Jul 25 2008
Forgot to Eat
“I was so busy–I just forgot to eat!”
I always thought that statement was, excuse my British, utter shite. Who can forget about food? The waffley temptations of breakfast. The decadent pastries of the early morning snack. Open-faced sandwiches for lunch. A melty, chocolate chippy afternoon cookie. After ten-plus years of counting every calorie, monitoring every morsel of food, and anxiously awaiting (or painfully avoiding) mealtimes, I couldn’t understand how anyone could just “forget” to eat.
But then it happened to me a few days ago.
I woke up and had a light but healthy breakfast (running late on this of all days, of course), thinking that I’d be having a snack in a few hours. Then I got to work and all hell broke loose. I was in meetings and conference calls from 9:30am until 3:00 with virtually no break. Around 4pm, I was finishing up an email when I heard my stomach growl. That’s when it hit me–I had forgotten to eat. For almost nine hours. For the first time in I don’t know how long, I actually, seriously FORGOT about food.
If you’ve ever suffered through skipping a meal to lose weight, you know how mind-blowing this is for me.
I couldn’t help but suspect that there’s a lesson in this for me. After a few days of reflection, I think the lesson is this: Boredom is really, really, REALLY bad for me.
Pretty much every time I struggle with or (God forbid) give into my disordered eating impulses, I’m sitting at home alone, with nothing to do, feeling kind of bored. Or it’s a really slow day at work and I’m struggling to keep myself occupied. I start to feel restless. I get a mental itch right in the center of my brain. Leisure activities (reading, watching TV, going for a walk) don’t fix it. I need to have something that I have to do–something I choose to do isn’t quite the same.
Does anyone else find this to be true? Does boredom derail you? Are you better off busy, or does being busy produce stress that gets you off track?
interesting way to phrase it…the last questions…and for me it’s YES.
working on a deadline when Im feeling as though my article isnt coming together? SNACK ITCH IN BRAIN CENTER.
hunting for work and sortabored? S.I.I.B.C.
hanging with Toddler Tornado and finger painting for the bazillionth time in a week? S.I.I.B.C.
I know my biggest downfall is that I LOVE to pair trashy novels (ahhh jen weiner. I love you) and snack foods.
I just try to embrace it and move on…
(and the forgetting to eat? never up in herre. Im all about the eatbyclock as now my stomach is so trained to remind me)
Yes, yes, yes….boredom is the root of all things evil!
Seriously though, when I am mentally engaged in an activity I don’t feel the need to eat because I am focused on something else. Like you said “days where all hell breaks loose” are days easy for me to forget about food. Days where I’m running non-stop from the time I get up (kids, house, errands) I forget on those days…actually it’s more like “I’ll get to it after this…and then again after that…” Boredom on the other hand, I’m rummaging thru the fridge all day or staring at the snack machine at work all day. I spend my time searching for that ’something’ snacking all the while-but never feeling satisfied.
~K
hi there, found your blog from stephanie and thought i would comment… i make fun of my b/f all the time for ‘forgetting to eat lunch’ because i can’t fathom what that’s like… my eating schedule has been SO regimented for years, it’s hard for me to stray very far off plan… i do, however, relate to the whole boredom thing - the busier i am, the less i eat but it’s not on purpose… i’m jut not eating because there’s nothing else to do, i’m just focusing on other things…
love the blog! :o)
Eat, eat , eat! Well that is my motto…just stay active! Nice site!
When I read this, I had a little ah-ha moment, as this to definitely me. I am a teacher, with summers off - which translates to lots of unstructured time at home, alone. Looking back, I see the pattern of random, disordered eating most definitely occurs when I am bored and have easy, quick access to food. The worst is when the boredom turns to baking…ack.
But thanks for the great blog and post - it helped me think about my main trigger for my eating issues…and boredom is it. And as much s I loooove summer, there is a benefit for me in getting back to school and getting food off the brain.
I’ve never had that “I forgot to eat” thing, either. The only time I even come close to that feeling is when I’ve remembered to bring good snacks & lunch to work and I’m eating a little protein or fruit or whatever every couple of hours…when I don’t feel that constant empty feeling in my stomach, I don’t focus on it as much and eating doesn’t seem to be as much of an issue on those days. When I’m crazy busy I especially don’t forget about eating, probably because I get stressed and that’s my trigger to eat.
And boredom…oh yes!! Boredom gives me time to think - about being alone, about how , about how one hip feels bigger than the other…I think you get the idea. And once I’m headed down that spiral, it’s very very difficult to get out of it. So for me, just doing something simple like vacuuming or laundry - something to focus on - helps snap me out of it. The main problem is that I can’t always get my butt up off the couch to actually DO something…still working on that whole motivation thing!!
What a timely post - just last night I was studying for a final exam and ended up making shortbread and eating the majority of what I made because I was home, alone, without anything pressing to do. I like Steph’s comment of “unstructured time”. This definitely relates back to your developing a routine posts - routine is definitely an anxiety soother and will lead to a structured schedule where I won’t end up binging or forgetting to eat. Once I stop beating myself up for eating too much shortbread, I look forward to getting back on routine.
(and congrats on the writing gig!)
Ever since I struggled with eating disorders and disordered eating, I have instituted such a structured time table to my eating that I don’t understand how someone could possibly forget about food. But I have a brother who is just that way. Although for a lot of people when they say they forget to eat on a regular basis, I think they just find what they have to do to be more important than eating and push food out of their mind. But my brother, who is a genius and borderline autistic, gets wrapped up in reading or on the computer, and will forget to eat for a day at a time.
As for me, my binges always come at night when I have nothing to do. I have tried leisure activities, such as knitting or reading, something to keep my hands busy. But then I get up to grab a small snack, and it turns into a whole kitchen of snacks. So I completely understand and agree that boredom is the root of all evil to a diet.
Hi, just found your site from BISJ. I want to start by commending you for blogging about this. It’s very helpful to me.
“Forgot to eat” for me IS utter shite. I’m just testing how long I can go in between meals. I try to only eat when I’m hungry, an unfortunately, I’m not hungry until about 3pm, even if I work out. I work from home, so the boredom=eating potential is very high, especially since I’m a night owl. I can’t seem to wrap my brain around the ‘eat every 3-4 hours’ ideal: when I did WW, I did this and lost weight, but dangit if I didn’t feel stuffed all the time. Whether this is normal or not I havent’ figured out yet. But I’m working on it.
Thanks again for this site.
Totally!!! If I have nothing else to do then being weird about my food soon fills my head with a lot to think about. Whenever I get more busy and fill my life with good things then the less likely I am to engage in behavours.
I could use to forget a few times. Just sayin
Oh…I’ve done that before, even though I usually look forward to every meal of the day and the snacks in between. It’s so strange when it happens, but I agree with you about boredom…I will certainly eat when bored…or when I read…ugh, eating can sneak in my life as bad habits…like when I get done with dinner I immediately crave something sweet. But, boredom is the absolute worst…keep busy, it’s good on every level…