Fight snack time

awsmiles

So I'm not new to fitness, I am a regular at the gym and generally live a healthy and active lifestyle but my husband and I are trying to step up to the next level of our fitness and body composition and what we eat is a huge part of that. While we are doing quite well with tracking our food intake I often work odd hours and spend late nights on the computer working on spread sheets and other boring but very important stressful things. While I follow my meal plan between 6am and 9pm, on those nights when I am still working between 9 and Midnight I find myself struggling to fight against my desire for snacks. I don't keep many real snack foods in the house but even nuts can be bad if I eat too many of them. I know the simple answer is 'don't work so late', 'keep a strict schedule' etc but that isn't an option right now so...anyone out there have suggestions for ways to address those cravings without ruining my meal plan? Thanks in advance!

OyGeeBiv

Keep some low cal healthy foods around so you can have a guilt-free snack. You'll work more efficiently if you're not thinking about snacking, and maybe get done a few minutes earlier.

Some ideas:
Low-fat yogurt
Cut up carrots and celery to the size of nuts, and munch away!
Low-fat milk
Adjust the rest of your day's food so you can have some nuts later
Drink water or herbal tea instead of (or in addition to) eating

sabified

Along with the great suggestions above, pre portion your snacks so you're not just eating out of the container. You're right that nuts are good but not in crazy quantities, so stop making that an option. Buy small sandwich bags and divvy them out into 100 cal packs (or whatever amt suits you). Then you can have your snack and not feel guilty about it. 100-200 extra calls won't ruin your day.

melonaulait

Definitely either get into really low calorie snacking (carrots, celery, even cucumber, tomatoes and watermelon work great) or start drinking tea.

livingleanlivingclean

Change your meal plan so that you can have food later but still stick to your macros.
You could do this by spreading out your meals more, or starting to eat later. I know I like to eat more at night, especially if I'm up late studying, so usually don't start eating until 10:30/11am.

gothomson

I know this may not be the work routine you have but there is a MFP online community for shift/ night shift workers who share their ideas on eating healthy while working shifts, might be worth a visit to get some ideas?

oolou

Is it possible for you to adjust your calorie plan to allow for that late evening snack?

reddeament

Other than adjusting your calorie plan to allow for snacks in the evenings, you could try popcorn (cooked from scratch, not microwave stuff) and herbal teas.

I find the high volume of popcorn helps fill me up and the fact herbal teas have flavour means I feel like it's not just water when I drink it.

Sued0nim

save calories for it
pre-make and pre-log your snacks

I like to have multipacks of chips in - they tend to be around 85 - 120 calories per bag and easy to grab and accomodate if snacky

unfortunately my must have chips (crisps to me and mine) moment is generally at 9am (having breakfasted at 6am this is mid-morning to me) .. so I have them in the office

awsmiles

Thanks for all the ideas! I'll test them out and let everyone know what works.