How to stop boredom eating?

[Skeleton]

I tend to snack a lot, mostly on things like chocolate, sweets etc and I've started to realise it's mostly because I'm bored so I turn to eating for something to do and I'd like to cut down. I decided to go about this by just cutting down on snacking but I've noticed that even if I'm not hungry I find myself craving food, especially when I'm bored so I was wondering if there is any tips or anything on how to cut down on it. One of my resolutions was to lose some weight so I feel cutting back on the snacking would help with this so, anyway I could do it would be appreciated.

[PutYourHeartsUp]

I've noticed that I tend to crave something when watching TV or just sitting around. Now, I haven't tried this yet and I have no information to back it up, but I'm going to try ONLY eating while sitting at the kitchen table with the TV off (or with the news on). I've heard that you're supposed to only use your bed to sleep, because then when you get in bed your body knows it's time to sleep and I was hoping to apply this logic to eating. It's only time to eat when I sit at the table. You could give it a shot too, and I'll let you know how it works out for me.

[Sincerely Yours ♥]

I do this as well Hopefully I can also learn something from your thread

[Childish Giggle]

Hey there,
I have the same problem of eating when I have nothing to do or munching loads of stuff while watching TV. We tend to eat more when we take the whole packet and eat from it directly. One way to keep a check on the amount you eat is that instead of eating from the packet directly, take out a small serving. That way you'll probably eat less unless you go and take more servings. And also it is advised to never eat while watching TV because then we tend to eat more than we normally would or a number of reasons.
Eat slowly, our brain takes 15 minutes to realize that we have eaten and that our stomach is full. So eating slowly can help a bit too.
I hope that helps you.

[Skeleton]

Originally Posted by CloserToTheClouds

I've noticed that I tend to crave something when watching TV or just sitting around. Now, I haven't tried this yet and I have no information to back it up, but I'm going to try ONLY eating while sitting at the kitchen table with the TV off (or with the news on). I've heard that you're supposed to only use your bed to sleep, because then when you get in bed your body knows it's time to sleep and I was hoping to apply this logic to eating. It's only time to eat when I sit at the table. You could give it a shot too, and I'll let you know how it works out for me.

I'll have to try that although we never really eat at the table at my house so that does make it harder but I'm sure I can manage to turn the TV off while I eat my dinner as most of the time, I eat it in front of the tv.

Originally Posted by Pisces

Hey there,
I have the same problem of eating when I have nothing to do or munching loads of stuff while watching TV. We tend to eat more when we take the whole packet and eat from it directly. One way to keep a check on the amount you eat is that instead of eating from the packet directly, take out a small serving. That way you'll probably eat less unless you go and take more servings. And also it is advised to never eat while watching TV because then we tend to eat more than we normally would or a number of reasons.
Eat slowly, our brain takes 15 minutes to realize that we have eaten and that our stomach is full. So eating slowly can help a bit too.
I hope that helps you.

I'll definitely do that also, I do have a tendency to take the whole packet rather then just a few at a time and I always eat while watching TV so I'll cut back on both of those and hopefully it'll help.

Thanks for the replies

[escape_thereal_world]

I definitely agree those two things should help quite a bit. Another thing you could do is when you are feeling bored and go to eat....eat something you don't like. I've been craving chocolate or something sweet so I've just taken a pinch of sugar and ate it (I hate sugar by itself)...problem gone. Instead, I wanted water

Not to say that's a wonderful method, but be creative with how you go about this.

Another thing is that it IS okay to have a small amount of the food you are craving. Just be sure it's not one of those addictive foods like cheetos or chips. Instead of going for those, go for some chex mix. Same crunchy sweet and salty taste, but healthier.

If you crave a bowl of ice cream - take one or two scoops ONLY and add about 1/4 of what you normally would with syrups. I've learned for myself that it is so much easier to cut back on junk food when I know I can still have it sometimes! Otherwise I keep thinking "I want it...I cant...I want it...I cant..." then I get grouchy and so I binge. So don't cut yourself off. Just limit yourself

[bitesize]

Make your kitchen reallllllly cold. I'm a ferocious boredom eater too, sometimes I'll wander to the fridge without thinking. But the last couple of weeks my kitchen has been so cold (my house doesn't have central heating) that it completely puts me off from wanting to spend time in it....and my snacking has majorly cut down

I'm sorry if this wasn't very good advice, heh.

[ReluctantPegasister]

I'm not going to be much help in this area but you could try sugarless gum.

[Squidgy]

I used to have this problem as well. Try chewing sugarless gum like Maeve said, That's what I tried and it worked. Good luck

[Fanatic]

I usually have the same problem. But I agree with some of the people in this thread that chewing sugarless gum will help. If you have enough self-control though, you can remind yourself not to eat with a little reminder or distract yourself with something instead. Well, I hope it helped. ♥

[Skeleton]

Thanks for the replies guys, the sugarless gum idea sounds pretty good, I'll definitely try that! I'd make my kitchen cold but it's cold anyway and that doesn't stop me usually but if I do venture into the kitchen, I'll remember to only have small amounts like suggested.

Cheers once again

[escape_thereal_world]

Careful with the gum. Some people say it makes you more hungry or hungry because it activates salivation which triggers the brain into thinking you should be eating. Since you have some great suggestions, I'm going to close this