snacks for work?

silverinc13

I usually have an apple, a bag of portioned cashews and almonds, a veggie bag with yoghurt ranch or hummus to dip in, and maybe some other little treat - homemade granola bar or a small hard candy (werthers or something). The 94% fat free popcorn 100 cal packs is a great snack because it gives you a lot of volume for the calories. Definitely keep mints and gum around and if you find yourself feeling hungry when you've just snacked drink some water and have a mint or two.

lisamac62

I also have a desk job....
I eat breakfast at 5:30 am and don't get lunch till 1:00pm then don't eat dinner until 7:30 or 8:00pm so I eat a snack around 10:00 am this is usually a low fat yogurt or a greek yogurt and I add 1/4 c of Kellogs Protein Special K to my yogurt. My next snack is usually around 4 and I usually have celery and hummus, or celery, carrots and laughing cow cheese, or sliced strawberries, or blackberries or an apple and peanutbutter....somtimes I have a string cheese with my fruit.
Hope this helps.

conniemaxwell5

I pack just what I need for the day so there is no option to snack over my limit. I keep a full glass or bottle of water at my desk at all times so if I do have a hunger pang or an urge to eat, I take a drink. It's a mind shift from snacking on food to "snacking" on water, but you can do it.

For a typical day (I work 10 hour days) I pack a homemade egg mcmuffin or granola parfait for breakfast, an apple with PB2 peanut butter or celery with hummus for morning snack, a pita with hummus and veggies or a salad with grilled chicken for lunch, and cottage cheese with cinnamon and walnuts or a piece of fuit and 2 T of unsalted raw nuts like almonds or walnuts.I rarely get hungry or desire anything else. The other trick is to not carry cash so you're not tempted to go to the vending machines!

katsmo

I sit at a desk all day too, and I pack a mid-morning snack and an afternoon snack. I also try to take a 15-minute walk around snack time, when weather and time permits. Some of my most common snacks are:
- grapes and string cheese
- Greek yogurt and an orange
- cherry tomatoes, string cheese, and hummus
- banana and peanut butter
- rice cakes with applesauce or coconut oil
- berries and chocolate milk
- Special K pastry crisp and a can of V8

Good luck!

elyelyse

Hi, Im new to this site.
Looking for suggestions for snacks while sitting at a desk at work. It gets boring and I find myself not paying attention to portions of snacks so Im trying to find things that are low cal / healthy.

there are very few foods you can eat and continue to not pay attention to portions. even low cal/healthy foods need to be portioned out. A "serving" of carrots, is about 35 calories, that totally fits in for a snack right? but if you mindlessly eat the whole bag of baby carrots (i have!) now that's 125.

something else to consider is... why do you keep eating? sure some of it is boredom but its also important to consider: are the snacks you are consuming actually satisfying your cravings? or just providing entertainment? if you stick to low cal low fat snacks in large quantities you may be LESS satisfied than if you selected a snack that has some protein and fats. Nuts are a GREAT snack, though you have to seriously watch portions. If I snack on pistachios, I eat 40 of them. Cashews, about 20 nuts. It won't fill my belly, so i might have a small fruit or some veggies at the same time, but once my brain gets the message that i've had good fats, I'm less hungry.

portion out your snacks the night before, and only bring with you snacks in the number of calories you have allotted for work-snacks that day. a HUGE part of weight loss is controlling portions and selecting foods your body wants, not just looking for foods you can eat in large amounts without thinking.

Confuzzled4ever

<~ Desk job (I have a small 8 oz travel coffee cup that I use to bring stuff to eat at my desk lol)

I eat
blackberries
apples with peanut butter
celery
carrots
Shelled nuts + nut cracker (yes at my desk. LOL)
granola chips
Greek salad (Taboulle, feta, carrots, cucumbers, green peppers, red onion any other veggies supposed to drizzle with oil, but i don't)
Occasional protein bars.
sweet mini peppers
grape tomatoes
seckel pears (they are small)

I also eat my breakfast at my desk quite often.
steel oats or greek yogurt mixed with banana and strawberry jam ond/or granola or blackberries or honey (today i have steel oats and boxty lol)

megottlieb

I also tend to snack a lot while sitting on my desk at work. I throw this stuff in my lunch the night before so I'm not tempted to run down to the Canteen and grab something unhealthy. Snacks that work for me are:

Cuties California Clementines
Fiber 1 Bars with the extra protein
Sargento Reduced Fat String Cheese (only 50 calories!)
Pre-cut apple slices
Greek yogurt with 1 TBS wheat germ
Baked Lays

215jenn

I'm a big fan of an apple and a half ounce of sea salt almonds. Try playing around with small containers in your house that work for that measurement. I can dump a half ounce of almonds in the larger side of one of my easter eggs. It's small enough to toss in a purse and it's an EASY measurement to remember

mazdauk

Make sure you add in the calories to MFP as soon as you get to work (or before you leave0 - then you can see how little is left for the evening I find if I have it with me I'll generally eat it, so I don't have too much "just in case" anywhere near me. If I am tempted by my JIC I make a drink and have half of it, then see if I still want to "waste" those calories.

I also have a desk job and in my previous one I used to have a low fat yoghurt (WW) when I got in, a cereal bar or banana mid-morning, sandwich and fruit/something else (often biscuit) for lunch and sometimes something mid-afternoon. In my defence I had a longish commute so I was hungry when I arrived, but also I was fed up with my job and stressed, and food broke up the day a bit......

So when I started my new job I was already overweight! This job is much busier (and fewer people bring in cakes, snacks etc foor birthdays/on return from vacations), plsu being in a school the day breaks up into sections and goes fast, BUT I was still having a mid-morning snack the going and buying a sandwich and a nice "healthy" biscuit from the canteen.

Now I have either fruit or a cereal bar for mid-morning plus one small but healthy sandwich for lunch - and that's IT. If my tummy starts I drink more water and/or a green tea.

I've got a bag of mixed nuts at home my husband bought for a healthy treat, but I'll need to portion them as 25g is 165cal - nearly as much as my bar - and I could eat two or more at a blink.

fitnotfluffy

My favorites are mostly veggies, but I'll try to give you some ideas that aren't.

What about fruit? Oranges, bananas, grapes?
String cheese, rice cakes, boiled egg, beef jerky, unsalted almonds, tuna packs, green tea, greek yogurt, pita chips/hummus, protein bars, special k bars, WATER! Hope these help you a bit.

nitabean47

I just made some roasted chickpeas in the weekend as and they are great - healthy and lots of different flavours you can make

Send me your recipe!!

traciredjo

I pre-pack snacks the night befoe. Jif makes little "to-go" cups of peanut butter I will eat that with an apple. I also have a really good lunch bag that I stick in the freezer at night and pack the next morning. It stays cold really well so I will bring cottage cheese and triscuits, yogurt and Naked Juice. I love the Naked juices. Green machine is so good for you and after drinking them I feel full. I also bought a popcorn popper. I read somewhere that microwave popcorn bags are not good for you so I got a popper and will air pop some corn and bring that. No butter, no salt, and helps ease that "need to munch" feeling. Good luck!

TeaBea

Cooked veggies ...... I get tired of raw carrot sticks ... so I cook them. Bring pre-cooked if need be.

If you can cook veggies at work ..... Glad Simply Cooking steamer bags are great. Green beans are done in 3 & 1/2 minutes.

Confuzzled4ever

Pre-log your snacks

I pre log my entire day the night before.. Makes morning easier as I'm not scratching my head trying to get my food together.

Plus it's hard to go over when you plan your day out.

karen_parker

OH wow!!!! I didnt realize I could have all those different things as snacks!!! Ive been trying to stay away from yogurt, cheese, granola bars, etc. because I heard that yogurt and granola bars have as much, if not MORE sugar than a candy bar and cheese = fat and salt and therefore "bad".
I have all sorts of "ideas" for snacks now!!!! little tupperware with some grapes and cheese cut into bite size peices would get great! Someone also mentioned canned green beans.....those I love but figured again, salt is HIGH!

Thank you everyone that offered suggestions!

Karen

TeaBea

OH wow!!!! I didnt realize I could have all those different things as snacks!!! Ive been trying to stay away from yogurt, cheese, granola bars, etc. because I heard that yogurt and granola bars have as much, if not MORE sugar than a candy bar and cheese = fat and salt and therefore "bad".
I have all sorts of "ideas" for snacks now!!!! little tupperware with some grapes and cheese cut into bite size peices would get great! Someone also mentioned canned green beans.....those I love but figured again, salt is HIGH!

Thank you everyone that offered suggestions!

Karen

Canned green beans are high in sodium ... but you can rinse them before you eat them. Fresh are so yummy ... but can be hard to get this time of year.

Re: Granola bars ..... many are high in sugar (watch for this) or make your own. Kashi makes some lower sugar ones Honey Almond Flax ....mmmm

twoss9112

I used to keep a can of almonds / cashews to munch on, but was told that was the WORST thing because of the salt.

Wrong. Blue Diamond makes raw (zero sodium) almonds as well as low sodium ("lightly salted") almonds. I have both at my desk. I dole them out into snack bags based on their serving size on the container so that I don't open the can and just keep munching.

They also make flavored ones, such as Soy & Wasabi - I take these, and I make a snack bag of 1/2 serving of the flavored ones and 1/2 serving of the low or no sodium ones, so that when I mix the snak bag up, the "flavor" gets all over the plain ones and I get a whole serving of the flavored ones for only half the salt content.

Other snaks I keep at work are

Larabars (love the Uber ones)
protein bars (Pure Protein is a good low carb one)
chobani yogurt cups
bag of Bear Naked Fit Triple Berry Granola to flavor up my yogurt or oatmeal if I get boren with the same old same old)
Gnu Foods Flavor & Fiber bars
Mini Babybel Light Cheese wheels
Pita chips with salsa or hummus
Kashi Go Lean cereal (it's just a good for a snack!)
Apples (don't need refrigeration so their in my drawer!)
Oranges
Green beans - fresh

Since you mentioned that one... for green beans - don't get canned ones if you're worries about salt... go the produce area, near the bagged salads - you can get fresh green beens in bags - Green Line and Green Giant are two brands that offer packaged fresh green beans... I buy those and JUST SNACK! That got boring so now I throw them in a bowl and toss them up with some lite balsamic vinigarette or some SALSA!

Rice cakes with either Skippy Reduced Fat or Better N' Peanut Butter
Ghirardelli or Lindt Dark Chocolate bars -- just be sensible and don't chow the whole bar. 2-3 squares is fine.

Fresh fruit like strawberries, pineapple chunks, melon chunks

Most of this stuff I just keep in my desk - I go tot he nearby store at lunchtime and buy what I want to keep at work for the week. very little pre-packing goes into my work menus. Soon you'll start to fidn that the stuff you choose to keep on hand will become useful for other things - my salsa for my green beans turned out to be a nice add to todays chicken wrap!!

mrsTravo9112

the key for me is planning ahead... I also broke MPF into by break times b/c that's when i eat during the day... measure out whatever it is your going to have & its very helpful for me. I suggest celery & measuring out a ranch dressing or hummus to dip your raw veggies into until you get used to them only. raw almonds (though i loved the smoked!) apples, oranges - anything fresh - grapes, mixed fruit salads & berriesI work on the phones all day so it has to be something that desolve in my mouth or not make a lot of noice if the phone rings! (lol).

Confuzzled4ever

OH wow!!!! I didnt realize I could have all those different things as snacks!!! Ive been trying to stay away from yogurt, cheese, granola bars, etc. because I heard that yogurt and granola bars have as much, if not MORE sugar than a candy bar and cheese = fat and salt and therefore "bad".
I have all sorts of "ideas" for snacks now!!!! little tupperware with some grapes and cheese cut into bite size peices would get great! Someone also mentioned canned green beans.....those I love but figured again, salt is HIGH!

Thank you everyone that offered suggestions!

Karen

Just look at lables.. some of the stuff is high in sugar/salt/fat but if you just look at it's ingredients and its' nutirition lables, you can avoid those ones easily. It's not all that hard to pick healthier foods. You just have to decide to do it and then do it.

mazdauk

As long as you keep within your overall allowance and don't go crazy on salt (because of water retention) you can really have what you like - its just some things are healthier than others, and some are lower in calories. Mix it up a bit if you get bored easily!