I know that the main reasons why I have not been losing as much weight as I would have hoped since switching to my "race weight" diet is because I have trouble resisting snacking, at work, when in town, and at home. While it is hard to control the environment at work (I cannot really ask people to stop giving away home baked goods and chocolate treats) or in town (I cannot ask all bakeries to start selling veggies), I believe I could significantly get my total weekly calories down by putting an end to evening and weekend snacking.
My first step was to start a "snacking diary" where I would write down all the foods I would snack on. It was a great way to increase the guilt factor and to make me aware of my bad eating habits, but still not enough to stop me from snacking. So my second step was to review my diary to identify all the foods I would snack on and simply ban them from my kitchen. Many of these foods are not "bad" by nature, in fact, many would consider my snacking habits relatively healthy. Still, however nutritious these foods are, they do add a lot of calories that I do not need to my diet.
My top three endless snacking "enemies" were:
-Cereals with milk (a bad habit from my student days)
-Bread with anything (honey, jam, butter, cheese, etc.). I noticed the only bread I do not end up snacking on is German rye or pumpernickel bread, because I am not a big fan of its taste
- Juice, milk, smoothies and other forms of liquid calories
I call them my snacking "enemies" because when I start eating or drinking these, I simply cannot stop. I would eat two bowls of cereals, four toasts with peanut butter spread or drink five glasses of orange juice before I could even start becoming conscious of my mistake.
My top three healthy snacking "friends" are:
-Carrots (One or two carrots are more than enough)
-Apples (I don't really like apples too much, so I usually stop at half of one)
-Pickles (the only issue is they are high in salt, so only good after a sweaty workout)
As a reminder, I put all the foods I have decided to ban from my kitchen in this picture mosaic that I will print and put on my fridge:
What are YOUR snacking enemies? What are your snacking friends? Start a snacking diary to find out and feel free to share them in the comment section.
My first step was to start a "snacking diary" where I would write down all the foods I would snack on. It was a great way to increase the guilt factor and to make me aware of my bad eating habits, but still not enough to stop me from snacking. So my second step was to review my diary to identify all the foods I would snack on and simply ban them from my kitchen. Many of these foods are not "bad" by nature, in fact, many would consider my snacking habits relatively healthy. Still, however nutritious these foods are, they do add a lot of calories that I do not need to my diet.
My top three endless snacking "enemies" were:
-Cereals with milk (a bad habit from my student days)
-Bread with anything (honey, jam, butter, cheese, etc.). I noticed the only bread I do not end up snacking on is German rye or pumpernickel bread, because I am not a big fan of its taste
- Juice, milk, smoothies and other forms of liquid calories
I call them my snacking "enemies" because when I start eating or drinking these, I simply cannot stop. I would eat two bowls of cereals, four toasts with peanut butter spread or drink five glasses of orange juice before I could even start becoming conscious of my mistake.
My top three healthy snacking "friends" are:
-Carrots (One or two carrots are more than enough)
-Apples (I don't really like apples too much, so I usually stop at half of one)
-Pickles (the only issue is they are high in salt, so only good after a sweaty workout)
As a reminder, I put all the foods I have decided to ban from my kitchen in this picture mosaic that I will print and put on my fridge:
What are YOUR snacking enemies? What are your snacking friends? Start a snacking diary to find out and feel free to share them in the comment section.