Evening snacking

[BlueRaincoat1]

My DH and I have gotten into a habit of snacking with a drink in front of the telly in the evening a lot. We have young kids. Sometimes my DH goes out to his hobby, sometimes I do a bit of work. But often we watch TV together for a couple of hours.

We buy a large bag of crisps a week, sometimes a can of pringles too, or sometimes have salted peanuts, or sometimes I have crackers and cheese. I've always been naturally slim without much effort but it's finally catching up on me. I definitely need more exercise, but also want to switch to healthier evening snacks (or possibly stop the snacks altogether).

Would love to know what other people snack on with evening telly - any healthy options?

Thanks!

We do 16:8 fasting and don’t eat after supper at all. It took a couple of days to get used to it and I haven’t missed it since.

Ooo were the same!
Following for some tips!

Fruit, cucumber, carrot, grapes, etc? I'm the same but I eat in bed (slattern here!)

I found that taking a cup of (night time) tea to bed has kept my hands busy and I don't miss the snacks as much

I've had to stop eating after my tea altogether.

3 meals a day and no snacks or it just keeps piling on.
It's my age, I need less as I get older. I'm late 30s and gutted this has started so soon.

If it's a new habit and you didn't used to snack, then what's stopping you going back to that? I've never snacked in the evenings after dinner. Never really occurred to me.

We had got into a bit of habit of having a glass of wine, but mostly that is replaced by cup of herbal tea now. It used to be DH pouring and offering the wine so I used to say yes. But he decided to cut back and is making me cups of tea instead which I'm perfectly happy with. Turning down the wine when he was pouring it was much harder.

I think the moral of the story is that if you both want to stop snacking then it is probably quite easy. If he is still snacking then it is much harder!

If you eat enough during the day there should be no real physical need for you to eat after dinner in front of the telly - different of course if you are going out to exercise or do manual work in the evenings but if you are just resting/relaxing I'd try and eventually cut it out rather than replacing with 'healthy' stuff. If you want to allow yourself an evening 'treat' then fine but have it immediately after your dinner and in a defined portion then make yourself stop/put it away, it's so easily to mindlessly munch your way through a whole packet of crisps or biscuits over the course of a few hours if it's sat right in front of you, or it is for me anyway .

If you do find yourself genuinely hungry in the evenings I would probably try and either move your dinner back a few hours (I do think if we ate at 5pm as some do I would potentially be hungry again by 9 but we eat at 7-8ish so it's fine), or eat more (fruit/vegetables/lean protein etc) at dinner.

I know it's not easy to break once something's become a habit so you could try easing yourself off the salty treats and onto something like squares of cheese, a boiled egg, some cold meat - if you do feel hungry these things will fill you up much more than carby deliciousness, but if you aren't really hungry it's easier to say no! If it's more about the psychology of having something tasty, then nice drinks can be a good replacement for snacks - some flavoured water, herbal tea or even a diet soft drink (I know people say these are the work of the devil but they work for me) can be good low-cal alternatives. Otherwise it's nice to find ways to treat/occupy yourself in the evenings that doesn't involve food/drinks, I like a nice bath personally, friends have had great success taking up crochet? Something to occupy the hands seems to take the mind off food quite effectively!

I dont eat after 6pm. If i think im hungry i drink water and usually im thirsty not hungry.

If i go out for a meal i buggers my stomach up and i hate that bloated feeling before bed. I rarely eat out anyhow.

Im 47 and petite, slim size 8-10, walk and run lots but i noting my waistline isn’t what it used to be. My bodyshape is changing and i dont like it. I don’t snack anyway. I need to make my portions smaller!

I very very rarely eat after my dinner. If I do then I’d put on weight really quickly. Maybe eat a bit more dinner or extra carbs and just don’t eat after that to break the cycle

I dont buy snacks at all or I'd binge eat the lot. If its not there you can't eat it. I don't have any ready made food in the house only ingredients.

Im in the same boat OP and if I told myself I couldn't eat after dinner, it'd drive me to snack even more!

I've been calorie counting for a while now and I tend to leave myself about 100-150 calories for in the evening. My snacks include...

Chopped carrots / fruit / cherry tomatoes
Crackerbreads or rice cakes with a small amount of butter / cream cheese
Slice of toast with 1/2 banana
Weetabix and milk
Crisps
Greek yog with tbsp honey
Cuppa and a digestive or 2

I'm in my first trimester and it's buggered up my appetite completely. I feel at my queasiest in the evenings (when I'm tired I suppose) so we have moved our meals around to suit. We have a light breakfast and then our main meal at 1pm - we work from home at the moment so it just takes a bit of prep in the morning. I rarely feel like eating in the evening but find I need to snack on something every couple of hours so instead of having a proper dinner I have a series of snacks such as crackers and cheese spread, fruit, malt loaf. If you're an evening snacker perhaps it would also work for you to rearrange your meals?

Thanks for the great ideas! No I'm not particularly hungry- I just really like salty snacks when I'm having a relax! Nice drinks and changing my mindset/breaking the habit is probably the way forward - was hoping someone was going to tell me that dried kale is an amazing thing to eat on front of the telly

I don't snack, sorry! I put on weight so easily so I just can't. I just eat 3 meals a day now.

We were the same all through lockdown when the highlight of the day was sitting down for snacks and some Netflix binging.

I put on half a stone during lockdown one and then hit the gym and then also lost some weight due to a stressful situation we went through just before lockdown 2. As soon as the stress went I went back to my old habits and am now a stone heavier than I was pre pandemic.

Started doing Noom just over 2 weeks ago and have lost 9lb so far and have broken the evening snacking habit - as has DH. My favourite thing is crisps but I've replaced those successfully with a teaspoon of hummus and a few carrot sticks and red pepper slices. If I'm really struggling I have half a wholemeal pitta and an extra teaspoon of hummus. Because I have to log everything I eat on the app I'm now horrified at the number of calories I was shoving in my mouth without thinking.

It helps having DH on board with wanting to lose some weight as he was a nightmare for buying chocolate to eat in front of he TV. He's lost half a stone in two weeks.

I'm a real snacker during the day (although to be fair I eat a lot of fruit and veg and probably no more in total than most people do over 3 main meals) but my evening meal is always the last time I eat in the day and I tend to eat relatively early when I can (before 7pm). Alcohol is my big downfall for leading to evening snacking, one glass of wine and the crisps are in serious danger! The simple solution is not to buy the stuff you snack on.

You could try dried kale but I expect it'll just make you hungry for a tastier and more filling snack. Best way is to stop snacking after dinner - I drink endless cups of herbal tea to satisfy that urge to put something in my mouth.

Also a miso soup made in a cup takes away my craving for a salty snack in the evening. We buy the sachets of miso paste and just add hot water. I find it comforting too.

I am strict and simply dont snack after dinner (except friday nights).
What about one small packet of lower calorie crisps? Something along the line of quavers which are largely made of air.
Frozen grapes are also a yummy snack, great when its hot.

If I'm having a WFH day I'll eat little and often but nothing after 5pm. If I'm in the office it's more like 6.30pm but I record everything on My Fitness to try and not go over. Nothing is off limits... it's all about calorie counting at the end of the day, but the more time you have in the evening to burn off the faster it will go. I've lost 17lbs since November.

Thanks everyone. DH is totally on board with reduced snacking, and even went out on his bike tonight for the first time in a few weeks. We've also not bought any crisps this week, and that's working out fine - this thread has helped me realise it is just a bad habit we need to break.

I think that:

• new mindset, away from snacks being a nightly thing;
• just not buying all the crisps...;
• will definitely try upping my herbal/fruit tea intake;
• frozen grapes sound good :-)

I'll miss my crisps!

It’s not particularly healthy but I have a can of Diet Coke and big ice cold bottle of water. It stops me snacking if I constantly drink

We rarely eat anything after dinner at 6pm. The occasional Bounty or Twirl but that’s on average twice a month. We drink tea though.

I always have an options hot chocolate in the evening, satisfies my sweet tooth 😁

OP I’m the same, I actually eat a lot more crisps than you. I could probably go through half a can of Pringles a night or even more. It’s scary how my stomach is a bottomless pit x

We are the same, we don't drink so instead we will have a tea with. A bar of chocolate (or 4) each. So we have this week cut all after dinner snacks and I'm just having peppermint tea. It's been 3 days and I've stopped craving anything now.