I spend too much time thinking about food! HELP!

Ok gurus, I need some help.  I'm finding I spend a ridiculous amount of time every day thinking about food - my next meal or snack, looking at low carb, sugar-free recipes, etc.  I just got back from a 2-day hiking trip, and realized I spent more time on the trail thinking about the calories I was burning and when I was going to eat that protein bar I packed than I did thinking about the stunning scenery, the gorgeous weather, the sound of wind, and birds, and the smell of juniper.  This is NOT how I want to live my life!!  It's distracting!
If I'm eating clean (read low-carb), the food thoughts are easy enough to resist, but they're still pretty constant.  I have trouble focusing on other things.  If I get REALLY busy at work, I notice I can go hours without thinking about food or starting to get hungry, but I have to be really busy for that to happen.
The question is, what do I do about it?  It doesn't do any good trying NOT to think about food, it's kind of like trying NOT to think about pink elephants.  I probably need to stop wearing a heart rate monitor that calculates calorie burn (yeah, I know they're not particularly accurate, but I figure it's better than the calculation the treadmill gives me).  And I need to take a break from food blogs, even the WLS-friendly ones.  Maybe I need to practice meditation, so my mind doesn't seem so scattered and distractable?
I think part of me is wondering if an anti-anxiety medicine might help.  I have no experience with that at all.  Honestly, I'm just at a bit of a loss, and I'd appreciate any suggestions or thoughts.

I'm only chiming in to add that I sympathize as I do the same thing.. at the moment for me though, I've just come to accept it as it helps keep my head in the game vs where I used to be.. but yes, food, low-carb, planning (actually I tend to pre-plan my day's eating) and all that occupy a great deal of my though processes these days..

What, you mean there are other things I could be thinking about?

I think that's extremely common for us. It seems to be something that differentiates naturally thin people from those of us who managed to get significantly obese.

Therapy has helped me a lot. Eating on a schedule has also helped, and I eat small amounts quite frequently, usually every two hours hours or so. I don't actually eat anything anyone would call a meal, just a series of healthy foods throughout the day that total the right calories, protein, etc. However, the problem is still there. You're right - trying to not think about food is not useful. One thing that has helped me a little, and it's tied to the eating on a schedule, is when the thoughts come up I look at my watch and say yep, but you're not really hungry and your next meal is in ..... minutes.

The one other thing that helps me is drinking pretty constantly between meals, always sugar-free flavored drinks. When I get those thoughts, in addition to the process above, I give my mouth a belt of grape or orange or whatever.

If it is causing you anxiety, you might consider anti-anxiety medication. However, be aware that some of them can trigger weight gain through eating. I take Lexapro at night, but then take a dose of Wellbutrin in the morning (it has a side effect of weight loss) and that seems to offset the weight gain side effect of the Lexapro).

 Is it possible that you are actually hungry? The worst times for me with obsession over food was when I did all my past dieting days and extremely restrictive...but looking back I was hungry and irritable and obsessed for a reason, my body wasn't getting enough nutrition...it is not always about the calories/protein/carb stats...but eating real, unprocessed food that is good fuel for the body.

Fake sugar, low carb, sugar free foods just trigger me to eat more since there is no real nutrition in a lot of those foods.

Also super low carb doesn't work for me..I get fuzzy headed and constantly feeling crappy, tired, and hungry...so I eat a lot more carbs than most on here do (about 160 grams a day)...but I eat a lot of protein as well (about 80 grams)....I focus most of my meals on real food, like steak, eggs, ground beef, greek yogurt, sweet potato, etc. The days where I don't eat enough real food, I find myself thinking about food more.

I like the other poster's suggestion also about eating on a time table...don't let too many hours go between meals...I eat about every 3 hours, any longer than that I feel awful.

And drinking between meals helps a lot, cause we tend to forget about the hydration we need...I drink hot green tea, when I am just want "something" but know that I am not hungry...it is calming and satisfying.

Especially while watching TV, and being bored...drinking something can help ward off the munchies....but I also "give in" to a nightly treat,  be it chips or candy or an ice pop....this works for me so far, and I did it all through weight loss too...it kept me from feeling I was on a diet, but more that I was allowed a reasonable "treat".

I agree.

Also the part where when extremely busy the food thoughts don't intrude.

Small planned meals. Sounds like a plan.

Great post btw

I do the same thing.  I think that I'm a food addict, so just as I did when I was 306 lb, I constantly think about when I will get my next 'fix'.    I hate it.  I constantly have to talk to myself and examine whether it's real hunger or just craving.  It's hard to distinguish between the two. 

I have found that sugar free gum is helping.  I've never been a gum chewer, but it is helping.  Part of it is just wanting to place something in my mouth, as I did constantly at 306.  I also get SF lifesavers to suck on.  Occupy the mouth I guess. lol

I don't know about the anti-anxiety meds.  If they would help, I'm for it!

We are exactly alike! Seems the only time I'm not thinking about food, I'm extremely busy and completely pre-occupied with something (like work) that I can't ignore or set aside.

This thread is helpful! Thanks all!

Ugh, you mean I have to live with this?
It actually seems worse than before surgery.  I even have trouble concentrating on a book, which is so unlike me.  It's like I've developed adult-onset ADD. 

Ya know....Adult ADD or OCD may not be so far fetched.  It may have been something that you had "medicated" with food or other destructive type behaviors that got you to your pre-op overweight self.  Now that you ahve changed your habits, your brain isn't getting medicated the way it used to.  During the WL phase, you were probably like the rest of us and were obcessive about your diet, exercise, etc and getting frequent positive reinforcement (i.e. weight loss).  Now that you want to move on and think about other things, your mind is in that OCD/ADD rut of thinking the way it was in the WL phase.  Think of  a hamster on a wheel.

Therapy or meds may help you get that hamster off that wheel.