I decided to start calorie counting after I ate a whole bag of cashews last week. When I went to throw it away, I saw that I had eaten over 700 calories. As a snack!! The only time I have ever lost weight was when I counted calories. It keeps me honest. I have to say the first day I saw my caloric intake, I was astonished. Now I'm able to space out my calories and stay around 1700 (zig zagging).

Here is my question. What snack do you guys keep handy? I used to snack a lot (as you can see by my starting weight) but now its down to 3 meals a day and one snack before bed. I was putting a Nutri Grain bar in to my Fit Day tonight and I realized it had 130 calories, 3 grams of fat and 0.5 grams of saturated fats. Yikes! Right now I am down to bananas with a small amount of peanut butter on them and (carefully portioned) nuts.

Any ideas before I go shopping tomorrow.

almonds--->20 or 30grams of them depending on calorie allowance

fat-free yoghurt eaten with sugar free jelly

also- if my calories allow it, before i go to bed i have 1 cup (32g with 200ml water) of horlick's light malt --i love malt drinks and this comes to 113 kcals and keeps me warm and full before i sleep

melba toast with either philadelphia light or laughing cow light or peanut butter

some ideas straight out of my food diary

I keep apples and oranges on hand for snacks. Sure, they're not exactly glamourous or anything, but they taste good and get the job done! And I've never felt guilty for eating one.

Baby carrots and strawberries. Strawberries are like cheating: you can eat 300 grams (over half a pound) for 105 calories. I put artificial sweetener on them, because those don't seem to bother me.

Laughing Cow cheese wedges
Fresh veggies
Cooked veggies
Hummus (I like Tribe - 50 cals a serving, and tastes great!)
Greek yogurt (higher in calories, but "sticks to your ribs")
Granola bars
Plain cheerios
small bites of chocolate (3 hershey kisses - 60 calories)
dolmades (grape leaves stuffed with rice - very light and very amazing, imho. not for everyone, though)
Healthy choice veggie soups (tend to be 200 or less, very filling "snack")

Beef jerky
Laughing cow cheese and crackers
Grapes
Apples
Bananas
Nuts
Sharp cheddar cheese hunks
Popsicles
Yogurt
Applesauce
Fruit cocktail cups
Strawberries
Nutri grain bars (funny that you mentioned it because I have one today!)
String cheese
Fruit gummies

(I’m a BIG snacker!)

I have small bags of apple slices. It allows me to keep up with exactly how many calories I ate from apples. I also like whole grain wheat thins. I also have tried some fat free plain yogurt, and I add in some fruit to it. And, I will eat multigrain crackers sometimes, almonds, or natural applesauce.

There are whole grain Goldfish crackers now! I eat those with my lunch a lot. Triscuits are an awesome snack cracker--whole grains and no added sugar. I also just discovered Quaker caramel corn rice cakes--they taste like a little cake of Corn Pops with only 50 calories! It's also really easy to make your own homemade granola or granola bars, and you can customize them however you like them (even adding bits of dried fruit or *dark* chocolate).

Fruit (apples, oranges, bananas and grapes - I like my grapes frozen)
Kashi crackers with laughing cow cheese
Baby carrots with hummus
Sugar free vanilla pudding with banana slices
String cheese
Nuts (almonds, cashews mostly)
Sugar free fruit popsicles
Yogurt with granola

When I snack, it's usually raw vegetables or fruit or yogurt. Anything else *for me* is too risky, especially nuts. (and CRACKers) Nuts are delicious, nutritious, have loads of Omega 3 fatty acids, but I can't control myself with them. They have SO many calories for so little volume. I CANNOT stop with one serving. I would say nuts would be the perfect food for those struggling to get all their calories in for the day...or a person who has iron clad portion control...lol

My favorite snack is Whole Grain Melba Snack crackers with Laughing Cow Light Cheese. 4 crackers and 1 cheese wedge is 85 calories. The crackers are VERY crunchy, and combine well with the cheese.

For me, the biggest issue with snacks is portion control. A piece of fruit or a yogurt is good because those are already portioned out. But for most things, I have to be careful about taking my one serving and putting the rest away!

I've also found that it's better to get things that I like but don't necessarily LOVE. Like with nuts, if I had a bag of cashews, I could eat the entire bag. But with almonds, I can count out my serving, put the rest away, and I'm ok. If I left them out, I could mindlessly nibble on too many, but once they are put away, I can stick with just my 11 almonds and be happy.

Same thing with crackers, there are plenty that I like enough to eat but not so much that I'm overly tempted. But I try to avoid grain-based snacks, as I get enough of them in my meals already. So I mostly stick with fruit for snacks, since I hadn't been eating it at all for a while (lots of veggies, but no fruit).

100 calorie mini bag of popcorn - 100 calories
yoplait light yogurt - strawberry or key lime - 100 calories
1 cup of plain cheerios - 100 calories
3/4 cup of chocolate cheerios - 100 calories
yogurt, strawberries and graham cracker crust parfait made at home - 100 (Family Dish - Sunday Dinner Desert)

When I'm feeling like I want ice cream (rarely)
skinny cow ice cream - 140 calories
weight watchers ice cream - 140 calories

I agree about things you like well enough but not love. I do like nuts, but honestly they're not my favorite snack in the world. Not a trigger food for me (unlike chips!). I also always try to grab something with either protein or fiber, the less processed, the more satiating I find it.

I like hummus with ryvita crackers, and I find some of the lowest calorie ones are made by Cedar. 40 cal. a tbsp.

I'm snacking on oranges, blueberries w/cottage cheese, Special K crackers, a variety of low-fat cheeses, YOGURT, baby carrots, hummus, and Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches.

That's pretty much what I'm into right now.