Breaking Snacking Habit
robingmurphy
Posts: 349 Member
As I start over again, I've come to realize that I have a very strong habit of snacking when I'm bored or procrastinating on whatever is around, and it's really holding my back. It's a very difficult habit to break. Does anyone have tips, tricks, or advice on the best way to break this habit?
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Replies
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It is funny that you mention that as I am the worst at it . My weakest time is after I get home from work .
But recently I heard a lecture from an Indian doctor who is a proponent of just 2 meals a day: Lunch and dinner.
The idea is kind of like intermittent fasting except instead of window of 8 hours of eating . He advocates to eat each meal within an hour. He suggests that if you crave something you can eat it but only during either lunch or dinner hour. Again this advice is just of people trying to loose weight and not people with other health conditions.
I have tried not to linger in the kitchen after coming home for work.
so I am trying to break the pattern .
Frankly if I can do it anyone can.
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I've been doing 18:6 intermittent clean fasting for 3 weeks for this exact reason...mindless eating/snacking. I started with 16:8 IF and then quickly found that I preferred a slightly longer fast. It has helped me lose 11 pounds, but also get my snacking under control. If I want something, I put it aside a wait for my eating time...sometimes don't want it anymore or I forget about it or I enjoy it.
I find it incredibly easy and quite liberating.6 -
I think you're halfway to success by identifying that you snack when you're bored or procrastinating.
The same problem gets me as well.
It's mind over matter - my mind knows choices matter. It's not easy, but, more often than not I am able to mindfully do something that matters more than feeding an emotional trigger.
good luck to you!3 -
melrose155 wrote: »I've been doing 18:6 intermittent clean fasting for 3 weeks for this exact reason...mindless eating/snacking.
Interesting! I've never considered IF as a cure for mindless eating/snacking. In fact, I've always thought I would be a bad candidate for intermittent fasting because I'm one of those people who is thinking about food and snacking all the time. Doesn't having that habit make IF a lot harder?
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I also found that IF was a great way to break the snacking habit.1
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snacking isn't bad.
overeating snacks is bad
seperate snacks into servings prior and then you get to snack without mindlessly overeating8 -
snacking isn't bad.
overeating snacks is bad
seperate snacks into servings prior and then you get to snack without mindlessly overeating
I've tried to just plan snacks into my daily calories, but for me it seems like snacking is never enough. Whatever I plan, I find myself continuing to mindlessly eat past it. It's because I'm eating to address boredom and procrastination, not hunger or nutrition. For me, it's better to just cut them out ... if I can.0 -
robingmurphy wrote: »melrose155 wrote: »I've been doing 18:6 intermittent clean fasting for 3 weeks for this exact reason...mindless eating/snacking.
Interesting! I've never considered IF as a cure for mindless eating/snacking. In fact, I've always thought I would be a bad candidate for intermittent fasting because I'm one of those people who is thinking about food and snacking all the time. Doesn't having that habit make IF a lot harder?
Not necessarily. It could be that it gives you a break. Consider a scenario where you are thinking about food but look at the clock and realize it is not an option yet. It may not help at first but it may help train you to take a mental break from the food thoughts.
In any event you could try it for a week or two as an experiment. The only way to really know if a solution works is to try and find out. Try to stick it out for at least 3 or 4 days but if it makes things worse then you will know it is a fail.
My suggestion: Try to force yourself into the habit of always pre-logging food you have not planned on eating. I find that this increases accountability and awareness. Bad habits tend to live in blind spots so shining a light there helps. The more you see what the impact will be the more mental ammunition you will have to stay disciplined.
My suggestion is also put out there as a possibility for experimentation. Different people respond to different things so mine may not work either.4 -
I plan my snacks and eat them when they aid my workouts. I don’t have a problem of “eating past” or “mindlessly” eating snacks because they are measured, put on a plate, and taken into the other room.
One quick way of curing yourself of snacking while bored is to not be bored. Stop giving yourself permission to procrastinate. If you have time to go to the kitchen to make a snack, you have time to do whatever you should be doing instead. Pay attention to yourself, and when you feel the urge coming on, say it explicitly: “I’m feeling snacky because I want to avoid doing X. Therefore I am going to get up and go do X.”
A related way of handling it is to go do an exercise video any time you start to reach for a snack. Doesn’t have to be a long one, five minutes of sweat will do it. It teaches your body pretty quickly to stop whining for snacks.6 -
until you break the habit of snacking between meals , you can drink tea , coffee, 1/2 apple, tomato, or coconut water instead of snacks and see if that helps.2
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I don’t mindlessly snack, because I find it works really well to plan snacks into my day. I know I will need something in the afternoon so I can last til my late dinner, so I put that snack in my bag and record it in my diary in the morning. Then I eat the snack between 2 and 3 pm.4
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Usually, it's easiest to break a bad habit by replacing it with a better habit, as opposed to trying to "just stop".
You've identified your triggers, boredom and procrastination, so you're already partway there. (BTW: When the problem isn't really hunger, the solution generally isn't food.
).
So, what habit could help you limit boredom? Maybe pick up an old hobby, or take on a new one that interests you? Particularly good in this kind of scenario are things that either (1) require clean hands (sketching, playing a musical instrument, needlework, etc.), (2) create dirty hands (carpentry, painting, gardening, etc.), or (3) take you away from the food (going to the gym, birdwatching, walking the dog if you have one, etc.).
Procrastination is a little tougher, because you need to decide what to do about it. If you want a different way to procrastinate, maybe consider some of the "boredom" options. If you want to break through the procrastination and get started on something, a couple of things that work for me are breaking down the procrastinated thing into smaller steps, and convincing myself to do one of them; or, if it's not that sort of task, telling myself I need to spend at least 15 minutes doing it, before doing anything more distracting/fun. Very often, once I get going on the 15 minutes, I keep going. Even if I don't, there's progress.
Another option, if you're feeling low energy, would be to take a very short brisk walk outside (or do short, brisk exercise indoors if the weather's too depressing), just to get the blood moving again before attacking whatever you're putting off.
I really like thinking about food and eating, too, and doing it. To some extent, I've gamed that tendency by spending energy on planning the next meal(s) or shopping expeditions, thinking about what I want to cook, researching recipes or ingredients, etc., so I'm still thinking about and anticipating food, but anticipating food I'll get to eat later, rather than focusing on what to eat right now. YMMV on whether that works or not.
Just some thoughts, best wishes on finding a solution!5 -
You guys are awesome! These are such great suggestions. I'm going to bookmark this thread and come back and re-read it. In thinking more about my eating pattern, I notice that I try to stick with breakfast-lunch-dinner and no snacks because I like to have a substantial meal when I eat, and that allows me to eat 400-600-700 calories and still hit my target. Although I might find myself mindlessly snacking out of boredom or procrastination at any time, I'd say 80% of the time it happens between noon and 5pm. So, combining some ideas above, maybe I should switch to an IF pattern of eating 600 calories at noon, 400 at 3pm, and 700 at 7pm, and then use some of the distraction techniques above to avoid snacking at other times. That way I'm eating the most food before during and at the end of my most problematic time.2
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• Water with Stur water enhancer
• Coffee
• Popcorn (100 calories for a whole bag and the air fills you up)
• Whenever you eat a carb, pair it with a fat
• protein with a fat2 -
Personally, I embrace the snack habit. I plan the amount of calories and act accordingly.
But my favorite tricks to avoid snacking:
*Replace snack with hot beverage, such as coffee or tea.
* Chew gum, especially mint gum. The taste sends an "all done" signal plus gives your mouth something to do
* Brush your teeth. Ditto with the toothpaste flavor sending a "we're done eating here" signal, plus good dental hygiene.
* 10 minute break. Not always practical, but cravings tend to last only a few minutes. Getting up and doing something different often reduces or eliminates this feeling. I prefer getting up and walking, but it could be anything from looking at a cat video to coloring for a few minutes.1 -
It's kind of an annoying habit anywhere outside the house or car, but I find that chewing bubble gum and blowing ridiculous bubbles like I did in high school keeps me out of trouble.
I'm not usually much of a snacker, but road trips are my kryptonite. It's the perfect storm of boredom and lack of opportunity to physically move that makes snacks twice as deadly to my calorie goal and protein macros.2 -
robingmurphy wrote: »You guys are awesome! These are such great suggestions. I'm going to bookmark this thread and come back and re-read it. In thinking more about my eating pattern, I notice that I try to stick with breakfast-lunch-dinner and no snacks because I like to have a substantial meal when I eat, and that allows me to eat 400-600-700 calories and still hit my target. Although I might find myself mindlessly snacking out of boredom or procrastination at any time, I'd say 80% of the time it happens between noon and 5pm. So, combining some ideas above, maybe I should switch to an IF pattern of eating 600 calories at noon, 400 at 3pm, and 700 at 7pm, and then use some of the distraction techniques above to avoid snacking at other times. That way I'm eating the most food before during and at the end of my most problematic time.
I agree with you. If you eat substantial meals like 700-800 calories then you would not have as much urge to snack between meals0 -
@robingmurphy I am eating on exactly the schedule you proposed and it has worked better than any other I've tried. You still have to confront the hunger at some point if you're in a deficit, but I find it much easier to deal with in the mornings. I also have scheduled times for herbal tea and coffee.1
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