head hunger

 My old habits  keep  trying to sneak in around the edges ... particularly eating all the time ...  grazing ...  and eating  when I  am not hungry .  

I notice im hardly ever hungry ... but that doesnt stop me  from DESIRING and EATING  food  .   How in the world do y'all DEAL with this  ?  

My only coping mechanism is exercise but  with  regular work that  often falls by the wayside , especially with this gosh darn Weather ....  .

Are you still  measuring Ur  food  before U put it on the plate ?  I notice my serving sizes have been getting larger too  ... sometimes  Ive eaten to the point of a sneezing fit ...  

me too.... me too...

Sorry you're having head hunger Ava.  :(   I get it as well.

Yes, I do weigh my food on the scale before I eat it so that I know what to enter into Myfitnesspal .com to track my food.  My eyeballs got me to 249 pounds and misery.  I can easily go into denial about food.

My best defense against head hunger is eating low carb.  When I do that and pack in the protein first with a little veggies and berries, there's not room for other "stuff".  If I eat mostly pure protein, it keeps me full much longer.

I tend to want to get grazy in my office so on Sunday night I cook up a batch of organic hardboiled eggs.  When I feel that urge to eat, I ask myself if I want an egg.  If the answer is yes, I'm probably really hungry.  When I'm not, the thought of the egg gags me. 

So meat, dairy, veggies, berries.... that's my song of the week.  I got a little off track last week because I wasn't feeling well and ate small amounts of carbs, more than usual (greek yogurt and berries) and found myself craving to eat more often. 

Good luck and keep writing about head hunger.  I think it helps us all to be able to talk about it.  I too can eat more at 1 year out and it's scarey because I'm not even at my personal goal yet.  I think that with the statistics that 1 in 3 WLS patients gain their weight back, head hunger and grazing should be a big concern for each of us.

I know you'll get some good advice here.

I can't wait to read what others write about this.  I'm having the same problems.  I know I am a stress/bored eater and I can do really good all day and at night just blow it.  I know I am not hungry. 

I am not measuring like I used to, but I do still try to watch the quantity, eat slow and watch for the full triggers.  The protein drinks help my eating in between meals.  I  can now leave food on my plate and be ok with it.  Before surgery I was a clean your plate gal!!

Good luck.

Linda

I drink A LOT of tea, water, sf hot chocolate, decaff coffee etc..  Whenever I want to eat out of boredeom or head hunger I drink first that usually satisfies me.

I exercise to kill time so that it leaves me less time to think about food.  

I track everything I eat to make sure that I'm not consuming too many calories per day.  

 Thanks Jasmeen !   I can see its working for U  !   

I SHOULD   start  by drinking  hot  decaf herbal tea first  ....  like  I did in the BEGINNING   ..hmmm..

Great idea  ;)   Thank You  !  

I find it really helps!  I have 2 BIG cups of milky chai when I get to work, then have coffee and my daily oatmeal.  

I'm able to control my eating at work by not having anything there that I can graze on.  I bring my lunch and snacks daily and once they're gone there's nothing else available for me to eat.  So far I have successfully not cracked and gone and bought unhealthy food at the cafe downstairs or at the food court at the mall.

I have another cup of tea when I get home from work with a protein cookie to tide me over until dinner and then do my ball workout.

I drink about 100 oz of water during my work days and have a few large glasses at home as well.  I can guzzle water with no problem now and find that doing that with a HUGE glass of water or sf drink really fills me up and kills the head hunger.

About and hour after dinner I do an hour on the elliptical and have a large protein shake afterwards, but I find that I'm STARVING about an hour later so have another cup of tea or two to tide me over until I go to bed.

My plan calls for 5 meals a day still so I am eating all day.  And that doesn't include protein drinks.  Sometimes I count them in the 5, sometimes I don't.

I get one hot tea in after breakfast (2.5c) and one after lunch and between that and my decaf coffee protein, I get my fluids in. 

My in-between meals meals are usually straight protein.  I think all that helps.  And when I really want something special, I know I only have a short time, and a cup of tea, before I can do it.

My nut wants everything in volume not weight so I have been trying to do that but for some stuff it is really hard so I broke down and bought a scale.  Well, my fish last night was 6 oz intead of 4.  Makes me wonder what I have really been inputting, while I was eye-balling my portions.  And I ate every bite and wasn't uncomfortable.  Couldn't have done it with steak or chicken, I'm sure.  So back to measureing what I can and weighing what I can't.

I have to talk with myself differently - I have to ask me..

WHAT DO YOU WANT, B?

And ususally its, I'm bored, a hug, to be anywhere but here, to be entertained, to be distracted, to change my mood.

Or sometimes I need to have a "So you eat this thing .. what then?" conversation until the end.  And the truth is - it will not change my feelings, and it will just be me breaking my promise to myself to make purposeful better healthful choices. 

I do still measure my foods. I do not think that is going to change.  My eyes like.  The chick in my head has been embezzling for way too many years.  She does not EVER get free reign again.  EVER.  Oh, I forgive her, but forgetting is shiny gateway to the path of where I used to be. 

As long as I am in any semblence of a right mind - I will have guardrails and check points (like those drunk bumps on the highway, that let you know you have veered into another lane?) to bump off of before I put my hand on that gate latch. 

*squeeze* 

The further out I get, the more I know that no****ching my behaviors is asking for trouble, the further out I get the more I know that I cannot even pretend to me that I am anywhere near "Normal" with food.  Old destructive behaviors in my head have paths that these feet have trod down many a time - I can do it on automatic pilot.

The automatic pilot has to be manually disengaged, babygirl. 

Bigfatlove.  Spring is coming!  I wish you were here, and could smell the daffodils that are already blooming and the forsythia! 

Yeah, count me in on the "I can't just eyeball and eat reasonably club".  My reasonable got me to 249.  I was never a bulk eater, just don't need much to fuel my slow metabolism.   But I did like them rich foods!!

I feel secure measuring my food.  There's a sense of ritual and normalcy to doing it.  I have 1/2 cup and 1 cup tupperware kinda things for taking servings to work.  Sometimes I weigh on the scale, sometimes the cups, or sometimes I put it in the cup, then weigh it.  Nobody can claim that I haven't been somewhat neurotic about this process.  :)