Boredom eating

[Valiant]

Since being made unemployed most of my time has been sent in front of a computer researching stuff like starting a new company, taxes, accounting etc. Sadly I have also developed the bad habit of eating outta sheer boredom. I no longer keep crisps or sweet stuff in the house. I managed to move onto dried fruit & nut mixes but then I realised that 500g of that a day is probably bad for you too.

Tips for managing boredom? For some reason I don't fancy going out on the bike.

[Masten]

This used to happen to me all the time during school vacation. I found 3 ways for me to deal with this problem:
1. Get something to do. When I would play with my Xbox for hours straight, I wouldn't eat out of boredom, because I wasn't bored. Make sure you always have something to do that interests you and eats some time, even if it is video games.
2. Set up a plan what of what you will eat. Keep track of every single thing you put into your mouth and when you do it. If you have enough time to eat out of boredom, then you have enough time to do this. Once you've done this for a week you can go back and analyze your problems. This made me so much more aware of what I was eating and how much, which lead to me being able to effectively identify when I was snacking too much.
3. This might sound strange, but it does help: Don't keep easy food in the house. For a while, I would only buy food which needed to be prepared, like chicken, frozen veges or frozen rolls. Often when I went to the fridge this happened: I opened the fridge out of boredom, only saw foods which required some time and effort to prepare, closed the fridge, went back to my room.
Hope this helps

[hellymedic]

Crudités!
Cut up sticks of cucumber, carrot, celery, capsicum.
Make up yoghurt & cucumber dip.
Snack on these.

[interzen]

Crudités!
Cut up sticks of cucumber, carrot, celery, capsicum.
Make up yoghurt & cucumber dip.
Snack on these.

+1 - but I'd add cauliflower and turnip/swede to the mix. Keep it interesting and you're more likely to eat it!

I started grazing on veggies after my GP gave me an ear-bashing about my weight, which was my own fault because I was eating junk and not exercising. Managed to lose 22lb over 3 months and discovered at the same time that I love raw cauliflower with hummus 

[EDIT: And mushrooms. I absolutely adore raw mushrooms ...]

[Jacomus]

I have been doing something very similar for the last few months and have developed a roll of fat round my waist never there before. I've worn 34" trousers since I was 15/16 but now they are becoming uncomfortable, whereas I'd always needed to use a belt to take up that tiny amount of slack created by being somewhere between a 32-34".

Very recently I have decided to eat a good amount of good food, cut the snacks and sugary drinks and get back into exercise by seeing it as a personal challenge.

Now that it is a challenge, or perhaps 'state of mind' is a better way to put it, I have found that when heading for a snack I can draw a little bit of satisfaction from consciously stopping myself getting it. Most times I will make myself a cup of tea instead, or a 50/50 pint of apple juice and water or sometimes I will just not do it at all. There was plenty of snacking to knock on the head, so there are plenty of little snippets of satisfaction in a day

The exercise bit hasn't started working yet, but instead of not being fussed about it I am starting to feel bothered by not doing it so very shortly I expect to get back into that habit too.

[Nightfly]

Maybe you are thirsty. Drink tea or water.

Also go for a run after tea rather than slobbing on the sofa watching TV or surfing the net. Don't eat anything after. Drink water. Do this for a few weeks and you WILL lose a lot of weight.

[greenmeansgo]

I suffer from this at times, and the advice above is good.

I don't boredom eat if other people are around - not sure if this is relevant to your situation or not. I'm not sure whether this is because the boredom doesn't arise when other people are around, or whether I don't want to be a pig in front of others...

If it's managing the boredom while at the computer, then I find setting a few specific objectives helps.  Then I feel like I'm making progress. Try writing down what you've achieved - helps focus the mind. Sometimes though, if you just can't focus, just sack it off and do something you enjoy. Exercise works well, then come back to the work later on. Youtube is a great source of inspirational riding videos - always makes me want to get out and ride!

I would say you're probably better addressing the boredom than resisting food when bored, as boredom is easier to address.

Do you cook proper meals (i.e. do you eat properly apart from the snacking)? Cooking can be a good way to eat properly and simultaneously filling the time with something so you don't get bored.