How do I stop myself snacking at this time?

[dustyflipflop]

So I lost a fair bit of weight last summer combination of lockdown and having both me and DH at home gave us a bit of a kickstart and I lost over a stone and a half for the first time in years.
I've gained a around 3kg back since stopping alltogether in September.
I want to be good but life is hectic and I'm a bit of an emotional eater which does not help very much.

I usually do really well in the morning through to 4-5pm at which point I can't stay away from the cupboard and eat all the calories I avoided all day

I WFH and currently doing that alongside having DCs home for the summer holidays so I'm extra frazzled.

What can I do to keep myself away from the chocolate in the cupboard between 4-6pm?
How do I put myself off snacking?

I considered fasting but I always find I need my coffee/tea in the morning to help me wake up a bit.

I'd really love any tips as I want to get back on track.

Have no tips but have the same problem so keen to see responses. I actually did think about trying 3 big meals and no snacks at all

What time do you eat dinner?

I too lost about a stone over lockdown and have managed to keep most of it off, despite not being able to exercise since January because I hurt my back.

I’ve found eating earlier in the evening stops me snacking late afternoon. I have lunch around 2pm and dinner around 6.30 usually.

Also, up your protein. I eat about 100g a day and it helps me feel satisfied.

Have something healthy easily available and on hand.
Eat enough at dinner so that you’re not hungry.
Find something to distract you at ‘danger’ times.

Don' t have chocolate in the cupboard. Eat pickles instead of sweet things (kills the craving). Chew gum , especially Airwaves. Good Luck 🍀 !

Get ahead of it - so don’t let yourself get hungry which is when we crave, crack and grab anything - so maybe proactively set an alarm and have a healthy protein snack at 3pm…..or have more protein at lunchtime.

You could still do16:8 fast in the morning if you want as allowed a cup of tea or coffee with milk.

Could always grab a couple of party ring biscuits 26 calories each ?

A big mug of tea.

Are you eating enough in the day so you're not ravenous in the evening?
What are you doing to relax and unwind in the evenings? Finding alternative ways to distress might help.

Honestly? You’ve got to want to loose it more than you want to eat the crap and right now you’re not in that mindset, you’d rather eat the crap. It’s all about mindset.

Some good suggestions.
I'm not particularly hungry just end up having a craving for something sweet for example then I need to ''balance out'' with something savory and around it goes. I know it sounds silly but that's the only way I can explain my brain works.

As soon as I let myself have a square of chocolate it's downhill from there.

Keep busy, paint your nails, do some colouring, eat things like rice cakes

I'm the same. I'm rarely hungry, I just eat for the sake of it. I can be so good through the day and it all goes wrong in the evening!

I agree with the idea that it’s a mindset thing. But not in that you should deny yourself things you like - that just makes you want them even more and gets you into the ‘fuck it, I’ve eaten the chocolate so I may as well eat everything else’

Tracking macros completely changed my mindset. I now eat chocolate and bread and all the stuff I like everyday and I’m the lightest I’ve been in my adult life. The acceptance that I can fit the stuff I love into my daily eating has stopped that feeling of ‘must eat all the chocolate because I’m not allowed chocolate therefore this is the last time I’m eating it so therefore I must eat it all’. Now I know I don’t need to eat it all because I’ll have it again tomorrow!

Macros tracking isn’t for everybody, but it works for me and it’s really helped me feel more liberated around food. And I no longer lose my shit every time I’m near a buffet table (not that I’ve been near one in a while, thanks Covid, but you get my point!)

Have a bath….

Herbal tea

Brush your teeth

Go to bed!!

Those are really the only thing that works for me.

Or I go for a 30 min walk and reward myself with a Kit Kat or similar…if I still want it.

It is a mindset thing and we’ve all been on the rollercoaster

I notice in your op you switch between measurements, “I lost a stone and a half, I gained 3kg”. Generally people stick to one unit of measurement, and if they usually use pounds, they switch to kg to make it sound less.

So it would be more normal to write, I’ve lost a stone and a half and gained half a stone back. Or I lost nine kg and gained three back.

It’s better to be Brutal with yourself, I did loose one and a half stone but I’ve already gained Half a stone of that back by mindless snacking. Does that half a stone really bother me enough to stop eating crap, because I know I’m going to gain the other stone back quickly if I don’t, if the answer is yes it does bother you enough, you’ll stop, if it’s no, I can’t be arsed, you won’t.

Sorry @Bluntness100 I should have stuck to kg as I usually work with kg. So I lost around 12kg from May to August last year and gained around 3kg back (fluctuating 1kg up and down which I think is normal) from September up to today. I completely stopped working out or calorie counting.
I'm still several kgs within a healthy BMI the only concern I have is that it will keep creeping up and I will be back to my starting weight if I'm not more careful.

What are macros? @CityDweller is it like calories?

I also struggle to find time to workout so I'm sure that doesn't help.

Ok. But that’s a lot more than a stone and a half, it’s over two stone weight loss,

You can't have tea with milk or anything else when you're fasting. You might as well not carry on with that fasting period because your insulin would be spiked.

OP, I do 16:8. I fast from 4 or 5pm until 8 or 9am. If you need your morning hot drink (and you must have milk) then fast up until that point - count your 12, 14, 16 hours or whatever your doing (you can drink black tea/coffee and water whenever you want).

I've been doing it for over a year now, I really enjoy it and stopping eating brings me a huge sense of relief.

I agree with PP about getting ahead of your hunger so that you aren't so desperate for a smack that you'll counteract a good day. Not easy.

Apologies @Bluntness100 I used to convert kg into stone as people worked off stone but I must've stopped at some point and lost more after that. So yes I suppose it was 2 stone or so.

@LyingWitchInTheWardrobe is 16:8 any good? Or is there other methods out there? I've heard of it but never really looked into fasting properly. Have you lost weight or do you find maintaining easier on it?

Drink tea / coffee without milk and fast.

Sugar free jelly is my saviour.

Don’t buy the chocolate. Honestly if it’s not there and there’s only healthy snacks you will either a- eat the healthy snacks or b- not want them in which case you weren’t really hungry.

There is a Canadian dietitian on YouTube called Abbey Sharp who talks about the "hunger crushing combo" of fibre, protein and fat to stop this kind of situation. Basically the reason this is happening to you is that your body isn't getting what it needs to feel satiated earlier in the day. Your willpower clearly gets you so far through the day, and then at 4pm, naturally all the stressor of the day become too much and the craving that you have been restraining your body from giving into all day becomes too great, so you binge on the chocolate. What do you eat for lunch? Snacks can be integrated into a healthy diet if you are someone who benefits from a snack, and they shouldn't be viewed as a blanket "bad" thing.

What I have found works well for me is a big bowl of porridge for lunch (fibre in the oats and fat in the milk) , topped with flaked almonds and seeds (protein, fat and some fibre again), some berries and honey (for added sweetness) and then topped with a generous sprinkle of dark chocolate chips. So I get the chocolate hit that I'm craving but also manage to factor in fibre, protein and fat to make me feel satisfied and avoid cravings and binges later in the day.

Also, if possible stay away from sugar free alternatives. You body is craving the sugar and sugar free alternatives don't actually give it this, so the craving often just gets ramped up further.

I lost 3 stone last year. I track macros too, @CityDweller, it has changed my life. @dustyflipflop it is counting certain ratios of carbs, proteins and fats (macronutrients) which add up to calories (I'm not explaining it well, there is more to it than that but that's the basic version).

3-4pm was always my snacky time. It's always when I'd be making the kids tea and would just pick, pick, pick. For me the solution was spacing my meals. I eat breakfast at 10, lunch at 1 and dinner at 6, with a small healthy protein rich snack at 3. I love food and am greedy and this works for me because I can tell my hungry brain that it is only ever 2 or 3 hours til we next eat again and that usually shuts it up.