Am I destined to a life without chips? :(

coquigretch

Trader Joe's Baked are actually pretty darn close to the real thing...

allycat54

I eat popchips with my pb&j.

LadyRush

Those not quite cutting it? Eat chips infrequently. Cutting out the foods you love and going cold turkey won't keep the pounds off forever.

^^^^^^ This, this a thousand times this! You are not joining ChipAnon. If you cannot control your eating of chips, then you'll have to give them up entirely, but you probably CAN form a healthy relationship with them long-term.

If you "give them up for diet", then as soon as "diet" is gone the chips come back and you start regressing.

A healthy, sustainable diet is the key to losing weight and keeping it off. If you "give up" something, be prepared for it to be forever. Instead, keep some of the foods you love, but learn to develop a healthy relationship with them. When you prepare your sandwich, open the chips, put a reasonable amount of them on the plate, log them accurately, close the bag and reseal it, and put the bag away.

But what you might want to try is giving up chips for, say, two weeks. If you still crave them, buy some and start eating them in small, controlled, and within-your-junk-food-budget quantities. If you can't maintain those quantities, quit them again and give it two months. Eventually, you will achieve one of three outcomes (in descending order of likelihood):

1. You will develop a healthy relationship with chips and eat a half-dozen occasionally, all the better to savor your healthy sandwich.
2. You will find that your craving for chips diminishes and they really don't "wow" you like they once did.
3. You will have to accept that you have no self-control when it comes to chips, and leave them at the grocery store.

Chips Anonymous??!!! :laugh: That's funny! I actually joined Overeaters Anonymous and some foods are definitely #3. It's hard to accept but some foods I just can't deal with and have to let them go. But now I'm going to make some Kale chips!

howeclectic

Baked Lays or Special K Cracker Chips

Or cut up cardboard and lightly salt :-)

juicemoogan

POP CHIPS..

or make sure to save some calories for them in your daily calorie budget and then have a single portion of them.

smlamb33

lays has these new LIGHT CHIPS about 75 cals a serving!

I totally love these! You can't even tell they aren't the real thing! A serving size is 1 ounce or 15 chips. Plus they are soy free and gluten free! They really help me satisfy my chip craving because I don't even feel like I've given them up! YUM!!!

rebeccasedwards

Kellogs cracker chips are awesome. I eat them instead of regular chips.

microburst20

i eat air popped popcorn too. I spray butter flavored olive oil spray. Light spritzes to make the salt stick. This satisfies my salty crunchy cravings.

superdonna

Flavored rice cakes are nice and crunchy and low cal.

HeatherDerexson

I saw Sweet potato chips and veggie chips at the grocery store today. Little pricey though.
And there's always Apple Chips.

howeclectic

i eat air popped popcorn too. I spray butter flavored olive oil spray. Light spritzes to make the salt stick. This satisfies my salty crunchy cravings.

I have a cuisinart easy popper. I found oil popped popcorn as a snack is really not that much worse than regular popcorn so long as you measure it out. Half a tablespoon of oil and 1/4 a cup of popcorn kernals comes out to 200 calories and its a lot. The popcorn maker keeps stirring it for you so you can get away with not using much oil. The oil does add 60 calories... but it goes a long way towards satisfying my cravings....

julie0506

POPCHIPS!!!!

aliric

I eat pop chips. They taste the closest to a real chip. The BBQ are the best. You can buy the small bags at Kroger. 100 calories a bag. The small bags are great for lunches.

kluvit

While some of the substitutes may work for you, I find that I end up eating more calories trying to satisfy with food I don't really want than I do eating a smaller portion of what I do want. I buy the Lay's snack sized variety pack ranging from 140 to 160 calories per bag and work them into my calorie plan. Cheetos (160 cal) are my favorite, and while I've tried the baked version (120 cal), for me, the regular version is well worth the extra 40 calories.

cjpg

Wow.. I actually laughed aloud when I read this. Like seriously haha....

I don't mean to sound insensitive, I just honestly remember when I started thinking the very same thought. You don't have to give them up. Just give them up for a while as you're serious about losing weight in the beginning. Slowly, 'reintroduce' them into your diet and moderation.

SPNLuver83

screw that I eat chips and have lost weight!!! But I do change what kind I eat. Sometimes. I like the kellog's special K cracker chips in sea salt. They taste really good! Or reduced fat kettle cooked chips. YUM!

I still eat regular chips at time. You just gotta stick to the serving size, which is usually like 13 chips.

WhitneyT586

If you want the chips, get the chips! If you don't enjoy what you are eating then you are not going to stick with this. Pick corn or tortilla chips and have a great salsa with them. Every Thursday night is Mexican night and I always have a serving of Santitas white corn tortilla chips with Newmans Own pineapple salsa. It is my treat for the week. Watch out for the Baked and Kettle chips - They are not always "better" for you than regular.

As for good protein snacks. An apple with a tablespoon of peanut butter fills me up in the afternoon for about 150 calories. Go for protein smoothies or Fage or Chobani greek yogurt for even higher protien content.

keepitcroosh

I used to eat a big bag (sometimes family size) of Lays Salt and Vinegar chips several nights a week since i was a kid. I basically dont eat them anymore. There are other alternatives, such as Kale 'chips'. This would be the healthiest, compared to other peoples answers like purple chips that are supposed to help with weightloss, and multigrain tostitos and popchips (which i have found myself eating a few of these, it does do the trick!) etc.

Other options:
Oven baked sweet potato chips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wScS6bbfoDw
^ I would limit to only bake ONE potato & if you don't like sweet potatoes, use any other type.

You could also use this as your cheat meal or cheat day. I take one cheat day every week to keep myself from constantly binging on junk food. Also, i would just like to say, i don't really eat chips anymore. Personally, i think it was because my body was so used to carbs that when i stopped completely, it was very difficult at first, but ive been doing this for about two months ( and 24days of eating strictly clean food other than the cheatdays) and i dont really care for them anymore. In case you want a bit of info on that, here's a link that better explains why you may be hungrier because of eating carbs :http://www.pathmed.com/faq/?p=793

DyannAlvarez

Bump... I really love chips too and cry everyday. Maybe some great ideas here. I hope so!

howeclectic

If you want the chips, get the chips! If you don't enjoy what you are eating then you are not going to stick with this. Pick corn or tortilla chips and have a great salsa with them. Every Thursday night is Mexican night and I always have a serving of Santitas white corn tortilla chips with Newmans Own pineapple salsa. It is my treat for the week. Watch out for the Baked and Kettle chips - They are not always "better" for you than regular.

As for good protein snacks. An apple with a tablespoon of peanut butter fills me up in the afternoon for about 150 calories. Go for protein smoothies or Fage or Chobani greek yogurt for even higher protien content.

That actually reminds me.... Occasionally ill try Cucumber slices and salsa if i have absolutely no space. Practically no calories and it gives you that same crunch along with flavor (from the salsa).

jboccio90

popcorn.
I buy kernels and brown paper bags and make it in the microwave as if they were pre-pakaged bags
2 cups with my topping of choice are 80 cals

not to mention its super cheap

kookoomookee

Have Lay's Light Potato Chips with Olean. It's 75 calories per serving and the serving is about 20 chips. They are great!

ivansmomma

lays has these new LIGHT CHIPS about 75 cals a serving!

I totally love these! You can't even tell they aren't the real thing! A serving size is 1 ounce or 15 chips. Plus they are soy free and gluten free! They really help me satisfy my chip craving because I don't even feel like I've given them up! YUM!!!

These are the only chips I eat. As a matter of fact, I'm sitting here, watching Ghosthunters, and eating chips with my wine. It's our Winesday! But I digress! Love me some Ruffles light chips, 80 calories for 1 serving, which is 17 chips, no fat! You never have to give up anything, just learn to eat all foods in moderation!!

tkelly82

Just made homemade kale chips tonight for the first time ever. DELICIOUS! And I hate pretty much anything green. I sprinkled a little bit of parmesan cheese on mine for the last 5 mins or so of baking and they were awesome. Crispy, salty yummy. Definately could give up chips with these bad boys.

delilah47

I didn't read all the posts, but I use Special K Cracker Chips. They taste good and have that crunch you need with a sammie. I like the sea salt flavor best, but they also come in southwestern ranch, cheddar, and um.. umm.... I forget.

taziarj

While some of the substitutes may work for you, I find that I end up eating more calories trying to satisfy with food I don't really want than I do eating a smaller portion of what I do want. I buy the Lay's snack sized variety pack ranging from 140 to 160 calories per bag and work them into my calorie plan. Cheetos (160 cal) are my favorite, and while I've tried the baked version (120 cal), for me, the regular version is well worth the extra 40 calories.

Agree. A serving of baked chips may have 120-130 calories where a serving of the regular is only 150-160. For the few calories, I just stick to the real things and work it in to the daily goal. Baked/low fat foods tend to cause many people to over eat them because they think they are healthy. It all comes back to portion size, 1oz is not a lot of chips.

mbajrami

Pretzels and popcorn are good alternatives.

I tried those new Special K Cracker Crisps and they're pretty darn good. I have only tried Sour Cream & Onion. They're 127-130 crisps for like 110 calories. Not bad at all.

Kelsbellz

Baked Lays = Yummy.

dasblondie

i absolutely love chips...cutting them out was just not an option...i have learned to love baked chips...i like baked lays or baked herrs chips...i find baked herrs to be a little too salty except the sourcream and onion ones...they are good...but i love baked lays bbq or sourcream and cheddar. I also love baked tostios with salsa...utz has a good one....i also love special k cracker chips..you get 27 for 110 calories...prob. the most for the little calories last mini rice crackers are good or of course popcorn Im not a big pretzel person and i feel you just dont get enough for the amount of calories. Hope this helps.

also it helps to portion out in small bags when you first buy the bag...it helps with portion control....i always do this...plus it easy to grab and go for lunches

pattybattin

I love chips too. I miss chips so much. I have substituted with rice cakes. They come in many flavors that make them tasty and they have the crunch too. My favorites are spicy chili and ranch flavor (I was afraid but they are good.) A co-worker told me cinnaman apple were yummy too. I tried them and I liked them. And there is chocolate that are good too. Good luck and welcome to myfitnesspal.