What's your favorite distracting activity?
 

I recently took up knitting and it's very entertaining. I hope this will help me cut down on my 'boredom eating' etc.etc.
But I'm curious, what's your favorite distractor to keep you from binging?(if you have one)

I also like:
Drawing
Writing
Surfing 3fc

so far it's been working!

Walking
taking a shower

I really only have those two. Doing pretty much everything else makes me think about eating.

Heidi

3FC!!! :woohoo: reading everyone else's stories gives me motivation and inspiration to avoid snacking. thanks all!

3fc- I spend too much time here (if there is such a thing)

hmm, for me it is hard to find something i prefer to do rather than eat.
housework and reading come to mind though.
the only problem with reading is that i do that while eating.

The internet. I play various games, watch a million and one movies, and post on here:)

Knitting really is great. I've managed to break myself of the urge to eat while watching TV or a movie on the Internet with knitting. Used to be that I'd want to have food with me if I sat down and didn't feel right if I didn't have it. By knitting, I kept my hands busy. Of course, now I sit down and want to knit ...

I've found charity work helps. There are some things you can do at home, like hand-writing thank yous to donors and volunteers. It depends on your skills and interests. That way, I feel good about what I'm doing, too.

I just signed up for an art class on Monday nights from 7-9 (my personal prime snacking/tv time). I figure the more I keep myself busy and out of the house the less I'll do the mindless boredom snacking!

huggamouse, I am also a knitter. There is probably an old thread where i talk about it. I knit a lot while my dad was in the hospital, to keep from boredom/worry eating. You really can't knit and eat at the same time. I find it ideal to distract me from boredom eating.
Glad you found your thing!

3FC
Sleeping (only at night though)
TV (hehe, no one I think would ever guess)
Cleaning House

I tried knitting & crocheting, but I have some hand issues so that did not pan out. I do find that doing those word search puzzles keeps me really distracted. If you put them down you lose your place and concentration so it is hard to pick up mindless food. Getting out for a quick walk, talking on the phone with friends and web-surfing also help.

I always go practice. As a music major, I can ALWAYS work on my technique. That helps.

I'll get into bed with a book
There are a couple msn games I'll play or I'll pop my dd's sims game in and play that for a while. These are usually really good at getting my mind off things.
Something else that I have discovered lately...eat a couple dill pickles. The taste seems to overpower me and I forget the flavour I was craving.
The best for me when it's at its worst...I'll tell hubby. He's really good at understanding, and sometimes thats all I really want.

People are important, as in being with them. At least, it was for me. I don't think I stopped binge eating until I moved out to live with my boyfriend because he was so important!

See before, when I lived with my family in a much bigger place than I shared/now share with him, no one would notice really if I slunk off to my end of the house with a load of food, and there was lots of food in the house anyway. So it wasn't noted by my family especially since I wasn't overweight. But living with BF in a much smaller house where there wasn't/isn't nearly as much food around, coupled with his supportive attitude, made the world of difference.

In general, staying around other people makes you less likely to binge, because normally you don't want to do it in front of them.

I have started playing the wii- since I need both hands to play video games I don't snack like I used to :D

I like to:

draw
play World of Warcraft (big dork, I know)
play with the dog

I'm another knitter, although I usually only do that in the winter around Christmas for some reason. I'm also a quilter, and that helps although lately I haven't felt like sewing and I'm not sure why. I spend a LOT of time surfing 3FC, time which could better be spent out walking or cleaning house I'm sure! But this place has been immensely helpful in helping me to realign my thought process, so I'm not going to beat myself up too badly over that.

I do beadwork. Like knitting, that keeps my hands busy and I never eat while I'm doing it. I just need to do it more often or find some more things that help.

Echoing so many other responses here...
Reading, cleaning (though sometimes that'll backfire if I clean the kitchen, hehe), 3FC...Sometimes I'll just pop in a pilates dvd and be at that for an hour or so, or I'll blast my music and dance around if my roommates aren't home.

read, play on the internet (that's what i'm doing right now, actually - avoiding eating before dinner), and play with my dog - if i eat while i'm playing with him, he steals it.

Running and movies are my distracters. Boredom eating is a killer for me.

Dishes
 

I'm usually only binge-crazed in the evening. I find that doing the dishes is perfect. I tell myself if I'm still feeling the need to snack after doing the dishes then I can, but the amount of time it takes to do the dishes is about perfect. We don't have a dishwasher, so the dishes take about 20-25 minutes -- just the right amount of time to get a grip.

Hi,
I like going outside with my boys, praying, or going for a run. :)

i like to go play with my little girls. i find that i want a snack less when i consider having to make a snack for EVERYBODY haha.

and i like to hang out here at 3fc. you guys hold me accountable just by posting. i don't ever want to eat crappy food while i'm reading and posting about the things we talk about here. :P

and i like to read magazines. it's hard to flip pages and eat at the same time :D

1)3fc~most definetly
2)Singing on ps2 singstar and karaoke revolution American idol games LOL
3)Walking inside house~i never eat when I walk.
4)Writing my goal weight into a tablet through out the day for the following month.
(that way I know to get there I must stay to my calories I eat per day)
5)Browsing Ebay
6) Trying on smaller clothes from my closet for hours for inspiration~cause I can not wait to fit in them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Definitely 3fc.. I spend a lot of time on here reading and it's very motivating! The wii, world of warcraft (i also am a dork haha), and walking/hiking are good distracters for me

Coming to this website and reading through posts is definately a source of distraction and motivation...also, taking hot baths, ebay, playing the wii with my son, anything that gets me away from the kitchen!

Trying to distract myself when I'm home and alone is the worst! I'll try to call someone, or talk online, or go find a roommate to take my mind off it. Otherwise, sometimes I'll brush my teeth! Because I usually snack at night, once I brush my teeth its a signal to my brain that I'm done eating for the night (or I'm just too lazy to brush my teeth twice).

Talking on the phone while I clean house.

Shopping.

Surfing on the net.

I like to go driving- I fill up a huge bottle of water, crank up the car radio, and just go. I drive the back roads, and just chill.

This was a good thread. Made me think. I am on this site a lot lately, walking, working, gardening (inside and out), shopping. And after reading some of these threads I would like to take up crocheting or knitting again. I used to do it and liked it. I also would like to learn to quilt, I think.

http://www.3fatchicks.net/img/bar-re...8/135/176/.png

It seems that my knitting has gone to the wayside, but I have taken up weaving hemp bracelets, specifically because I can see results faster and then go back to what I was doing. It fills up my empty snack/break time quite easily, and my friends love to wear them!

I like practicing on my motorcycle, even though it's a pain in the butt sometimes! I just started riding not too long ago, so after killing the bike 20 times while trying to shift usually gets me frustrated enough to where the only thing I want to do with food is throw it across the room :devil:

I like riding on the motorcycle with my boyfriend steering. It's a lot less frustrating ;) and insanely relaxing. We always take the backroads and we live really close to Mount St. Helens, so it's always a beautiful drive and the fresh air in your face is always nice.

I also do cross stitch and knitting. Cross stitch especially, your hands have to be super clean so food anywhere close is a no-no.

I always like walking too. I have to kick myself in the butt a bit to do it, but once I get going I don't want to stop.

Take a trip to the bookstore/movie store and peruse.

I brush my teeth after I've eaten the last meal of the day, so I can't graze. I can't go to bed with dirty teeth (BLECH!) and don't want to have to brush them again, so I just don't eat.

-drawing
-browsing 3fc! Inspirational.
-reading
-I wanna learn how to sew with my machine.
-Learning && becoming healthy (very time consuming)

Today it was shopping for groceries--just a few things I like to keep--

Pico de Gayo ready to go, skim milk, navel oranges, chicken breast strips, kids lunch stuff

I also went to two thrift stores---

Lucky Jeans--like new!--a new winter plaid winter handbag that is super cute--a blouse, black slacks I needed desperately and a skirt

I binged mid-afternoon but I am pretty sure I am NOT over my calorie allotment today...but as a distraction, I am working on a pot of coffee right now with Splenda and skim milk