I snack, therefore I am. 🤷‍♂️

I’m one who strongly needs to know that what I do is my choice rather than anyone else's direction. Having to make decisions because “the program says so” or because I don’t have enough points left triggers feeling of deprivation. My solution for that has historically been to rebel and eat whatever I want. So to avoid that, I protect my points early in the day so that I have flexibility in the evening. That means I’m making the choice to snack, and how much.

Yeah, therapy might help.

So I snack. It’s not rare to spend half of my daily points on snacks. Last night I had 3/4 cup of Chex Mix and a Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, followed by a fudgsicle as I went to bed. Those three things are thirteen points, and I get 22/day. My most “routine” snacks are 20 grams of BBQ Pop Chips for two points, and a Healthy Choice fudgsicle for two points. The chips get eaten while reading or watching TV, and the fudgsicle is a before-sleep snack.

Part of what’s working for me is nibbling - little bites. I can make those chips or the Chex Mix last a half hour. I’ll eat each piece of Chex in two separate bites so it lasts longer. It’s almost more about the fact that I am snacking rather than what I’m snacking on.

Before WW, it was all about volume. I would eat maybe a third of a half gallons of ice cream in an evening. I might have two FlufferNutters with milk. After WW, as I evolved my habits, it was a large bowl of popcorn with olive oil from a Misto and some sort of seasoning. Right now, I’m generally doing chips and fudgsicles. Who knows who I’ll be tomorrow?

Snacking in front of the TV is one of my biggest challenges for managing my weight.

I generally don't snack during the day. After dinner, however, I had been a habitual snacker, particularly if I'm sitting in front of the TV and relaxing. I wish I could claim that I make conscious choices about snacking, but that's not really how it works. Instead, it's much more of a habit for me (read, Pavlovian). It could be 30' after dinner, and if I sit down in front of the TV, my mind immediately wonders what I could have as a snack (or as an alcoholic beverage).

I am currently back to weight-loss mode, and so the after-dinner TV snacking is the key area for me to limit. There isn't much else I can cut back on in my day, so this is important to me.

I've now simply said that I can't snack after dinner during the week (Sun-Thurs), period, the end.

I've been working to remember a couple of ideas when my mind starts to think about snacks. First, I've been using a mantra: "I'd rather be skinny." I will literally say that in my head a few times, over and over.

Second, I've tried to engage my rational brain as well. I also remind myself that I just finished dinner, so there is no way that I'm actually hungry. I remind myself that the feeling of wanting to snack is really just a trick my brain is playing on me, rather than a physical sensation or need.

There is a fair amount of willpower involved, and I appreciate that living on willpower can be challenging.
At the moment, I seem to be winning the battle, but I also appreciate that I have to flip "no-snacking in front of the TV" into a habit in its own right.

crewahl wrote: »

I’m finding that temporizing is helping me. “Oh, I could have that now, but I’ll put it off until later . . . “ . . . . and later, and later . . .

I used to take an approach where I would specifically plan to have a small snack at a particular time. For example, I won't eat anything now, but I will have a serving of popcorn at 9 pm. That wasn't a bad strategy, because delaying was easier than saying "no." Unfortunately, I need to learn to say "no" more often!