Addicted to food/can't stop eating

[longdiling]

I'm completely fed up with my inability to control myself when it comes to food. I don't so much need a 'diet' though as some kind of head wobble or psychological help. I think about food all the time, I go to bed thinking about what I'll have for breakfast and as soon as breakfast is done I snack my way to lunch and so it goes on. I can't seem to content myself with a small snack, I just trough and trough. Does anyone else feel like this and if so how did they deal with it?! I can't even pin point a trigger, sometimes I feel hungry all the time, sometimes I don't but just eat because I'm bored/busy/happy/sad/stressed or whatever.

It's not normal is it? I look at people like my husband/sister/best friend who can 'forget' to eat all day until 3pm ish when they suddenly realise they're hungry and wonder how the hell they do it!!

Luckily I'm not massively overweight - I'm a size 12/14 and at the very top range of healthy BMI but would look a lot better if I lost at least a stone. In fact, I frequently do lose that stone by dieting/eating healthily and then put it all back on again. I exercise loads but there's no way in the world I could exercise enough to make up for the extra calories I eat - I'd have to run a marathon every day!!

Any words of wisdom out there?

Thinking about food all the time is perfectly normal and healthy.
If early humans had not planned before going to sleep, they would have starved.

What is modern and unhealthy is having access to enough food to eat all the time.

You need to stop snacking : concentrate on eating at meal times and not in between.
Plan your meals, think about them, and ensure that you are hungry for them.

And to make it easier, increase your protein levels and reduce your carbs and sugars to help you feel fuller for longer after each meal.

Are you me, OP? I totally get where you are coming from!

[And are you my DH, Ta1K?]

I bloody love food, me. Doesn't help that I have a sedentary job that manages to be both boring and stressful. I snack while I am cooking dinner, I snack into the evening etc etc. I eat all the right things but then I eat junk on top. I eat massive portions of fruit.

At the moment my weight is creeping up but I can't quite step away from the Toblerone. I haven't quite got to the "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" stage yet. But I think I will have to start as all my clothes are getting too tight!

You are right Ta1k, I need to do all those things. Although the eating plan that worked longest for me was one that included eating every couple of hours - granted those snacks were a handful of nuts or a piece of fruit, not 2 bags of mini cheddars and 8 oreos. I've actually been considering cleaner eating for the whole family so I just don't have that crap hanging around, I buy it as a treat for the kids lunchboxes and end up eating it myself. Our meals are healthy and cooked pretty much from scratch, snacks not so much. I would agree I need less sugar and more protein too.

Glad I'm not the only one daft. I'm so sick of losing and gaining the same stone, it's ridiculous. I think Ta1k is right that the constant access to food is the unhealthy thing, if it wasn't here I'd have to get used to it.

I've actually been considering cleaner eating for the whole family so I just don't have that crap hanging around

Absolutely.
If its not in the house, none of you can eat it.
And if your kids do not have a taste for it (it will take about 4-5 weeks and they will no longer crave the salt and sugar and sweeteners)
they will hopefully never have the weight problems you are dealing with.

By sorting yourself, you'll sort them at the same time
which has to be the best motivation ever.

I actually have a lighter work load at the moment so I don't feel so intimidated by the idea of having to spend a bit of time planning snacks that are healthy. I'm going to give it a whirl. My kids are going to hate me

try not to snack at all .....
honestly
unless your kids are under 5 they can go a few hours without topping up
they manage it over night after all.

Breakfast
Lunch
Supper
no other eating times needed

and most adults only need two of the three