To ask for your healthy snacks to eat of an evening (that actually taste nice but will help lose weight )

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I'm at a loss. Baby born last year and I've lost no weight thanks to covid. I've basically been trapped inside with a 3 and 1 yo or toddling at 0.5mph. I'm about to return to work and with spring looming I just can't bear the thought of wearing anything that's not joggers and a jumper. I have a monstrous apron (thanks two c sections) and a terrible habit of snacking when the kids go to bed. I've just about got through the christmas food (EVERYONE brought us chocolate, biscuits etc this year) so I'm determined to not buy any myself and make a new start when I return to work (at home) to exercise where I can and stop the terrible snacking.

Any recipes, or ideas to step away from the packet of biscuits and still feel like I'm living (I'm not going to get excited about celery) please.

NO SNACKING
Close the kitchen between meals.

Brush your teeth after supper and have no more food till the morning.

Chop up an apple and an orange/satsuma (or other fruit) and put them in a bowl. Snack on them. It takes much longer to eat them if they're in segments which you eat one at a time.

If you want something to drink in the evenings, try decaffeinated tea or coffee (I only drink decaf, fresh decaf is best; instant really isn't worth it).

Or, try herbal teas. Some of the fruit teas are surprisingly nice cold. There are also "cold infuse" bags available now, more expensive but usually good for up to a litre of water, i.e. a couple of refills of a bottle, as long as you use them within 8 hours or so. For hot herbal teas, I find the blends based on spices or actual herbs (lavender, chamomile, limeflower, lemon balm) are far more flavoursome than fruit teas, which I find completely flavourless if I drink them hot.

And throw that chocolate bar in the outside bin... Opened.

Seriously OP, nobody can make changes for you. You either want it or you don't. No snacking full stop. Up your protien to stop you feeling hungry between meals.

Agree that it's about breaking the habit. So after dinner if you need something sweet go for something like a yogurt then that's it for the evening. It does take a few days to break but soon you just get used to not having it. I really need to follow my own advice as got out of it over Xmas but I've done it before so know it works

As others have said you're better off trying to stop the habit but multi packs of Snack a Jacks and french fries are low calorie savoury snacks. For sweet snacks, satsumas, sugar free jellies and I keep a curly wurly in the freezer to snap off small bits for a chocolate fix.
Drink a big glass of water before you eat anything. Could you do an online exercise class once the kids are in bed?

But yourself a fabulous hand/nail cream and massage that into your cuticles, while watching tv at night.
It will not only occupy your hands but improve the look of them and stop you snacking.

I eat my dinner at 7pm and then don't eat again till breakfast. If it's a filling meal it's possible (and really good for you to have as long as possible a period of "fasting" till your next meal). I can't manage the 16/8 but can do 13/11 which is not too bad.

Brush your teeth I hate eating after brushing, everything tastes bad

Snacks are my downfall! I try to limit them to highlights hot chocolate, lemon sorbet, skinny popcorn or nuts in the evening.

I also second trying to eat dinner a bit later and double up on veg to fill you up.

I don’t think it’s very realistic to expect someone to never eat a bar of chocolate again. In fact once you know you can’t have something it builds to become even more desirable. You just need to enjoy a small taste of it... and make “ it” something really good quality. I have a little something at this kind of time with a cup of tea - yesterday it was 2 chocolate chip oat cakes and a small banana. ( the oat cakes have a lot less sugar than biscuits). I also like Peters Yard sourdough crispbreads with Sweet Freedom chocolate spread ( much fewer calories than Nutella and not as sweet). After dinner I might have a piece of dark chocolate with a coffee. Full fat Greek yoghurt is good mixed with something too and maybe a couple of walnuts crumbled on top. If you like savoury then salted popcorn or you can dry roast chickpeas with different flavours like smoked paprika. Or just pick the thing you really want and enjoy it - just don’t add another 3 things on top.

Snacks that help weight loss is an oxymoron.

This. Brush your teeth immediately after dinner except for, say, Fri and Saturday nights and do crochet or play Candy Crush or something. Eating lots of (fairly unhealthy, esp) low-calorie snacks is a bad strategy.

Cup Soup is my go-to snack.

I feel like I have had something to eat, it satisfies my savoury tongue, and can be quite low calorie. See also, Miso or Bovril.

I'm into homemade coleslaw at the moment. DH bought a shredder mandolin thing from amazon which makes cutting up the cabbage, onion and carrot a breeze and then he just mixes in some super low calorie mayo and its good to go! Minimal carbs or calories so I feel like I can eat lots of it!

The rule I've had since finishing the Christmas chocolate is that I can only have homemade treats. Instead of buying biscuits, chocolate and crisps, I stock up on fruit, veg (especially carrot sticks), pitta bread, houmous and avocado dip.

If I want anything more exciting, I have to make it, usually with my 3yo. So it's an activity for them and occasionally we get something that tastes good out of it. Last weekend, we made sweet potato waffles with bacon and agave syrup for breakfast (probably not very good for weight loss, sorry ), this weekend we made blueberry cupcakes and we're just about to make banana pancakes for pancake day. We don't make a lot extra, though...just enough for the two of us and any extras we leave for my DH to hoover up when he gets back from work.

The other trick which I've been using is to have a glass of iced water instead whenever I reach for a snack. I had developed a bit of a snacking habit after DS was in bed, but now I force myself to drink a glass of water instead and wait 5 minutes to see if I really want the snack.

chewing gum.

Not “healthy” per se but Mallow and Marsh marshmallow bars are about 130cals each and feel really luxurious as a treat

Also enjoy natural yoghurt, raspberries and a crumbled up fibre one brownie if I fancy a pudding.

Fruit is really the best healthy snack though

Not healthy but the caramel snack a jacks are sweet and sickly for 51 cals. Or itsu chocolate rice cakes aren’t too bad.
For me weight loss is a mindset thing and doesn’t happen when I want to trough snacks after dinner.

@herewegoagainst would you mind sharing which mandoline you got please?? I really want one but can't decide which one to get!

Low calorie chicken cup soup from Tesco works for me - something savoury seems to fill me up more and signal the end of the day. It's only 50 calories or so.

Then clean your teeth, remove make up, apply night cream, all the little things you do at the end of the day.

You could also prepare breakfast for the following day - I stew a chopped apple and mix with 30g porridge oats and it sits in the fridge overnight - like SW overnight oats without the yoghurt.

This reminds me of a relative of mine who was advised to have an ice lolly as a treat whilst on a diet - she lost no weight and a friend went through what she was having - she confessed to having 2 or 3 lollies a night so her friend asked what sort of lollies she was having (expecting lemonade lollies or some such) it turns out she was having 2 or 3 magnums!!

Nakd bars- one of your 5-a-day.
Green/herbal teas- make me feel virtuous- so less likely to snack.

Halo top ice cream - entire tubs are only around 200 cals! Guilt free binging

M&S rice cakes (so much nicer than other brands - if you don’t like rice cakes, you’ll like these)

Pop chips

Couple of tablespoons of fat free Greek yogurt, grapes, half a sliced banana and a sprinkle of chia seeds or sliced almonds all mixed up together

pickles
carrot sticks
gum
berries
sugar free boiled sweets
halo top
diet fizzy drinks (caffeine free - lemonade, cream soda, squash and fizzy water)
herbal tea
options hot chocolate