Throughout the day, my inner monologue spontaneously says “I want food,” even when I’m not hungry.

My current strategy is to mentally respond, “If I’m not hungry, I shouldn’t eat,” every time the thought pops up. This works, but repeatedly telling myself no feels disappointing and makes life less enjoyable.

I’ve recently tried a different approach: simply ignoring the thoughts and continuing with whatever activity I was doing before the thought popped up. However, my brain keeps repeating “I want food” throughout the day, and the desire remains very strong. I’ve tried this for a week without noticing much improvement. My questions are thus:

1. Will these thoughts and desires naturally become much less intense if I continue this approach for longer (e.g., a month)? Or are there more effective strategies?

2. In contrast, is repeatedly reminding myself why I shouldn’t eat actually the only truly effective solution? I’m willing to do that if necessary; I just want to know what actually works.

Would really appreciate hearing from people who’ve experienced something very similar and found ways to make the thoughts and desires less intense, rather than solely becoming better at resisting them.