staying motivated in a house of snackers

cherys

My husband buys loads of sweet and savoury snacks for himself and our teenagers each week. I've suggested cutting down - it's not good for them, but he just leaves it a few days they buys as normal. No one else is overweight in our home. I find it hard to resist the bad stuff when it's always there but I know I must. Any tips?

TonyB0588

Do you cook? Are there regular mealtimes for the whole family, or does everyone just grab a bite whenever they feel like eating?

Just wondering if cooking healthy meals for the family would regulate things, rather than just random snacking.

jenwalkingfurther

My husband is a lot taller than me with many more calories to play with and sometimes he’ll bring home treats. The only thing I find helps is out of sight, out of mind. They live in a non see-through box and If I don’t see them when looking for something else, I tend to forget about them. Silly but it works for me. I hope you find something that works for you. Good luck!

BuddhaBunnyFTW

I eat all the fruit, veggies, and raw nuts that I want. Eventually I stopped craving sweet and salty things.

quiksylver296

I buy the snacks in my house. I buy stuff that I don't like, but hubby and son do. Would your husband be willing to compromise like that?

For example, I can't stand Cheddar and Sour Cream chips, but I can devour a whole bag of Salt and Vinegar. Hubby and son like both, so I get them the Cheddar and Sour Cream. They get snacks, and I'm not tempted.

NovusDies

jenwalkingfurther wrote: »

My husband is a lot taller than me with many more calories to play with and sometimes he’ll bring home treats. The only thing I find helps is out of sight, out of mind. They live in a non see-through box and If I don’t see them when looking for something else, I tend to forget about them. Silly but it works for me. I hope you find something that works for you. Good luck!

It is actually not silly. Setting up your environment for successful habit changes is a key element. If you leave something in plain sight it is advertising itself to you off and on all day. Each time you want it you must use dwindling mental resources to avoid temptation. It is better to avoid temptation where you can than continuously test your willpower.

elisa123gal

Call a family meeting and insist the snacks stay out of sight..and that they're eaten out of sight too.. like in their rooms or at school or in their cars when they drive. I guess it isn't fair for you to make your entire family eat on your diet..but plenty fair that they eat fattening tempting foods where you don't have to see it and be tempted.

panda4153

You could have one cabinet or fridge shelf that is for their snacks. You tell yourself that you can’t touch that one cabinet or shelf, it’s their food not yours. I tell myself this all the time. It irks me when someone takes my snacks so I don’t take theirs. It’s I reasonable for me to expect everyone to follow my diet, they don’t need to. We eat healthy meals as a family but they get to pick their snacks, and I have some treats for me, that fit in my calorie goals. All the fruits and veggies are communal too. This works in my house. It’s not out of sight but that’s because so know I have to be able to moderate myself in tempting situations, assigning ownership to snacks helps me do that

hipari

quiksylver296 wrote: »

I buy the snacks in my house. I buy stuff that I don't like, but hubby and son do. Would your husband be willing to compromise like that?

For example, I can't stand Cheddar and Sour Cream chips, but I can devour a whole bag of Salt and Vinegar. Hubby and son like both, so I get them the Cheddar and Sour Cream. They get snacks, and I'm not tempted.

This is what we do at my house (no kids, just husband). His snack preferences are a lot more varied than mine, so it’s OK for him to get the ice cream flavour I hate but he likes just as well as the one I like too, or get potato chips instead of tortilla chips - I don’t know why, but I can’t stand potato chips. When he does want to have the specific stuff I’m tempted by, he usually compromises upon request by either waiting until I go to bed to take the good stuff out, or to wait for the next time I’m not home (usually not more than a few days).

panda4153 wrote: »

You could have one cabinet or fridge shelf that is for their snacks. You tell yourself that you can’t touch that one cabinet or shelf, it’s their food not yours. I tell myself this all the time. It irks me when someone takes my snacks so I don’t take theirs. It’s I reasonable for me to expect everyone to follow my diet, they don’t need to. We eat healthy meals as a family but they get to pick their snacks, and I have some treats for me, that fit in my calorie goals. All the fruits and veggies are communal too. This works in my house. It’s not out of sight but that’s because so know I have to be able to moderate myself in tempting situations, assigning ownership to snacks helps me do that

Another idea: take a Sharpie and literally write their names on packaging of the stuff you don’t want to be tempted by. It’s a strong visual cue that it is not yours to eat. To add to that, you could even request that your husband and kids take ownership of the snacks and start behaving possessively about them and telling you off if you try to eat their snacks.

cherys

Thank you for all these replies. Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to them. I was called away to look after my mum while my dad was in hospital and my fitness plan went awol for a while. I agree that having a set cupboard for their snacks that I avoid even opening is good. Done that! When I buy snacks I always buy things for them that I can't stand, like flavoured potato chips, cookie dough ice cream, Oreos and Maryland cookies, none of which I'd touch. But my husband really doesn't always remember to choose things I dislike. My weakness is salted potato chips and he often comes home with multipacks of them, even though I've asked him to buy flavoured ones. I think if he does that again, I'll give them to the food bank!

Bex953172

I'd try a couple things..

- Moving the snacks (I feel this will only help a little because you can't expect everyone to hide whilst eating it too )
But a cupboard you personally don't use often will stop it staring you in the face.

- Snacks come in different types, sweet, salty, savoury etc. But so do healthy foods. Prep yourself some snack boxes of each kind like chopped fruit and veg in the fridge and maybe nuts and dried fruit in the same snack cupboard.
So then if you're feeling something sweet, you can grab an apple, or something salty a pre prepped portion of skinny popcorn or something.
Or if you find yourself peeking in the u healthy snack cupboard, you'll be faced with your healthy, almost as a reminder

Grabbing an unhealthy snack is all to easy. You need to make grabbing the healthy one easy too.
If your husband is eating some sweets, you won't have to think "oh what could I have" because you'll remember, "oh wait I have carrots chopped in the fridge"

And finally, and its the hardest one, it teaching yourself just to say no.
You basically have to parent yourself lmao!

Its very hard, especially when you have a bf who offers you stuff all the time and doesn't want you to "miss out" like mine does lmao but no no no.
Sooner or later they get the idea and don't offer as much.

Hope this helps x

creesama

Along the same vein as previous responses, my husband and kids have their own snacks, but I also make sure to have my own as well. Whether that means the zesty ranch veggie straws are for mom only or I make zucchini brownies and make them last the week. I try to have my own that are special and for me only. Sometimes I do share with the 2 year old 😉