I can't control my eating

Posts: 10,846
12/29/12 9:30 A

the first thing you want to check is your goals. on your start page, you will see them on the left hand side. first click change goals under pounds lost to make sure your inputs are accurate. make sure that your weight there is your current weight. also, try and make sure that you're not set to lose more than 1% of your bodyweight per week. in other words, if you weigh more than 200lbs, 2lbs per week is a dandy goal to have. if you weigh 150lbs, that's way too much for you [.25-1.5lbs per week would be a good goal for someone who is 150lbs. the .25lb a week would be for someone who is taller, say 5'6" and over and the 1.5lbs per week would be for someone 5' or under]. so once you've made sure that the program knows the size you are and you've made sure that your goal is reasonable, make sure you save it. then go back to your start page and change your calories burned goal. make sure that your calories burned goal is really accurate on a weekly basis. it doesn't matter so much if the number times match, but make sure the calories burned on a weekly basis, on average are accurate for what you are doing. then make sure you save that as well.
then take a look at your nutrition tracker and see if that changed your ranges. a lot of the time if you don't set a reasonable goal and you don't enter in the exercise that you do, you'll get dumped in the lowest ranges [1200-1550], when you really do need to be eating more to fuel your lifestyle.

now if you really are just emotional eating [yep, boredom counts], the simplest way to say what you need to do is to do something else. which sounds kind of useless, but it's what everything boils down to.
you could do it in many different ways. you could start by writing down different activities on slips of paper [things like knit, learn to knit, clean the bathtub, give yourself a pedicure, read, play a video game, go for a run, go for a walk, watch a movie, learn to garden, do a workout dvd, any activity that isn't eating can go on a slip], fold the papers in half and put them in a fishbowl [or a hat or a bowl, anything that you can pick from]. leave said bowl in the kitchen. when you are pretty sure you aren't hungry and find yourself in the kitchen, grab a slip from the bowl and do that instead.
or you could make a paper list of things to do that you keep in the kitchen and cross off as you do them. or you could put post -it ideas of things to do on the food that tends to get grabbed when you're bored.

if you're simply getting too much food and cleaning your plate, work on serving yourself less. instead of having a cup of something, try cutting back to 7/8 or 3/4 cup. if you're weighing out 100 grams of something, try having 85, 90, 95 grams instead. instead of a Tablespoon of something, try having two or two and a half teaspoons. slightly scaling back your portions will still get you what you need, without making you feel like you are cutting out all the food you love. you can also work on starting to leave one bite of food on your plate. if you get good at that, try leaving two bites of food and slowly scaling back from that side.
then there is what can be basically be simplified as volumetrics. if you love alfredo sauce, having it on pasta costs a lot of calories. if you have the alfredo sauce you love on steamed broccoli instead, you can save at least a hundred calories while still getting the same amount of food. or if you usually limited yourself to a cup of pasta and alfedo sauce, try working your way to having a half cup of pasta with a cup of broccoli and the alfredo sauce. and you don't have to do it as a single go thing. start with your cup of pasta and add 1/8 cup of broccoli to it the next five or so times you make it. the next five after that, add 1/4 cup of broccoli to the cup of pasta. the next five try having 7/8 cup pasta with 1/4 cup broccoli. then the next five set should be 3/4 cup pasta with 1/3 cup broccoli. and you keep moving until you find a balance of something that you like with vegetables cut it to make it better for you and lower calorie for the same volume.

Posts: 750
12/29/12 9:17 A

I completely echo KASURP's comments. Sugar regardless of whether is white or not, is like a drug to me. With the holidays just passing, it's as if I need to go through detox. My cravings are completely out of control after I have been binging on sweets. I find that if I am hyper diligent for 3-5 days after a sugar binge, the cravings subside.

I also do the herbal tea thing. My favorite craving stopper is a cup of green tea with some ginger slices thrown in. I usually get a big piece of ginger root, slice it up and store it in the freezer for use in my tea. This seems to work for me.

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12/29/12 8:46 A

I am in the same boat! Following my training plan is easy compared to eating the right stuff. I am at a point (again!) of having to eliminate sugar and white carbs from my diet as I've put on almost 10 pounds in the past few weeks. The holidays and being sick hasn't helped either. Because I am training for my first Ironman in July I know I need to view food as fuel instead of reward/stress reliever otherwise my performance will be seriously impaired. I feel great after exercise and need to stop sabotaging myself. It doesn't feel great to exercise and have my clothes feel tighter and tighter.

When I'm bored and want to eat I've started having a cup of herbal tea so it "feels" like I'm eating something. I also try to walk out of the kitchen and do something specific in another room like folding laundry for 10 minutes. (boring but useful activity)

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12/29/12 8:34 A

I have been horrible with this too. If I pre-plan my food for the day, I do much better. I am also trying to come up with some things to do to keep me busy so I don't think about eating, because I eat when I am bored or don't want to do something. I think I need to start a new crafting project.

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12/29/12 6:03 A

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12/28/12 1:00 P

You can do it by taking one day at a time. It works for me. I have days that I overeat and I track these day and these days are becoming fewer in number. What works for me is to be honest with myself and do the best that I can. You have to decide that this is the day that I want to change my life--my life--for me and just do it. They are many things to do to kick the boredom, read, write, talk and write to family members and friends, volunteer in your community or at your church--do something that you want to do. Discover who you are. Overeating is just like over drinking, when you put it down you have to pick something else up to replace it. You get to choose what you pick up. You are not alone.

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12/28/12 12:27 P

But you CAN control your eating habits. You just have to believe in yourself and get rid of the negativity. You can exercise all you want, but if you have a poor diet and overeat everyday, all those hours of exercising will do nothing to help you.

Snack on veggies. Slice up celery, bell peppers, carrots, cucumbers, etc. ahead of time so if you feel like you have to snack on something, you have something healthy prepared for you already. Eating out of boredom can be difficult to overcome but it's just a matter of behavior modification, finding something else to do other than eat or selecting more nutritious foods.

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12/28/12 12:22 P

maybe if you pre-plan your meals and eat only those items listed--- it helps me alot

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12/28/12 12:12 P

Start with getting rid of the negative idea. You can control your eating. If not, then all hope is lost.

You may just need to look at your diet, and pick foods that get more food, for less calories. Vegetables fill you up a lot faster than a fruit juice, or pop for example.

If you are bored, find something to do, and you won't eat from boredom. Read, Spark, join a basketball/volleyball league. Take a course at your local college on pottery, or a cooking class. Fill up your time.

Pre-plan your menu. Stay in your range, and you should lose weight.

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12/28/12 12:03 P

You cannot out-exercise a bad diet.
Weight loss is 80 how you eat... so you HAVE to eat the right food in the right amount.


" Also what plan do you follow that works? "
Logging what you eat and staying within your calorie range!

I see you have been here a year... care to share your food logs? We can make suggestions!

Edited by: LUANN_IN_PA at: 12/28/2012 (12:03)

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12/28/12 11:29 A

I exercise hard 4 or 5 times a week. My problem is that I can't control my eating. I just over eat. I think it is because I'm bored. What do you do when you are bored, so you don't eat. Also what plan do you follow that works?

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