I found myself wondering around in the kitchen a few minutes ago, I opened the fridge, then the freezer every thing in there would require work to fix because it's all healthy food & I shut the door. Then I looked in the pantry & the same thing happened.

I opened a cabinet door and found a lone box of microwavable portioned hamburger helper cheeseburger macaroni. I looked & it was like 240 calories & I thought I can do 240 calories right now, that would be ok. Then I noticed that it takes 4-5 minutes to cook in the microwave. That would take too long!

I all of a sudden realized I was looking for a quick fix. I wanted to shove something in my mouth for immediate gratification & preferably something salty. I closed the cabinet and said to myself I don't need that, I'm not even hungry. This is just habitual and I can change it. Actually, I should have been sleeping, it's past my bedtime & here I am wondering around the kitchen. I cant sleep though, so I decided to come here & post instead. I'm creating a new habit to replace the old one, posting here instead of wondering around the kitchen late at night.

I cant believe I seriously thought about eating reconstituted freeze dried hamburger helper. I'm going to go throw it away before I go to bed.

Woot! What an accomplishment! You can be proud of yourself for realizing this was a boredom habit, identifying it, robbing it of its power over you, and getting on with your life. You've exercised your "resistance" muscle!

That is just awesome!!!!! Breaking those mindless habits is the absolute hardest part! You are ON YOUR WAY!

Congrats, that's definitely the way to think now! You'll probably come down this road again in your journey...don't forget that you did it once, you can do it again and again and AGAIN!

You're definitely on the right track...and an inspiration to everyone one out there, including me...I'm battling this snacking thing as well.

Way to go! I use to do the same thing. Now i just drink a bottle of water or gatorade && I find I wasnt hungry in the first place.

I have been trying to eat "real" food too.

Yes this is something I found out too. I did this program(The Lord's Table) and that was one thing I noticed when I followed the eat only when I've had 2 good tummy growls. It was amazing how many times I got up from what I was doing and did just what you said. Nothing was quick enough, thankfully so I went back and waited till hunger growls started. It really is eye opening. At the same time I was doing a fast each week from dinner to dinner so its not too bad. And I was eating breakfast and lunch all raw foods(fruit, veggies, salads and seeds a few nuts, dried fruit too which are technically not raw). I felt great and would love to get back to eating like that but the cost was not in my budget. I'm learning to menu plan dinner so hopefully August I can eat like that and keep a budget where I can afford the fruits and veggies.

Good Job! Keep it up!

Good for you! I used to do the same thing, especially at night.

That is great, I am so proud of you

Way to Go! Glad you threw out the helper.

That is great!

It was a break through moment!

Thanks you all!
Nighttime is horrible for me. I would eat after everyone went to bed. I don't think I was fooling anyone but myself really. Another bad time for me is about 2-4 o'clock in the afternoon.
I really don't know why I want to reach for food late at night other than it being a habit. I'm not hungry of course.
Many times the routine would be to eat something not good for me because it's fast and snacky. Then I'd end up getting heart burn from it and couldn't sleep & have to get up & take an antacid or something. Toss & turn all night from a full belly and then wake up feeling horrible in the morning.

I stopped an old habit of mine that I've had for 30 years. I've been biting my nails since I was old enough to bite them, about 2 my mom said. Yes, I do know how gross it is but I didn't care I did it anyway. In April I went to a retreat and during my time there I noticed that I had not bitten my nails and had little tiny bit of nail growth. I was amazed. It must have been because I wasn't stressed enough to bite them although I don't really know why. So I just decided to not bite them for one more day, then the next day I did the same thing. Well, now it's July 21st and I haven't bit them since April. Now I have these long beautiful nails that people complement me on all the time. I love all the complements.

So one of the things I do is when I start feeling snacky is I do something with my nails, whether it be file them, clean them, paint them or what ever. It's comforting to me and I take pride in them, it makes me feel good and the feeling isn't fake and it lasts. Unlike eating unhealthy food, yeah it feels good at first but then I realize what I'm doing and then feel tremendous guilt.

Ditto this. I have some very simple frozen things I can make for just this occasion. (shrimp, etc.) I also keep a very lovely looking fruit basket, and I have some cherries, grapes or blueberries always available so I can grab a couple while cooking. Hardly any calories and it helps tide me over so that I don't say, "this is going to take 40 minutes to cook? Forget that, I'm going to get fast food."

(I have pretty bad TMJ, so it is tough for me to munch on very solid raw veggies like carrots.)