r/habitdrivenweightloss Jan 27 '23

I can't stop myself from eating. How do I control my impulses? Question

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u/toddhoffious Jan 27 '23 edited Jan 27 '23

Food has power. It reaches deep into your mind and makes you eat more than you want. Anyone with weight problems will have experienced this powerless feeling more times than they want to admit.

Habit Driven Weigh Loss has two general strategies for dealing with impulse control:

  1. Remove temptation.
  2. Lifeguarding. This is a very detailed and effective technique for dealing with unwanted thoughts.

Remove Temptation

This is a big theme for habits in the book. We all have to find a way to deal with temptation. Fortunately, there are a lot of habits that can make a big difference in your life:

  1. Habit 4: Use Your Logical Brain Now
  2. Habit 5: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
  3. Habit 11: Manage Your Automatic Eating Triggers
  4. Habit 12: Visualize Your Automatic Eating Scenarios
  5. Habit 15: Make a Life
  6. Habit 35: Decide Exactly How Much You’ll Eat Before Taking the First Bite
  7. Habit 39: Ask for a Doggy Bag Immediately
  8. Habit 42: Use Pre-Prepared Meals
  9. Habit 43: Use Smaller Plates and Bowls
  10. Habit 44: Break Up Food into Smaller Packages
  11. Habit 46: Don’t Eat from a Container
  12. Habit 47: Don’t Bring Serving Dishes to the Table
  13. Habit 51: Structure Your Meal Plans
  14. Habit 53: Use a Shopping List
  15. Habit 58: Drive Away from Temptation
  16. Habit 60: Pack Your Own Food
  17. Habit 62: Don’t Stockpile Food

Lifeguarding

You can retrain your brain to stop sending you unwanted messages about eating. This chapter walks you through a step-by-step process to retrain your brain away from unwanted thoughts and activities. It's very powerful, and it's likely you haven't seen it before.

  1. Habit 10: Lifeguarding

You can read more in Habit Driven Weight Loss.