How to overcome food addiction/compulsion
I have been there!
Seeing a therapist is an excellent idea. I would wait before putting anything in my mouth and think of the progress I had made and try and redirect. Yeah I know sounds easy but it helped me. While working I helped a friend trying to stop smoking. She came to my desk every time she wanted a cigarette and we would either go for a quick brisk walk or just talk about all the benefits of stopping. Food will always be there but we can fight the head talk.
I hope this helped a little, good luck.
Seeing a therapist is an excellent idea. I would wait before putting anything in my mouth and think of the progress I had made and try and redirect. Yeah I know sounds easy but it helped me. While working I helped a friend trying to stop smoking. She came to my desk every time she wanted a cigarette and we would either go for a quick brisk walk or just talk about all the benefits of stopping. Food will always be there but we can fight the head talk.
I hope this helped a little, good luck.
I am currently at 130 lbs 10 pounds below goal weight!
Addiction to food, as with any type of addiction, can be very difficult to deal with. I am not an addictions counselor (I, in fact, deal with very few clients with substance abuse issues) but I deal with lots of women whose overeating is related to past sexual abuse or assault and it is very common for them to express the same sentiment about knowing that they are not hungry, and not wanting to eat, but still struggling to find a way to control the urge.
One of the most useful things I have found -- and one of the helpful aspects of my own post-RNY experience -- is having a schedule and planning meals. If you eat by the clock (and ONLY by the clock) instead of eating based on physical or psychological cues, it makes it easier to control. You at least have something more tangible than "I know I do not need to eat" to help avoid it: "it is not TIME to eat". Period. If you have scheduled and planned meals (with orotein at the center of every meal and snack) every few hours, it will help keep the psychological urges under control (it is much easier to tell yourself that you cannot eat for another hour until it is snack time than to tell yourself that you have 3 hours to go until your next meal), will help keep the calories under control, and will help keep your metabolism up throughout the day. Try choosing snacks that, while protein based, have a more snack-like feel to them, so you get also get a psychological boost from it (e.g., I have almonds and a bit of cheese an one of my daily snacks).
Lora
One of the most useful things I have found -- and one of the helpful aspects of my own post-RNY experience -- is having a schedule and planning meals. If you eat by the clock (and ONLY by the clock) instead of eating based on physical or psychological cues, it makes it easier to control. You at least have something more tangible than "I know I do not need to eat" to help avoid it: "it is not TIME to eat". Period. If you have scheduled and planned meals (with orotein at the center of every meal and snack) every few hours, it will help keep the psychological urges under control (it is much easier to tell yourself that you cannot eat for another hour until it is snack time than to tell yourself that you have 3 hours to go until your next meal), will help keep the calories under control, and will help keep your metabolism up throughout the day. Try choosing snacks that, while protein based, have a more snack-like feel to them, so you get also get a psychological boost from it (e.g., I have almonds and a bit of cheese an one of my daily snacks).
Lora
14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.
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