There's an unspoken rule that "nibbling calories" don't count. You can eat a lot of food when you're not paying attention.
One of the tricks of the Pleasure-Seeking Child is the belief that if you're not paying attention, it doesn't count. It's denial. But to the body, it counts. The body notices, and to it, nibbling calories count like any others.
I got into the habit of eating and talking on the phone or cooking. I spend a lot of time on the phone for work, and since I work from home and do most of the cooking in our family, I'm constantly in the kitchen, I'm always on the phone, and I'm always cooking.
The other thing about nibbling was that it robbed me of eating pleasure! Because my attention was elsewhere, I couldn't completely enjoy the food or focus on my phone conversation or cooking because my attention was divided, and that was unsatisfying. To overcome this habit, I had to make a rule: nibbling and cooking, and nibbling and the phone don't go together.
I also decided to eat only when I was sitting down and put my food on a plate. At first, being used to nibbling, I would constantly catch myself reaching for a bite. Sometimes I would catch myself before the nibble crossed my lips and sometimes not. Slowly but surely, the old habit gave way to the new one.
Today, make a pact with yourself not to nibble. Any time you want to eat something, park your rear end in a chair and put the food on a plate. Continue you this non-nibbling practice for life.
Checklist
I didn't nibble today.
I put all my food on a plate and ate sitting down.
I wasn't able to avoid nibbling so I tried again the next day and the next day after that until I was able to go an entire day without nibbling.
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