If you are anything like me.. a few hours into your new healthy eating lifestyle and you are already thinking about your next meal/snack! When I am bored I eat, I have been like this ever since I was in my teens. This is why I am so overweight!
The first step is to say to yourself “Are you actually hungry?” Okay if you are that is fine, snack on one of the hundreds of syn free snack foods available on the Slimming World plan.
But if you aren’t hungry you need a way to kick the snacking.. I have compiled a list of ideas to try when you are bored. Please feel to comment with any other great ideas which I can add to my list 🙂 It’s always fun to try something new.
This may seem like a fairly obvious idea, but after exercising I always feel so refreshed and satisfied. Not only will it help to boost your weight loss but the health benefits are endless.
If you find you are bored of visiting the gym why not try something new? Join a Zumba class, go for a long walk, visit Youtube and find a fun fitness video, go for a swim.
My favorite exercise involves pushing myself hard at the gym, but that can become expensive. There is some brilliant home equipment available to suit most budgets. I love these rebounders here and a folding exercise bike is a great tool for someone who doesn’t have a lot of room.
2. Adult Coloring
A few years ago I discovered a love for coloring with pencils.
It was always so hard to find decent coloring books. But suddenly overnight this hobby went viral and now they are EVERYWHERE! I find coloring so relaxing and therapeutic. I am very particular about my pencils and sharpener too. Some people like to use gel pens, felt tips etc.
I highly recommend these coloring pencils from Crayola and this Swordfish pencil sharpener. I find most of my books from The works, The Range and Home bargains. If you don’t want to spend money on books. Check out this fantastic site for free printables.
3. Geocaching
What is Geocaching I hear you say?
Well the official description is: an activity or pastime in which an item, or a container holding a number of items, is hidden at a particular location for GPS users to find by means of coordinates posted on the Internet.
You will be surprised where you find a geocache.. they are everywhere. Mostly you will find a box of somesorts filled with little niknaks.. some you can take and replace with other things.. some you add to etc.
The best thing about Geocaching is the exercise you will get from walking to find the Geocaches (Some are very uphill) but also it’s a great hobby for all of the family to take up.
Visit the Geocaching website or download the App for more information.
4. Find a penpal
Anyone who know’s me fairly well will know how crazy I am about Snail Mail. I have around 30 penpals worldwide. I am highly addicted to stationary, stickers, pens, washi tape etc. I have made some fantastic friends over the years from penpalling.
I find a lot of my penpals through Instagram but also a great website is penpalsnow.
Scrapbooking is a huge passion for many worldwide. Do you remember cutting pictures out of your mum’s magazines and catalogs when you were young? (or was that just me?) well this is similar.
I love Pinterest for scrapbooking ideas. It doesn’t have to be expensive either. The Works, The Range and Ebay have some mega cheap deals on scrapbooking crafts. You can start a scrapbook on anything… your recent holiday, wedding, your children. The list is endless.
6. Start a Pinterest page
One of my favourite past times is Pinterest.. I can waste away hours on here. Feel free to follow me on there.
It is a bit like having your own scrapbook/mood board. It’s fantastic for finding Slimming World recipes, DIY interior ideas, crafting projects.. pretty much anything you want to find you can find photos of it on there and save them into folders to look at again.
When we were designing our kitchen it was a godsend for showing the builders and my husband for ideas.
7. Join Instagram
I love Instagram and spend a lot of my day either uploading motivating photos or looking at other peoples photos.
The good thing about it is the hashtags. You can literally type # followed by any word and usually find a photo or million of them! I love to #slimmingworld. #recipe. #cats, #scotland etc… So much fun! Why not start your own Instagram account to motivate others? Post daily photos of your food to show other Slimmingworlders what you are eating.
8. Find a new TV boxset to binge watch
Okay this isn’t going to help you burn calories but it will keep you mind occupied.. especially if you get addicted.
Some of my recommendations are: Breaking bad, The walking dead, Sneaky Pete, Orange is the new black, The 100 and Game of thrones.
Why not sign up to a free trial on Netflix, Amazon Prime etc. Or go crazy on ebay and buy yourself a few boxsets.
9. Paint your nails and learn how to nail art
I love to paint my nails and there are some fantastic guides on Youtube teaching you how to create some pretty simple but effective nail art.
10. Learn some new make up techniques 
My make up is never perfect.. I love to watch Youtube videos and learn how to do new techniques.. but look out it could end up costing you a bit in new make up lol.
I definitely need more practice at contouring and my eyebrows.
11. Read a book
Yes okay this doesn’t sound like the most interesting pastime but there is an amazing list available 100 books you must read before you die. It almost makes it more of a challenge to get through the list.
You could always buy yourself a Kindle to help.
12. Learn to cook
One of the things I hear constantly from new followers is.. “I want to follow Slimming World but I am a terrible cook” Why not sign up to some healthy cooking classes? Check out you local college website.
13. Learn a new language
Learning a new language is hard but I bet you would never be bored 😀 Check out you local college for classes or maybe pay for private tuition.
14. Borrow a dog
Why don’t you find a local dog to borrow to get you out and about on walks? Ask friends or neighbours if they would like some extra help with their dog. If that fails, check out borrowmydoggy which is an awesome new site to find local dogs to walk.