Snacking at Work

This may be a very silly question, but I feel like eating all day while at the office.  Am I the only one out there?  I constantly feel like I need to snack while I work.  Whether it be chocolate or pretzels.  As long as I have something, I feel like I can continue working, otherwise I constantly think about food. Does anyone have any suggestions to keep my mind off of food while I am supposed to be working?   Please let me know.  I need some advice. How do I stay focused?  I see others around me who never snack.... how do they do it???

couple things. Get some gum. I don't care for it but I chew it at work because my coworker has a bucket of candy sitting 10 feet from me.  I was getting out of control.

The other thing is your mindset.  You just have to concentrate on not snacking all the time.  After a couple of weeks you won't have as much urge.  Try splitting up your meals.  If you eat 3 per day try downsizing and eating 5 or 6.  You will eat more often but the same amount of food.

Gum, water (or tea) and sugar free hard candy.  I too want to snack ALL the time at work.  I can't always control it, but I noticed that when I'm drinking a lot of water or tea I'm getting up from my desk more often which helps eliminate some of the need for snacking. 

Hard candy and gum help me too.  I think my mouth just wants to be busy.  I also try to eat smaller meals so I can eat more often while at work.

I can't say that I don't still want to snack, but at least it's getting better.

If you're going to snack during the day, have a plan and make it part of your daily calorie intake.  That's a good thing, because grazing during the day keeps your blood sugar levels even and helps you not overeat at meals.  Planning ahead allows you to have healthy mini-meals on hand between meals. 

I was actually advised, and have seen other advice here and other places, that it is metabolically beneficial to eat six mini-meals per day rather than just three large meals.  Supposedly keeps the body too busy to store fat or leach muscle or something like that.   I lost 20lbs doing it that way.  Eating clean healthy foods/snacks and watching calorie intake levels certainly helped.

I eat ALL day....every 2-3 hours. I have to. Even if I eat a large meal, I'm still going to want a snack in a bit....

When I do good, I try to eat:

A good breakfast w protein in it, 200-600 calories, about 7:30am

then I have string cheese, or cottage cheese, maybe a half sandwich or a rice cake w pb on it....100-200 or so cals, about 9:30am

for lunch I have a sandwich, or an already made meal made over the weekend...like chicken w veggies and brown rice, or chicken strips w veggies, or a tuna sandwich, usually aim for about 600 cals, and eat around 11:30

then I have an apple w pb, or rice cake w pb n j, or half of a sandwich, string cheese, something like that about 200 or so cals, at about 1:30.

Then I have a protein shake, or something higher in protein (cuz I workout right after work), around 200 cals, around 3:00 or so...

Dinner is chicken w veggies and rice, or some sort of carb, around 600 cals or so, at about 6-7pm.

Last meal/snack is sugar free pudding, or that's when I'll have a 'treat' or dessert, 100-300 cals, about 8-9.

End up with about 2000-2200 cals (which is MY goal, I'm sure it's diff for you), and I've eaten all day w/o feeling like I shouldn't be...and I don't get left feeling hungry at all.

I think the main thing is PLANNING to eat all day, and just making sure you pay attention to calorie content of things....and log them through the day if you can. THat's a big thing for me. It's easy to see cal totals JUMP when you log everything at once, then realize it was too much.

i wanted to eat all day to when i first chose the healthy life..but then i gradually got less hungry and I snack on carrots..pretzels  and oyster crackers...every morning i eat a yogurt, a banana  and a cereal bar.. good luck..

Vicki - I like the plan that you are on.  I definitely agree with the PLANNING part, but when I remember to plan it is too late.  My typical snacks at work are pretzels or peanuts or even saltines. I don't think they are bad, but I feel like I shouldn't be eating ALL the time. Food is seriously on my brain from the time I wake up until I go to bed. 

Is the 2200 calories to maintain or to loose?  How is that working for you?

Thanks so much for all the responses so far.  Vicki, I might try your diet. It sounds managable. I think if I get to eat every 2 hours just about, I should be a happy camper. 

I'm not really a big planner, either, so I really heavily on protein bars (which I keep in my desk) or I put lots of healthy extras in my lunch that I can pull out at snack time. 

I would think the peanuts are okay, but the saltines and pretzels, while low fat, are still refined carbs and not good diet snacks. 

Also, how active are you?  My daily goal is 2250, but I'm 5'9" and I walk several miles a day in addition to working out 5-6 times a week.

Are the protein bars good for you? I always thought they were high in calories and sugars.. yea i eat the pretzels and saltines in moderation. i work out 7 days a week mostly doing cardio and lots of crunches...i lift some weights..i am now 144 lbs.. So im going to try to limit the amount of cardio i do and concentrate on gaining muscle i burn about 700 calories/ day...

The protein bars are good nutrition, though yes they do have sugar (CC generally gives power bars an A rating).  The ones I eat range from 200-250 cal each.  I usually eat a whole one if I'm going for meal replacement and sometimes I only eat half of one for a snack.  Either way, they're surprisingly filling.  It depends on how big of regular meal I had.  I think Slim fast optima bars are more around the 100 cal mark so for you those might be better snack items.  If you need something that's going to occupy you for a while, sunflower seeds in the shell are good, as long as you don't have to worry about salt intake. 

I'm a "need to eat all the time" person too.  Have been all my life.  When I was heavier, it was candy and gum, but as I've lost weight and shifted my eating habits, I've changed it to whole grain cereals and fruit (mostly grapes, because they're relatively little and individual).  As for the cereals, good ones for me have been plain Cheerios, Kashi Heart to Heart and Kashi 7 grain honey puffs.  If you fill one of those snack size baggies, that's about a cup of cereal, which won't add too much to your calorie total.  And if you're able to avoid the really sugary cereals, it's not that bad for the sugar totals (and I don't feel bad about the natural sugars from fruits).  I agree with the previous posters about the saltines and preztels, but I would also add a word of warning about peanuts.  If you haven't already divvy-ed out the portion (which is usually only about 20-30 nuts), it's really, really easy to eat LOTS of them and overshoot your fat totals for the day.  You get a lot more handfuls with cereal - more bang for your buck.  I would say the same about the bars too - too few bites.  Like I said, I want to eat ALL the time.