Snacking

I had to stop brining it in my house :laugh: :laugh: I still snack but will limit it to fit within my calorie allotment for the day. When doing things like watching tv I found that something like cross stitching helped keep my hands occupied or chewing gum. If you are done eating for the day brushing your teeth can help, food never tastes as good with the minty toothpaste aftertaste :laugh:

Snacking is a problem for me too....I just had to stop bringing them in the house too much.... I have children, and they love snacks, so I tend to buy the baked snacks...like the lays pack with cheetos, and sunchips but the pack with the baked ones....so its not as bad as the other snack or the 100 calorie snacks

I also keep alot of fruits in the house as well

I'm a compulsive snacker as well, so I got rid of all the chips, cookies, and candy in the house and stocked my fridge full of the Yoplait Light Fat Free yogurt and got some of the healthier granola bars. Not as satisfying as half a package of Oreos, but the yogurt is 100 calories and a bit more filling. You might think yogurt would get old but I swear they make like 25 different flavors so as long as you make sure you have a lot of variety its not so bad

I find (i guess it might be a bit ocd) that planning and writing down exactly what I am going to eat that day, or the food group and a rough amount, and when im going to eat it helps a lot. That way i can have a snack but will have to wait for it, and i wont overeat becasue i already planned what i would have.
It also means i can roughly work out how many snacks i can have from my calorie allowance, though my snacks are usually always low calorie i.e. seeds or vegetables.

I've had to limit myself to 3 meals and one snack a day otherwise I snack all the time.
This way I choose carefully. It's really a case of having some discipline with myself, I can't get where I want to be otherwise.

Same here. If I try the small meals thru the day method or graze on snacks, even "healthy" ones, I make zero progress and just overeat.

The type of "snacking" you describe sounds a lot like emotional eating. Emotional eating is done when one feels something, anything, and wants to manage or mask those feelings with food. Those feelings can be anything from boredom, stress, anger, frustration or sadness to happiness. If this sounds at all familiar then snacking on healthier foods is probably not the best solution (though it may be an intermediary step). The first "step" in the way of managing emotional eating would be to evaluate how you feel every time you feel motivated to eat something. Do you genuinely feel hungry? Do you feel bored? Are you stressed out about something? If you're not actually hungry, what can you do to address your feelings? Maybe you can go blow off some steam by taking a run, or doing some kickboxing. Maybe you can call a friend and talk to them about what's bothering you. I think you get the drift. If this sounds at all like something you're experiencing you might want to check out a book by Linda Spangle called "Life is Hard Food is Easy." Or maybe not, maybe carrot sticks are your solution. :laugh: