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Old 03-01-2007, 10:17 PM   #1  
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Smile How do I stop eating when I'm alone???

Hi,

I'm new to website and hoping someone has some good advice for me. I'm really good on the exercising side of things (workout 6 days a week for at least an hour). It's the eating side I have a hard time with. I do good during the day when I'm at work. I don't have any problem walking away from the candy jars or walking right past the donuts on the counter. When I get home from work, I workout right away and then after that I make supper and then it goes down hill from there. I feel like I have this endless pit in my stomach. I eat supper and then munch after that and not on healthy stuff the majority of the time. Then it even is worse when my husband is not home or even in the house. If I know he's going to be gone for a weekend, I usually have at least one night I completely over indulge. Then of course by the time I'm done I feel terrible and wish I wouldn't have eaten what I did. I don't know how to stop what I'm doing to myself. I even have a hard time not buying things I shouldn't be eating when I'm grocery shopping.

Any suggestions on how to break my pattern.

Thanks!
B
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Old 03-01-2007, 10:33 PM   #2  
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hi4
please dont take mypost wrong , but is something bothering you?
You knowwhat im talkng about, something deep seated
and so you try to push it away? something that is so deep seated, you even feel guilty to address it! You just want to forget it or make it go away?

think about that one. It was the case with me anywys. Incidentally, I am alone a lot! I dont knowwwwww, you can answer it best. what is it that gets you at night? or at least what gets you down? I was islotating quite lot and surely it helps to surround youself with loving people, whether it be a et together with your mom, a freind, whoever! but ultimately, it is when you find out what is eating at you that you can attack it! i hope im making sense. there is something missing maybe? something your not happywith/
and if so, find a way to change it, one way or the other. forme, it was like a brick or huge log in the road! I could not progress for a long time beacuse of it so if indeed this is the case (and I may be totaly wrong) find that tree limb in the way and clear your road!
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Old 03-01-2007, 10:35 PM   #3  
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Well I think it would be easier to say no to buying the tempting foods at the market than saying no to eating it once it's in your kitchen waiting to be eaten. When there is junk in my house and I'm alone I gut sucked into the one cookie wont hurt mentality and then one turns into 10! Now I just don't keep it around and I tell my mom and sister (I live with them) to keep it somewhere that isn't in my face everytime I open the pantry or fridge. Will powe is a big help too, but sometimes that is hard to come by and that's when this site comes in handy! Just keep your goal in mind and try to remind yourself how imoprtant it is to you!
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Old 03-01-2007, 10:36 PM   #4  
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Hey there!

Here are some ideas that might help with that eating in the evening, eating while alone...

1. Get the junk food out of the house. Get the sweets out of the house. Don't have them around at all. You can't eat what's not there.

2. Come up with a list of snack foods that will not be disasterous if you eat them, and have them around. Examples: baby cut carrots. You can eat lots of those for not many calories. Rice crackers--not just the "foamlike" kind, but also the oriental kind, such as the KaMe brand if you can find them. They are tasty and crunchy but not too bad. Other vegetables. Also, flavored teas are sometimes good to drink instead of having a snack.

3. Be sure to eat enough during the day. If you're hungry all day, your body may want to make up for it at night. I don't want to eat so much if I've had a good dinner.

4. If you just have to have certain snacks, portion them out ahead of time into zipper bags so you know exactly how many calories you are getting. Don't just have "a few" because that leads to "a few more." For example, if you like chocolate, Ghirardelli makes dark chocolate chips. 16 of those is a serving and has 80 calories. Also, nuts can be portioned out this way. And don't forget the small 100-cal bags of microwave popcorn.

Hope this give you some ideas!

Jay
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Old 03-01-2007, 10:43 PM   #5  
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I know this feeling all too well! I recently started living alone for the first time ever, and yeah, it can get ugly that way.

Grocery store - don't go when you're hungry, that helps.

I attend TOPS and part of their standard pledge says "... even though I overeat in private, my excess poundage is there for all the world to see ..." This post made me think of that.

Sadly, I don't have much advice. For a while, I had a list of tasks that I wanted to get done (mend an item of clothing, pay bills, pull together a box of items to donate to the Goodwill, etc.) and when I wanted to eat (out of obvious boredom), I chose an item off the list to do instead. It helped to just postpone eating, if not curb the craving altogether.

Another recent tidbit of wisdom I've heard: If hunger is not the problem, then food is not the solution.

Keep coming back to 3FC. Every little bit of information and support helps.

Last edited by phantastica; 03-02-2007 at 11:47 AM.
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Old 03-01-2007, 10:53 PM   #6  
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I feel your pain! I too am home alone a few nights through the week and for some reason those nights are terrible. I can say no through the day and no when my bf is home or my kids are awake but get me alone in the quiet house and I'm ready to dive into everything I can find. As a matter of fact its amazing I just found this post, I came directly here from my kitchen where I had to verbally tell myself no (and no, I usually don't talk to myself). Glad to know I'm not the only one going through this particular problem. Like I said, I feel your pain.
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Old 03-01-2007, 11:02 PM   #7  
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Instead of filling the time with food while you're alone, how about doing something else fun? Why not try buying some spa like things (scrubs, nice nail polish, indulgent bubble bath) and treat yourself to a spa day instead of eating away the time when he's not around?

And as for munching after supper, I would suggest a couple things: perhaps you're not eating enough fiber or protein at supper to keep you full if you're going for food later...and maybe you should try to make a very serious commitment to yourself for NO FOOD AFTER DINNER if that's what's getting you. I read somewhere recently of someone putting a sign on their fridge that said "Closed After Dinner".

I also wanted to say that you're not alone!! Lots (I'd say most, if not all) of us here have problems putting down the food or avoiding those tempting choices, so you're not alone!
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Old 03-02-2007, 07:59 AM   #8  
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Grab something warm to drink like herbal tea or maybe a bottle of water ... and come to 3FC and just read. I'm amazed how long I can sit here learning and not eating.
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Old 03-02-2007, 08:02 AM   #9  
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Hi B!



I know EXACTLY what you mean! I was like that for...oh, say...THIRTY YEARS! I would do GREAT during the day when I was busy, but in the evening...WOW! I probably ate as much in the evening after dinner than I did the whole rest of the day!

I've done extensive journalling these last few years and discovered as I have been pouring myself onto the paper that I AM A STRESS EATER! You sound like you are one, too!

Others have given you GREAT suggestions on what to do to deal with this thing. I think that you have made a wonderful first step in even ACKNOWLEDGING that this is a problem! (It took me nearly THIRTY YEARS to figure out that THIS one one of the main reasons for my extra poundage! )

I wish you strength in dealing with this! Know that so many of us are fighting the same demons as YOU are!

Cheryl
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Old 03-02-2007, 11:40 AM   #10  
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Lightbulb unconventional ideas

But that's what I'm here for, right?

* Sometimes I get online and chat with my friends or just surf the web. It can be expensive if you have an ebay addiction, so watch out.

* You're working out an hour a day but apparently you have more energy than you think in the evening. Maybe some yoga or meditation if you're not doing it already? It's hard to nibble on things if you're feeling spiritually peaceful. And the side benefits are immeasurable.

* A fifteen-minute workout - there are some that are short. I don't like to eat after I work out - too busy feeling virtuous that I did!

* Catch up on those phone calls that you always intend to make but there's never enough time to do.

* If you don't get professional manicures, do your own nails. It's at least an hour for painting and drying, and you won't want to smudge them by eating. And if you change nail polish color every day, so what? I had a colleague who had been a nail technician and she did her own nails most every night for the fun of it.

* Origami is a fun hobby - folding paper is a great solution to keeping the hands busy. Hard to fold paper when hands are greasy with popcorn, even the low-fat kind.

Hope this helps!
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Old 03-04-2007, 10:20 AM   #11  
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Thank you all so much for your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. It is very nice to know that I'm not alone. I like the "Kitchen Closed after Dinner" Sign. I'm going to try each suggestion that was given to me and see which one works for me.

I have given much thought about the problem being much deeper like FullSteamAhead mentioned. I know one thing that has been bothering me is that so many of the friends that I had years ago, I have lost touch with because they've all gotten so wrapped up in their own lives they don't make the effort to keep in touch. I get frustrated always having to be the one to make the effort to pick up the phone. I have one best friend and that is my husband.

I believe I have just found a site where there are people that are facing the same demons that I am and are there for one another for support.

Thank you all again so very much for your feedback. I will be visiting 3FC often.

Thanks!
B
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Old 03-04-2007, 11:23 AM   #12  
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I also have this problem. I've found recently that if I give myself a rule like' no eating after 7 pm' it has helped. I have also found that my binge eating and my alone eating seems to happen when I'm in front of the TV and usually if I'm watching a show I don't seem to be remember what I ate.

So guess what? no TV for me either until I can break this habit. I have replaced these activites with reading, dancing, art work, crafts, playing my guitar, going to the art gallery, taking a drive, helping out at a food bank...
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Old 03-04-2007, 08:08 PM   #13  
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I'm a huge after dinner snacker. For some reason the evenings get to me. I combat it with sipping hot decaf green tea, munching on healthy snacks, or just grabbing my hand weights and hitting my step stool for about 15 minutes. The exercise works long after the 15 minutes because then I feel energized and start thinking of things around the house that need tending to and get to work on those.
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Old 03-04-2007, 10:09 PM   #14  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by almostheaven View Post
I'm a huge after dinner snacker. For some reason the evenings get to me.
Same here.

I have found a good way to stop myself from overloading on calories. I only snack on raw veggies like carrots, celeries, cucumber, etc. Without dip, they are not the tastiest food to me, so I don't snack as much.
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