No more snacking - who's with me?

[BsshBossh]

Now I know many people prefer to graze and eat small meals throughout the day but I am not this person. I love three good meals a day and it suits my family/work routine.

My problem is that I give in to snacking between meals and then cannot savour, enjoy, appreciate my main meals (especially dinner which DH tends to cook and he cooks delicious, inventive meals that I don't truly enjoy because I've killed my hunger with a bowl of mixed nuts or some dark chocolate or a bag of crisps...

I am quite fit (swim and do cardio several times a week) and have successfully lost several stones first using Paul McKenna then monitoring calories via MyFitnessPal. I'm not into low-calorie eating as I love food and have managed to lose and keep off weight on 1800 to 2000 cals a day (am 5ft 4).

I have another stone to lose (maybe more, but one more stone will be fine with me in terms of how I look and feel). I think stopping the snacking will help enormously.

Anyone in a similar situation and wants to join me in holding myself accountable to myself and to Mumsnet?

Today I over-snacked on wasabi peas, a Snickers bar... actually I wasn't too bad today as I was more conscious. But DH is making tonkatsu and I've already taken a huge edge off my hunger! But I want to eat it as I know it will be delicious!

Or maybe I just need to get back on the McKenna thread!

Oooo, can I join you please. I am in a very similar boat to you. My meals are pretty healthy but my downfall is snacking. I need a good kick up the backside to stop before I end up the size of a bus! I have been running for the last few years but recently I?m finding the blinking weather far too cold ? I?ve turned into such a wimp. That's not helping either.

I need to rediscover my willpower which is sadly lacking ? not easy when there is so much yummy Christmas food about. I am determined not to have to pull out my fat clothes from the loft. Help!!!

Weeellll.....not just yet, if you don't mind. I'll join you in the New Year happily but I'm intending to snack continually on lovely snacky things for the next 3 weeks or so. (weak, I know).

Hello! Yes, I agree no snacking is difficult during festive times. But we still have a week to go so I am going to control my snacking Monday through Friday next week but be more relaxed on weekends and over Christmas/New Year as per the No Snack Diet which I stumbled upon last night: www.nosdiet.com/. Much more sustainable in the long term for me as it's easy not to eat between meals during the working week but more difficult during weekends and special days due to this being family & friends time.

I'll report back next week as to how I'm doing. Feel free to do so too.

I'm with you. Lost around four stone last year, mostly calorie counting, and found it relatively easy - and have now started the gaining back. Have put a stone on and because I'm still a normal bmi I have convinced myself it is ok but it isn't. I want to still wear all my lovely, fairly new size 10 clothes!

Also have found out this week I have a borderline under active thyroid, so have to keep an eye on cholesterol, plus I have low iron stores. Am on iron tablets which give me horrible symptoms - will need plenty of fruit and fibre to combat them! So really owe it to myself to get properly healthy. I have tried no S before and found it ok so will get back to it. I have to do four small meals a day though or can never get through till dinner at 8pm without snacking.

Have had loads of biscuits and chocolate today, and have a children's party tomorrow, plus visiting a Christmas market! So my mission for tomorrow is to have just ONE mince pie at the party and ONE handful of caramelised almonds at the market!

Btw what's tonkatsu? Sounds good...

Tonkatsu is a Japanese dish - basically breaded pork fillet, lightly fried which DH then serves with a kind of brown sauce and shredded raw white caggage.

I've been reading more about the No S Diet and it can be summarised as:
No snacks, no sweets, no seconds except ..sometimes.. on days beginning with S (weekends, Special days)

It sounds very straightforward. I also like the idea of leaving 4 to 5 hours between meals so the body has a better chance of metabolising stores of fat. It means my basic meals (3 in my case) have to be of good size to sustain me (and I'll try and make my breakfasts in particular more protein based to keep me fuller for longer). It will also be nice to experience proper hunger again and really savour my meals.

So tomorrow I start in earnest :)

BTW, I'm still going to eat "sweets" (ice cream, cake etc) as I hate excluding foods. I'll just include them in my main meal (if I want pudding, that it) and/or indulge (moderately that it!) on weekends/Christmas etc.

Found another interesting article on snacking: www.quickanddirtytips.com/static/nutrition-diva-snacks.pdf (PDF link)

Thanks for the link to that article - all made a lot of sense to me.

Will happily join you bssh Am convinced that weight gain over last few years is down to grazing.

I want to lose 28 lb over the next 6 months. That equates to a reduction in eating of approx. 500 calories a day. I reckon that kicking the snacks and adding a daily walk and extra Pilates session should take care of that!!

Stopping snacking really helped me shift the last stone I needed to shift. I still sometimes have a snack at about3/4pm if I need a blood sugar boost - a yogurt and piece of fruit, usually - but I absolutely do not snack at other times and instead have a really good portion of food at meal times. Helps me cut out the crap!

When I was logging my calories in MyFitnessPal I was shocked to see how my snacks often added up to 500 cals a day compared to around 300-400 cals for each main meal. I was still losing weight but imagine how hard my digestion was working - constantly. With this new eating WOL (way of life) I can not only give my body but also my mind a break from food.

Welcome everyone, btw :-)

can, not can not

Urgh, well I've done it again. I've eaten chocolate and crisps (without being hungry for it) and am no longer looking forward to the meal DH is cooking (which certainly smells delicious). Well, I'm looking forward to it but won't be able to eat much of it or truly savour it. I snacked out of habit - a habit I want to break... The snacks weren't even that tasty - certainly not as tasty as dinner will be

Breaking the habit is so hard - and I often feel like I am doing fine, only to start on the mindless eating later in the day. I was ok yesterday but did succumb to a couple of freshly baked cookies as well as the planned meals.

Just can't decide how to handle Xmas week - will have loads of visitors and loads of snack food about and buffet type meals - I am terrible at these because i just go back to eg the crisps over and over just because they are there. I need to fill my plate once and walk away but dd still needs supervising at meals so I sit there and eventually can't resist more even though I am more than full.

Thank you, thank you, thank you bssh & all other snackers here.

I had three hours to kill in he city today while my car was being serviced. I browsed in the Deli and picked up three gorgeous looking cakes on the pretence that I might need them if friends come knocking over Christmas.

Then I thought of you !! The cakes went back on the shelf, as did the Christmas Pudding.

When I followed up with a Sainsburys shop, I filled up with fruit and veg and haughtily walked past both the crisps and chocolate aisles.

I reckon you have saved me at least a 1lb on the hips !!

Oh dear (hangs head in shame) my neighbour has just delivered a box all the way from my brother in Brussels.

Of course it is stuffed with chocolate. Two of the tree decorations have already jumped out of their bag and straight into my mouth!!

Two steps forward ...

GoldenGreen I'm going snack during the holiday season but try and be moderate about it. There's no point me even trying to stick to just main meals. But moderation will be my mantra (I hope).

Wickaninnish that's funny . Two steps forward etc is still better than nothing, I think.

Going well so far. I've increased my main meal portions a bit so am not tempted to snack. I'm still having a bit of chocolate or some crisps (if I want them) but am having them as part of lunch or dinner which I think is making me eat less of them as I'm already a bit satiated from the main meal. The biggest risk I can see so far is test over-eating at each meal in order to offset not wanting to snack later - which is just silly. So I'm remembering my Paul McKenna priniciple of stopping eating when satisfied but not stuffed. It's nice to feel real hunger again! So far I'm averaging 4 to 5 hours between meals without eating but without being desperately hungry.

Total failure today but only because of the after dinner chocolates at very nice restaurant I went to this evening !!

goes to bed muttering must do better tomorrow

Morning everyone. I started the no snacking on Saturday and experienced a really weird sensation this week. I think it's called hunger

This is day 5 of being in the zone today and I feel better for it. I'm enjoying eating my meals because I'm hungry and not eating them for the sake of it. I am determined for my clothes to loosen off a wee bit before next week. However, I have a few invitations for drinks and nibbles this week. It could be my downfall!

Wickaninnish surely after dinner chocolates when in a restaurant are compulsory

catclarks I think my date was hoping I wouldn't, but he had already eaten my bread roll, drunk my mulled wine and eaten my mince pie!

It came to a 'step away from the chocolate' tussle at the end.

On the good side though I only had a sip of sloe gin when we got home and I let him loose on the box of belgian chocs that arrived yesterday from my Brother!!

Struggling today - have had dinner early and I just know I will be getting the munchies later!

My experience is a lot of 'hunger' between meals is just habit. So if you're used to always having a mid-morning snack, you will feel 'starving' at 10:30 or whatever time if you don't get it, but that's just because your body is 'expecting' it. Once you break the habit, after a few days, the 'hunger' goes away.

(Or if it doesn't, you might need a more substantial breakfast!)

Not sure how scientific this is, but it seems to be how things work for me.

I must admit, sticking to 3 meals a day is working well for me (so far). I'm enjoying my main meals so much more now I have a better appetite for them, which was always my main goal. And feeling hungry feels good. The 4 or 5 hours between meals is clearly giving my digestion a much needed break because I've experienced none of my usual bloating and other tummy discomforts this week. Not eating between meals also seems to be freeing my mind from thinking about food all the time.

I'm going to go more with the flow at weekends and over the festive period but I'm hoping some of my learnings from this week will carry through and that I won't stuff myself.

I've been continuing to swim 3 times a week - 45 minutes of hard, near-constant swimming - and I try and keep that up next week (will need the break from a house full of guests all Christmas week!).

Will try and keep checking in here as the accountability is good for me...

oh well done Bssh. It's fab when you get into the swing of it and don't have to think about food.

I have had two days of total and complete failure - not going to go into all the reasons why but suffice it to say it does not feel good! Need to get back into decent meals with a decent amount of time between them tomorrow. I have probably eaten all the snack food in the house anyway...ugh.

Tomorrow is a brand new day, Golden - good luck! Is it possible to not keep snack food in your house - would it help? At least until your body is used to not snacking to often...