Environmental effects on eating

[clevermanka]

I don't eat as much when I'm happily busy. News flash, right? I feel hungry when I'm at work because my mind isn't always enjoyably occupied. I might be busy, but I'm not having what I'd call a Great Time. Most of the time, the hours are not Flying By.

Yesterday I spent many many hours in the sewing room, working on various projects. I made myself go fix dinner because I knew mckitterick was getting hungry. If he hadn't been home, I probably would have just poured myself another cup of tea. Not that I wasn't hungry (when I finally did eat, I was happy to do so), but it wasn't a constant, nagging urge in the back of my mind, like it is when I'm at the office.

I know that I tend to eat when I'm bored. I hadn't put facts together to reach the conclusion that my job is helping me stay chubby.

I'm not going to quit my job, and I'm tired of feeling fat. So how do I stay happily busy and fully mentally occupied while at the office?

This is going to take some time spent in thinky-thoughts. I need a long-lasting solution that's more than just collecting a bunch of busy work. I've already got that in spades.

Comments

[cskippy2000.livejournal.com]

I have the same issue. If I'm occupied I'm not hungry, but the second I'm not, I eat like crazy.

I too, thought if I kept my mind busy, I'd be okay, so I started learning Japanese. That just made me hungry for sushi.

Let me know what you figure out. I think it'll be worth a try.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I'll certainly post about it. But it's not just a matter of mentally occupied. I stay plenty occupied here. I have to really enjoy what I'm doing. And I think some sort of physical occupation helps, too. Keeping my mind and hands busy.

[tessagratton.livejournal.com]

I have this problem, too. I can write for hours and then be all "wut? I missed a meal?" but here, I'm like, "it's only 10:30? I can't eat my lunch yet? boo!"

I wonder if you can find some sort of creative thing you could do at your desk? Or with the computer?

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly.

I wonder if you can find some sort of creative thing you could do at your desk? Or with the computer?

My creative outlets don't reside in 2D/digital space. At least none I've yet discovered. I'm at my best/happiest when I'm doing something that involves working with stuff. Fabric, paint, embroidery, etc.

It's going to take some creative maneuvering to find some middle ground/overlap between what keeps me happily busy and what is possible at the office.

[tessagratton.livejournal.com]

You could always make your student files into gorgeous art. Heh.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

*snort*

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

I don't have any suggestions at all, but wheee I'm glad you got to happily work in the sewing room!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

It was great!

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

Speaking of great and eye-candy (well, I was earlier somewhere else, but it's food)...

this (http://www.pettipond.com/lon.htm) was on corsetmakers.
Isn't it glorious?!!

[miischelle.livejournal.com]

I've been working on this for three years...

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

So have you found any workable solutions? I'm guessing from your icon the answer is no, but...

[miischelle.livejournal.com]

It depends on the week. In the off season, when there's little to no work I can get away with small arts and crafts projects at my desk, so long as I'm discreet. We only just got the internet here and that's helped a lot, just because I can look up random trivia when I'm bored....but mostly no. It is lame.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Boo.

*sigh*

[miischelle.livejournal.com]

Wait!....audiobooks have helped a bit...if you can have them.....

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I could get away with them, but they wouldn't do the trick. I get munchy when I've got a book and I'm doing the reading myself. Having something read to me...wouldn't cut it.

I need something that occupies my brain and my hands at the same time.

[bestill.livejournal.com]

massage your brain with your hands!

[ms-danson.livejournal.com]

Write long and involved LJ posts then realize you are so far behind that you have to boot ass to catch up? *looks guilty*

LJ is my crack.

Ziggy used to cross-stitch during lectures... you could always ask the students what they do when they are bored in class or at school or on the bus. Reading, writing, art, game design, games, seriously plotting how to launch pumpkins from the roof of our building at neigbouring buildings and how to light a pumpkin on fire are all stuff we did in school during classes.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I think the trick for me is that I need to be as physically involved as I am mentally involved. Which is why sewing and artwork keep me happily occupied, but reading/games/thinking don't.

[bestill.livejournal.com]

too bad you gave up knitting, but they might frown on that at work.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't think that'd fly. =D

[royal-spice.livejournal.com]

I have heard that there are people who do push-ups/sit-ups in their offices rather than eating, whenever they have the impulse to snack. I don't know if that would work for me, or you for that matter, but it's always seemed a noble idea.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I run the stairs. It doesn't help. =b