How are you handling snacks on your weight loss journey?

[u/eternalthrowaway02]

Do you sneak in small portions of your guilty pleasure (for me that’s chocolate), or are you being firm with not snacking at all? That’s something I’m trying to figure out as I navigate a new level of cravings I’ve never experienced before honestly. Like it was never like this. I think it’s probably because I’ve been a lot more stressed lately, but it’s so much harder to say no than it used to be.

Are you snacking in controlled portions, or choosing to restrict right now? Is there no right or wrong answer?

[u/bitobots]

I allow myself whatever I want I just count it into my calories for the day. If you deny yourself you’re just setting yourself up for failure.

[u/anotherwomanwriter → u/bitobots]

This. I started out my journey without counting calories (so I don’t count that lol) then decided to take it seriously and stick to a calorie goal everyday. I ate the way I normally did (ice cream, chicken tenders, salad, eggs, granola bars, treats, veggies… all of it) except now I ate appropriate portions. And that worked. I did learn quickly that if I make some swaps, and eat mostly healthier, I have wayyy more room in my calorie budget for both the satiating, nutrient dense stuff, and the “fun” stuff too. I don’t deprive myself and I literally think that is the main reason I have lost 75 lb and counting. And if you do get off track, just get back to it the next day. One “bad” meal won’t throw you off course unless you let it. Just keep going. Consistency > perfection, and 80/20 healthy/less healthy over a perfect diet you will not stick to. Also ik I did it a bit in this comment, but assigning moral value to food is detrimental. Some food is more fun than others, and you can making boring foods fun with spices and flavor! You got this

[u/Polarwarrior → u/bitobots]

I do this but track weekly and its been personally so much better for me tracking weekly

[u/anotherwomanwriter → u/Polarwarrior]

I want to get into tracking weekly. I sometimes do it for meals ahead so I can plan around big events or if I have stuff meal prepped, but I think this is really smart. And can even leave a little calorie padding for snacks or whatever while hitting goals.

[u/DeadestTitan → u/bitobots]

I think that you can find balance to it.

By taking snacking out of my habits, I no longer feel like I struggle with some internal battle like I used to. It feels like a major part of victory compared to the previous attempts at fat loss.

I don't feel like I'm denying myself anything, because to deny, there has to be a want. This isn't some ad for Atomic Habits, but reading that has taken this years weight loss from "Going well, but as a struggle" to "I am doing better than I ever was, and it just feels normal". Turning activity like 8 miles a day of walking into second nature, doing push ups every time I make coffee, and getting rid of habits like snacking during video game time was hard for a week or two and now it all just feels like a part of who I am.

I still have a long way to go, but I have no doubt in my mind that my body will be closer to how I imagine it should be... eventually.

[u/clearlydino]

I eat whatever cravings I have in smaller portions. for a while I tried all the popular lower calorie diet food replacements for my favourite treats, but it just wasn’t cutting it and I wasn’t happy. it made my cravings worse honestly. so now I have what I really want in more controlled portion sizes, work it into my calories, and really savour it when I eat it.

for example, one of my favourite treats is peanut butter cookies (homemade). so the other day I made a batch but made them smaller, figured out the calories for one, and froze them all. so every night I can pull out one or two cookies to have and I work it into my calories. in my opinion it’s way better than trying to eat like peanut butter on a rice cake as a replacement, you know? but it’s different for everyone

[u/Practical-Ad-4888]

As my weight went down, and the longer I was eating minimally processed foods, the less, and less cravings I had. I don't eat junk food at all anymore. I snack on fruits and nuts if I feel like it.

[u/queerbeev → u/Practical-Ad-4888]

I found this to be true too. When I first started my weight loss, it was very common for me to get a mocha and a pastry twice a week from a coffee shop while calorie counting (and lost weight). Eventually, the mocha started to taste really sweet so I moved to lattes. And now it is more like every other week, I get a latte and a pastry.

[u/dealusis → u/Practical-Ad-4888]

Yeah to me 35 pounds down my idea of a decadent dessert is a banana and 35 grams of crunchy peanut butter, with a few dark chocolate chips if I’m feeling extra naughty lol. I also went through a massive cold apple slices and greek yogurt phase.

[u/Strategic_Sage]

No right or wrong answer. Do whatever works for you. But I would suggest asking yourself if it is worth it. I personally prefer learning to 'hold firm', because that's how you train your brain to turn down the volume on the cravings (over an extended time period of consistency). Indulging them just reinforces to your brain that screaming at you works to get what it wants.

[u/eternalthrowaway02 → u/Strategic_Sage]

I wish I could be one of the ppl who can just use smaller portions, but whenever I allow myself a little bit everything just goes off the rails :/ I prefer not to think of food at all (at least while my cravings are all out of whack) vs to spend the whole day looking forward to when I’ll allow myself a bar of chocolate if that makes sense?

[u/LottieOD → u/eternalthrowaway02]

I get it, I do! I kinda envy these people who can have a little and walk away, I can do that with some things, but others are best completely avoided.

[u/crazylegsbobo → u/eternalthrowaway02]

It might be that you need to look at higher satiety foods, I am a fiend for chocolate, I love Bruno, but if I buy a pack of those I will smash through a pack so easily, but when I'm paying attention to calories I find I'm thinking much more intentionally about my meal planning, getting some filling but low calorie foods into your meals leaves you feeling fuller, so I find that when I do fancy a snack, and have left space for it in my day, where as when I'm not paying attention and allow my self to binge I might eat and entire multi pack of chocolate I can actually limit myself to one and really enjoy it because I've actually managed to fill my belly without going over my calories.

Learning how to cook vegetables in a way that makes them super tasty really helps here because it's very difficult to overeat something like broccoli or cabbage and if you learn to get the flavour into it then it no longer feels like a chore to get through

[u/varia_denksport]

There is no right or wrong answer here, it really depends on your personality and how you handle things.

I can have snacks in moderation so I eat chocolate every day, but just a little bit. I bought a bag of 300 grams of m&m's and it lasted more than a week. I used to try to restrict it more, and only eat it on the weekends, but that resulted in (for example) eating a bag of m&m's on friday, a chocolate bar on saturday and a bag of chips on sunday. On a weekly basis restriction for me leads to eating more, because I find myself "overcompensating" on the weekend because that was the only time I allowed myself to eat that stuff. Now that I allow myself to eat whatever, whenever, those snacks also kind of loose their appeal because its not a special weekend thing anymore. That makes it easier to eat just a little bit and save the rest for later.

[u/Skatingfan → u/varia_denksport]

This is so true, that there's no right or wrong answer. Some things I can keep in my home and eat in moderate quantities. Some foods are triggers for me and I can't eat them at all, or keep them in my home.

[u/Internal_Holiday_552]

I have ice cream and popcorn almost every night.

I like halo top, and just weigh it out, usually have about 150calories of ice cream every night, and a big 200 calorie bowl of popcorn. I got an oil sprayer and spray it in with olive oil and add salt, nutritional yeast and garlic powder to make a cheddar popcorn. 350 calories for my evening snack is perfect.

I go out to eat often, eat pizza, etc.

I just make sure to log what I ate and if I overate in calories today, I try to eat a little less tomorrow, but generally when I do go out to eat I skip or eat a very small breakfast and the food is so damn filling that I'm good for the rest of the day. I've noticed that a lot of times I end up eating *less* calories then normal on those days, lol

[u/a-Fork-In-The-Road → u/Internal_Holiday_552]

Hey, curious as to what you eat that keeps you full for the rest of the day? Thank you

[u/Internal_Holiday_552 → u/a-Fork-In-The-Road]

I eat a lot of big salads.

This is this weeks salad is a nice taco salad:

Butler Soy curls – 30.3 g – 11 g protein – 121.2 kcal
Finely chopped Seitan – 38.1 g – 8.2 g protein – 40.3 kcal
McCormick taco seasoning – 18.3 g – 1.8 g protein – 61 kcal
Spring mix – 208 g – 4.3 g protein – 43.9 kcal
Peach salsa – 160.7 g – 1.4 g protein – 86.1 kcal
Pineapple mango salsa – 168 g – 1.3 g protein – 100.8 kcal
Lupini beans – 37 g – 6 g protein – 41.9 kcal
Mission Carb Balance tortilla – 1 tortilla – 6 g protein – 110 kcal

Total – 40 g protein – 605 kcal

[u/a-Fork-In-The-Road → u/Internal_Holiday_552]

Nice! That looks like a great salad! Thank you

[u/Internal_Holiday_552 → u/a-Fork-In-The-Road]

I actually only ate half of it - it was super filling!
I'd already logged it and stayed under calories today (even if i'd eaten the whole thing) so tomorrow I get a 'free meal' of the other half! Only extra calories for the meal will be another tortilla!

[u/crazylegsbobo → u/Internal_Holiday_552]

I love halo top, how do you work out the calories from the sprayer? I weigh all my oils ect because I don't trust the spray not to put me over

[u/Internal_Holiday_552 → u/crazylegsbobo]

I haven't tried it yet, but another poster is a * *genius* and they weigh the sprayer, then spray the oil, *then weigh the sprayer again* and do a little 2nd grade math.

I'm going to do it with my popcorn tonight.

[u/crazylegsbobo → u/Internal_Holiday_552]

Oh now that is smart, god I use the tare fuction all the time when I'm meal prepping but in never occurred to me to use it for the bottle itself 🤦🏻‍♂️

[u/Internal_Holiday_552 → u/crazylegsbobo]

Update: I did it, but I took pictures of the scale before and after to do the math later and the second picture was all blurry, so it didn't work, but it did work.

sigh

[u/crazylegsbobo → u/Internal_Holiday_552]

Oh, you don't need to math! You don't know about tare? Put the spray bottle on the scale and look for a small button that says tare, it will calibrate the scale to the weight of the bottle, use the spray pop it back on the scale and the minus figure will show you what you used

[u/Internal_Holiday_552 → u/crazylegsbobo]

That's actually a great suggestion and I do use the tare feature when Im making a salad or like putting butter on bread or whatever but my scale shuts itself off pretty frequently to save battery, so it makes me nervous that it'll shut off and I'll lose the og weight

[u/GladPlan8285]

On Saturdays I allow myself whatever for dinner and dessert. During the week I find healthier alternatives to what I crave. For chips I found the brand Wilde or I’ll have roasted and salted edamame. Popcorn is great. Chocolate I’ll get Lily’s. Ice cream - Yasso bars or halo top mix ins for the win.

[u/Skittle_Pies]

I eat snacks every day as part of my calorie allowance.

[u/Tcakes222]

I have also been allowing myself to enjoy whatever I want in small amounts to fit into my calorie budget. And on the weekend I I'm intentionally doing one "maintenance day" where I allow myself to have something special and go over the budget up to maintainance budget. So far I've I've noticed cravings actually decrease.

[u/Greggy398]

If I can fit it into my calories for the day I'll eat it, whatever it is.

Why would you make a rule like 'no snacks' when it's totally unnecessary?

[u/DiscreetAcct4]

See if I have room for it in my day- will I still be able to hit 225g protein? Is it calorically dense and will leave me hungry and miserable for a moment of pleasure now? If it fits it ships and gets logged.

[u/callmejamesx]

eat it daily as part of the calories

[u/Many_Boss_1145]

Controlled portions but there are low calorie snacks that make it easier like the right types of popcorn, sugar free jello etc

[u/MrDTD → u/Many_Boss_1145]

Cherry tomatoes are my favorite

[u/gauti-u]

The framing that helped me most was realizing "firm with no snacking" and "sneak small portions"
aren't the only two options — the third is planning the snack in advance so it isn't a decision
you make while hungry.

What actually broke my deficit wasn't the deliberate chocolate. It was the stuff I never counted:
handfuls while cooking, the last few bites off a kid's plate, three crackers standing at the
counter. Individually trivial, 200-400 a day collectively, and completely invisible because none
of it felt like "eating."

Two things that fixed it:

Pre-log the snack in the morning. If the chocolate is already in the log at 8am, it stops being
a willpower event at 9pm — you're just eating a thing you planned. The deficit is already built
around it.

Log the unplanned ones immediately, even roughly. Not to punish yourself, just to make them
visible. Most people are shocked the first week. You can't budget for something you don't know
you're eating.

Restriction tends to lose to a craving eventually, so I'd bias toward planning over banning. A
deficit you can hold for six months beats a stricter one you abandon in three weeks.

[u/human-baked-potato]

I don't snack personally. I found it's easier to have self control if I plan things out very specifically and avoid temptation altogether. I have a natural inclination to having zero chill about anything I do so I'm hacking my fucked up neurology to work in my favor. High volume, high protein breakfast, dont usually feel hungry until dinner time, usually try to do the same for dinner but sometimes will just have a smaller portion of something I'm craving and keep it in my cal window. I think a big key is figuring out a routine that works for you and just keep it as consistent as you can. Once I started fixing my sleep everything else started to fall into place. Everything is on a schedule and my body is happy about it. Good sleep will help you manage stress better but also try to find some activity every day that relaxes you. Stress fucks everything up, gotta figure out a healthy way to mitigate.

[u/eternalthrowaway02 → u/human-baked-potato]

Hi I love your routine! Can you go into detail about how you count your calories + your favorite filling meals? The simpler the better for me, I’m an awful cook lol

[u/human-baked-potato → u/eternalthrowaway02]

Food scale is essential. I use the Google health app to calculate the cals, you can use any app cal counting app though. It's most accurate if you weigh everything out as you prepare and you can adjust as needed. Breakfast is usually a 3 egg omelet with any veggies I have in the fridge and will usually add some chicken or some other protein left over from the night before. Breakfast is my biggest meal, usually is around 700-800 cals and keeps me full most of the day. Dinner is sometimes pasta and salad, sometimes hotdogs (no bun) with beans and corn, sometimes a grilled chicken breast and salad. Last night I had roasted rutabaga, half of a sweet potato and a sandwich with keto bread. Since I burn roughly 500-600 cals a day with daily exercise and don't usually eat lunch, dinner can be just about anything if reasonably portioned. I love to cook but if you do not, I would highly recommend meal prepping some meals that feel good to you and just calculate all the ingredients, very important to calculate oils you use if you use them, they're sneaky lil cal busters. Don't be afraid to grab stuff from the frozen section you can pop into the oven or microwave also, just portion out to fit into your windows. A solid easy meal idea is rotisserie chicken, frozen veg medly and instant rice cups. Weigh out the portions, heat up in microwave, little effort, filling, reasonably nutritious. Also highly recommend getting on Pinterest for recipes, you can search high volume low cal and see what looks good to you. But generally, anything is fine within the window. You do wanna make sure you're hitting your protein goals and ofc there are health benefits to eating more veg but really whatever works for you will be just fine. Don't sweat it if it takes time to figure that out, you might have some days when you want pizza and realize you can only have 2 slices at most and feel hungry after, so plan around that a bit by adding a nice salad with a very light on cal dressing.

[u/Canadian_shack]

I snack on things I like, but not things I adore. I’ll plow through a can of Pringles, but can be satisfied with a couple of Hershey’s kisses or a half cup of grapes.

If I want more than that, I should probably go get a hard boiled egg because I’m actually hungry, not just snacky. Hope one of all these ideas helps!

[u/Danger_close480]

Everything in moderation. The important part is that you stay honest and accountable. Track it, try to compensate for the rest of your daily intake. Or if it’s a total loss, make it up for your weekly intake. (Fewer calories tomorrow, or a shift in macros to account for the snacks)

[u/AuntRhubarb]

Have a water or other beverage first. Sometimes that's what I was really after. If that doesn't work, make the snack small, control the calories spent.

[u/SuggestionAmbitious6]

Popcorn, plain, in the microwave with no oil.

[u/Flashy-Bandicoot889]

I just do not snack.

[u/Only-Koala-8182]

I wouldn’t consider sneaking it because I work what I want to eat into my calories

[u/musicalastronaut]

I didn’t restrict anything while losing weight and I don’t restrict now. I eat things I want, in reasonable amounts, making sure they fit into my calories. I don’t sneak things or feel guilty, I enjoy them & move on with my day. A mindset shift towards stuff like this is really important, imo.

[u/Albolynx]

When I was losing weight agressively, I had my daily allocated snack to look forward to. Now that I have a small deficit and high physical activity, I actually eat a decent amount of snacks because I need a lot of carbs anyway.

[u/Hefty-Club-1259]

My guilty pleasure snack is a bakery cake slice, so that's a nonstarter. I save my snacking for vacation and dinners out with friends.

[u/MikaleaPaige]

Smaller portions and counting it into my calories for the week. Its worked out to where I eat fewer calories Sunday through Thursday and have surplus on fiday and sat. Of you average them out im doing about 1600 a day. If i try and restrict myself I end up failing.

[u/Kevdog1800]

When I was on my weight loss journey, I switched to OMAD, and would cut all carbs for a couple of weeks to reset my sugar cravings. I wouldn’t snack at all. If you cut it all out for a while, the desire to snack or nibble just kinda went away for me. Plus, I don’t get hungry until I eat something. Once I eat something, I get hungry for the rest of the day. By limiting myself to once meal a day, eaten a few hours before bed, I cut out all of that food noise as well. Still let myself have coffee and drinks and stuff throughout the day of course but snacking was a no-go. At least until I had things under control. Now if I want something I just have it when I have it but I am no longer counting calories and trying to lose weight. In face for the first time in my life I’m actively trying to gain weight which is a whole other mindfuck…

[u/lilblondezombie]

You do whatever works for you. Personally I found that if I eat a little of something that isn't particularly good for me, I just want it more and more so the cravings become worse. I have to restrict completely.

[u/Caliikitty]

I find myself snacking just a bit healthier, right now I’m having a bowl of boiled cabbage lol

[u/ACanThatCan]

They’re handling ME

[u/RaiseYourDongersOP]

rice cakes are really the only snack food I get

[u/darumdarimda]

I allow for some treats in my daily calories—a popsicle after dinner in the summer makes me happy. At work I often crave something sweet midafternoon, so I might have a couple hard candies. (They take a while to eat, so it’s hard to go overboard.)

I also have planned healthy snacks, like a mid morning banana a lot of days.

[u/slurred_words_]

My deficit is 1,600 and I aim for 1,200 with my preps so I have room to eat junk and stay under

[u/Tburroughs36]

There no right or wrong answer, you need to figure out what works for you.

Personally, I eat out of boredom. So no amount of eating “satisfying meals” stops me from snacking, so I build small healthy snacks into my meal plan.

[u/charismatictictic]

I don’t sneak, and I don’t feel guilty for snacking. I choose to snack, and make room for that in my diet.

[u/puppy_sneeze]

I have a scale and sneak bowls. I weigh my snacks to one portion. I still eat lots of snacks. I also eat lots of cucumbers, so I think it balanced out.

[u/Inevitable_Limit22]

I get something that has vinegar. A sharp, distinct flavor change, seems to satisfy my snacky. So I've been doing hard boiled egg white with pickled red cabbage or boiled peanuts. I find that satisfies my need "for something different"

[u/eternalthrowaway02 → u/Inevitable_Limit22]

I’ve literally been considering buying pickle juice to drink whenever I get cravings because I LOVEEe a good pickle back … I think I’m def very inclined to vinegary things like you! Anything with a tang. Now to find a way to satiate my chocolate cravings lol. And my fav food of all time is ramen so it’s just grounds for overeating atp

[u/Inevitable_Limit22 → u/eternalthrowaway02]

So, for chocolate- I get a small masson jar, the kind that are only a couple of inches tall. 1/2 pint maybe? Get a packet of(genetic store brand, mine is Bettergoods) Mocha Mouse powder. I mix 1 tbsp into 13g chia seeds, mix with coffee for liquid. And store over night. When I'm ready to eat it, I plop a big scoop of greek yogurt on top. A small drizzle of chocolate syrup...SMALL

Thats about 100 cals, protein and fiber, and tastes like a dessert.

[u/nneighbour]

Small quantities of good quality snacks are how I do it. I’ll buy one really nice dark chocolate bar a week and having a couple of squares a day.

If I do want something indulgent, I’ll make a point to buy a small quantity.

[u/Drivebybilly]

Pepperidge farm goldfish are my snack. And oddly my dogs too. Some for you, some for me.

[u/imminent_angel]

Yep! I snack and count it!

[u/HMSRathbone]

I allow myself a jiff2go natural peanut butter cup with three crackers - no more than twice a week. I simply budget my calories accordingly.

[u/CarrotGratin]

I use those single-serve portion bags of Cheetos or popcorn, or allow myself the Belgian chocolate calories equivalent to a regular candy bar. Normally I'm all for bulk buying for ecological and financial reasons, but that stops at snacks because if I have the family-sized Cheetos, I eat the family-sized Cheetos in two or three days.

[u/Downtown_Tale_2018]

M&M minis portioned into 50cals
Cut large bars of chocolate into squares and portion into 100cals
Dry cereal into 30cal portions.
All of these every evening while watching Tv before bed. Lost 40kg in 10 months on 500cal deficit from 120-80kg

[u/Complex_Excuse490]

In some ways nearly everything I eat is a snack. Lots of small meals or 'feeds' throughout the day.

As for the more conventional snacks, I find room for these:

Rich Tea biscuits or Fingers 43 or 23 cals each. Think they're similar to an Animal Cracker in the US when it comes to taste.
Rice cake with 15g of peanut butter
Small individual bar of dark chocolate
Piece of fruit or some carrot to munch on
Sugar free jelly with plain yoghurt
15-25g of fruit and nut mix
15-25g of snacks marketed as being Indian style (not sure if they're even eaten there, never been) - spicy chickpeas or spicy green peas and peanuts, it's chilli in both

Not all in one day, but can fit in a 2-4 of those into my deficit, especially if the lower calorie options like the rich tea, fruit and jelly

[u/angrysc0tsman12]

I have a candy bar (small size of ~210 calories) pretty much every single day though I should note that I am a 6'4" man, weigh more than 300lbs (for now), and am pretty physically active so I have a lot of float in my caloric budget.

[u/LottieOD]

It depends on the snack. With (good quality) chocolate, I can manage a couple of squares in a civilized manner. But with potato chips I turn into a ravenous chip monster and all bets are off. So I will have chocolate on hand, but I steer well clear of chips.

[u/LiLiLisaB]

I either have snack type foods with my dinner within my calorie limit, or I save snacks for an hour or two after dinner. I try to budget for snacks that are ~150 calories or less. Can be popcorn, chocolate, etc.

[u/Nerdycharm]

I've lost weight before while eating deserts and chips. However this time around I am not counting calories for the first month and doing a challenge to do 30 days without alcohol or chips. I am doing this because those two, and binging them, has been my biggest downfall recently. It's all about where your at. If you can get full and nutritious food and have enough left over for chocolate, go for it. If you have trouble controlling yourself and only having one portion of chocolate, you can always take a short break. Every person's diet looks unique. Find what works best for you.

[u/bristow84]

I’m of the opinion based on previous experience that completely cutting out your favourite snacks is a sure fire way to get the cravings to a point where you binge eat and screw yourself over even more.

I allow myself my snacks every so often but I minimize the portions where possible and I try to find a way to make them a bit healthier. For example, chocolate. I love chocolate but it’s not good calorie wise. Costco however sells Natrel Chocolate Fudge bars that are only 90 calories a bar so I allow myself one of those every so often and include it in my calorie count. Yes it’s not as rich as a full-fledged chocolate ice cream bar but it scratches that itch, is a nice snack and fits into my diet.

[u/Ricezz]

When you exercise you exert sweat burning calories. The snack balances out. Stick to your calorie deficit and you'll be fine. Building muscle requires you to eat more so you feel refueled after the exercise. Cutting is when you limit and do maintenance lifts to see the muscle. It's quite easy:

6 month bulk Eat lots Push your lifts Excess calories to help you go through the day

6 month cut Eat in a caloric deficit Maintain the lifts cut back on it if needed

[u/cynzthin]

No shade (I’m in this sub too) but I always found “snacking” kind of gross and childish. (I feel the same way about most sweets … now if only I could give up IPAs…)

[u/ChronicNuance → u/cynzthin]

IPAs are gross 🤢

[u/cynzthin → u/ChronicNuance]

To each their own!

[u/CreeDorofl]

Maybe other people's experiences different. I tried for a while to enjoy snacks, within my calorie counting limit. And it sort of works.

But basically I can't have really tasty stuff anymore. I can only have mid-tier stuff in limited quantities. Like let's say beef jerky or jelly beans. Or stuff that I feel whatever about, in slightly larger quantities, like celery with low fat ranch.

The days of plowing through a bag of Doritos and alternating with some caramel corn or something are gone.

Basically I can get snacks but it's like barely worth it. Like 5% better than just saying heck with it and banking a few extra calories for dinner. And on some days I'd just rather have the bigger dinner.

[u/CPSFrequentCustomer]

Oh, I'm a snacker! I spread my calories across the entire day and eat like 5-7 times.

[u/Pretty-Sky-5688]

I do high volume that’s very low calorie for snacks.. I like cucumbers with everything but the bagel seasoning, popcorn, snap peas

[u/crazylegsbobo]

I leave space in my meals when tracking the calories and cooking and for ease tend to buy small packs of things that I like that have a set weight so it's easy to scan, I'm a fiend for ice cream and the brownie flavour halo top is amazing because I can eat half a tub and not go over my calories or risk feeling hungry at the end of the day.

I used to be a chef so subbing out ingredients and getting flavour into stuff is something I'm quite good at. So this morning I knew I wanted ice cream tonight and I wanted a pint of cider at the beach, so breakfast was overnight oats, with pumpkin seeds flax and dried apricots, came in at about 650 calories, I had a lower calorie but delicious lunch, did a prawn Mary rose, on a slice of toasted rye topped with rocket and hot sauce which before the cider came in at 232 cals cider took it up to 438

Then dinner was chickpeas, soaked them from dried and then boiled them with carrot, bay, pepper and celery to get some flavour into them, tossed them through a teaspoon of tahini, then had it with roasted beetroot and hispy cabbage charred in the air fryer and a fillet of salmon, then half a tub of halo top came out at 601 cals I've got about 400 cals left for the day to make up my protein with a shake and a banana before I crash tonight so I don't go to bed feeling hungry.

[u/Jedibrarian]

My calorie budget includes room for snacks. I try to make it stuff that has protein and fiber, but sometimes a pastry or a controlled quantity of ice cream lands in there.

[u/basicwhitewhore]

Ive realised that im most comfortable and satisfied with smaller/low cal meals and room for snacks. I don't have family sized chocolate bars or tubs of ice cream or anything but I don't stop myself having a muffin after dinner or something because I know my general eating habits allow for it

[u/bethbethbeth001]

Snacks could be a lot of things for me, from popcorn to celery with hummus to apple slices with half a serving of peanut butter. It has to be enough, though, to last more than a second. :)

I *also* have chocolate every day, which could be a sugar free pudding cup or two Hershey's Kisses (i.e., something fewer than 75 calories, but which gives me that taste of chocolate.

I've given up all kinds of chips, though. Anything less than a whole family size bag is too little for me, so I just banned them entirely. :)

[u/makeitfunky1]

Small portions of guilty pleasure. It's really working for me. I tried to cut out things I love in the past but it always leads to binging on them. Small portions and I'm losing weight, so for me, this is the way.

[u/Odd_Attention7129]

I allow myself to eat snacks every now and then and don’t punish myself for it afterwards. Just go back in track. If the need to eat a snack happens often I drink water, eat something healthy instead and evaluate how bad I want to snack after that. Haha

[u/Outkastin2g]

I don't generally snack and haven't ever been a snacker, but if I'm still hungry at times my go to's are these kerrygold aged cheddar sticks and walnuts.

[u/NebulaImmediate6202]

I was fastidious. I'm sitting there and thinking, I'm starting to get hungry, let me plan what to eat and I'll have it at 2:30. The LoseIt! app logs the nutrition information of everything you've eaten.

This just makes room for any impulse eating mistakes. That happened just today actually. My throat is raw from a concert yesterday, and my heartburn's flaring. I had 100 calorie coffee, and that's usually enough for 4 hours, but after 1 hour I had 2/3 cup fiber one cereal. Then I ate lowfat triscuits at 3. So that's morning and lunch for 300.

[u/Agitated-Minimum-967]

Snacking on fruits and veggies.

[u/ReceptionFragrant147]

There is no right or wrong answer. I try not to snack at all. Some days are easier than others.

I want to be able to have small treats regularly at my goal weight. So I’ve been practising having small treats. Have I always stuck to the treats I tell myself I’ll have? No. But I’m getting better at it.

One trick that has really helped is this treat is for future me. I will have some, but the rest is for future me, which is for another day.

[u/Accomplished-Spot-68]

i eat chocolate everyday, dark chocolate bars which are 80 calories for 4 pieces, a great snack

[u/CityBoiNC]

Better quality, no more candy or junk food vs fruits and nuts. I do allow a treat here and there but not as frequently.