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Evening Snacks - Need Help!!

Old 03-20-2011, 10:26 PM
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Default Evening Snacks - Need Help!!

Hi Ladies,

I've been away from the forum for a while. I have been trying to get back on track but mostly procrastinating. I'm 45 years old and was diagnosed as pre-diabetic 2 years ago. I purchased a glucose tester recently and it says "7" means your diabetic, my reading is "6.9". I know that if I lose even another 20 lbs I can probably prevent the inevitable, but time is running out.

My husband sabatoges my efforts and I can't stop him. He does love me but he is addicted to high fat junk foods and provides them for both himself and me. I am not even tempted anymore by the poutine's and fries he eats at lunch every day, but I have a terrible weakness in the evenings.

In an effort to get in control, I have been trying to restrict my after 5:00 pm eating to a 600 calorie dinner and a 300 calorie snack. Add to that 800 calories earlier in the day and it totals to 1700 calories per day maximum. Up until and including dinners have been very successful, but the evening snack is the killer. I get tired and lose my ambition and then my husband provides me with a bag of chips or chocolate or some other high calorie favourite.

How can I learn to say no to this? Maybe if I'm consistent for a long enough period of time, he will stop providing it? These snacks at night are causing me a low quality of life and leading me to an early grave.

I have been struggling with this for a very long time and I know the answer is to restrict night time eating. I'm so close to the lifestyle changes that will bring a change, but this one thing is preventing my success.

Does anyone else out there have any insight or advise? Has anyone found a way to beat this? Should I try eliminating the evening snack altogether? Or is restricting it still possible for me? I'd love to hear from anyone who can offer help. Thank-you.

Last edited by Susan8Less; 03-20-2011 at 10:31 PM.
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Old 03-20-2011, 11:15 PM
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I don't snack in the evenings at all anymore, I found for me it is the best way. I do have a suggestion though, try buying a selection of different low cal snacks and keep them close by. There are so many 100 cal snack packs available at the grocery store, and they even taste pretty good. Also keep carrot sticks and celery sticks in the fridge already pre cut, I find that when I want to munch on something its not because I am really hungry, its just out of boredom, so I would rather munch on something healthy. Microwave Popcorn is a great option also, read the labels though, some are very high in calories, others are just right for a quick snack. I have found packages for 45 calories a half bag, or get the mini bags, so you don't have to share :-)
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Old 03-20-2011, 11:45 PM
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i agree with the poster above.

most of the time my evening snack is popcorn, and if you get the right kind a full bag can still be under your 300 cal limit. Smart pop is good, it's 100 cals a mini bag, and 260 cals for a full sized bag.

as for something like carrot and celery sticks one thing that helps me is a good tastey home made dip. made with low fat mayo (15cals a tbsp) and some spices. it helps mak eatting something like that easy with only adding alittle bit of cals instead of having a chocolate bar or chips.

if you need the chips the easy thing i used to do was i'd buy pringles or any other chips in the can. take no more than the reacemended serving and thats all i would have. it's easy to count out an even sized chip instead of the muilty size chip in bags.

i hope this helps you out alittle
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Old 03-20-2011, 11:55 PM
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I have to confess that my evening snack is a Tootsie Pop. It is 60 calories which I log and include in my daily 1300 -1500 calorie count. It lasts a good long time and satisfies my sweet tooth for the day.
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Old 03-21-2011, 11:39 AM
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One of my fave snacks is frozen pudding cups. I get the sugar-free 60 calorie ones, pop the whole box into the freezer and when that hungry "need-something" feeling hits I pull one out and eat it. They take a while to eat, and I also drink a big glass of water at the same time. Oranges are also a nice snack, they take a while to peel and eat, and I drink a big swig of water between each slice and they are also sweet which is what I'm usually craving. Another really good snack is a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese. The odd thing about the cheese is that it's not always what I'm hungry for, but 99.9% of the time it shuts off my need to binge, and at 35 calories I can afford to eat one most of the time. You might also look at your diet, if you are carb loading earlier in the day, chances are you are going to have a carb crash in the evening which will drive you to cave in. You might want to go really low carb for a couple of days and see if the cravings are diminished in the evenings. It's also well past time for a serious heart to heart with your husband. Husbands can be slow to "get-it" but generally speaking they can eventually be brought 'round a'kicking and a'screaming. Brace for some grumbling, but be firm and consistent. When you cave in to his sabotage he wins and you are back to square one - again.
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Old 03-21-2011, 02:22 PM
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Hi Ladies,

Thank-you so much for your replies. Tonight I had a light hot chocolate with half a cup of mini marshmellows. I managed to stop there although it is hard. I am not physically hungry although I do want to eat, but since I know how harmful it is, I will not.

I love all your snack ideas. I've never tried the laughing cow cheese. I can't believe a tiny morsel of cheese can stop your cravings! I will try the low carb suggestion too to see if it helps.

I had a heart-to-heart with hubby tonight. It looks as though things may be making a turn for the better. I hope to be around more often again since I really need the support.
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Old 03-21-2011, 02:41 PM
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i also find the gum can help with cravings. it gives you flavour and a chewing motion without actually eatting something
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Old 03-21-2011, 11:40 PM
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Originally Posted by Susan8Less
I can't believe a tiny morsel of cheese can stop your cravings! I will try the low carb suggestion too to see if it helps.
I can hardly believe it myself. It makes no sense that it works, but somehow or another it calms it right down. I like the hot chocolate too, I've been buying the Swiss Miss Sensible Sweets, 25 calorie packs and I make it with hot water. I would never have believed that those would work for me either, but they do. Peppermint tea also works, tastes like candy and has zero calories.

Gum sometimes helps me, and sometimes it makes it worse. I find flavors like peppermint, wintergreen are fine, but something sweet like bubblegum or watermelon just kicks me into binge mode.

Last edited by almeeker; 03-21-2011 at 11:42 PM.
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Old 03-23-2011, 04:01 AM
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I have the same problem as many of you here - bf keeps bringing chips, chocolate, chicken wings, and other goodies in the house. I've been doing my best to resist though, or, at the very least, build those unfortunately calories into my daily count - not great nutrition-wise, but at least my intake doesn't grossly increase. My go-to evening snacks instead are:

- 100 calorie popcorn mini-bags. I loooove popcorn, and as another poster said, by making the mini-bag, I can make an excuse for not having to share!
- air popped popcorn. We have a ceramic bowl from Walmart that lets you pop kernels in the microwave - way easier than lugging out a big air popper or doing popcorn with oil on the stove. If you want to avoid all the "unnatural" flavor additives in the store-bought microwave bags, this is the way to go! I also melt a tbsp of light Becel for topping - it's only around 20 calories.
- vanilla pudding cups
- sugar-free/fat-free vanilla frozen yogurt. This snack frustrated me for awhile because I was measuring with my eyeballs only - to me, 1/2 C (80-100 cals, depending on the brand) looked like about 2 scoopfuls. However, when I finally got out my kitchen scale (best purchase ever, BTW!) and measured, turns out I had only been allowing myself about 1/4 C! Moral of the story: use your measurements!
- Cadbury Thins chocolate bars. These come in at least 3 yummy flavors - almond, mint, and milk chocolate - and are only 100 calories each. Yes, the bars are small and skinny, but I find they do a pretty good job of satisfying my occasional chocolate craving!
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Old 03-23-2011, 04:22 AM
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I don't have anything new to say, except that I rely on a small, thin slice of good cheese (or two) and air-popped popcorn. I use "butter spray" and papcorn seasoning instead of butter and salt - seems to satisfy the craving to munch!
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