Curbing snacking

[nyrifleman1]

Tag

 

[winnow]

Your entire day will become easier if you make your first snack/meal low in carbohydrates. Furthermore, delay the first bit of food of the day for as long as you feel you can.

The perpetual rollercoaster of snacking is bound to insulin spikes depleting blood sugar rapidly. Low blood sugar is what intensifies the urge to snack.

Your urge to snack will be diminished if you have the nutrients you body expects minus the insulin spike. Most first-world carbohydrate problems can be mitigated if you lower your consumption but also eat them later in the day.

Exercise can help reduce the urge to snack as well, but that's a whole other topic.

 

[Vaultman]

At the risk of someone calling me out for having a financial interest in the book because I mention it so much...
The Complete Guide to Fasting, by Dr. Jason Fung change a LOT for me. (I don't really have any financial interest in it, it just really changed my life.)

On snacking it had a few good pointers.

1. Hunger will pass. It comes in waves. We just are usually to weak to let it pass because we are conditioned to feed the craving as opposed to push through it.
2. Never eat distracted (in front of TV or at desk, or even while talking on the phone). Focus on what I am eating to be aware of it.
3. Only eat at the dining room table and never out of the bag or box.
4. Prepare the whole meal and look at what I am about to eat, taking mental note how much it is, prior to consuming.

I lived by this, and other various things in that book, until I got a good handle on it. Now I am not so strict, but I can go 24 hours (or multiple days even) without eating. And the LBS are still falling.

Everyone is different, but this worked for me. There is much more involved (including drinking lots of water) but those are the snacking tips I got in that book.

 

[MeatMissile]

At the risk of someone calling me out for having a financial interest in the book because I mention it so much...
The Complete Guide to Fasting, by Dr. Jason Fung change a LOT for me. (I don't really have any financial interest in it, it just really changed my life.)

On snacking it had a few good pointers.

1. Hunger will pass. It comes in waves. We just are usually to weak to let it pass because we are conditioned to feed the craving as opposed to push through it.
2. Never eat distracted (in front of TV or at desk, or even while talking on the phone). Focus on what I am eating to be aware of it.
3. Only eat at the dining room table and never out of the bag or box.
4. Prepare the whole meal and look at what I am about to eat, taking mental note how much it is, prior to consuming.

I lived by this, and other various things in that book, until I got a good handle on it. Now I am not so strict, but I can go 24 hours (or multiple days even) without eating. And the LBS are still falling.

Everyone is different, but this worked for me. There is much more involved (including drinking lots of water) but those are the snacking tips I got in that book.

It was a lot easier for me to quit alcohol and tobacco because I don’t have to do it to survive. The only way I could quit eating mindlessly was to not eat at all for several days. There was no debate on whether I could eat this or that, I just would not let myself eat. After a couple days, I didn’t feel hungry anymore. By day four, I started to feel great. On day eight, I began eating purposefully. Deliberate and purposeful eating has been amazing for my health.

 

[*zap*]

If your gonna snack just have healthy snacks.....no junk. Nuts, fruit and cheese comes to mind...

 

[zacattack]

It was a lot easier for me to quit alcohol and tobacco because I don’t have to do it to survive. The only way I could quit eating mindlessly was to not eat at all for several days. There was no debate on whether I could eat this or that, I just would not let myself eat. After a couple days, I didn’t feel hungry anymore. By day four, I started to feel great. On day eight, I began eating purposefully. Deliberate and purposeful eating has been amazing for my health.

This might be my plan. Me and the kids have this f’n stomach flu. I haven’t eaten since Saturday

 

[MeatMissile]

If your gonna snack just have healthy snacks.....no junk. Nuts, fruit and cheese comes to mind...

As long as you are really mindful of how much you’re eating. It’s really easy to eat several hundred calories of nuts and cheese if you aren’t paying attention.

 

[*zap*]

Better than several hundred calories of cheetos....

I believe that once you start eating all good foods you are on the way to eating the correct amount of calories for you...eventually your body will self regulate...may take a while to get there but worth it.

 

[MeatMissile]

This might be my plan. Me and the kids have this f’n stomach flu. I haven’t eaten since Saturday

For me, it was all about will. In the past, I’ve started to eat healthy...then I’d snack healthy...would stop losing weight and get discouraged...then I’d eat unhealthy...

This time, after having quit alcohol and chew cold turkey, I felt my mind was in a better place to change my eating. I got through to the “stopped losing weight” phase and refused to get discouraged. I fasted until my mind was strong enough to say “no”.

 

[MeatMissile]

Better than several hundred calories of cheetos....

I believe that once you start eating all good foods you are on the way to eating the correct amount of calories for you...eventually your body will self regulate...may take a while to get there but worth it.

Of course. The problem is snacking purposefully is different than justifying compulsive snacking with “healthy” food.

 

[*zap*]

It all depends on your goals...what keeps me at 190-195, 6' @ 65 yoa with a 34" waist is a good natural food diet and the majority of my days eating all my food in a 8 hour or so window.....exercise daily....strength train hard 3x a week plus work hard...

 

[Vaultman]

It was a lot easier for me to quit alcohol and tobacco because I don’t have to do it to survive. The only way I could quit eating mindlessly was to not eat at all for several days. There was no debate on whether I could eat this or that, I just would not let myself eat. After a couple days, I didn’t feel hungry anymore. By day four, I started to feel great. On day eight, I began eating purposefully. Deliberate and purposeful eating has been amazing for my health.

What I bolded in green is my experience too. Couldn't agree more!!!

 

[Hussar]

Lots of great posts in this thread. I'll echo what others have said:

1. Drink something like water/tea/coffee that has no sweeteners or additives. Chances are you may just be more thirsty than hungry.
2. Try going for a quick walk, or something to break up your focus on hunger. It's not always possible, but it can help.
3. Insulin spikes and crashes make it difficult to not snack. Avoiding starchy carbohydrates and sugars will help regulate this to make going between meals easier. Something like Paleo/keto/carnivore diets work wonders.
4. Fasting is a good option to help build discipline and push through the hunger pangs. 16 hour+ fasts build discipline and help avoid snacking.

There's obviously a ton more that can be expanded upon for each of those topics, but I can personally attest using each of those fairly consistently.

Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk

 

[TradLife406]

I started flex dieting a few years ago. I measure weigh and track everything I eat and drink. I eat about six times a day. I just stick to whatever calorie/macro budget I'm currently at via Carbon Diet coach. If I'm out of calories Im done for the day. I prep all my food for work the night before leaving just enough calories in my budget for dinner when I get home.
Yeah it's a lot of discipline but I went from a keg to a six pack.

On the weekends at home I just open Carbon before I go to the fridge and see how much and of what I need. Without tracking my fat kid self would take over and I'd just eat and eat.