What do you do to fight boredom eating?

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  • I'm definetly going to put some of these into practice. Especially for when I get home at night from work. My first stop is the fridge and most of the time I'm not even hungry, just bored. I like the idea of plopping on the couch with a sandwich I guess.. :/
  • Anything to keep me busy. I like to find tasks that kind of absorb me for the night, like crocheting. I also find that video games are helpful - hard to eat when you are using a controller. I tend to eat the most at night so I've learned to go to bed early and wake up earlier - I tend to not want to eat as much in the morning.
  • Love all these ideas!! I am personally addicted to pinterest.com. There's always so many new DIY crafts/projects that can be done for cheap and relatively quickly. It's also a great place to find new recipes....although you may not want to research that while hungy and bored lol
  • Quote: Believe it or not, cleaning house tends to be effective for me. In part I think I am "clearer" with a clean house so that helps me feel energized rather than down and wallowing.
    Oh my gosh, I am SO with you on this! IT's so strange. Every time I am in a great mood and I am inspired and motivated to be on track and the apartment happens to be a mess (a bit), I just want to clean. Today, I cleaned the whole apartment for 3 hours (even though it wasn't my turn to clean) and I actually enjoyed it. I just enjoy being productive and not lazy, sitting there. I find that whenever I'm bored and I just sit there, and watch tv, or play games on my ipad or phone, I end up eating anyway because It's not productive or engaging enough.

    I also created a list a few weeks ago for myself to look at when I'm bored:
  • Wow, I love those!!

    LSUgal- I'm just learning about pinterest. A friend of mine just recently told me about it.

    sensualappeal- I make signs and posters like that all the time! I have my exercise one and my weighloss one, and I also have and inspirational one that I collaged.
  • I love this list; I just bookmarked it for future reference. I would estimate that 80-90% of the times I eat unreasonably is when I'm bored.

    My first go-to when I'm bored and want to eat is to get a glass of water, because having something to do with my mouth helps me focus. Once I have that glass of water, though, I'm excited to try something from this list.

    Another thing to add to the list: I'm not sure if there are others out there with as much excess artwork as me, but re-arranging/hanging new decorations is always enjoyable (and a time suck).
  • Great thread! I totally agree with the glass of water thing. Or if I'm craving something sweet, a diet soda usually takes the edge off my cravings.
    And I LOVE crocheting...I need to find the afghan I started last year and finish it.

    Play with the dogs
    go on 3FC!!!
    take a walk
    walk the dogs
    play xbox (or internet games.)
    Wash my hands (sounds silly, but it clears your mind a little.)
    Slather some good smelling lotion on my arms, legs, ect.
    Give myself a pedicure
    Stretch
    draw
    paint
    Drink a hot cup of tea or coffee on the porch
    flip through a magazine and try and replicate a hair/makeup style on yourself.
  • I try to concentrate on studies and work. I also try to not have any sort of "snacky" food at all in the house.

    In addition, I think it is super important to locate when you are normally plagued with the need to endulge in boredom eating.

    Often times, I am actually very tired and maybe a bit bored with what I'm doing - that leads me to checking out the fridge for no reason. For some reason I want to stay awake, so I turn to eating. I've been working on simply closing my eyes for 15-30min.

    I used to have a lot of problem with boredom eating between lunch and dinner. I changed up my eating routine, eating a bigger, more protein filled lunch, and now it doesn't strike me as hard.

    Discussing issues with others on this website also helps!
  • Get naked. Nothing about being naked makes me want to eat.
  • Ooohhh I've been doing a little binge eating of my own. Two days this week. It's making me so mad cause I haven't done this in a really long time. Problem is I'm bored to tears. I'm laid off from work, my computer died and my car needs a really expensive repair so I can't go anywhere without calling someone to take me there. Plus, I'm broke so it doesn't really matter that I can't go anywhere. I start the day off really well but the evening bordem is driving me crazy. If I weren't getting in really good exercise most days of the week, i'd really be in trouble.

    Thing is I realized a couple of weeks ago that I was really starting to get bored and started wondering what I cfould do to get out of this slump. I need some outside interests but that's out because I'm not mobile.

    I thought knitting would do the trick but nope I'm not intersted in the project I chose.

    Maybe I'll try reading a book. Got one I haven't finished so maybe I'll pick that up again.
  • I've been thinking of picking up new hobbies as well to counter my eating-when-bored habit. Here is my list:

    * Photography: Go out for a walk and take pictures of wildlife or abstract/landscape. Explore your area and keep record of how it is now - you never know, 40 years down the line and the photos may be a priceless remembrance.

    * Writing: Creative writing can take a lot of effort and time, especially if you're caught up in the moment. Plus you can join writing circles.

    * Learning a new instrument: I swear, if I was living alone I'd pick up the trumpet. Learning a new instrument is a wonderful thing! Don't have place for a guitar? Go for a ukulele or harmonica or flute instead. Its time consuming and you can't have grubby fingers while playing!

    * Jewelry making: I've been interested in this for a while, though it can get a bit more difficult if you don't have access to kilns. Still, I figure if I ever get good enough I may end up being able to make a few bucks on places like etsy.com.

    * Take a bubble bath: Okay its not a hobby but hey, it occupies your time, relaxes you and you end up smelling oh so good!
  • Thank you for this post!
    This is so fantastc - thanks fellow chicks for the ideas! I am seriously struggling with boredom eating. I am not losing/not gaining over the past few weeks, which is frustrating because I know I am working out/eating healthy 90% of the time, but it just takes that 10% to cancel all that dedication out. I wrote all of the ideas down and will keep it nearby so I can pick something out when I have those urges - usually weekend evenings.

    Thank you, thank you, thank you! This may be what helps make the difference! Yay!
  • Play online scrabble while drinking tea with skim milk!
  • I realized that I eat while watching TV/movies because my hands are bored. The second I replaced food with cross-stitching, I didn't even want food during TV anymore. It was really all about keeping my hands busy.

    I love puzzles too. By the time I look up and stretch, it's okay to eat again because it's been a few hours. They really are a wonderful distraction.
  • I get up here and obssessively read all the posts on the forum when I'm feeling the urge to eat! And I think doing stuff like painting my nails (kinda hard to eat when nails aren't dry) and lighting aromatic candles (I hear some smells like apple & cinnamon help to suppress the appetite!)