Tips on how to stop snacking!!

[rwa818]

I'm driving myself mad with having no willpower to stop snacking!! Any tips?
I know the obvious one is not to have snacks in the house but with a 9yo and teenager it's hard not to. We never have tons of unhealthy stuff in because we like them to eat fairly healthily but I will snack on their cheese strings/popcorn/cheese etc which is just calories I don't need!
I'm a UK size 12-14, would like to get back to a 10-12 for summer and I think I could do it if I just cut down the snacks!
I WFH which I think is a major part of it because every time I go in the kitchen there's temptation. Days I go in to the office I don't snack at all!
Today I've had:
Breakfast- Greek yogurt with berries
Lunch - pitta bread with avocado and lettuce, carrot sticks & hummus
Dinner- pasta with veg

But snacks: half a bagel, 3 hobnobs, cheese string, grapes, pieces of cheese

There’s nothing inherently wrong with snacking. If you want to lose weight a calorie deficit is a calorie deficit, doesn’t matter if those calories were eaten over 3 times or 7. From your menu there Id say your meals were far too small and you were hungry, so needed more food, your lunch was pretty much just a snack, and the snacks you had were fine. Options are either make bigger meals so you’re not so hungry in between, or factor your snacks into your daily calories and aim for a deficit. A TDEE calculator will help you work out what you need to be eating (though it’s not an exact science, we don’t all process our meals the same way.

I started 16:8 not for weightloss but to see if it helped with digestive issues. I found I didn't want to snack anymore, on days I don't do 16:8 I seem to want to snack. I also buy snacks for the kids that I don't like. I don't not snack if I want to but only allow one a day (and none after my evening meal). I think having these rules in my head really helped (I realise that this doesn't work for everyone).

I do my whole teeth cleaning regime right after dinner and there’s no way I’d sully them again before bed!
Otherwise I do what the previous poster said and factor the snacks ( dates and almonds, apple and cheese,) into my day’s calories.

Make up a healthy snack box each day…carrot sticks, cucumber, pepper, boiled egg, baby bel (light), grapes etc….

I find it hard too so stopped buying snacks, I have things for DD’s lunch box but no extras. I do find myself pacing around the kitchen looking for a lonely kitkat 😂

This is completely untrue, and snacking is going to make a huge difference - every meal or snack causes an insulin spike, and it is the insulin spikes that do the damage, so eating many small meals or snacks throughout the day is a lot worse for your health and your diet compared to confining everything to two or three meals.

Read "why we eat too much" by Andrew Jenkinson. He explains very clearly why simply going for a deficit in calories does not work, and what you are eating and when matters. Our bodies are not machines, but complicated living things, and if you cut down on calories, basically all that happens is your body adjusts be using fewer.

Extreme for some but I do one meal a day (usually including something sweet after my one meal which is in the evening).

It works for me because I am such a snacker and once I start I physically cannot stop. I’ll eat and eat so quickly that I overeat then half an hour later feel terrible.

Knowing that I am only eating once a day just makes it so much easier. Not eating any snacks at all is easier for me than only eating one snack or only eating healthy snacks. I also for some reason find it easier than just trying to stick to three meals a day and not snack in between, I think once I wake my stomach up that’s me screwed basically! I also enjoy my meal so much more and look forward to it in a good way all day.

Hmm except I don't tend to feel hungry between lunch and dinner and never after dinner but still end up snacking so it's more of an emotional/bad habit type thing. I do usually get hungry mid morning so I think I do need a snack then but I think I should be more disciplined and make it something healthy rather hobnobs!

I like this idea! Thanks

Have a bath and brush your teeth. Fresh breath and clean mouth is a deterrent for snacking for me.

Yeah I might try this!

imagine the dog had been sick on the hobnobs

I do a lot of snacking in the afternoon, although I only eat healthy stuff.

I decided in the end it would be easier to just not have a proper meal in the evening as I don't really need it because of the snacking, I eat well at breakfast and lunch and then snacking in the afternoon and then just stop. I then don't eat for 14 hours overnight. I will eat if I'm going out, but just not at home.

The Zoe research on snacking found that the snacking itself didn't seem to have a detrimental effect on health, but it did matter what you snacked on zoe.com/learn/zoe-snacking-study-what-should-you-do.amp

I try to split my days calories into my three meals and eat nothing in between. I don’t always manage it, I wfh too and it’s the mid afternoon slump that often gets me! But I try. I have protein with every meal, try to eat good fats, lots of water. The reality is if you’re eating a big lunch and then sitting at a desk, you’re not hungry at 3pm so I try to override my little slimming devil on my shoulder 😈 I also find the less I snack the less I want to, especially fruit. I could mindlessly eat 5 pieces of fruit in one go.

I would love to do this but with having to cook dinner for the kids it's hard then if I never eat with them, also conscious of what messages I'm giving my teenage daughter.
If they're ever not home I often just have a snacky type of dinner

Snacking is fine it’s what you snack on.

Snacking on a red pepper and cottage cheese isn’t going to ‘spike your insulin’ into weight gain and ‘doing damage’.

I sometimes eat 4-5 smaller meals a day in a calorie deficit and I’ve lost plenty of weight (over 4st) so I must be a medical marvel defying all insulin resistant studies - they should study me!

this forum is full of whacky and downright dangerous dietary information at times. 🙄

Ideally you eat enough at meals to sustain you and include protein but we can get hungry and we shouldn’t ignore it and make ourselves feel unwell. I just count what I snack on in my daily allowance of calories

My problem is that I'm snacking when I'm not hungry though so I need to be working on my willpower!
I'm not overly concerned about insulin spikes etc but I know I'm taking in way too many calories mostly due to snacking and mindless eating. If genuinely hungry then yes I will eat something.

Also have done much better today and just had breakfast and lunch and haven't felt hungry. I think writing it down has shamed me to do better!

why are you not concerned about insulin spikes? That is what is damaging your metabolism, causing weight problems and putting you at risk of diabetes, heart disease, early death etc.

Eat more at meal times.

Eat more protein - aim for 2g of protein for every KG of body weight each day.

Cut out sugar - no more than 10-15g of naturally occurring sugars per day.

What worked for me was only allowing myself to have fruit or veg as snacks, which doesn't come naturally to me! If I cut up an apple and put it in a bowl it gives me something to reach for and takes the edge off the snacking urge, while also being something healthy. After a few days it definitely helps break the habit for me.

Cheese and cheese strings are good snacks. You don't need to fully stop snacking at all I don't think. Maybe you could use the carrots and hummus from your lunch as an all day snack. Add cucumber, celery, peppers as well. Portion out some of the hummus, then just reach for that and the veg throughout the day?
Blueberries and grapes are good too, just portion out the adequate amount at the start of the day. Have all this in a cool box near you so no need to go to the fridge or kitchen cupboards for temptation!
I find brushing my teeth helps curb snacking too. Not straight after eating but when I get a kind of oral need/craving that I can often mistake for hunger.

@60andsomething because I am not a diagnosed diabetic and I don’t eat so little I get hypoglycaemia? I just eat normal food and normal meals why would I need to worry about my insulin? You know you can just manage type 2 diabetes and even reverse it in early stages with a balanced healthy diet? Stop scaring people about insulin. We need it to stay alive. If people are worried go have your HBA1C tested and if you need help with insulin management speak to your doctor who is a qualified health professional, not a stranger or social media influencer selling you products

I am not talking about diabetics, I am talking about the role insulin plays in weight problems and health problems, and early death BEFORE you are diabetic. Of course we need insulin to stay alive, but repeated spikes throughout the day are a risk, and cause massive health issues.

I am not scaring anybody, I am telling you something you clearly need to hear and understand. ignore me totally - go and look it up for yourself.

I recommend "Why we eat too much" by Andrew Jenkinson, which lays out all the up to date scientific understanding clearly and logically

How to prevent ‘blood sugar spikes’ and have your levels return to normal faster:

eat less carbs/fewer refined carbs
reduce sugar intake
exercise
eat more fibre
drink water
maintain a moderate weight

these are all completely normal and achievable to manage your insulin levels on a day to day basis without anything specialist needed. However someone who is insulin resistant might need medication or a more specialist diet. They should speak to their doctor.

You obviously have a spike after consuming any food, that is how your body physically works and you can’t stop this happening, what the issue is if someone is diabetic or has a poor diet with excess sugar, their blood sugar levels does not come down to normal levels as easily/naturally as it would in a healthy person who eats a balanced diet.

We still all need some fats, sugars and carbs in our diets the issue is just eating too much of them - not eating healthy snacks.

You are likely to cause long term damage to your body by having consistently high or poorly managed blood sugars, being obese over a long period of time. the same for smoking or drinking too much.

However as OP is on a weight loss forum talking about healthy eating and changing snacks I imagine she is taking action to address this, as most people are - myself included. We all know this info, but you are pushing that all snacking is bad and that CICO ‘doesn’t work’ when it very much does for a lot of people. I assume you are pushing fasting (this is still restricting food) at the same time as denouncing eating in a calorie deficit during the day? How are they really different? Fasting is still most likely eating in a calorie deficit, people just count hours rather than the calories but if you eat in a small window, you will probably be eating the same food as me but I eat mine across the whole day.

How can I lose 4st never fasting at all and eating different meals at different times but in a calorie deficit but be told this doesn’t work? I find that fasting makes me feel disgusting and miserable so I do not want to do it. We each find our own ways to do things that work for us.

snacks = fine, depending on what the snack is. Even snack advocates told OP to eat more filling meals as well

please update your understanding of how insulin works and what affects it, for your own sake, because otherwise you are going to put on 6 stone in the next couple of years, and I am sure you would be really upset about that.