Fighting the urge to munch...
 

I am not hungry. I am not craving carbs, necessarily, but I do have a strong urge to munch. Just had my lunch portion of celery with cream cheese...

Do you guys keep between meal snacks around that are Atkins-friendly? Or, do you just will yourself to not eat until lunch or until you get hungry.

I am so accustomed to eating every few hours that going 4-5 hours between meals is hard without wanting to snack.

I am drinking water as an attempt to curb the urge...but it's not helping much.

Just venting here.

well?....
 

I'm a wuss when it comes to willpower, Atkins suggests 3 meals and 2 snacks or 4-6 mini meals. Maybe you need to adjust your larger meals and spread them out more. Personally, I like to snack on protein bits.....a cheese stick 1 oz, 2 pc bacon with cr. cheese, 2-3 sausage links, a hard boiled egg or even 5 olives....you get the idea. If you are going without food for more than 5 hours, then stop!! Celery and cream cheese is a good snack to have as it is both creamy and crunchy. Hang in there StorybookMama......you're doing great!

My hubby breaks his salad down and eats it several times through out the day, not me, I scarf it down at lunch lol. I do however keep some soy nuts available, olives and celery.

At night is my difficult time, I love to crunch so I eat pork rinds w/sour cream or melted cheese.

In my first month, the hardest part was to stop the midday munching. In the past I gave up on Atkins because of all the "soft foods". I needed to crunch something. So this time I was prepared and I would cut up a dill pickle into small pieces and keep it crisp and cold for when I got the munchies. I'd also have almonds or mixed nuts and truly MOST of my carbs in that initial month were from nuts because I needed the crunchy feeling.

Now I'm in my 12th week and I still snack midday occassionally (ie sugar free jello, or mozzarella chunks) but no where near the urge I had in my first month on program.

Thanks all!

Good to know that I'm not alone in the munching thing.

I did this yesterday. Ate my breakfast in two stages and then lunch in two stages. Then dinner. No snack, but then I was eating more often and was very satisfied.

I sometimes feel like I need more bulk - but I really don't. I am just learning how to listen to my body again.

Appreciate the advice!

Great advice! I needed that today, we had a birthday and we had Krispy Kreme Donuts and a gorgeous white cake with "real" butter creme!!! OMG! Since I knew it was coming, I brought to the "party" some egg muffins (scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, cheese, and just a few green onions... bake in muffin pans for 20-30 min - great for toting around) and was fine during the party! However, my muffins are gone (everyone ELSE ate them :p) and I went to Walgreens and got an Atkins Endulge ... IM SUPPOSED TO BE ON INDUCTION!!! :( but it was either that or a piece of that yummy-looking cake!!! So here I am now.... Krispy Kremes and Cake staring me in the face and I was able to curve that temptation with an atkins bar, better than cake ; BUT - I think I went over my carbs for the day and it's only 1:30 :(

This a.m.:

Coffee with cream & splenda = 3 carbs
3 Egg Muffins ??? carbs probably 2 each so 6 carbs
1 pk of 3 Endulge Peanut Butter Cup (1 serving) = 2 "net" carbs?
Eating a bag of olives (10) = ??? carbs
Oh yes and three Smints! (10mints =2g carbs)
Later lunch Ill eat Salad greens with ham and a slice of Amer Cheese

Dinner? I plan on chicken/mayo and chopped cucumbers and just a few pieces of onion for flavor.

Do you think I'll go over the 20 carb limit? That Endulgence bar just made me feel like I cheated :(

I couldn’t help it; I had to weigh in today I lost 4.5 lbs so far. Whew! I was so worried about eating that Endulge Atkins bar on Friday and thinking it may have hindered all my hard work! Plus I STILL had cravings Saturday morning and I made cream cheese and whipped heavy cream with a Splenda packet and ate that throughout the day- the cravings finally wore off Saturday night! Now I see that for me, any sweet-treat, be it Atkins-friendly or not, is going to plunge me headfirst into carb/sugar cravings!

Cravings! I had them so bad the first two weeks! One thing that I can recommend that helps is to make sure your meals have a high fat %. Add a little extra mayo or olive oil to your salad. THe fat will help you curb the cravings. After the 1st 2 weeks it does get better I promise!! :)

Now I always have atkins friendly snacks in the house, hard boiled eggs, Pork Rinds, mozzerella cheese sticks, cream cheese and celery! Pork rinds realy help when TOM hits and I have that salt craving!

I never thought until reading here that the Atkins bars add to my cravings. I am going to do my best to stay away from them and see how I do. This is wonderful reading all the helps and pointers from people that are going through what I am

THANK YOU

dinki

The book states that after a few days the urge to eat the bad treats goes away? Is there something wrong with me then??

I think about chocolate (real chocolate), cookies, cake, candy, cheesecake and etc all day everyday. I just have to not do it. And it is hard.

Most people I know have said that they had no problems and didn't think of junk food and a slight few I know said they were as tortured as I am over it. I have not given in because I know it won't taste as good as I have built it up to taste and the guilt and disappointment will leave a bad taste in my mouth for days.



Does anyone do baking for the holidays? I have begun my trial runs. I have learned a good trick. Make a dessert that you don't like, obviously no temptation. I made saltine toffee cookies (so easy and cheap) and no problem, I packed them and sent them to my guinea pig. I think I will be making many toffee desserts this season.:lol:

First make sure that nothing you are eating may be triggering those cravings - even foods with splenda or other artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols can cause insulin spikes and trigger those cravings.

Second, are you taking any supplements? There are a few that can help reduce sugar cravings such as chromium and l-glutamine? Check your Atkins book, around the supplements/vitamin info area, and I think he lists several supplements that help to reduce sugar cravings and stabilize blood sugar.

Good luck..you can do it!

Froufy

Jenni - How long have you been on induction? THere are some people that it takes more than 2 weeks to get over the cravings. Maybe too you moved out of induction too soon. I have been on induction 8 weeks and plan to stay there for at least 2 more months. I get cravings now and then, but usually if I go too long between meals on the weekends.