Snacking

One of the areas that I finding that I struggle with the most on this journey is snacking in the evening. I can do great all day long. Mainly because my lunch is pre-packed and I don’t take any money with me to the office. So there is simply no opportunity to snack or deviate from my plan for the day. (saying no to office treats is a whole other post)

Once I get home however, all bets are off. It feels like a constant battle is being waged in my mind.

“Ooh, look chips!”
  “Wait, you don’t need chips”

“I’m bored…. I wonder what’s in the cupboard?”   
    “You’re bored, not hungry, go get a glass of water.”

Sometimes I’m successful at talking myself out of the snack. Sometimes the “good” dialogue can’t be heard over the crunching, because I’ve already stuffed something in my mouth before I even realize what I’m doing. Most people will say, “just don’t keep snacks and junk food in the house.” And that is a great suggestion, and we don’t have a lot of snacks around. But I don’t live alone and I need to overcome my issues without imposing my needs on everyone else. For me though it doesn’t even have to be “bad” or junk food. I’m just as happy to snack on healthy, good for me food. It’s just that even good for you food still adds unnecessary calories. And since I’m working on losing weight, not gaining more, I need to keep my calorie intake under control.

So I continue to try to stay busy in the evening and enjoy my dinner at a not too early, not too late time that helps to ward off hunger. If I do catch myself with food in my mouth, I try to stop and not overdo it. And mostly, I try not to beat myself up too much when I do end up snacking, knowing that tomorrow is another day.

How do you avoid snacking?