Want to take your mind off food?.... Create a diversion!

[soymilkgirl]

There is no doubt that most of us have been in the situation where our thoughts become focussed on food. This is not helpful for our weight loss strategy. I found this was often the case when I was travelling home from work on public transport. It was very easy to buy a packet of chips or a bar of chocolate to eat on the way home. After all, you've done a good day's work, why shouldn't you reward yourself? Well that's all fine, but if you eat that type of food every day it isn't going to help your weight loss campaign. It really should be as a treat once and a while. So I decided that I needed to change my focus and create a diversion.

What did I do? Found activities that I could do while travelling that didn't involve food.

Knitting - particularly helpful because I justify not eating - food may get on my knitted work.

Reading - if you are enjoying a good book, you forget to eat.

And my most favourite of all... crosswords. Instead of buying a chocolate bar, I would buy a crossword puzzle book - a little bit more expensive, but it lasted a lot longer. Then I discovered crosswords on the Internet which I could print out before I went to work - even cheaper, and equally as good. You can even use your laptop and play them online if you have one.

Here are some of my favourite sites. Of course there are many more!

Best for Puzzles
Puzzle Express
Crosswords for Fun

So if you are feeling at a loose end and this makes you crave food, I hope you find these suggestions helpful.

Have fun and cheers for now!

 

[dietgrrl]

Thanks for posting the links to crossword puzzles! Love them! Sudoku is also a good mind activity. Don't forget doing these mind activities also sharpens the brain.

 

[ChefChiTown]

You know what I do to keep my mind off of food? I put my hand down my pants and play with my co...llection of festive buttons...that I...keep...on my...underwear?

 

[Sunshyne]

Good tips. I like to distract myself with vanity-related things...I like to paint my nails, deep condition my hair, do a facial mask etc;

 

[Kayshiz]

I like to distract myself with vanity-related things...I like to paint my nails

I do this sometimes too. If I eat something and I'm still hungry (or i just want to weight a little longer after eating dinner before any desert) I will paint my nails. Of course, there's lots of good things like that, but nail painting is good since you can't touch anything while they are wet, and if I'm still hungry by the time they dry, then I know its not just my mind playing tricks on me.

 

[Sunshyne]

^ I like your siggy kayshiz! I remember watching a documentary about a 10 year old mcdonalds burgers and fries that looked like they were fresh to order

 

[Kayshiz]

Thanks Sunshyne
I don't know about the burger, but McDonald fries are some kind of sci-fi concoction and should not be eaten by anyone. LoL

 

[Erin87]

This is the first time when dieting I haven't thought about food. I actually don't feel hungry for a while. The last few days I've eaten breakfast at 8 or 9 am, and didn't eat again until I had dinner 11 or 12 hours later. Even then I wasn't hungry, but I was like... wopse, better get my calories in, since my breakfast is only 280 calories.