How to stop snacking

Hey guys!

I'm just trying to make my core a little more fit... even though I run everyday. however, I have this really bad problem with snacking. I ALWAYS need to have my mouth moving. If it's not gum, then I'm eating. I eat extremely healthy during the meals (basically vegetarian, no sauces, cooking oil, and minimal salt), but the snacks are all sweets. How do I stop craving foods every second of the day? How do I feel more satisfied after I eat? Even though I feel literally STUFFED after I eat like a 600 calorie meal, my brain tells me that I want more. :( Any tips on how to resist all those little temptations that are adding on the chub?

It's really depressing me because I've told myself that I want to control how much I eat, but this entire week, I've just been overeating and overeating day after day. I need to stop. Help me. Please.

Oh man, I can definitely relate. I just rejoined Calorie Count because although I am at a very healthy weight and love eating good foods and such, I have a weakness for snacking either A.) late at night or B.) when no one is home. I can't figure it out. I know it's partially out of boredom and partially out of avoiding doing other things. I also eat meals at my desk and since I am there for the majority of my evenings, it's so easy to get up and go into the kitchen and grab some crackers or chocolates and hide away in my room and eat it all.

Gah. It's so frustrating when you have an awesome day of great eating and then ruin it all with snacking.

So, I've been thinking and I've decided that there are certain places and environments I feel compelled to eat. So I am going to start eating at the table again and make that my place for eating.

Also, just staying occupied and busy really helps. Who are we to let food boss us around? We have more self-control than that. We are fully capable of making the decision to stop eating. I will be the first one to admit I struggle with the self-control, but that's why I rejoined this group, because I think accountability and community are essential in breaking bad habits. It's easy to eat in secrecy or out of social pressure...but if we have self-control and a community of support, we can do it.

I'm so glad you posted that comment. I can't believe how you stated things that I didn't even mention (like snacking late at night.. out of boredom. especially when no one is home.. eating at your table while working), because I do all of that. Oh, I'm so glad to know that I"m not the only one out there.

For sure! It is so much better knowing we aren't the only ones going through what we're experiencing. Haha, so today I wrote a note and taped it onto my desk saying "don't eat here" and it definitely felt strange making myself eat in the kitchen/dining room, but it did help. The Superbowl was a challenge, and I did enjoy a little too much nacho dip, but oh well.

I don't know why I eat so much when no one is home. Like, I understand that the secrecy thing makes it seem okay to eat a lot because no one else will know. But it's not like I'm hungry when I do it! So I don't really get that one.

It's a work in progress though getting my eating habits straightened out...

Ah, I did that today too! I made myself eat in the dining room... and was a different experience.

The Superbowl.. that really did get me snacking pretty much throughout the afternoon. Darn. Too late. :-/ I guess I'll have to start over again tomorrow. I kinda found a way to make myself not want to eat. I'm not sure if it's very healthy, but I started this yesterday. I love jasmine tea, so I just fill up like a 24 oz. cup and just drink and drink until I'm stuffed. And seriously... my appetite just kind of disappeared. haha obviously.

Mmm yes, I love tea and coffee, and they both help me from snacking. Certain teas have a lot of antioxidants and whatnot in them, so I can't see any harm in drinking a few cups a day :)

Yes, I started thinking about this constant need for something myself and I have a theory...we've been told that eating many small meals and 'snacks' is a good thing to keep our blood sugar consistent.  Okay, that works.  The bad side to that is I have now trained my stomach to expect something every hour and a 1/2 or 2 hours.  I've now trained myself to eat more often and the stomach knows it.  I eat good meal portions, good food like all of you seem to as well, but the frequency factor is definitely apparent with the new "eat more times a day" rule.

I'm trying to strategize and set certain times for snacking (10:00am, 3:00pm) and have the fruits and dried plums (a.k.a., prunes) sitting on the counter.  I drink water, make a cup of tea or other liquids to keep my mouth busy and make sure I have a snack when I said I was going to, thereby keeping my promise to my stomach!

My triggers are 1) an annoying phone call from work, 2) this cold weather, 3) a group of people, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary but it boils down to boredom, treating myself when I feel put upon, and celebration.  How can we avoid those things??  We can't!!

It's habit, it's treating ourselves in our hectic lives, sometimes it really IS hunger....I think it's all the above.  I never think of it as "starting over" as one person said in this string. I just think of it as a constant process of trying to maintain a level of control without that whole idea getting out of control. We're in that group that people say "Oh, you don't have to worry about your weight!" when, in fact, I think it's one of the toughtest places to be.   Maintenance.

All of these posts are so relatable!   It is that middle place where it would be so easy to lose control and start gaining, but meanwhile not in an unhealthy place per se... 

Personally,  I am trying to adapt to the office desk chair lifestyle after a lovely four years of non-stop action in college.  I am on my second year in this chair and it has proven very difficult to find the time to workout, but even more difficult to avoid snacking all day out of sheer boredom.  I am very nutritionally-concerned, I am mostly vegetarian (I will eat seafood sometimes), and avoid dairy whenever possible.  I also count the calories but it is the little bites here and there that I sort of forget to count that add up.  I am 5'7" and completely stuck at 135 - and thanks to this office chair - with saddlebags.

I too, have the oral fixation of eating.  I never really stop thinking about what I will eat next, even if I am full beyond measure.  Does anyone else panic a little bit if there isn't any food close by?  I have to always have something in my desk - an apple or almonds or something to feel at ease, like I might starve to death if left without food for 5 minutes!

Is this just evolutionary psycology taking over?  Especially for women, I think there is an innate anxiety to always have food on hand.  Full or not.  The slightest trigger of food will make me think I am hungry even if I am not - the second a coworker is russling through a potato chip bag or chomping on an apple (man I hate cubicals) my reaction is to eat food too.

I think maybe if we understand that we are just listening to our innate survival strategies from thousands of generations before us, we might be able to think our way around it. However that hasn't worked for me quite yet.

it makes me so happy that all of u have the same problem as me.

anyway, i read somewhere that when you overeat (say you stuff yourself with low cal high fiber veggies, or anything else for that matter) and ur belly gets too full, then you will actually release hormones to make you unsatisfied and want to eat more.

you could try to eat a really high protein and fat breakfast (minimal carbs), eat it slowly, then when the protein/fat portion is done, i fill up on high fiber stuff to fill out the meal. eating the protein first will give ur body time to realize that its not hungry anymore so that you dont go overborad with the low-cal filler food. it really works for me (aka i dont wanna snack as much during the day)

Until recently I was an out of control snacker - usually chocolate. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I ate a big bag of Maltesers, a big bag of Minstrels and a huge slice of chocolate cake, somehow justifying this consumption as my in between meal snacks. Ridiculous. Then, ashamed, I tried to cover it up by hiding the bags deep in the rubbish bin so my husband wouldn't know how much I'd eaten. It didn't work, and I fessed up!

I realised then that I'd got out of control with my snacking, and I downloaded the Paul McKenna 'cravings buster' to my iPod. It's pretty weird - you have to imagine eating the thing for which you have a weakness along with something you find completely repulsive. For me that was cockroaches, but it could just be a food you hate.

Anyway, I haven't eaten any chocolate since then, and it's been effortless. I wouldn't say that I'll never eat chocolate again, but I just no longer perceive it as something which will be that pleasurable. I could have it, or not have it, either is fine, and I realise that it's my choice and not something which I'm forced into.

And, what's more, I have had a constant craving for blueberries ever since, so I've been bingeing on probably the most healthy food there is! Bonus!

I'd recommend this to anyone as I feel so much happier with myself and have lost 3lbs already. I know this sound like an ad or something, but honestly, it works!

i'm the same way, but i notice that i snack primarily out of boredom. i try to have some will power and remind myself that i'm not hungry and i don't need to snack on anything, but that doesn't always work.

so what i have been doing is when i feel the urge to snack and can't fight it, i grab some baby carrots or a low fat yogurt instead of crackers or dove chocolates (love those!). it really helps cause it satisfies that urge to snack, but it's a good snack that won't add on to the chub.

So the best way I've found to stop snacking is by making myself drink a glass of water before I have a snack.  Usually I was only thirsty in the first place, and the water satisfies my need to have something in my mouth.  

Try and break down the reasoning behind your approach to eating. Why do you snack to begin with? May be snacking isn't a good plan for you. It wasn't for me because I found myself "being good" at small healthy meals but struggling with being moderate at snacking because I discounted snacking. Now I basically try to stick to 1,650 calories a day including meals, snacks, food, drinks, whatever. 450 calories early day, 550 calories mid day, and 650 calories after work in the evening. I just consider all food I put in my mouth to be "eating", not a meal or a snack. I stick to low sugar, no refined/processed foods, no saturated fats, no fried, limited protein, nothing 3 hours before bed. Everyday: fruit, nuts, romaine, lowfat dairy, lean animal protein usually at dinner, veggies, a bit of coxplex carbs, 8 oz. red wine, maybe a little dark chocolate. I'm at my desk all day, it's where I consume the first 1,100 calories of the day. If I have lunch or dinner out, I trade or borrow calories from other parts of the day, always leaving some for dinner because I can't go for more than a few hours without at least 300 calories. If I go over one day, I cut back that many the next day, maybe doing a 300, 400, 500 calorie breakdown. I've never been overweight, but was not fitting in my wardrobe after I turned 40. I lost 10 lbs. this way, it's a great way to eat for me at 49 to maintain 5'6", 133 lbs. I sporadically throughout the year do push-ups, sit-ups, and walk 30 min. in the good weather.