So I've become the QUEEN of packed lunches. Gimme some leftovers and I will make a stellar lunch for my fiancé and I for the next day. (it saves me calories and him money!)

I went grocery shopping yesterday and now I have the mother of all delicious lunches - a spicy tuna wrap with lettuce and feta cheese, a cup of sugar snap peas and a half cup of pistachios (my favorite nut). The whole lunch comes to 328 cals, 18g of carbs 18 g of fat and 30g of protein.

Here's the problem...I want to eat it, especially the peas and pistachios. Right now. I actually stole some of them from my lunch box but I've (so far) managed to prevent myself from eating all of them. Because I know future-me has to be in the lab till 5:30 and she's gonna need a big lunch to keep her full and focused. But dang it's hard to keep my mitts off my lunch till lunch time.

I'm trying to console myself with a grande non sugar non fat caramel/hazelnut latte (130 cals) until lunch time.

I definitely need to get better at packing lunches. I tend to pack the same boring things over and over again, and it gets boring! Your lunch sounds delicious, and it would be hard not to sneak tastes of it all morning!

Ha! I've been there, done that. I make sure to pack things that are munch-friendly, like celery and sunbutter. Then I don't nibble on the main course

I like to make my lunch look nice, as well as be nutritious. Once in a while someone walks by when I am having lunch and comments on how good it looks.

I actually got into my lunch the night before a while back. I just couldn't wait to see what my little ham and cheese wraps tasted like. They were good, but then they weren't there for me at lunch time!

Katbot, what do you put in your tuna to make it spicy? I suck at spices so my tuna always tastes bland.

This is always my problem right after I go grocery shopping... choosing what to eat first.

Drink a big glass of water and chew some gum.

Just an idea; Wouldn't it be better to just eat the delicious lunch since you were craving it, rather than add extra calories to your day by trying to distract yourself with something else?

It makes sense to me to just eat your food, and then *if* you are hungry later on, add in the latte or some other snack to tide you over until your next meal.

A lot of people like to say that if you are craving something its better to have it (or a small bit of it) than to try to substitute something else and risk eating what you are craving anyway, in addition to the things you added in trying to avoid it.
Why should that be any different when it comes to regular meals as well?

Again, just a thought...

You would be right if I hadn't planned the coffee as part of my day. I usually skip breakfast in order to have more filling meals later on in the day. The coffee is something I have most mornings just to tide me over, it's nonfat milk and sugar free syrup so I'm getting a little carbs and a little protein without eating an entire meal and losing use f 300 extra calories that I could use later.

Aaah, it sounded as if you were using it as a substitution!