During The Day.....

Ok....I haved summed up that most of my trouble is at work. There is food everywhere all the time. Now, does anyone have a "next to no calorie" snack that I can have and eat a LOT of during the day? I can skip breakfast and then have a low cal soup for lunch maybe...

My thought it this...if I can stay REAL low in cals all day....then I can have a nice dinner and a couple of glasses of wine at night and still stay around 1200-1500 cals. But I can't do that if I am eating all day...

Advice?

I have two things I keep on my desk all the time:
1) Gum - Sugar-free, obviously. I Love Orbit :)
2) Sunflower or Pumpkin Seeds. It's better to get them shelled, no salt (But good luck. Sometimes you have to choose either no salt or shelled). The time it takes to crack the shell helps slow down your eating this snack.

That's what I use :)

thanks...does it fill you up? what about breakfast and lunch?

Breakfast I have.. well, today, I had Oatmeal and a Protein Shake.

At 10:00 I have a Yogurt. Stonyfield Farms.

Lunch is whatever I pack, usually, though today we're going to an Indian Restaurant

Also, I eat a 2:30-3:00 snack. usually a piece of fruit and a granola bar.

i make a bag of smart balance popcorn and divide it up into three bags.  They are easy to throw in with stuff for work or school and make a great filling snack

htide

ok...so on a typical day.....when you get home....how many cals do you have left for dinner?

I tend to have a lighter dinner, personally. It just makes sense to me.

But, to answer the question, when I get home, I typically have about 500-700 calories left :)

Having a good breakfast in the morning helps.  I work in an office with a lot of very gifted bakers who love to share, so when I walk into the break room to make some tea, there's always cakes and muffins and at one point - fried chicken.  Ack!  I drink a lot of green tea and water durning the day.  This seems to help me from snacking on all of the donuts and things.  Also, I usually bring a piece of fruit for mid-morning and early afternoon snacks.

I think if you eat a healthy breakfast and resist the treats you will be in better shape.  I have to eat breakfast when I don't I find I eat junk all day long.

I don't do snacks - so for breakfast I'll eat about 500 calories  about 300 for lunch and dinner that would leave you 700 cals

Kipp - I do that sometimes - eat light during the day to leave some cals for the evening plans. 

I guess I need a VERY low or ZERO cal snack to munch on but I am hungry all day usually. Not sure why. I like almost everything....maybe celery??? But I like it with salt and that would up my sodium big time......is there such a thing as a zero cal food?

what about celery with a tbsp. of peanut butter? That'll give you some protein too. That usually fills me up.

You should have breakfast.

1) It'll start your metabolism going.

2) It'll put some food in your body.

3) It'll let you have smaller over all meals leading to less hunger cravings.

Instead of skipping breakfast and having a small lunch why not plan out 5-6 meals.

Of course if the real reason your snacking is boredom and not hunger then that's a different issue.

The little fat free yogurt cups are something like 40 calories. But I think you'd be better off with a bag of fruit or raw veggies. More bulk to keep you full and occupied.

Kipp, I think the problem here is your desire for a snack to "fill you up".  My idea of a snack is something to tide me over between breakfast and lunch, and lunch and dinner...not something to fill me up.  maybe that's the problem?

anyways...try baby carrots, celery, popcorn, maybe even a little baggie of all-bran cereal or kashi golean cereal.  Something you can snack on that's full of fiber and will fill you up.

Other than that...I'd try to remove the food from your brain.  If you surround yourself with food, you'll go nuts.  Sure, I have my junk drawer...but I only allow myself 1.  Self control, brotha!

I vote for raw veggies for snacks. The water content makes them pretty filling. My favorites are sweet peppers, broccoli, carrots. And apple slices are also a great one. There are calories in these things, but such is the nature of food.:-)

What about popcorn?  1 cup of air-popped is only 31 calories (see here).  Bring some in a baggie (if you use a sandwich bag, you can even portion control it!!)... even 2 cups of air-popped popcorn is going to only be 62 calories, and yes, because of the higher carbs (6.2 g per cup) and fiber, you'll feel full.  I often snack on popcorn (just a little salt or seasoning, which is much better than the mounds of real butter I used to put on it!!)... and I'm good to go!!

If not popcorn, then the raw veggie sticks (carrots, celery, even cucumber slices) can do the trick.  If you really *need* something to dip them in, bring along some low-fat or fat-free dressing in a little container - again, portion control.  They sell little containers at most stores like Wal-Mart or Target (sort of like the smallest containers, seen here).  The only 'downfall' with the veggies would be if you are wanting this snack later in the day and you don't have a fridge to put them in for the time being.

Hope that helps.

I think navywife had provided this list on another thread and I saved it on my computer.  These are negative calorie foods, your body burns more calories digesting them than the actual calories you eat:

apples
apricots
artichokes
asparagus
beets
blackberries
blueberries
brocoli
brussel sprouts
buffalo fish
cabbage
cantaloupe
carrots
cauliflower
celeraic
celery
cherries
chervil
chicory
Chinese cabbage (or nappa)
chives
clams
cod
corn
crabs
cranberries
cucumbers
currants
damson
dandelion
eggplant
endive
flounder
frog legs
garlic
grapefruit
grapes
green beans
honeydew melon
huckleberries
kale
kiwi
kohlrabi
kumquats
leeks
lemons
lettuce
limes
lobster
loganberries
mangoes
mushrooms
muskmelons
mussels
mustard greens
nectarine
okra
onions
orange
oysters
papaya
parley leaves
parsnips
peach
pear
peas
peppers
pineapple
plum
pomegranates
prunes
pumpkin
quince
radishes
raspberries
red cabbage
rhubarb
rutabagas
salsify
sauerkraut
scallions
sea bass
shrimp
sorrel
spinach
squash
strawberries
string beans
tangerine
terrapin
tomato
turnips
watercress
watermelon
zucchini

When I want to binge eat, like last night for example, I just had a whole bunch of cauliflower.  One day I snacked on cut up cucumbers because I was stressed at work and needed to munch on something.

WOW...awesome thx

Are we sure those are all negative calorie foods?  Some of those, i.e. apples have a pretty substantial amount of natural sugars in them.

I'm not sure, just a list I got from someone else on this site.  I'm not sure where to verify the info either.  But for me, it gives me a good vegie list to look for snacks.

Here's at least an explanation for celery that describes negative calorie foods.

http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/celery. asp

I don't believe anyone could build a diet off it, that would be unsafe, but when we want to reach for that cookie, donut, cake, etc... eat celery, cucumbers, or a salad with red wine vinegar...when we're tempted to overeat, there are some healthy solutions.

I can't eat apples anyway, I'm allergic :(