Everyday Systems

I'm a stress eater and a boredom eater. When I am stressed or bored, I feel something that, to me, feels an awful lot like hunger.

No S is a good diet for this, because it doesn't require me to tell genuine hunger from other feelings. I eat at meal times and not at other times, regardless of whether or not I'm feeling hungry (not being hungry at meal times is almost never a problem for me).

Anyone else here a stress eater or boredom eater?

Me! I agree with you completely. Monday through Friday it doesn't matter how stressed or bored I get - it's 3 meals per day and no sweets.

And additionally I've found that since starting NoS I've gotten better at distinguishing between emotional hunger and True hunger on S days. I'm sure I still sometimes eat with my feelings on weekends, but not nearly as much as before. And since its *only* on weekends, its a ginormous change from pre-NoS.

Not only has this change helped the waistline and the number on the scale, but it has also drastically improved my relationship with food. I no longer feel like I'm powerless.

I've been knitting a lot more lately and I find that when I'm engrossed with that, hunger doesn't bother me. In fact, I've knitted through a couple of meals -- I just didn't want to stop. "Just one more row" becomes a lot more rows.

*raises hand* I am most definitely one of those types. Stress, boredom, strong emotions, thinking too much... you name it, my solution to it would be eating something sweet. I was snacking all of the time.
I couldn't just limit my portions or go for healthier snacks... I needed the structure of this plan and the accountability/support of this forum to make me stop. I have found that it takes less effort and gives less stress to eat nothing than to eat just one. Now, I feel my sweet cravings weakening, my constant hunger lessening, and my ability to eat everything in sight and still want more diminishing. I am starting to eat like a normal person again, and it feels good.

This is a little psychoanalytical, but I (used to!) eat, rather than 'feel my feelings'. It's a trauma response strategy that I learned when I was young, and I carried the behaviour through to my adult years. Some people use drugs, I use (used!) food. I have had to 'learn to be uncomfortable', that I can co-exist with even the most negative of my feelings, I don't have to distract myself from them with food. I know this isn't the case for everyone, but for me, this is why I (used to!) eat when I am (was!) stressed or bored. Understanding this has been the key to me to start dealing with my disordered relationship with food.

No-S has been the only method that has allowed me the space to manage my relationship with food in a healthy, non-obsessive way.

Right here, front and center.

I (used to) eat when bored/stressed/tired/procrastinating or simply unable to figure out what to do next.

After being on No-S a few years, I've taken up new hobbies, learned better stress-management strategies, sleep more, and make better decisions on how to spend my time. (Mostly... I use this board to procrastinate at times. But the percentage is much lower.)

A coincidence? Maybe. But I'm willing to credit No-S. Once you stop masking all that stuff with food, you naturally start finding better options...

I have never been a stress eater. When stressed or really upset I tend not to eat. However I am very much a bored eater. I got into the habit of getting a muffin or a bagel in the morning when I go to get coffee at the campus market. The fact that I eat breakfast at 6:30 and lunch at 1:30 meant that I felt a bit hungry by 10:00 - sometimes I still do - but it passes. However mostly I just felt like having one - made the long and sometimes boring morning go by easier. When I am at home alone I tend to graze a bit - it never seems like too much because it is always a little at a time - but it adds up.

The other thing I am is a convivial eater. I eat more in company. That is one of the reasons I don't go out to eat lunch with coworkers. I can easily manage just a yogurt and fruit at my desk, but surrounded by people eating french fries, plates of pasta, enormous sandwiches served with chips, hamburgers, pizza etc., it is much much harder. I feel sort of mean. I also eat more at home when I am eating with my family. It prolongs the meal and the conversation. Sweets after dinner keep it up as well

So No S helps in both these regards. Snacks are out so boredom eating is out. And one plate means that at night with my family I don't overdo the conviviality business. I like the fact that wine is allowed with No S as I can happily linger over a glass in a way that I cannot over a plate. No dessert means that tea can be used to prolong the conviviality as well.

It gives me a structure I can work within.

Absolutely identify with this. I've been eating to control my mood for years. Then I got smart and grown-up and switched to cigarettes

No S brought up a lot of feelings especially when I started. More feelings got dredged up when I started experimenting with low-carb - removing a lot of comfort foods. It isn't easy learning to be with feelings I spent a lifetime avoiding, I think I'm rather underdeveloped emotionally because of it. Still, better late than never

Raises hand to both! And Becoming, I know exactly what you are saying, and have been learning to feel my feelings bit by bit (as opposed to swallowing them down with chocolate).

I know that it is useful to many people to "feel their feelings" instead of masking them. Not running that down. But, I actually hadda go through some pretty expensive and painful therapy to STOP focusing on my feelings so damn much.

Funny ole world, innit?

I completely agree. Whether i'm bored, sad, happy, procrastinating, stressed, lonely, upset, my natural response is to eat!

this site is very helpful - when I feel that feeling (not hunger, but a longing to graze or snack) I come on here and look at some of the discussions and success stories.

I feel the same way as a lot of you. I feel blessed to have found, not only the diet, but this forum of others that struggle with this same thing. I find that having a structure helps me avert my eyes to more important things in my life, like family and studying. I also am incorporating this diet into a bible study that includes fasting, and I am really learning a lot about myself and my addiction and lack of satisfaction with overeating. thanks for writing this, you have allowed me to see how similar I am to your experience!

Count me in as a stressed, bored, sad, happy eater. I use food to deal with everything. My first day back on No S diet really brought this to home, it was such a hard day, I realized I constantly reach for food. I had to keep catching myself and did resort to chewing sugarless gum to get me through. It happened really fast, but after a day I felt programmed, and was at ease waiting for mealtime. I then really began to enjoy my meals, probably like normal eaters do. Before, when dinner came, I wasn't really even that hungry, but ate to be with my family. Now dinner is so much more enjoyable.

I am worried I will lose this contentment, you know when I used to diet, there was a dieters high at first, and then life happens. The weekends worry me, that I will lose this great habit. I forced myself to have deserts on the weekend, because I don't want to one day go crazy and binge, I think you really need the weekend to give your metabolism a change of diet and taste. Luckily the past Mondays, I was ready to No S again.

I've read a lot of mindful books on eating, they help, but I need more concrete guidelines to help me ... but not too rigid. I don't think I could ever count a calorie or fat gram again!