Snacker

getfitnow

Hi, I'm new to the site. I really need to lose some weight but I'm a snacker. I rather snack on something then eat a full meal. When i do eat a meal i eat very little. I'm not one to stuff myself and I always need/leave room for dessert. My health is good. I generally eat organic stuff. But I snack and I'm gaining lots of weight. Any suggestions?
thanks
need my figure back

getfitnow

Hi, I'm new to the site. I really need to lose some weight but I'm a snacker. I rather snack on something then eat a full meal. When i do eat a meal i eat very little. I'm not one to stuff myself and I always need/leave room for dessert. My health is good. I generally eat organic stuff. But I snack and I'm gaining lots of weight. Any suggestions?
thanks
need my figure back

banks1850

I guess, all I can say is try to snack healthy. Pick foods that fit into the daily calories. That's what I do. I bring all kinds of little snacks to work. Apples, pears, pea pods, cheese, triscuts,pretzels, yogurt, grapes, popcorn. Add that to the reasonable lunch I usually eat and there you go. :happy:

Razboo

Yup. Use the food diary to track your calories. Stop when you get to the limit.

Sounds like you are eating healthy enough. You just need to get a handle on the calorie count. Incidentally, many folks eat 6 times per day rather than 3 meals to promote weight loss and keep the metabolism up. You already have that habit, so that might be a good way for you to approach it.

Melissish

Hello,
I understand where you are coming from. I find myself snacking alot, and then tend to eat very little at meals. I have found a new, healthier way to snack. I take organic carrotts and cucumbers or tomatoes, or any other vegetables and chop them up and put them in little sandwhich bags and keep them in my fridge, then when I leave in the morning I grab a baggy and while I am at work I much on my snack bag of vegetables. I throw a little dash of salt in my baggies and shake it up. Just a little not a lot. I've heard that these vegetables are called "Negative Calorie" foods and you actually burn more calories eating them, than the vegetables actually have in them. So you're not only burning what you eat while you eat it, your burning some extra calories in your body too. Wheither this is true or not, I am not sure. It's just something I ran across searching for healthier snack foods on the Internet. I found quite a few articles on it, and if you go to a search engine and type in "Lists of Negative Calorie Foods"
It should pull up some links to sites that will give you a list. Just try to eat "healthy" snack foods, but don't deprive yourself of the snack foods that you love, that might not be so healthy. Have some every once in a while, with moderation, because if you just try to stop eating "bad foods" all together you could go into a binge later when you want it really bad. But if you reward yourself every once in a while. You won't have a total meltdown. And remember, eating many smaller meals a day is better for you than having one or two big meals a day, just make sure they are composed of all the nutrients you need in a day. Eating a small meal or a good snack every two hours is suppose to keep your metabolism boosted therefore you burn more calories throughout the day.. I hope I helped somewhat...

yenn2

HI GFN,

Your habits are actually the MORE healthy way to eat, smaller meals when you're feelin it rather than a big 'ol blob of food every now and again. Just log everyhing you put in your mouth and you can weed out the less healthy/high calorie snacks and replace them with something better, or identify the times you are eating just to put some food in your mouth (big trouble time for me is immediately upon my return home from work !!) Also, I have found when I am not really hungry, it's great to just drink a big glass of water -- "thirsty" sometimes feels like "hungry !"

Razboo

HI GFN,

Your habits are actually the MORE healthy way to eat, smaller meals when you're feelin it rather than a big 'ol blob of food every now and again. Just log everyhing you put in your mouth and you can weed out the less healthy/high calorie snacks and replace them with something better, or identify the times you are eating just to put some food in your mouth (big trouble time for me is immediately upon my return home from work !!) Also, I have found when I am not really hungry, it's great to just drink a big glass of water -- "thirsty" sometimes feels like "hungry !"

Just my 2 cents on this. I read a lot of posts extoling the virtues of the 6 meal a day method, so I tried it for a little over a week. First off, I found it was harder to keep on my target calories, but I did. During the course of this trial, I gained about 4 pounds. I quit doing this and went back to 3 meals (plus a snack if I had left over cals) and lost the 4 lb again ver the next few days. Over all the experiment put me about a week behind in reaching my goals.

Maybe I did something wrong, maybe didn't give it enough time, but the results seem to suggest that particular method was not right for me.

Maybe GFN should try giving '3 squares' a try as well...? Just a thought.

baday

I'm doing the snack when you get hungry diet, and have lost 14 lbs. doing it. Of course if you are snacking on donuts or something like that you are going to gain weight. I eat all day, multiple low calorie snacks (Fat free yogurt, sugar free jello, fruits and vegetables) and I have to say, it seems to work pretty damn well. I even slip in some carbs (which before I would avoid) as long as I haven't passed my calorie goal for the day. It really seems to work (along with the calorie counting of course).

So perhaps its different with everyone, but it works fine for me! Just go out and buy tons of fruits and veggies and low cal snacks, so you dont' get the tempation to down a bag full of oreos, and you should be cool!

yenn2

Body chemistry can be a funny thing, but the theory behind the 6 "meals" is that you keep a consistant blood sugar level and you don't have big dips and peaks during the day that can translate into emotional eating or overeating when you DO eat. Also if you're not working out, consistently, it may not be effective because you are not feeding any metabolism "beast" and it tends to just pile up. I find when I'm working out hard, I have to keep the metabolism momentum up by just throwing logs on (of 100-200 calories every 3 hours or so,) or I'll crash and be so tired and hungry it's counterproductive because then I'll just pig out and go to bed. I think if you're eating the SAME amount of calories in six blobs instead of three, you won't be gaining and you'll probably have more consistent energy. But eating six times a day means way smaller portions each time !! You may never feel "FULL" but you'll never feel "HUNGRY" either !!

baday

I agree, I'm not saying eat 6 full meals a day, just snack on something light and low cal to keep yourself from binging and smaller core meals. I don't think we are in dissagreement there.