I try to substitute indulgences. Snacking in the afternoon and drinking in the evening are big boredom/ritual things for me. I've been leaning pretty heavily on tea now that it's getting cooler, and seltzer over the summer.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks guys (OP)... I think I am going to have to do short-term/ long-term approaches. Push through for the next couple months and really try to just entirely stop using food/drink as reward as you all suggest. Long-term though, that's just not going to work for me, so I am going to have to figure out some more structured, moderate way of indulging.

Why not allow yourself one night a week of pad thai or some other food you miss and really enjoy. Wouldn't that be less boring and more satisfying than the same few beers every weekend? Have a beer with the once weekly indulgence meal, and vary what that meal is.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks guys (OP)... I think I am going to have to do short-term/ long-term approaches. Push through for the next couple months and really try to just entirely stop using food/drink as reward as you all suggest. Long-term though, that's just not going to work for me, so I am going to have to figure out some more structured, moderate way of indulging.

No, the long term solution is it will STOP being hard to indulge because you view food as your reward. You’ll have taken away the cache of food as treat. Then you can indulge once in awhile easily without overdoing it or ruining your progress because you really will have stopped seeing food as this forbidden pleasure you can’t indulge in too often. I remember this was my mindset in pregnancy because so many other indulgences were off the table that food was all I had and after awhile I was like “Oreos are just not that exciting. They’re always there, I can always have one.” It shifts entirely how you view food long term.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks guys (OP)... I think I am going to have to do short-term/ long-term approaches. Push through for the next couple months and really try to just entirely stop using food/drink as reward as you all suggest. Long-term though, that's just not going to work for me, so I am going to have to figure out some more structured, moderate way of indulging.

Why is that not going to work long term?

Boredom is the problem. Managing indulging is really managing boredom. Can't.
Fing things to fill that pad that shaped hole in your life.
Read, walk, create, connect, pray, whatever.

Thanks guys (OP)... I think I am going to have to do short-term/ long-term approaches. Push through for the next couple months and really try to just entirely stop using food/drink as reward as you all suggest. Long-term though, that's just not going to work for me, so I am going to have to figure out some more structured, moderate way of indulging.

One thing that worked for me was to address the food craving by doing something pleasurable (and good for the brain/body connection) that didn't involve food - a 15-min walk around the block, cuddling my dog, calling a friend, 10 mins of stretching, etc.

I started walking instead of eating and am surprised by how much I enjoy it.

Yes! I realized that too. I was looking forward to work some days because i had a candy stash there (thst kids dont have access too). Eliminating the food pick me ups has been really really hard but also resulted in dropping a stubborn couple of lbs for me.

You just really have to push through and view food as fuel. Maybe find a way for a drink to be your treat - like a flavored water or those flavored True Lemon lemonade packets. You’re seeking dopamine through food so just find it elsewhere and LET food be boring.

Find other sources of pleasure.

I'm about 3+ weeks into finally getting rid of my COVID-20 lbs, losing steadily. Moderate diet focused on upping protein, lowering carbs, and not really restricting anything but sugar (and limiting booze to a couple drinks on the weekend). My problem is not that its terribly difficult or I'm always hungry, more just that I'm bored--and always looking around for a food/drink-related pick-me-up, and then realizing, dejected--no no, can't have the fancy chocolate.

I realize that I eat often for the endorphin rush but I'm not sure what to do about this. It seems silly to pretend that there's no pleasure to a big bowl of pad thai or a glass of white, but perhaps I do need to shift my mindset. I'm not sure if it is better to establish defined "treats" from time to time or to just go cold turkey (e.g. eliminate even the Saturday beer) and try to establish a new baseline. If you are a "pleasure seeker"-style eater, what has been your approach?