Thinking about food too much

chilipepper130 · Post by **chilipepper130** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 3:22 am

I feel that I am always thinking about food.

I find that I am always thinking about my next meal. I even look forward to bed time so that I can wake up and have my coffee and eat breakfast. I feel like I'm wishing the hours between meals away and the days between S days away. I don't want to rush my days, I want to enjoy them. The good news is none of my 'food thoughts' are negative but I still do not want to think about food all day and all night.

It's not physical hunger either, I have no problem lasting 5 hours between meals which is shocking since 4 weeks ago I thought I would die if I had to go more than 3 hours without eating.

Maybe I just haven't figured out how to replace the time that I use to use for snacking as yet. I literally use to snack from lunchtime until I went to bed, skipping dinner on most days because I was never hungry enough for a real meal but I could still keep on snacking. I guess I can't expect to change a lifetime of habits in 24 days but it's starting to annoy me.

I'm a little concerned that food is one of my biggest joys in my life since it appears to be what I look forward to all day long. I've been food/weight obsessed since I can remember so now that I have taken away snacking I am having a hard time figuring out what else I enjoy doing. My whole life was eating, cooking, baking, baking for family and friends, reading cookbooks, reading fitness magazines, planning a diet, giving up on diets and snacking, snacking and more snacking. I'm starting to see the problem now that I have typed this out. Yikes!!

Has anyone else experienced this and if so does it eventually fade?

MaggieMae · Post by **MaggieMae** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 3:40 am

I'm the exact same way, chilipepper! Even the part about always baking, reading diet books, cook books, planning a diet, etc. I know exactly what you're talking about. I wish I had some words of wisdom, but I'm in the same boat. I actually just planned out all of my meals for tomorrow on my fitness pal. I always go to bed thinking about my coffee and breakfast. I've read several success stories on here from people who have been set free from binge eating and food obsession. That tells me that there must be hope for us!

lpearlmom · Post by **lpearlmom** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 5:46 am

Okay so when I started NoS food was part of my every waking thought. What to eat, when to eat, if I should eat, how much to eat etc. So there was a lot of thinking about how to eat less food or if that was even a worthy goal. That's the kind of thinking that's crazy making.

There was also a lot of thought and time spent on the fun part of food. Cooking, going out to eat etc. I have 150+ cookbooks (crazy I know) and spent a lot of time reading them, menu planning, researching restaurants etc. A lot of time and energy spent on food related things.

Well, fast forward a couple years. Am I still spending a lot of energy on food related things. Well yes and no. All the negative food related thoughts are gone but cooking and eating out bring a lot of joy to me so those are still a big part of my life. But the obsessive thinking is gone. Just like that and that's been a huge gift for me. Cooking is a fun hobby for me but it's something I can choose or not choose. The obsessive thoughts did not feel like a choice--I couldn't escape them.

I think it's because once we start providing regular, satisfying (key) meals to ourselves we send a message to the part of our brain that's trying to keep us alive telling it were no longer in danger of starving. We can finally relax and focus on other things if we so choose. When we're trying to restrict food all the time and our eating is chaotic, our brains are on high alert. It's saying "hey her food intake is not reliable, we must send constant food messages to motivate her to make seeking food a priority".

Anyway that's how I see it based on my experience but Ellyn Satter, a dietician, talks about this in her books. It does take time but in short, it will fade imo.

Linda

chilipepper130 · Post by **chilipepper130** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 12:27 pm

Thanks for responding Linda and MaggieMae.

MaggieMae you and me seem to be in similiar situations, we both think about food, we are the same height and I would like to lose about 30 lbs but have not lost any as yet and I am now on day 25

Linda it's nice to know it will eventually fade. Last night when I was just about to fall asleep it hit me that breaking up with snacking is almost like breaking up with a boyfriend. At first it's all you can think about and then you think about them less and less everyday. At least I hope it's like that. I guess I'll find out since I promised to give this a year before I gave up.

I just wish I would lose some weight. I am doing 100% vanilla NoS, just water and unsweetened herbal tea in between meals, my meals are balance and healthy, my S days are not over the top, I work out and the scale (and tape measure) still won't budge.

catservant · Post by **catservant** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 6:58 pm

Haha! I love that, Chilipepper! Breaking up with snacks is HARDER than breaking up with a boyfriend IMO!!

I have way too many failures in that department to have shown good progress. I know it's what I have to conquer in order to succeed, and there is no fault to place anywhere except squarely on my own shoulders...

RAWCOOKIE · Post by **RAWCOOKIE** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:44 pm

I don't think you're at all unusual in having these food-thoughts - or food-gaps which you don't know how to fill.

I am always aware of my next meal. I can also relate to looking forward to breakfast. I have also experienced that feeling of loss when I can't fill my time with baking, or making food to eat! I have certainly had to 'think of things to do' to take the place of having a snack!

I've been doing No S for less than a year - so I can't talk about it fading, yet! I am certainly more relaxed in my thoughts about food - there's less desperation!

Just goes to show how central food enjoyment has been to our lives, eh?! Not surprising when pretty much all social occasions equal eating something together. So when we eat alone, we're kind of re-creating that social occasion, alone. I do feel that some of my food-gaps are actually loneliness at quite a deep level. But I'm glad I'm not filling that gap with food any more (well, mostly not!)