600-900 snack calories???!

TrailRunner61

Yikes! Those snacks definately add up! I have to limit sodium so it's even harder for me, especially since I love, love, love popcorn. I ended up with roasted edamame (it has salt and is high in calories but its good calories and I limit it to 1/8 or 1/4 cup, unsalted homemade trail mix (sunflower seeds, fruits, nuts) also high in calories but it's great for when you have exercise calories, i love the caramel corn and chocolate crunch rice cakes (50 cals), homemade smoothies made with fat free plain greek yogurt, skim milk and/or juice, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, etc., raw veggies, I cut up a whole head of cauliflower, 3 heads of broccoli and several carrots and bag them up for the week. It's a lot cheaper and I use them in cooking too. Frozen fruit bars are really good and about 70-80 calories. If you have Schwanns, they have fat free frozen raspberry, orange cream bars that are delicious, big and 70 cals. I love those. Plain greek yogurt with 15 cal per tablespoon jam & a bit of ground flax seed or toasted wheat germ or sunflower seeds added, 35 calorie bread as toast or if you like peanut butter & jelly, that works, just measure what you put on it.
You don't have to eat just carrots and celery sticks. You can eat anything if you can control your portion size. If not, stick with all 'healthy' stuff and pick a day that you will treat yourself. I did that at first until I had my snacking under control. Now I know that with exercise and moderation, I am not on a diet. It does get easier! Good luck and <hugs>

codylawson

To be honest, I follow this simple rule. ITFYM. Meaning If it fits your macros, meaning protein carb and fats. I follow this with the simple rules of dont go over your calorie limit and you are fine. If I want a can of coke, I'll have it but ill pay the price later when I only have so much calories left and im hungry lol. It teaches me to be careful of what I put into my body without going overboard on the sweets.

KF1216

I noticed you don't have any water logged... Are you not drinking any, or do you just not log it? Water HELPS. I used to be a horrible snacker. Now, I eat solid meals, and drink a lot of water, I aim for 10-12 cups a day. It's filling, and it totally gets your mind off of snacking.

I just don't log water - I did for a while but always drink 12-16 glasses a day so I figured I was ok not to log it. I LOVE water:)

KF1216

You can have your snacks, but try to have a good balance of protein, veggies & fruit, in that order
And save the ice cream for a treat, like once or twice a month, instead of every day.


Edit:
I snack almost all day. I have a bit of something every hour or two. I also plan ahead so I have food with me when I'm out of the house.

re: ice cream - all the local icecream shops have opened up so we've been taking the kids ...hopefully the noelty wears off soon bc I can't afford it! LOL! Plus the other night I bought a box of the WW dark choc raspberry ice creams and I just can't have that stuff in my house! I ate like 3 of them two nights in a row so I just threw away the rest of them last night. That's the problem with a lot of the snacking I do - it would be plenty healthy but I eat too much....like tortilla chips and salsa, it's SO hard not to eat half a bag. I love having a spoon of peanutbutter as a quick protein snack but I love peanutbutter so much that I end up having more than just a spoon and then I'm screwed.

FitLink

Yikes! I just looked back over the last couple weeks and have been averaging between 600-900 (sometimes 1200!) snack calories per day!!!! I need to get a grip on this and am planning to have a new rule called, 1 mornin snack and 1 afternoon snack, no snacks after dinner and all snacks must be fruit or veggie. Sound good? What are your go-to snacks and how many calories do you allow yourself each day?

Are you within your goals for calories and nutrients? If you are, why would this be a problem? I don't call anything a "snack." I renamed the "meals" in MFP to times of the day, and I don't call anything a meal or snack. I eat my main meal at about 3:30 in the afternoon, and I eat everything else when I'm hungry. I often eat three or four times before noon, 100 cal or less each time, then I usually don't eat until my main meal. After that I eat several times in around100 cal amounts before I go to bed. At times, I practice IF and don't eat the morning stuff, eat a slightly bigger main meal and add in a couple more snacks in the evening. But I do not stress about WHEN I eat. I just watch that it fits my calorie and nutrition goals.

FitLink

I noticed you don't have any water logged... Are you not drinking any, or do you just not log it? Water HELPS. I used to be a horrible snacker. Now, I eat solid meals, and drink a lot of water, I aim for 10-12 cups a day. It's filling, and it totally gets your mind off of snacking.

I just don't log water - I did for a while but always drink 12-16 glasses a day so I figured I was ok not to log it. I LOVE water:)

I don't log water either because I always get more than enough. And I do not find it helps with hunger. If I'm truly hungry, liquids cause stomach pain for me. It could be my central pain syndrome, which confuses some kinesthetic sensations with nociceptive sensations.

MrsLVF

You can have your snacks, but try to have a good balance of protein, veggies & fruit, in that order
And save the ice cream for a treat, like once or twice a month, instead of every day.


Edit:
I snack almost all day. I have a bit of something every hour or two. I also plan ahead so I have food with me when I'm out of the house.

re: ice cream - all the local icecream shops have opened up so we've been taking the kids ...hopefully the noelty wears off soon bc I can't afford it! LOL! Plus the other night I bought a box of the WW dark choc raspberry ice creams and I just can't have that stuff in my house! I ate like 3 of them two nights in a row so I just threw away the rest of them last night. That's the problem with a lot of the snacking I do - it would be plenty healthy but I eat too much....like tortilla chips and salsa, it's SO hard not to eat half a bag. I love having a spoon of peanutbutter as a quick protein snack but I love peanutbutter so much that I end up having more than just a spoon and then I'm screwed.

Getting the treats out of the house is a great start :smile
Besides, if it's not good for you, it's not good for the kids. I tell the kids ice cream is a treat, not a snack. And we're stocked with healthy snacks. But once a month we go out for our ice cream treat.

I have little tupperware containers that hold 2TBS I fill them up with peanut butter & have one with me for a quick snack with an apple

valerietoxii

I did the same thing when I first started and I still do it occasionally. I love to snack between lunch and dinner. It's a huge struggle for me. Good luck with your goals; they are good ones!

FitLink

I did the same thing when I first started and I still do it occasionally. I love to snack between lunch and dinner. It's a huge struggle for me. Good luck with your goals; they are good ones!

I don'r understand the struggle. What's wrong with eating when you're hungry?

KF1216

I have been going over my calorie goal most every day for a couple weeks so I think cutting back on snacks can help with that.

Yikes! I just looked back over the last couple weeks and have been averaging between 600-900 (sometimes 1200!) snack calories per day!!!! I need to get a grip on this and am planning to have a new rule called, 1 mornin snack and 1 afternoon snack, no snacks after dinner and all snacks must be fruit or veggie. Sound good? What are your go-to snacks and how many calories do you allow yourself each day?

Are you within your goals for calories and nutrients? If you are, why would this be a problem? I don't call anything a "snack." I renamed the "meals" in MFP to times of the day, and I don't call anything a meal or snack. I eat my main meal at about 3:30 in the afternoon, and I eat everything else when I'm hungry. I often eat three or four times before noon, 100 cal or less each time, then I usually don't eat until my main meal. After that I eat several times in around100 cal amounts before I go to bed. At times, I practice IF and don't eat the morning stuff, eat a slightly bigger main meal and add in a couple more snacks in the evening. But I do not stress about WHEN I eat. I just watch that it fits my calorie and nutrition goals.

brittany103

I usually have a small breakfast and lunch so I can snack all day. But I try to snack on fruit or veggies.

Millefleur

I was snacking a lot too but have added 'Afternoon' to Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner on the food log, between lunch and dinner. I list snacks too but when I feel in a snacky mood I'll plan to incorporate that 4th 'meal' into my day so I don't graze all day long.

FitLink

I would think making lower calorie choices or cutting a small amount from meals would make more sense if you wanted to fight hunger. Hunger is more likely to sabotage you than snacking.

I have been going over my calorie goal most every day for a couple weeks so I think cutting back on snacks can help with that.

Yikes! I just looked back over the last couple weeks and have been averaging between 600-900 (sometimes 1200!) snack calories per day!!!! I need to get a grip on this and am planning to have a new rule called, 1 mornin snack and 1 afternoon snack, no snacks after dinner and all snacks must be fruit or veggie. Sound good? What are your go-to snacks and how many calories do you allow yourself each day?

Are you within your goals for calories and nutrients? If you are, why would this be a problem? I don't call anything a "snack." I renamed the "meals" in MFP to times of the day, and I don't call anything a meal or snack. I eat my main meal at about 3:30 in the afternoon, and I eat everything else when I'm hungry. I often eat three or four times before noon, 100 cal or less each time, then I usually don't eat until my main meal. After that I eat several times in around100 cal amounts before I go to bed. At times, I practice IF and don't eat the morning stuff, eat a slightly bigger main meal and add in a couple more snacks in the evening. But I do not stress about WHEN I eat. I just watch that it fits my calorie and nutrition goals.

torygirl79

Rice crackers. I eat a ridiculous amount of rice crackers on this diet but they are very filling.

KF1216

For me, snacking isn't as much about hunger. It's about bordem (and night time snacking), mindless eating, like when it's my kids snack time and I have a serving of what they are having, then another few bites, then another....

LetsDoThis103

I think it doesn't really matter whether your calories are from snacks or meals, as long as you don't go over your total daily calories. I think having this expectation that we are supposed to have big meals (i.e. the very American: small breakfast, smallish lunch, big dinner) is part of the reason people gain weight. Other countries pay far less attention to these notions, and as a result, have less weight problems. Food is food, it doesn't matter what label we give the meal.

skinnylion

Due to my class schedule I'm forced to eat snacks, or else my lunch would be way too early or way too late. But I'm really tired of this system and I'm trying to eat two small lunches now and that seems to be working out.

My favorite snacks are greek yogurt, almonds, carrots and hummus, granola bars (Kashi brand), apples, pears, bananas, dried mango, hard-boiled eggs, pretzels, and sometimes peanut butter (if I don't have a PB&J sandwich I might eat it with my apple or pretzels, depends!)