Beating the Boredom Beast

I just wanted to start off today's post by declaring that I am already beginning to feel some beneficial effects from starting my quest to lose it.  My legs don't hurt and feel heavy when I walk longer than 10 minutes, I have more energy, and me thinks I have already lost a little weight.   We'll see how much on Friday!  On to the post!

(Amanda Burri found this little gem.  You should totally check out her blogy blog here.) 

I thought this three panel comic perfectly describes what is wrong with my eating habits.  When I get bored that happens.  And by that I mean I raid the fridge/pantry several times.  My brain decides that the only way to qualm my boredom is to eat all the food.  Not read, catch up on cleaning, play a little Borderlands, or engage in some insightful conversation with Brodie.  When a boredom induced feeding frenzy occurs any concept of healthy smart choices go out the window.  My typical boredom food at home is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  For some reason I always tend to bust out the PB&J. At work it is worse.  My section mates have set up a candy/chip/soda area in one of the cubicles.  When boredom strikes at work, I get a sugar high and 200-400 extra empty calories.

So, what do I do to curb this horrible boredom hunger?  It all depends on what venue I am at.  If I am at work I go on a five minute walk outside or drink a bunch of water.  Both of those tactics have proven useful and effective.  Going on a walk gives me the time to decide if I am truly hungry or if I am simply bored and I get to burn a few calories in the process.  Drinking water keeps my tummy feeling full and also keeps me nice and hydrated which keeps my rather slow metabolism churning.

Being at home is a little trickier for me.  Typically I lose the battle at my house.  A couple things that I have found that are partially effective in this setting is brewing some herbal tea to drink and posting to this here blog.  The tea provides me something tasty and since it is hot, I have to slowly drink it which, once again, buys me time to consider if I'm actually hungry or not.  This blog has also been successful on two fronts.  One, this takes  up a lot of my time, believe it or not.  I am a bit critical of myself and usually write and rewrite sentences because I don't think they flow well.  Hopefully this hyper criticism has made this blog a little nicer to read.  Two, it's nice to reflect on what my goals actually are and what I need to do to get there. Oddly enough two PB&J sandwiches are not on the path to lose it.  Weird.

Now that I have discussed my major roadblock in proper nutrition here are some other goals I have set to get me where I need to be.
1.  No fast food.  No good came come from the fryer.
2.  Seriously limit my carbonated beverage intake.  True story, I was \in my class one day drinking a Coke and one of my students pointed out to me, "You know that you're pretty much drinking a candy, right?."  That ruined regular soda for me.  I'm still a push over for a Diet Coke, though.  Still, Why drink the bubbly?  Water is nice and free.
3.  Never get a frozen pizza.  I never intend to eat the whole thing in one sitting, yet, I always do.
4.  Always eat something for breakfast and make that something, something healthy.  It sets the mood for the whole day.
5.  Pack a lunch.  Saves me money and reduces impulse purchases of not so great for me cuisine.

So far, I have been doing a great job following these guidelines and, like I said earlier, I am starting to feel it.  If you guys have any other suggestion on ways to eat healthier or beat the boredom beast, please leave me some comments.  I am all ears!

Before I leave for tonight, I would like to thank my sister, Tammy, for buying me the coolest running app I have ever experienced, Zombies, Run!

This app turns every run/jog/walk into a gaming experience.  From the site:

Zombies, Run! is an ultra-immersive running game for the iPhone, iPod Touch,

 and Android. We deliver the story straight to your headphones through orders and voice recordings

 - and back home, you can build and grow your base with the items you've collected.

It made my 30 minute walk today super enjoyable.  Well, worth the money that Tammy spent for it.  Thank you, Tammy.  Tomorrow I'm going to turn on the 'Zombie Chase' mode and give it a shot.

Thanks again for reading and until next time.

- Louie