[PaulaM]

I know many in here do it and have told me it's ok, but I just read an article about Carnie Wilson. She said she snacks all the time, and this is why she's gone up from 150 to 208 lbs again! So her gastric bypass was not the solution for her.

I like to eat a substantial meal, and I think if I'm snacking all the time I'm really overdoing it.

For those of you who do snack, are you really full enough to eat a smallish meal each time? I really want to train myself to eat three meals a day only, and not be thinking of food 24/7, planning my next meal before this one is done. And yet I know many of you who have lost tremendous amounts of weight say that planning meals is the key.

I'm so confused which is best for me.

[GirlyGirlSebas]

Hi Paula. The number one thing to keep in mind is that there is not one fool proof way of eating that works for all of the people all of the time. For you, eating 3 meals a day may be a very workable plan.

For me, I don't like to go more than 3 hours without eating something as I've heard that eating frequently actually helps keep my metabolism running at peak speed. Also, I tend to not overeat if I know that I have a scheduled yummy snack in the not too distant future. And, my cravings seem to be fewer when I'm not allowing myself to get too hungry.

Snacks don't have to derail your weight loss efforts if they are planned and included in your eating schedule. I use calorie counting, therefore, I include all snacks in my calories counts for the day. Also, my snack options are healthy options.....an apple with 1 tbs of peanut butter, low-fat triscuits with laughing cow cheese, etc. No sugar or sitting down with the bag/box in my hands.

I recommend that you try planning you meals, including snacks, for a two or three days and see how that works for you. If it doesn't work well, you can always go back to your scheduled 3 meals. Or, you can stick with just eating your 3 meals each day. The best plan is one that you can follow.

[Sandi]

I do the snack thing too, and I do tend to make my meals a little smaller. plus, I only have 1 PLANNED snack between meals. it's the constant mindless snacking that can get you.

But I agree that snacking isn't for everyone. I choose to because I know I am goingto anyway, so this way I am not fighting it.

[Slingnmom]

My approach is different. I chose the low carb road. I can snack as long as it doesn't have carbs or sugar and is on my approved food's list. But since I am usually too busy to snack I don't get around to snack ing.

I do eat 3 meals a day though. Breakfast is the hardest for me to get in because I am not a breakfast person. I usually have to cram my errands in during the moring before my DH leaves for work.

I usually have a quick breakfast bar, then lunch is a high protein meal and dinner is a high protein meal too.

I started last Monday and am now down 15 pounds, with 5 mor to go to reach my first mini goal of 20 pounds. I believe I should be able to hit this by Sunday.

I think if you can find a high protein snack you'd be better off in the long run. Or have a high protein meal which will make you feel full longer. (They've studied this and it's true)

[fiberlover]

I eat 3 meals a day, plus 2 snacks. My snacks are always balanced with protein and carbs.
I have 2 snacks - I don't snack all day. Constantly putting food into your mouth will cause weight gain. Planned snacks do not. I want to keep my metabolism humming along by eating every 2.5-3 hours. When you eat 1350 calories per day, meals and snacks tend to be smaller anyway.

[Nori71]

I agree with Rhonda - you have to play around and see what works for you best.

Snacking played a HUGE part in me getting as heavy as I am. Meal times were not the food fests. It was the mindless eating in between meals that made up most of my calories on any given day. Sometimes I wasn't even hungry at mealtimes because of my outrageous snacking! That said snacks are also playing a part in my weight loss as well. Planned snacks are a MUST for me. My breakfast and lunch are each both around 300 calories, so I eat 2-3 150-200 calorie planned snacks during the day. When life gets in the way and I miss a snack I get lightheaded and feel crappy.

[jillybean720]

I like to eat big meals, too. I often laugh at my friend (well, not AT her--we sort of joke about it) when she says she's full after eating like a half a cup of peas. I'll NEVER be like that

That said, I still snack. I usually have 3 meals and 3 snacks each day, but my snacks aren't usually "snacky" foods. A snack for me might be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a whole wheat ham and cheese wrap, some turkey sausage, a salad, etc. I still eat big meals, though--I just bulk them up with lower-calorie foods. As opposed to the 4 slices of pizza or the giant bowl of pasta with sauce and cheese I used to have, I now make sure I include a substantial lean protein (usually chicken--I'm a picky eater) and veggies with my meal. If I need seconds, I can definitely have more veggies since the calories don't add up very quickly.

[SCraver]

Each day, I bring to work: 2 pieces/servings of fruit and a choice of: small baggie of cereal, single serving size pack of reduced fat cheese-its, prepackaged Rice Crispy Treat, granola bar, or something like that.
So, I have three snacks to eat when I get hungry in between meals. If I eat them all first thing in the morning - then I have nothing for later. I try to eat them through out the day and it really helps to take the edge off, yet they are small, portioned, controlled snacks. (Right now I am eating my last piece of fruit, so I won't leave work and go home starving for dinner).
Snacks do not have to be anything huge or out of control. And since, I grab mine all in the morning = I don't have to think about them all day, they are already right there for me.

You gotta do what works for you!

[PaulaM]

Thanks much all of you. This has given me more to think about. Why can't it be easy? I know when I was young and slim and worked out all the time I didn't think about food, at mealtime I just ate it. I wish I could be like my husband, it's so easy for him. He never has a craving, he only eats healthy foods. He truly eats just to stay alive. I don't like thinking about it all the time. I guess I will have to experiment and see what works for me. I'm not weighing yet, I'm doing the Bob Greene diet, cutting out all bad stuff and getting lots of exercise. My waist has gone down so for now I'm avoiding the scale and will probably get on it when my waist gets to 35", cause everything you read says the danger for women is when your waist is bigger than that. I have 5 more inches to go. If they ever come up with a hip inch that's ideal I'm screwed. LOL.

[LisaF]

Originally Posted by PaulaM

For those of you who do snack, are you really full enough to eat a smallish meal each time?

I'm certainly not. I think of snacks as a way to tide me over till the next meal. It might be a piece of fruit or some veggies (lately I've been bringing a sliced green pepper in a baggie, yum), maybe 10-15 nuts, a low-fat string cheese, and sometimes, when it's mid-morning and I'm famished, a protein bar. Those are the snacks I might have at work. At home, it's a little different, but it's never a mini-meal. That's a mentality that doesn't work for me.

Lisa

[RealCdn]

At the moment I eat 3 meals, plus 3 snacks. However, I sit down the night before and plan all the food for the next day. If nothing else, I know what I need to take out of the freezer. However, knowing that I have a specific snack planned does stop me from eating other things.

Since I don't always trust myself (still) I have two small containers, one with almonds, one with soy nuts. I weigh in 1 oz, usually just after my evening meal (I'm less likely to pick and eat them then), refilling whatever I've used during the day. And tonight my snack will include an ounce of a soft cheese spread and some rice crackers. The cheese is already in another small container so I don't just scoop in a little more.

[FluffyK]

I eat small meals, and I have snacks. The key for me is to use a small plate at dinner. I guess it could be called a salad plate? If I grab a small plate, then I don't have much room to put food on, and I tend to overeat less. I need my snacks or I get shaky - even with SB and lowcarb. I've always been that way and guess I always will.

Lunch for me could be a red pepper and half a (small) container of hummus, though. I figure that's good for about 200 calories or so. (I don't count)

[WebRover]

I try to have more snacks available than I expect to eat. That way I have choices. Also, I never am in the situation of having "nothing to eat". I tend to eat fewer snacks if I have more available.

[rockinrobin]

Originally Posted by PaulaM

She said she snacks all the time, and this is why she's gone up from 150 to 208 lbs again!

I snack all the time. In fact snacking is what allowed me to lose the weight and now keep it off. I don't think that's the reason why Carnie gained her weight back. I think the reason Carnie gained her weight back is because she's taking in more calories then she's burning. Period.

But anyway.... I am a big snacker. Always was. I personally like to eat smaller meals so that I can have more snacks. I hate that hungry feeling and do the best to avoid it by eating frequently. Every 2 hours or so for the most part. Also knowing that I will be eating often helps me to stay on plan.

We do all need to find our own way though. Through trial and error and finding out what DOESN'T work for us, we eventually find what DOES work for us. Good luck to you.

[Glory87]

I'm a snacker too, all my snacks are planned, portion controlled and calorie-counted, everything fits into the day's plan. I used to be a mindless snacker - bored, get a bag of Salt & Vinegar potato chips, just eat staight out of the bag until it's empty. I don't snack like THAT anymore.

I eat a decent sized breakfast (about 300 calories), lunch (about 300 calories) and dinner (400-500 calories - I love dinner) and 4 snacks a day. My snacks are pretty much the same everyday - in the mid morning, I have berries. In the afternoon (when I am traditionally a snacky snacky person), I have replaced my old pack of M&Ms and venti caramel latte with a no sugar added cocoa at 1:00 and a piece of fruit at 3:00. To tide me over til dinner, I bring a baggie of cut up veggies (grape tomatoes, sugar snap peas, pepper strips and baby carrots). Definitely healthy snacks, full of fiber that I look forward to and that help me be successful. A hungry me is a bad food making decision me.

If you don't want to snack, don't snack! I think three meals a day can work just as well if that's what works for you! I definitely agree with RR - snacking alone isn't what caused Carnie W. to regain her weight. I mean, if you look at FREQUENCY of eating - by her logic, I should be heavy! If one snacks mindlessly, on high calorie/high fat foods and take in more calories than you burn off in a day, you'll gain weight. Whether I eat 1000 calories for breakfast, 1000 calories for lunch or 1000 calories for dinner, or 10 snacks of 300 calories each - I will be taking in about 1000 more calories a day than I need to maintain and I WILL gain weight.

I don't know what to tell you about the not wanting to think about food all the time thing - I am a MINDFUL eater, the intuitive eating thing just doesn't work for me. I do think about food a lot. But you know, when I was heavy, I spent an awful lot of futile, wasted time THINKING and DREAMING and WISHING and LONGING to be thin, now that was a lot of wasted brain power. I think about what I need to get at the store and think about packing lunches and think about finding a new fun recipe for dinner - but it is all very productive thinking, it actually accomplishes something - a healthy, slender me.

In my opinion, I MUST plan my meals, because it is nearly impossible to eat well by accident in our grab-and-go, convenience food culture. If I don't PLAN (think about it, go to the store and buy it and pack it in my lunch) to have a tangelo and I get hungry at 3:00 at work, what is there to eat? Well, luckily, today there was an enormous leftover frosted cake in the break room - I could have eaten that! Or some processed, carby snack out of the snack machine. Nothing good or wholesome, if I got hungry enough, I would have eaten something that wouldn't help me achieve my goals. If I don't have a plan for dinner, and I stay too long at work and get tired, ordering pizza or picking up fast food start to sound SO appealing. What are my fast healthy options? Very few. I would much rather know that at home I have some salmon fillets, broccoli crowns and a pack of Trader Joe's microwaveable brown rice ready for me. When I start cooking, dinner will be ready in 25 minutes - nearly as fast as ordering a pizza and such a better option.

Sometimes, I do get tired of it all, but then I catch sight of myself in a mirror, or a candid photo or I pull a tiny little shirt out of the dryer to fold and I am again overwhelmed and grateful for all the changes in my life that help me to stay happy and thin and just feel great about myself.