How do you stop yourself thinking about food ALL THE TIME, when you are on a diet?

[nevergoogledragonbutter]

Help.

i want to eat, eat , eat.

Hi nevergoogle, I've just posted myself because I need to get motivated to lose over 2 stone.

Do you do any exercise?

You could try breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch, snack, evening meal. Then it wouldn't be too long before the next meal. I am going to try and get the word 'diet' out of my head because it makes me think about food all the time.

Are you following a specific diet?

am not following any specific diet just trying to burn more calories than i eat.

am cycling 2-3 times a week at the moment. about 10 miles a time.
i started the exercise thing about a month ago, but realise now that the food i eat has to change too.

Would you cut some foods out like chocolate, chips, crisps and just sticking to healthy eating? I want to get back to exercise in a big way, I used to run 10K races!

Also, there are foods that will fill you up more - I watched a programme on BBC1 a while ago, and they did a soup experiment. Half of the people ate a meal for lunch - chicken, potatoes and veg, and the other half ate exactly the same but made into a soup. The soup eaters were satisfied for longer and it took longer to digest. Also protein foods for breakfast, they fill you up for longer and you eat less lunch.

Is there anything you simply can't do without? For me this is chocolate...
Go ahead and have that one thing, once a day, in a small and reasonable amount, and don't gobble it down, take a little time and sit there enjoying it. One little bag of crisps or a little choc won't kill you.

I think it's quite easy to get afraid of food when you're dieting -- you go from hoovering it up to being afraid of it, and neither extreme is a healthy relationship with the stuff. In the end, you can't do without it and you will be faced for the rest of your life with simply a daily effort to make good choices.

It helps to have a good protein-y breakfast and also protein at lunch; protein is filling, and also to have your snacks ready for times when you need them. The trick is to focus on what's good for your health and to know on the other hand what will add to your misery in the long run, and avoid snacks that will sabotage your efforts. Make a list of things that are healthy, that you can eat, and you'll see you are not really depriving yourself. From a mind over matter pov, take a multivitamin so you can tell yourself that you're getting enough good nutrients.

thanks.

Don't diet. Eat well at mealtimes and don't let yourself go hungry.

I have porridge for breakfast and it keeps me going until lunchtime. LovelyLulu's advice about soup is good - I've been doing that too. At dinner time I eat whatever I like but don't have seconds, and I stick to a low fat desert. The TV prog that Lulu mentioned talked about diets that are high in dairy calcium being good for losing weight as the body absorbs less of the fat that you eat. I have low fat fromage frais with raisins every day. I've lost half a stone recently without really trying.

Fat is a Feminist Issue by Susie Orbach is an interesting read.

Try Paul McKenna