auntbob's Journal, 22 November 2021

That’s really a form of control. But with 13hr shifts its real easy to give into what you are doing. I use to do 12s and by the time you get home you’re drained mentally. I would sit on the couch and there was no way I was getting back up lol Discipline is what I had to learn. Discipline is doing the things you know you need to even tho you don’t feel like it cuz you know it will be better for you. Discipline is also not doing things tho, restraining your self from doing the things you know is bad for you even tho you want to. Hope you find your way, good luck 👍 

For me, it was important to remove all of the unhealthy stuff from my situation altogether. My wife was great at hiding stuff for herself and the kids so I didn't know it was there. I replaced my snacking with nuts, hummus & Triscuts (fiber), carrots, etc. I keep snacking even now but my snacks are so much better for me and I eat small, controlled amounts. It's helped a ton. Hopefully you find some ideas here. Best of luck! 

Hey AB, this is a tough one, it was the hardest challenge in my weight loss, as my custom was to eat mindlessly at night🤦🏽‍♀️. Intermittent fasting helped me to get control of my eating window, I began with eating only during the hours of 11am to 7pm and now I do 6am to 4pm on weekdays and anything goes on weekends. You've got what it takes to succeed, food is your fuel, let's do this💪🏾🥗. 

As an emotional eater, I try to find soothing hot drinks to calm me. Alpine sugar-free Cider, Coffee w/ Swiss Miss Low Calorie mix, Chai tea (Trader Joe's is terrific!) with Vanilla Unsweetened Almond Milk are my standard go-to's. Good luck! Mindless eating is a tough one to beat. 

I would say track calories vs looking at food as bad or good. avocados are " healthy " but super caloric. where a glazed donut has approximately 240 calories and is considered not healthy. granted the avocado has healthy fats and definitely better micronutrients but when it comes to weight loss and my opinion it's strictly calories in and calories out. there are a lot of different philosophies out there and by no means is mine right just sharing what works for me.  

My suggestion would be to make sure your meals themselves are balanced to make sure you aren’t craving snacks because of nutrients needed. And if it’s still just mindless, do a mental check in with yourself before putting anything in your mouth to gauge if you’re truly hungry. 

Flavored tea is my go to this week. But if I get on a trend of needing my mouth occupied, I get multiple flavors of sugarless gum. Cinnamon, clove, peppermint, wintergreen, pineapple, orange, strawberry, berry, bubble gum, watermelon, chocolate mint, birthday cake, ginger, cherry, cotton candy, licorice, margarita, s’mores, grapefruit, salted popcorn. You get the idea there is an incredible range of flavor you can entertain your mouth with. And if your jaw needs a rest, kids toothpaste also has a good range of flavors and after brushing the flavor lingers (and you get good feedback at teeth cleaning time). Of course there are things like sunflower seeds (120 kcal 1/2 cup) that take huge effort to eat and keep your mouth happy but are hard to eat too fast. Others in this arena, artichokes (60 kcal), eating with your non dominate hand or chopsticks, frozen clemintine sections (35 kcal for 8-10 sections) My latest is a huge bowl of watered down broth with some kick (something like chili, ginger, smokey paprika, vinegar, lime) (140 kcal for 4 cups) and eat with a demitasse spoon. Of course all of this assumes you already are getting adequate nutrition. I have found on most days driving hunger goes away if I make sure to fill up first with clean protein and vegatables. I knew one person that would snap a rubber band that they kept on their wrist to distract hunger. Not my style but worked for them. Best. Hope you come up with things that work for you. 

Everytime I want to mindless eat I drink a cup of water and that works for me. Good luck Auntbob