Comfort eating

[tinyjo]

I'm going have a week of trying really hard to apply the Weightwatchers programme this week - I need to remind myself that when I do it properly I can actually lose weight. One of the things I've been having problems with in the last couple of weeks particuarly but also generally is comfort eating. Or not exactly comfort eating but I've been finding that I get home and have dinner and a glass of wine and then what seems to happen is that I feel tired and perhaps a little bored and just want to sit in front of the TV with another glass of wine and perhaps a toasted pitta or bakewell tart. And then repeat for the next 3 hours or so.

So my question is have you got any suggestions for things I could try instead. I need something with fairly low barrier to entry (as it were) as it's difficult to get myself started but once I'm going I can get re-energised fairly quickly. Ideally it should also be something that I don't do just sitting down in the living room, at least for the moment as I currently associate that with relaxing with wine, pittas, etc. Any ideas?

Also, as support is so important ( :) ) I thought I'd organise a pub meet tonight. Far from the Madding Crowd? (Or Copa, but they have more tempting food) from around 5:45? Comment now and I'll txt white_hart after lunch with the conclusions.

Comments

[satyrica.livejournal.com]

I find boredom eating a big problem: it's like a default activity when I'm at a loose end . . .

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

I have an extensive selection of herbal and fruity teas for these moments.

Oooh!

[dotty.livejournal.com]

What you could try is food that actually does prevent you from indulging, like in the GI diet: seed grain wholemeal bread instead of white, nuts (walnuts, peanuts, etc.), they fill you up really fast and believe me, you won't feel like eating afterwards. Houmous (chickpeas) is very good for nibbles , on seeded bread. I got the book by A. Worrall-Thompson and it explains everything. You can get some photocopies of recipes, if you want.

[vinaigrettegirl.livejournal.com]

What Dotty says about the GI diet... cutting a clean head of Romaine lettuce into quarters and eating it out of hand dipped in a basic dressing is also amazingly satisfying.

If you are using wine to relax, you're probably better off (calorie-wise and psychologically and physiologically) with a single measured shot of brandy or Scotch than with three glasses of red or white (I'm hazarding a guess of one glass per hour for three hours).

If the idea of having a single dose of hard stuff "to relax" seems too close to flirting with alcohol dependency, as opposed to "just having a few glasses of wine" then conceivably you may be kidding yourself a little about the whole relationship between alcohol, weight, and you, full stop. Possibly. Or not. Having found myself at one time easily consuming half a bottle of red every day - it crept up on me somehow - I did have to face up to the fact that three or four glasses in the evening was half a bottle and for me that was too much. And getting rid of the extra weight was as hard as getting rid of the creeping dependency. But worth it in the end. Wine every day + insufficient exercise = fat. :-( Alas....

Just a thought, anyway.

keep the hands and mind occupied

[cleanskies.livejournal.com]

Watch TV with the computer on the sofa -- the modern equivalent of knitting, tapestry, cross-stitch, embroidery ...

[white_hart]

Ah, but I'm not at work this week, and therefore have daytime access to LJ :-) And would be up for pubmeet as I want to go to M&S anyway. FFtMC gets my vote, as Copa doesn't sell proper beer.

Re the comfort eating, not having snacky things in the house is always a good start! Another thing that might work is eating later - we tend to have dinner around eight, which means there's not really time to get hungry again before bedtime. I usually have a snack as soon as I get in from work (usually a slice of bread with some cold meat) which seems to keep me going until then. The wine is probably the killer, though; not only does it pack a pretty hefty calorie punch on its own, but it does tend to reduce will-power and bring on attacks of the munchies. If you try to have a few alcohol-free evenings you'll probably find that you feel less tired and less inclined to nibble at things.

And if you must snack, try having fruit and nuts and things around instead of pitta bread and mini bakewells!

[dyddgu.livejournal.com]

I can't make it tonight, due to Werk Faff (I have Wednesday off, so that buggers about with my hours)...

In more werk news, it's only 4 weeks till Late Thursdays stop for Christmas, so yay :-)

[t--m--i.livejournal.com]

You could take up the dancing again that you said you were going to do when you stopped going running with us [VBEG].
The brutal fact is that a Forties-style figure goes with a Forties-style diet (alcohol on special occasions only, meat & 2 veg for lunch and dinner, no snacks) and Forties-level of activity (lots of walking to & from the shops because you ain't got a fridge, daily carpet sweeping, digging the allotment u.s.w). Yer pays yer money, yer takes yer choice. If you want the TV, the wine, the snacks, you have to take the figure that comes with it. Modern life sucks sometimes huh.