Have you ever been so bored all you could do was think about food? Ever wish those thoughts would just go away!
Well here is a list of 60 things you can do to take your mind off of food!
1. Call a friend, your sponsor, a support person, anyone who you can talk to who will either get your mind off of food, or someone to talk to about whatever it is that you might be feeling.
2. Go for a brisk walk
3. Meditate or listen to a hypnosis or guided visualization download.
4. Give yourself a manicure/pedicure– can’t binge with wet nails.
5. Volunteer at the ASPCA to walk dogs or pet cats.
6. Watch a funny movie at home.
7. Take a shower, give yourself a hot oil treatment, shave your legs, tweeze your brows– self care time.
8.) Get organized sort out your bills, create a budget– organize your home. Often getting organized can help you feel more in control and enable you to thwart a binge, which can often feel very out of control.
9. Draw, paint or color.
10. Knit, crochet or do needlepoint
11. Take a nap
12. Get out of your house and into your car, go to the beach, the lake, the park… somewhere pretty and relaxing.
13. Clean out your closet, donate your old clothes or sell them on eBay.
14. Read a good book.
15. Put on music and dance it out. Go out dancing. Call your friends over and have a dance party.
16. Go to the gym. Stretch, go to a yoga class, do a yoga DVD or an exercise or yoga class on On Demand cable. Move! Do jumping jacks, run in place, anything to move a little energy and release some tension.
17. Take a relaxing bath with nice bath salts or essential oils.
18. Write in your journal
19. Scream into a pillow.
20. Go to an OA or EDA meeting, either online, in person, or on the phone.
21. Go to an online support forum with other people dealing with eating issues. www.obesityhelp.com www.facebook.com (The LIOS group, many other supportive groups for WLS on fb)
22. Read a magazine
23. Write a blog! Read a blog!
24. Chat with friends on facebook or update your facebook profile. Twitter!
25. Sing!
26. Get your hair done or do your own hair. Experiment with different styles, curling iron, flat iron, curlers, etc.
27. Make cards for people, catch up on Thank You notes, send out notes to relatives you haven’t spoken to or seen in a long time. Not the ones that stress you out and make you want to reach for your old friends Ben and Jerry.
28. Go out and take photos.
29. Play video games or facebook games
30. Write and direct a short play with stuffed animals or Barbie dolls or action figures or your pets or sock puppets and videotape it to put on youtube.
31. Smell lavender
32. Pick flowers
33. Garden
34. Create a collage
35. Go bowling, play pool, play golf or miniature golf, play basketball, hit tennis balls, go to a batting cage, go for a swim.
36. Scrapbook
37. Write an angry letter to whomever you are holding anger at. You don’t have to send it, just let it out. Afterwards, put it somewhere safe. You might let go of some emotions that you’d been stuffing and you might find that you no longer have the urge to binge.
38. Go through old pictures
39. Cuddle with your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, daughter, son, cat, dog, teddy bear, etc.
40. Do karaoke, you can either go out to do it, or do it at home with friends.
41. Play music! If you play an instrument, whip it out and start playing. If not, teach yourself to play one. Beat on some bongos, ping a triangle, strum a guitar, whatever is convenient to you. If nothing, make an instrument out of household objects and play it.
42. Catch up on your emails
43. Learn a new language!
44. Write a letter to your future self, about what you’re going through right now.
45. Write some notes with positive messages and post them around your home or get out of the house and put them up in dressing rooms, public restroom mirrors, restaurants, etc
46. Make a list of why you rock. Think about what’s great about you. Can’t think of those things? Call someone who loves you and ask them to tell you.
47. Light candles and incense and relax
48. Explore your neighborhood or town. Go to local museums or art galleries.
49. Call a friend or relative who has been unhappy lately and needing some support. Sometimes giving support can be incredibly heartening and also supports the supporter.
50. Use crayons to color hard! This can release tension.
51. Search through your couch and house for change! Put everything you can in a jar and put it aside to start a fund for yourself as a motivator in your journey. Every time you reach a milestone, you can buy yourself something fun, like a new pair of shoes, or some jewelry or new CD, or whatever you like within reason.
52. Roll on your back. This is a spinal massage that helps you to feel relaxed and rejuvenated.
53. Read positive affirmations.
54. Write out your intentions or personal goals for yourself for the week. Write out both long term and short term goals- things that you are striving for and ways to help you get there.
55. Throw a temper tantrum! Go into your bedroom, lay on your stomach in your bed and scream into your pillow while you kick your legs and punch your hands into the bed. Ever see kids do this? They expend all that energy and it moves right through them. As adults, we can’t really do this and lots of anger and pain winds up feeling stuck in the body. We often try to stuff that down with food and for some, get rid of it by purging.
56. Make jewelry out of household items or beads or coins.
57. You can also take that old clothing, especially those that are significant to your pre-op days, and cut it up into squares and make a “recovery quilt.”
58. Do a home makeover! Rearrange your furniture; get rid of things that you no longer want– sell them on eBay! Put up some curtains; just make things pretty for yourself.
59. Do volunteer work.
60. Write a novel, short story, or poetry.
If you can think of any others to add please post below!
xoxo
Sleeve Pixie
