After years of struggle, I think I know why I overeat and I didn’t discover it until I started fasting. Nothing comes close to the entertainment of food. NOTHING. Bored? Eat. Happy? Eat. Stressed? Eat. Relaxed? Eat. Not until I started to fast did I realize how “boring” normal life is without food. I kind of understand what people mean when they complain after quitting weed or alcohol. Trying to have fun without food is miserable. Trying to enjoy your weekend at home is boring as fuck. Yea, I have access to all sorts of entertainment, but without food it doesn’t hit the same. Watching a movie? Show? Playing video games? Nothing feels as good without food or snacks. I’ve been trying to keep myself busy to keep my mind off of food, but it only goes so far.
Has anyone successfully transitioned from relying on food as a form of entertainment? I’m legit struggling. Time moves extremelyslowly during fast days.
yep.
food was treated by me as an addiction.
i’m better now.
helped to get a lot of junk food out of my diet and to cook more.
i would suggest that as a first step, in fact: cook food from scratch if you’re going to eat it.
i’m actually baking a few red potatoes for breakfast right now. yum. :)
Fasting has helped me a lot actually. After fasting I have a lot less of an appetite but also I have more of an appreciation for food. I’ve also recently started eating healthier and it’s made me crave junk food a lot less. Food used to be one of the only things I looked forward to in life but now I’m finally starting to find a balance
I pass the time by learning something new or making music. Avoid passive entertainment, or mindless chores. I mean, chores still have to get done, but make them more fun with some dance music or listen to an audiobook. Essentially you want your brain to be so engrossed in something you forget food for a while. If you have trouble controlling your thoughts, I find the Wim Hof breathing method helps me center myself in the present and shuts down the involuntary thoughts.
Try to be excessively productive. Then you won’t have free time to eat. Even if you have enough money, sell things online as a hobby, fix that one thing you’ve been meaning to fix for half a year, take up a new hobby etc.
Free time is the real enemy, it’s much harder to get hungry while busy.
Time can definitely be the enemy when fasting. For me reading really helps. I make sure it is a book I am going to love so I get so engrossed in it takes my mind off eating. At least most of the time. Even just making yourself get up and go in a different room changes your thoughts.
Well, it is a mindset thing. Food is not the most important thing in life. You have to realize all the fun things you have done without food. Also, it seems like a lot of the instances you mentioned can be activities you do alone. A lot of people who struggle with eating too much practice eating secretively. You can, obviously overeat in a crowd, but secretly eating can be a sign of a bigger issue.
The best remedy is to speak to someone about it. There are some free groups out there where people come together to talk about their relationship with food. One such group is overeaters anonymous.
I grew up in an environment where I could not refuse the food on my plate. I had to eat all the food I was given or else I would be punished. Later, food was denied and made to seem scarce. I learned over time, that experience made me have tendencies of overeating where I felt food would be scarce and had to eat it all. Fasting has helped with weight loss, but I sometimes feel doesn’t quite address the volume eating aspect of things.
So, you can fill your time with activities, but addressing your core issues is always the best way to deal with deeper root causes if they exist.
I felt the same way about alcohol.
Learning that “eating your feelings” is actually a thing really helped me deal with why I felt the way you do about food.
Me, personally, I find my days are easier now without food. I spend less on groceries and restaurants, I have more time each day for the things that need my attention, traveling is easier, shopping for clothing is easier. The trade off wasn’t a compromise, in the end.
I enjoy food but thats an… interesting take.
I grew up with energetic family dinner so the interesting thing about food has always been conversation - occasionally about food, fair enough, but still the community aspect has always been strong for me.
Eating and entertainment are more of a “sad substitute for company” to me so I never developed this association that it “enhances” the experience. But I do have it built for tea and coffee; and instead of completely decoupling it, this might actually be a worthwhile way to try and “reprogram” oneself into a habit of drinking fluids instead of snacks.
I’m feeling this right now. I’m 18 hours into a 160 hour fast and I’m bored out of my mind. I still enjoy gaming and what not as a time passer, but the only enjoyment I seemed to have is food. If I’m prolonged fasting, then gaming and working out is nothing but a filler.
Couldn’t agree more. Fasting has been an eye opener for me in so many ways. Like you’ve said, it’s made me realise how much my entire life centres around food. Every waking moment was an opportunity to eat or at least snack, no wonder my insulin was in overdrive!
But the most mind blowing thing was realising how disordered and unhealthy my family’s attitudes towards eating and food were. I’m still unlearning and relearning how to be better with food but it’s going to take a long time.
All I can say is thank goodness for fasting because it’s shown me the light.
Ugh same, I’m glad I’m not the only one, several things that I enjoy such as watching movies (or just TV in general) or going out is not the same, even hanging out with my friends is not quite the same, because as low income, I enjoy getting together at someone’s home, and for me to cook them food, which is a lot cheaper than takeout or going out to eat.
While I do enjoy the extra time, my mind is still a bit on food every other hour, it’s maddening because I rather have that focus on something else, like I need to take more classes but honestly, it’s a bit hard to concentrate. I don’t have the burst of energy or same intense focus that other people seem to enjoy during fasts… I hope that will kick when some more time passes, I’m successfully rolling 3 day fasts this month, so maybe in another month or so it’ll get better.
As of now, sadly it seems it’s about the grind and to keep the ball rolling until we can actually see tangible results. Tea and videogames have been helping a bit more than other things, since I need to engage my hands with the controller and the tea fills me up a bit.