Mindless Snacking

I find logging my meals and snacks at the beginning of the day helps keep me on track. I work overnights in a grocery store. I used to eat a whole package of cookies or 1/2 box of crackers or chips. I try to always have some popcorn to snack on if the munchies hit

Addressing hunger head on. If I'm digging for a snack, I've worked on stopping and checking in to see if I want a full meal. I'm also noticing I snack a lot in the early afternoon/evening so I'm trying to make sure I eat something really filling that's going to stick around at the beginning of the after work/after school hullabaloo.

@ToffeeApple7, that is an excellent suggestion. Since entering maintenance a couple of months ago, my, unplanned, mindless snacking has been getting out of hand. And too much of it has been unhealthy, carby junk that sets off cravings. Going to give your method a try for the next couple of weeks to see if it helps. Thanks.

I started earing at least 30 g of protein for breakfast and I bought snacks for me that are good like nuts, hummus with carrots, snap peas, bell peppers and fruits.

Planning snacks into my day works helps me. Three meals and three snacks, so that I have eating time and non-eating time. I find the structure helps me think about food less. Otherwise my day can turn into a snackathon.

I've pretty much worked out which snacks keep me satiated until my next main meal. Fruit is my friend. On the days that I am extra hungry for whatever reason, I will allow an extra snack - I try to check if it's real hunger though, not just tiredness or boredom or stress etc.

The other big thing for me is simply reminding myself how much more I will enjoy my main meals if I'm not filled up on snacks. It really does make quite a difference for me.

Stop eating calorie dense refined carbohydrates aka junk ultra processed foods. Have an apple.

neanderthin wrote: »

Stop eating calorie dense refined carbohydrates aka junk ultra processed foods. Have an apple.

An apple? How dare you. We all know apples are really just little sugar bombs trying to give you diabetes.

If I can see it, I'll probably eat it. If I can't see it, I have to choose to eat it.

I'm going to start by saying--it's hard. You'll have good and bad days controlling it. I know I did.

It sounds like your mindless eating is due to stress. I could be wrong though.

• Schedule time for you to destress. Even if it is 30 minutes listening to music or an ebook while you slowly drive to the grocery store alone. Thirty minutes where you don't worry about picking kids up or the grocery list, or Aunt Helen's wedding--will really help you in the long run. It lowers that stress.
• I know it isn't always possible, but try to make sure you get 7 to 8 hours of quality sleep every night. If you just can't do it, try to add in two 15 minute power naps during the day. Poor sleep makes you tired. When you are tried, your body tells you to eat--especially carbs/sugar because you need quick energy. Sleep helps.
• Make sure you are taking a multivitamin every day. If you are missing vital vitamins in your diet, your body will demand you eat to try to get them.
• Do you have trigger foods? Things you absolutely can't stop eating? Try either not having the in the house or only having them in tiny portions to help control how much of them you eat.
• Do you have any low-calorie, HIGH VOLUME snacks? Some people just have trouble feeling full. A low-calorie, high-volume snack allows a person to eat a larger amount at a low-calorie point. It tricks the body into finally feeling full.
• Try delayed gratification. Ask yourself "Do I really want this? If you aren't sure, tell yourself you can have it in 2 hours if you still want it or you can have it tomorrow. A lot of times you lose interest and don't eat it later. This works best on things like second portions or special treats.
• Try having a hard cut off for snacking in the house...such as no stacks after 8PM. It has to be the whole house though--it's hard to watch your significant other finish off ice cream at 10 PM while you watch. Most little kids are in bed by 8 PM on school nights. Older kids--you can adjust as needed. Maybe just healthy snacks after 8?
• If you just can't stop snack endless, then switch the snacks out with berries, grapes, carrot sticks, air popped popcorn--things that are lower calorie.
• Make sure you get enough fiber and protein. If you don't have enough of those two items, your hunger may not turn off.
• Try to replace the need to stack with another activity. Keep your hands busy. Play a video game. Knit. Go for a walk. Call a friend. Find something else to do that keeps you physically active or keeps your hands busy.
• DELEGATE. Find ways to lower the workload. Ask for help from your spouse, friends, and family. Yeah, that sucks, but if stress is eating you then find ways to offload some of the work. For example, create a click list for groceries. You just pick them up, no shopping is required. And family or spouse can pick them up. No impulse buying. See if you can get your kids in a ride-share for after-school activities or school pick-up. Other parents may be willing to share pick-up duties to lower all of your stress. Any kid over 10 can learn to do their own laundry once a week. Cook a few bigger meals and freeze them in smaller portions so you can skip cooking some nights. Let the kids dress themselves and get themselves up using their alarm. Teens not ready when it's time to get on the bus? Go in your PJs. Most will only do that once. Trade-off cooking or cleaning with the spouse. Every one does part of the work. Everyone does part of the planning. It may require you to let them mess up a few times. In the long run, everyone will gain new skills.
• Set up something like Sweepy (free cleaning app). You set the time when things need to be done (every day, once a week, once very six months). You can make a room list and assign it to a specific person on a shared family tablet. This way the app reminds the kids and hubby--NOT you. You are not the bad guy. Keeps the house fairly clean and it's automated reminders.
• Say no more. Don't host dinners. Don't make 40 cupcakes for school. Sometimes to save everyone--you have to put you first. Lower the stress.

It's not easy. I wish you luck.
If the mindless snacking or endless hunger persists, you may want to check with a doctor or therapist. Sometimes binge snacking can be a symptom of untreated ADHD, minor depression, or stress. Sometimes fixing the crisis under the skin can impact the need to snack.

For me, a lot it was stress, boredom, and untreated ADHD altogether.

Good Luck!

I mostly make snacks harder to get. The things I have to snack on still have to be "assembled" in some way. I make sure there isn't anything I can just swipe a handful of. If I have cheese and crackers, I have to get out the cheese and slice it. I buy all of my produce already prepped, so I don't have that step. But I can't stand the taste of any vegetable plain, so I have to figure out a dip/marinade/topping of some kind to flavor things up. Sometimes I have half a sandwich, so have to drag everything out for that. Bonus points if it's something that makes my hands messy like cheese crackers. What I don't have are things like popcorn or cheese crackers that I can scoop up my the handful when I walk by--or worse--carry the whole container to where ever I am to snack on it.

Figuring out why all the mindless snacking is an important thing to do. I think in the meantime, strategies for the eating itself can be useful to kind of set up guardrails while you figure things out.

pre log my food at the beginning of the day. pre weigh snacks and put in bowls or baggies.

I used to snack many times/day but I knew it wasn't hunger, only boredom/stress. More than snacking, it was continuous munching (and I work from home, so my office is about two meters from kitchen...).

So, for starters I used chewing gum. A lot of that, a lot (veeery lot) of times/day. I put it in mouth, gave very few bites and discarded it. But many many times a day, I don't know how much chewing gum I've bought!
It lasted about 6 months, I think.
That won my habit: finally, I had no more continuous desire for continuous munching.

At that point, I found myself obliged to add in snacks, because I was always undereating!!

So, I worked on logging.
I was already accostumed to pre-log my two main meals (before MFP I used a personal journal), and to log my breakfast also as soon as I ate it, so I knew since from the morning how many calories I still had in the day (often since from the previous week, but that's because I meal-prep/batch cook almost every lunch and dinner of the week on the previous weekend).
So, after having logged breakfast (this I do when I eat it, because it varies on the spur of the moment), I started logging also 3 healthy snacks that I want for sure in my day 'cause they are good for my health (1 fruit, 1 chunk of parmesan and 1 yogurth).

Added these, sometimes I needed some more calories just to reach minimum; and surely I'll have some extra calories from my exercise (I only walk, but a lot, at least 20k steps a day, and I always eat half of this too, or also more/everything in two pre-defined days/week, as when it's pizza day and hamburger day) so here goes the treats: a square of dark chocolate; some nuts; a couple of biscuits; a second fruit; sometimes, even a sandwich.
HTH

PS: I'm never hungry anymore, but this I noticed happened since when I introduced the plate diet