Hey all, anyone got any tips for overcoming boredom eating/drinking? My self-sabotage routine seems to revolve around being super-enthusiastic about calorie counting in the morning but by about 8pm I've usually got a beer open with a bag of crisps (which then turns into another beer or two and another bag of crisps).
I can abstain from alcohol when needed (did a month and a half recently) but often in the evening where its too early for bed I just find myself in a no-mans land where worries and problems come to the surface and then either drinking or snacking (or both!) seems like a good option to take the stress the away.
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SlimmerTony36
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Couple of suggestions, if you don’t eat enough, earlier in the day, then you will be hungry which is the biggest cause of weight loss failure. Not just calories, but the type of foods you eat. Please see this for a more detailed explanation healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...
Secondly, I am also a boredom eater. I really like Gillian Riley, she calls it “the addictive desire to eat” and overcoming this takes work, but trust me, it can be done. Many of our eating behaviour is habit, that can be changed with practice. healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...
This is a very busy forum with lots going on, and nothing beats joining in, reading posts and replying to others. Our group Weigh-in and the Daily Diary are probably the best places to start.
Thanks for the quick replies guys, I will go through the materials and look to get involved with the community moving forward as I think this could be the next step for me.
My journey so far is that I would consider myself a calorie counting purist subscribing to the view that fundamentally you must use more than you put in. I am 6ft and back in Jan 2016, I weighed just under 17st at my heaviest.
After buying a FitBit and using the app to log my food I went down to just over 14st at my lowest within 6 months but at the time it was all new and interesting and felt like a game to make the dashboard light up in the right way! Since then though I seem to have gone into the classic yo-yo/whip-saw effect and lost my mindset and stubbornness to stick to the routine.
Today I weighed myself and I'm comfortably north of 16 stone again which is psychologically tough to deal with but also a reminder that all is not lost
Thanks for that. I was just reading the article about insulin resistance posted above. Very interesting....
Certainly since my initial weight loss journey (2016 was the first time I actually tried to diet) I understand everything is not so black and white as I first thought. Whats frustrating for me though is back then I went from eating anything I wanted to sticking myself on a 1500 calorie a day diet but I don't remember it being particularity difficult.
Now, it feels like 2000 a day is a daunting big ask!
If you "slim smart" weight loss is not so hard! It is not all about motivation and masochism.
Some of us here find that what works, even without counting calories, is a combination of The Low Carbohydrate, High-Fat (LCHF) diet (see the forum here on Health Unlocked) and Not Snacking All Day AKA Intermittent Fasting (IF). See:
What works for me SlimmerTony36 , is three good, healthy meals a day. I cook from scratch, eat full fat everything which helps keep me feeling full till the next meal, and I try not to overdo the carbs. When I prepare meals (that's my danger time, being in the kitchen with food around, and I'm starting to feel hungry, I chew gum, it gives my mouth something to do and the minty flavour puts me off nibbling cheese or whatever else I am handling. Keep coming here for support, tips, advice, recipes, someone to commiserate with when you fall off the wagon or celebrate successes with. There is always someone here!
(Please change your name - I hate typing that! When I first started, I called myself TubbyTeacher, but someone told me to think positive, and I changed it to TrimmerTeacher, and that's what I am now!) Good luck!!
Brilliant! That name suits you already SlimmerTony36 ! Hope you will join us now in the Junk-Free January challenge. I shall be watching out for you and cheering you on!
You know this will happen, so why not build it into your plan? Make yourself a tray full of healthy snacks and drinks, eg berries or choppe/sliced fruit, sliced banana mixed with sweetener, cinnamon and low-fat yogurt to eat with a spoon, a pan of fresh vegetable soup, nice fruit or herb teas, diet pops, low-cal hot chocolate etc. and accept that you get the munchies in the evening, it's the way that you are and that doesn't make you a failure, just someone with their own rhythm
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