How on earth do I stop the after dinner snacking?!

When you are feeling the urge to snack, drink water. A large glass. Many times we confuse hunger with thirst and this might help curb your evening cravings!

Maybe it is a Meg issue, I do the same thing. Trying to break the habit. A nutritionist told me today it may be because I'm not getting enough calories and fat during the day. Worth seeing if you are doing the same thing.

One obvious (to me) solution is to get rid of the unhealthy snacks and replace with things that are better for you such as celery sticks.

This is what I do. I go thru 8 celery hearts a week. If I feel like eating something after supper (and I regularly do), I just make sure it is something that won't have me blow my whole day.

Celery is a good choice .. and what I have been doing. Sometimes if I want a change I will have some fruit instead.
I just don't buy junk food anymore .. so if it isn't in my house then I cannot eat it.

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I can't help eating snacks straight after dinner! Crackers, peanut butter, crisps, yoghurt, just whatever I have in my house. Calories wise its like a eat 2 meals at once, my normal dinner (550 cals) then snacks (400)... This is really bad for my diet but I can't take my hands... I already tried drinking tea and chewing gum.. It doesn't work...

Any tips, tricks, or words of wisdom?!

I know what you mean. When I first started MFP in January I was doing great at having one candy bar a day as my treat and eat better the rest of the day. I lost weight and was happy. However, lately I don't have the self control that I had before. Granted I've got a lot going on, my husband started his new job, I started my new job, and we are thinking of buying a bigger house. I can't blame it all on stress. The best things that seems to work for me is either go outside and walk or bike to clear my head. The change of scenery helps. Or write. It keeps my mind and fingers busy. If I write in my diary I can work through some stuff,or work on my novel where I work out ways to kill former co-workers. If only I could figure out the rest of the novel and solve the who-done-it. Sometimes visualize eating it. How does it smell, how does it taste, how does it feel in your mouth. The pleasure of eating it without the calories. Self control is great, but sometimes it doesn't work. I know eating the chocolate isn't going to make me happy in the long run. Sorry I can't help more but you are not alone.

Yes.

Get some self control.

^^ this.. put on your grown-up pants and "just do it"

Brilliant advice from the 22 and 24 year old... Please...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't care for these comments

I try to eat lighter breakfast and lunch and usually leave about 600 cals for dinner and snacks. You dont have to stop just opt for a lower cal alternative for example i eat chocolate for snacks but i buy the sugarless kind, gluten free and low in carbs. Ice cream I buy the light version where one good serving is about 60-80 cals. You can snack, no problem but opt for the healthier versions of the things that you like and they taste just as good, if not better. Good Luck.

I can't help eating snacks straight after dinner! Crackers, peanut butter, crisps, yoghurt, just whatever I have in my house. Calories wise its like a eat 2 meals at once, my normal dinner (550 cals) then snacks (400)... This is really bad for my diet but I can't take my hands... I already tried drinking tea and chewing gum.. It doesn't work...

Any tips, tricks, or words of wisdom?!

I was wondering if you were doing any better

If you want to snack after dinner, snack on hard boiled eggs and apples. Keep a tray of hard boiled eggs and apples in your fridge and after dinner if you feel like snacking snack on hard boiled eggs and apples. Apples will help your sugar cravings and hard boiled eggs help you feel satisfied as protein is an appetite suppressant.

i bought flavored teas they help so much

Stop eating that kind of food. Dont purchase it either. That food seems to be the kind that you cant just stop at one, coz it tastes good. Since you cant just stop at one, dont even start. I also believe the manufacturers of that food make it so good that you want more. it has ingredients that dont satisfy you , it makes you want more.

so just say no and problem solved. substitute something else more filling like fiber. Also stop doing whatever you are doing while eating snacks. if its your watching tv, and you have to have mindless snacking, then get up and dont watch tv, but do something that gets you away from it.

It doesn't have to be all or nothing. The number ONE reason why people regain weight is because they abstain from foods they like for a dieting period, then reintroduce them. It's a lot smarter to be able to fit those foods in and learn moderation so that binging and craving doesn't get out of hand.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I kind of agree with both people here. I think that if you are someone who will eat nonstop while you are doing something else then you should either stop doing that thing and do something else, or stop having the stuff in your house that you can't stop eating. I do not think you should stop having the stuff long term though. Lets say chips. If you eat a family size bag of chips everyday and can not stop until the chips are gone, then you should not buy the chips anymore for a few weeks to about a month. Then you should limit the amount of chips you buy when you go to the store. I think you should slowly train yourself to eat less of what you like. If you decide on an amount of chips to buy for the week and say that is all you can have of those chips for that week then do not buy anymore than that amount. If you eat all of those chips in one day then you cannot have anymore chips for the rest of the week. If you stick to that rule for several weeks, you should eventually learn to eat smaller amounts of what you like. So eventually you will no longer be gobbling down whatever you are gobbling down after dinner right now. Good luck with whatever you try to do.

Personally what I did when I wanted to stop snacking after dinner is I started eating late in evening, like 7:00 pm, then slowly moved the time up to 5:30 pm, my body adjusted slowly and I was no longer hungry after dinner!

Yes.

Get some self control.

^^ this.. put on your grown-up pants and "just do it"

Brilliant advice from the 22 and 24 year old... Please...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't care for these comments

I really dis-appreciate the age discrimination here (on this site in particular) , although I do not agree with their comments, everyone has a different maturity level NO MATTER WHAT YOUR AGE IS. It's personality not age. People who are 50 yrs old that act 40 yrs old don't get discrimination even though it's the same as a 22 yr old acting like a 12 yr old. Don't discriminate age, everyone is at a different point in their life. I'm only 18 (19 in 2 weeks) and have been through things that people never have to go through, don't judge off of age. I'm a college student, health care career job, cancer survivor that lives on her own. Everyone has different experiences in life, understand that.

Yes.

Get some self control.

That's kind of useless advice, don't ya think?

1. Replace your snacks. I go for roasted almonds, wasabi beans, dark chocolate (individually wrapped squares), whole-wheat sesame crackers. All these are about 30-50 calories each.
2. If you eat so many calories, then treat it like another meal and redistribute calories accordingly (shave off 50-100 of the other meals)
3. This may be somewhat controversial but it worked very well for me. When I snack over my limit at night I just log it for the next morning breakfast. This for some might have side-effects as it would limit their intake for the following day and get them severely frustrated. But in my case, it just held me "accountable". Now when I want to snack I automatically think of just how hungry I'll be the next day when I'll have no food for breakfast, and that stops me. Depends on the person, but it's worth a try.