[Eliana]

I can't believe I'm only just discovering this 8.5 months in!! You'd think I'd faced everything by now. I even made it through the Fall/Winter holidays for goodness sakes!

One of my hobbies is writing. I've been editing a WIP (work in progress) for the past year. When I edit I'm not necessarily having on and off moments of being totally engrossed in thought. Well, I just started writing a new WIP yesterday and I snacked a good portion of the day. Much of my time with a new WIP is spent in thought, staring off into space, gathering mental dialogues in my head. Apparently when I write I crave the chewing. I noticed I tap my fingers to my lips a lot too. I require a lot of self stimulation.

Today I'm back at it and I just finished lunch and have since nibbled on almonds and I even just grabbed a snack bag of CHIPS!!! Am I insane? I ate a few knowing full well what I was doing and then handed it off to my son.

I didn't realize I had such a snacking habit associated with writing! It's like what I've heard about cigarettes and beer!

[JayEll]

Time to switch to gum... Really! There are some good sugarless gums that will even help your teeth.

Jay

[lookin2lose]

I buy gum in bulk! I chew it ALL day long!!!!!!

[plumptobump]

Im a photographer and found that when Im sitting and editing, my natural response is to snack as well...which is compounded by the fact that I do 95% of my editing late at night. Luckily I recognised it and have broken that subconscious addiction. I did chew a lot of gum for the first couple of days and by about day 4, I was fine and hardly even think about it now. Funny isnt it??

[lovemyboy]

Yes! I found this trap as well. Its good you caught yourself, recognized it and stopped.

When I need to focus on something I have an urge to chew. I keep multi-packs of Trident in my pantry, at work and even in my glove box so that I have it should the chew urge hit when I'm not at home or work.

[Natasha1534]

I keep Trident Layers gum and the Trident Watermelon Splash gum around at all times. It helps a lot. If that's not good for you, maybe you could switch to snacking on carrots or celery???

[Athenacapella]

I hear you on that one! Above suggestions are good. Or even fruit loaded with water - such as watermelon, pineapple, grapes, etc. Could do a little side of cottage cheese. (Just watch the portion sizes.)

[ubergirl]

Ditto, ditto, ditto on the gum. I'm a writer and it was extremely hard for me to learn to work without snacking. My daughter clued me in to stride sweet peppermint, which she assured me tastes like York peppermint patties. I agree!

[Eliana]

All you gum chewers, lucky you! I can't do "sugar free" because of the artificial sweeteners which trigger migraines. You did make me think of hard cinnamon candies though. I don't crave them and tire of them quickly, so just one ought to do the trick. That's really not a bad idea. I tried popcorn, but the munchies just didn't stop and probably got worse with that idea.

I'm really into this book right now, so I've got to kick this habit to the curb. I am a very, very obsessive person and tend to focus all my attention on one obsession at a time. My obsession these past 8.5 months has been weight loss and I feel it switching back to the writing. This is good because I can't be obsessed with weight loss for the rest of my life, but now is the time to learn how to make weight loss just "what is" rather than my current fancy.

[rockinrobin]

Try keeping a large glass of water by your side. It helps me IMMENSELY.

I also find raw string beans and celery sticks to be a good snack.

[Natasha1534]

Originally Posted by Eliana

All you gum chewers, lucky you! I can't do "sugar free" because of the artificial sweeteners which trigger migraines.

Aspartame usually triggers migraines for me, but the Trident gum I chew uses Xylitol and it doesn't bother me at all.

[Eliana]

Originally Posted by Brown

Just curious-- your signature says you're a calorie counter, so how were you missing all these extra calories?

That's just it...all those bitefulls add up and by the time it got to be dinner time, I was "over budget" so I skipped it. Not nutritionally sound!

[ubergirl]

Eliana-- I hear what you're saying about being obsessive. Me too. But you need to be careful. I find it harder to focus on weight loss when I'm not well, FOCUSING, on it, and when I get swept up in other stuff and get obsessive about the other stuff, in the past that has always been a weight gain trigger.

I also get migraines from aspartame but I can do the sugar alcohol sweeteners. Another thing that has worked for me as a munchable is sugar snap peas...

[lovemyboy]

Since gum is out, something else I do, and this may sound weird, is drink ice water with a straw. Something about the straw seems to help. I save the straw for the types of situations like writing, creating spreadsheets, etc.. I can mindlessly grab the glass, put the straw up to my mouth, and it satisfies that something in the mouth urge.

[Eliana]

Originally Posted by lovemyboy

Since gum is out, something else I do, and this may sound weird, is drink ice water with a straw. Something about the straw seems to help. I save the straw for the types of situations like writing, creating spreadsheets, etc.. I can mindlessly grab the glass, put the straw up to my mouth, and it satisfies that something in the mouth urge.

Oh, you're right! I used to do this as a teen, come to think of it. I used to mutilate the straws from gnawing on them. Perfect, thank you!

And Uber, I'm definitely still in weight loss mode. It's taking priority over everything. Right now I'm in such a routine that it can't help but go a little on auto-piolet. In fact, it's going so well, I was quite surprised that writing triggered the snack monster. I thought I switch my hyper-focus to something else while putting the weight loss on a soft boil.

I can't honestly tell you how the snacking/writing is going at the moment because I haven't done a thing with it in a few days now. Had to go to the gym.