AM   #10  
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Have you ever noticed how much better food tastes when you are hungry? You might enjoy The Overfed Head by Rob Stevens. He had tried numerous diets before he lost 140lb using hunger and satisfactions as his guide.
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Old 12-12-2006, 12:53 PM   #11  
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I think it would be humanly impossible to be 5 feet, no inches and 287 pounds with only eating when I was hungry.
OMG, so true. Based on what Fitday calcs as my total calorie needs, I'm eating 500-1k less than needed to maintain my weight. This comes to 2k-2500 (!) a day and I'm shocked that the weight is just coming off. Where your quote comes in: I'm eating whole foods, natural foods, never ever go hungry (though I'll wait for a message from my tummy that I'm hungry), several small meals/snacks a day. And let me tell you, it's difficult to get that many calories in a day when you're eating good food! And I'm not even restricting fats beyond avoiding trans fats and watching saturated.

Lesson: I could have never gotten this huge if I'd only eaten when hungry.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rockinrobin View Post
I ate out of boredom, frustration, anger, happiness, lonliness and then probably just really bad habits.
How did you get inside my head?

Oh, lemme remember, I had some point here. Oh yeah, it was this: the boredom, frustration, anger, etc. eating gets us here. Now add in my entirely unscientific belief that the body generally wants to remain wherever it is unless prodded otherwise. So when you get to 300 pounds through emotional eating, and then those emotions don't bother you so much anymore, but your body now somewhat wants to stay at this weight....I think this is where habit gets ingrained. In order to give the body the calories it wants to maintain, (3000+) you pretty much have to consume a good deal of calorie-dense food, and it becomes a vicious cycle.

I kind of have a caretaker position over my body atm. "Here you go, love, some more whole, healthy food for you to digest, yes, I know it's every couple hours, but it's keeping you busy and satisfied, isn't it? Nope, no famine here, go ahead and burn a little of that stored energy, cause you know we don't need it what with the no famine and all...yes, I'll keep inserting more veggies and grains and protein for you *pet* so don't worry one bit, just relax and bask in the nutrition."

Um yeah, the topic. The brain does funny things. If I pay attention it does, "I'm bored, why am I bored? I must have a sucky life. Eat some potato chips" in about the space of one-tenth of a second. It's flippin' scary. And it'll probably happen again where I don't pay attention and blammo, binge. For the time being, dreamy1's tips are fabulous.
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Old 12-12-2006, 04:14 PM   #12  
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In the beginning, I would say plan out your food for the entire day. Since you know you've been mindlessly eating, then plan in a couple of extra low calorie snacks (sugar-free jello, cucumbers, etc.) to help you with the hand to mouth syndrome until you get that under control. (now if only I can follow my own advice I'd be doing great )
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Old 12-13-2006, 11:10 AM   #13  
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Ok, this is an update to what I have been doing about this mindless eating business. For the past two days (today I'm starting my third day) I've been waiting for my tummy to rumble and for my brain to say EAT NOW! Than I eat like a fist size portion of food, enjoy it thoroughly and be comforted to know that when I get hungry again, I get to eat!! Now, as funny as this sounds, it not that easy to figure out when your hungry and satisfied. It's only been two days but I've tuned these signals out for such a long time that it's going to take me awhile to figure them out.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.....for the support!

Now, I need to get over my fear of weighing myself, and I'm in good shape!
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