I am feeling very overtired today - I got home very late last night from being away for Thanksgiving (Canadian) and had to be up early this morning for work. I'm now overtired and my resistance is low. I'm not hungry but I want to eat EVERYTHING. Help me avoid the temptation! How do you cope when you're in "snack" mode?
I'm in snack mode right this second, ugh. Carrot or celery sticks can help, because you can basically just eat as many of those as you want. Pretzel sticks are also super low cal and low fat. I know its not the same as chips or something, but at least its something to chew, lol.
Sometimes when I'm feeling snacky, a nice hot cup of tea along with a 100 calorie bag of popcorn will do the trick. If I eat the popcorn 1 kernel at a time and kind of savor it, while drinking the tea....well, it seems to really fill me up for a little while. At least I'm distracted for awhile, haha.
I like to chew gum if I'm really desperate. To eat, you'd actually have to remove the gum from your mouth, so it takes a little extra thought before mindless snacking.
You know, AA has an acronym HALT to try to make people think about why they're indulging. I like to use it with food, because it's very true.
Reasons why you're falling back on your vice (food)
1. Hungry (did you feed yourself good meals today, or skip them?)
2. Agitated (In aa they use angry, but I take this to mean stressed in any way)
3. Lonely (most of us overeat when we're alone).
4. Tired (maybe you're hungry for sleep more than food?)
Sounds like a classic case of #4. So focus on taking care of that instead of taking care of an imaginary hunger. You can relax or go to bed early. Enjoy the feeling of both in the same way you would savor food.
Is it too early/possible to just go to bed? I really don't know what time zone you are in, so this may not be possible (not that I would judge you for going to bed at 6:00pm. I have nights when I am tired and just want to eat, I will go to bed early to not only catch up on my sleep, but to also keep me from eating.
If going to bed is not possible, I agree with everyone else, find something to do, snack on something low cal (tea, veggies, etc.). Anything to take your mind of the munchies.