I figured my overeating might be caused by my undiagnosed inattentive ADHD I have been suspecting to have it.
Like with other habits I try to make any plan or strategy falls apart in max few weeks. But I need a long term solution. However I have never thought about it as caused by ADHD. But When I think about it, I overeat only when I am bored.
During meals I eat normal portions. But when I am bored I will be eating small chunks of food every time I visit fridge. I do not stop that because of my inattentiveness I do not even know I ate a lot.
While watching a movie I get bored - even if it is interesting and I am very invested in it. I get some snack and I will eat a whole bag not even knowing when that happened. This happens even if snack was some special offer that tasted bad.
Few examples I get bored and overeating:
- watching a movie - somehow movie is not enough stimuli for me
- after I eat my meal and I wait for others to finish (I eat exactly as twice as fast as my wife)
- when I am visiting someone and there is a food in front of me (conversation somehow is also not enough stimuli)
- random parts of the day - usually if I have to wait.
No standard recommender diet practices worked in the long run (portion control, mindful eating, intermittent fasting, healthy eating, building a healthy lifestyle/routine...) Especially those based on building routine failed the most.
Do you have similar issues? Do you have a strategy that works in the long run? Have you successfully substituted eating for other stimuli?
Somebody once recommended pumpkin seeds as a snack to me. Not because they are especially healthy or something like that, but because they are really annoying to peel. Yes, I could eat them unpeeled, but the entire point of the idea is to make the snacking just a bit less rewarding. I tried it. Worked for maybe a week or so before I stopped. But it had a much more interesting long term effect: it got me used to unsalted nuts as viable snacks. Of course I immediately fell back into my old habits after the pumpkin seed experiment, but from then on I made sure to always buy a pack or two of unsalted nuts or seeds or dried fruits together with my other snacks. And at some point I managed to figure out the one rule that worked for me, and had the biggest impact long term: only buy new snacks once I've fully run out of old ones. And maan, that bag of wallnuts/peanuts/pumpkin seeds/dried apples could last for a long time. In turn I also started snacking on stuff that I didn't really consider a snack before. Like, I'm bored, and the only snack in my cupboard is a bag of wall nuts - so I'd make myself a cucumber salad instead (which is just cucumber and soy sauce. Maybe some olive oil if I'm feeling fancy) . I didn't really stop snacking. And the amount I am eating hasn't really gone down either. But what I'm eating has become a lot less fatty and sugary in general. It took me about five years of very slowly changing the ratio of sweet snacks to healthy snacks, and by now I basically never have more than one single pack of cookies, chips or chocolate at home (which is gone within a day, but it'll take about a week before I buy another one). At social events I find myself constantly eating whatever is on the table. But all in all, my weight is very slowly, but consistently, going down, and I am feeling better about myself in general.
Tldr: buy a bag of unpeeled pumpkin seeds, and force yourself to peel each one of them before eating it. See where the journey takes you.
You may find that certain nuts or seeds have an effect on your bowels. Shelled sunflower seeds absolutely destroy me for like 24 hours.