Grazers, Snackers, All-day eaters...etc.

alisont91

I graze. All day. I am never actually hungry. My stomach never growls because I am ALWAYS eating. I usually don't log it in my diary, because it makes me feel awful to see the red, but I keep a tally in my head. Sometimes I graze 400 calories worth of random stuff: handful of banana chips, handful of chocolate raisins, a few dried apricots, scoop of peanut butter, five BBQ chips, a few carrots with hummus. It all adds up and I have no idea how to handle it. I try to chew gum constantly so that I'm not tempted, and I keep a water bottle with me so that I can drink that instead of eating--or i make myself tea--but nothing seems to work. I spit out the gum, or I pick a snack over the water. I'm not sure if I'm not getting adequate nutrients and so my body always has cravings or if I'm just like addicted to food! I love it. I seriously can't remember the last time my stomach growled because I'd gone more than 2 hours without eating (minus while I'm sleeping).
Does anyone else have this problem? Or a solution? Should I up the calories in my meals? I just don't know what to do at this point.

dls06

Without logging it's hard to see exactly what is putting you over. IF you log you can see what is good and what is not. You will then be able to make adjustments or lower calorie substitutions. I find planning the day ahead makes it easier.

UsedToBeHusky

I would suggest keeping only healthy snacks around. I've been know to buy mini veggie trays and graze on those all day. You just want to keep stuff on hand that is as low-calorie as possible until you can get a handle on your meal timing. Grazing is a habit. You have to break it. But just like with any habit you need to do it in small steps.

hookandy

I am the same if there is food about I will pick. Working at home today, so know how tempting it is.

I found that if I pack up my food for the day and have a large breakfast, a mid morning snack, lunch and a mid afternoon snack, I can just about get by, though I do tend to have some emergency fruit about in case needed. I can then track it all the night before. I am lucky as I am about 260lb I have enough calories to be able to have sunflower seeds and other nice bits as snacks.

I tend to also find that sunflower seeds and other small bits last longer as I can just eat them a couple at a time. Makes no difference to the calories, but I think it fools my mind into thinking it is getting more.