How to Deal With "I'm Bored - Let's Eat!

How to deal with "I'm bored-let's eat!" feelings

During the summer some things seem to slow down in life and people find themselves with more leisure time on their hands. With extra unstructured time comes my very favorite diet killer..boredom eating or as one of my clients called it "foraging".

For most people the behavior looks something like this: You find yourself with nothing to do, just sitting around suddenly for no particular reason (its not lunch time) you find yourself hungry so you head over to the cupboard or fridge or the employee break room.

I have learned over the years that it is sickeningly easy to quickly consume an unholy amount of calories that way and guess what? In the end you are still bored though now you are also "stuffed" and maybe even sick. Afterward you feel very angry and upset at yourself which often leads to more eating a short time later. Its an ugly cycle which never really ends.

The key to ending this behavior is to first catch yourself doing it which does take some practice. Next time you start heading toward the kitchen take a moment and ask yourself "am I really hungry or am I just bored?" If you are bored food won't fix it for more than a few minutes so just back away from the fridge. If you are really hungry eat a little something then go do something else.

Then next thing you need to do is have a plan in place. Come up with at least 5 things you can do when you are bored that don't involve eating. Yours might look something like this.

1) Kindly direct self away from the kitchen.
2) Go for a walk or the gym
3) Grab a good book or even better start writing one
4) Start work on that project(s) I've been putting off
5) Go over budget numbers to find a way to save for Hawaii Vacation
6) Spend a few moments with that feeling and allow yourself to move past it.

Ideally your list should include things you like doing so maybe leave off going over the budget. Remember the key is to catch yourself in the act then redirect. With practice eventually you will develop the habit of going to one of those other things rather than food when you start to get bored.

A wise woman once told me "all cravings are satisfied, either with the substance or with time" love yourself enough to take the time to feed your real hunger. You are so very worth it.

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