Distract yourself from eating.

What I mean is: while I was making bank in tech I was on the road to getting married and establish myself as a tech expert, which means dating, networking, getting to know people (I’m an introvert, so it’s rough). I’d spend time on a date with people and not necessarily starve myself, but food took a back seat to taking a walk, starting a chat, just getting to know people. As someone who has always battled his weight I was finally starting to look like I WANTED to look.

But then when I hit a financial snag (a string of bad clients/employers–would NOT recommend this career move) I was basically financially constrained to my house. No going out, not even to a coffee shop. Without the privilege of going out and finding friends/love/acceptance can you guess how I have to find comfort? You guessed it! Even though I stay active I’ve found it’s very hard to keep weight down.

I only say this to make the point: if you can afford it, distract yourself from food.

For me only buying heathy snacks is a big one if you insist on buying snacks in general

But the biggest way would be to not buy snacks

Can’t crush a box of Cheez It’s while watching YouTube if you have to go to the store first

Of course recently I got Invisalign so to eat any snacks is a headache of having to pull them out, keep it to a short amount of time, floss and swish when I’m done, and then put them back in. So that’s a huge hurdle but it cost me $5k so not the cheapest option for sure.

Beans 🫘

They make your stomach stay “filled” for a good while, so i eat them twice a week before going to college. 📆

Also, do NOT consume tea or coffee for at least 30 minutes after eating (unless it’s a latte or similar).

I tend to forget eating due to my adhd. With the years Ive gotten quite good at turning on tunnel vision and working through lunch. Do that ofen enough and a box of cheetos is not a problem. X]

Make a rule not to eat while you’re doing anything else: watching a show, playing a game, reading a book, browsing Reddit Lemmy. When you’re eating, focus on the food. Taste and enjoy it. And when that gets boring or you feel full, set it aside and go do the other things.

Distracted eating is when I overindulge.

I’ll assume here you’re talking about eating outside your main meals, and you’re mainly eating for that dopamine reward.

Usually low calorie snacks (fruits, veggies, etc) are a good choice, but even eating too much of them can be detrimental. Best alternative IMO is finding something that distracts you from continuously eating. Preferably some activity that requires your attention and needs your hands active (so just watching a video isn’t gonna work in this case: it’s easy to continue eating while watching something).

In my case, I’d start doodling and fiddling with Lego blocks or something.

Only thing that works for me is to never go shopping hungry. That way I am able to not buy unhealthy food and snacks. So if I want to eat or snack there are no unhealthy options.

So either I’m actually hungry and will eat what is there. Or I’m not that hungry. Also there is no chance my lazy ass is going to go and get any snacks even if I feel like I really want them.

chew longer

My therapist told to try this thing recently where you suck on a candy or snack that you really like, don’t allow yourself to crunch it. Suck it until it dissolves.

Resisting giving into the frustration but of not being able to crunchit helps you with emotional regulation, feeling the emotion but not immediately reacting to it

Resisting crunching it because you want to taste that explosion of flavor helps you increase your ability to not only resist temptation but also to increase your ability to have the will to do the things you want to do.

It also interacts with that same oral fixation as eating, so you’re helping qualm some of those binging urges.

I do it with sugar free werther’s originals, it works surprisingly well

One thing I do to limit my intake of a single type of snack is to pour a serving or two into a bowl and allow myself to eat the whole bowl without thinking about the restraint. I may go back for a second serving but I usually find myself not eating a whole family bag of chips in one sitting that way.

Everything in moderation!

Coffee. I drink it black with no sugar and therefore it has minimal calories. Caffeine is an appetite suppressant, although I switch to decaf after my first 2. Probably the smarter answer is water. I find having the flavour though helps with the psychological trick of novelty that I’m often seeking from food.

Don’t eat shit food for a meal, and snacking is usually a bad idea.

Though it’s counter to American practices, eat a large breakfast and lunch, and lighter dinner. You’re active in the day, that’s when you need food. Sleep on an emptyish stomach.

Processed foods are not good for you. “chips” are not food as in a meal.

Foods should be mostly recognizable growing things or made from them.

Fats are good for you sugar is fine – in reasonable quantities. You need fat! You probably don’t need sugar, lol, but it is tasty. But it’s a shit food source.

Drink more liquids.

Try replacing unhealthy snacks with healthier ones. Eg. Nuts/seeds instead of chips, fruit instead of candy. hummus + veggies, homemade veggie chips/baked veggie “fries” (avoid starchy veggies)

Dont go to the store/order when youre hungry. Its easier to control what you buy than it is to say no to the unhealthy snacks in the cupboard that you already bought. i.e put a barrier between yourself and unhealthy snacks.

Make a hobby out of finding creative ways to make that comfort food healthier. eg. Sneak veggies into things, replace less healthy ingredients with healthier ones. eg. Replace butter with olive oil, replace beef with turkey, switch to lite salt (slowly) instead of table salt etc.

Use a small plate for your meals.

I spent a good year eating only “real” food, you know, stuff with 1 ingredient. Mostly vegetables and meat with some fruit and nuts thrown in. That curbed my over eating. I’d eat when I was hungry and that was it. No one is going to over eat broccoli. The natural satiety signals actually work. Things like chips are engineered so you can eat them forever.

It may seem boring, but it works. If you like to cook it can be made more interesting.

The only thing I felt like I was eating a lot of sometimes was nuts, pistachios specifically. However, the shells slowed me down and I’d still reach a point when I felt like I was done. I probably just needed the calories.