#81 How To Stop Your Bad Snacking Habits

Many girls come to me with their diet and say “I’m eating healthy but can’t lose weight and I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong”. After questioning them about it, I find out that it’s usually because they have bad snacking habits, especially in the afternoon or night time, when they may snack on healthy foods, but over eat. This is affecting not only their weight loss, but also their mental health. If you have bad snacking habits, then I hope you find these tips helpful.

1. Identify When And Why You Are Snacking

Do you find that you are snacking late at night before bed? Or is it in the afternoon when you get the munchies? And why are you snacking? Are you hungry? Bored? Depressed? Home alone?

Whenever it is and whatever your reason, make sure you are prepared for it! You need to make some serious changes and only you will know how. Grab a piece of paper, write down why you are snacking, and make a plan of attack as to how you are going to prevent it. If it’s because you are bored at night and home alone, then perhaps calling a friend, going for a walk, doing a quick ab workout, taking a shower and brushing your teeth may help!

2. Eat Before You Get To The Point Of Starving

When we are truly very hungry, we can keep continually eating or snacking and overdo it. I know I’ve done this before. I’ve been so hungry that I’ve eaten all my dinner and am still hungry. So I go to the cupboard and get a snack, eat that, still hungry, so I get another one. 15 minutes after I’ve finished eating I am so full that I need to lie down.

To avoid eating and eating and eating, don’t let yourself get to the point where you are starving. If it’s 5pm and you’re starving but you’re having dinner at 6pm, eat something small. That way, when dinner time comes around, you won’t be feeling as hungry and you’ll eat a normal portion rather than eating everything in sight.

3. Know The Difference Between Boredom And Hunger

Being bored is often the cause of unnecessary snacking. So the best way to avoid this is to prevent the boredom. Do something that keeps you occupied and entertained. The best thing that works for me is catching up with a friend! I don’t usually think about snacking when I’m with my friends, unless I’m truly hungry. If seeing your friends isn’t an option, do something else to keep your mind occupied for at least 15 minutes. After that, if you’re still hungry, then eat. But if not, you may have just been bored :)

4. Make Snacks Part Of The Program

If you’re eating three medium sized meals at breakfast, lunch and dinner, then chances are you are going to need a morning and afternoon snack. If you’re following a meal plan, make sure you include snacks! If you take your lunch to work, pack snacks too! Don’t leave them out.

When preparing your snacks, measure them out. If you’re eating some raw nuts, don’t take the whole bag with you to work, measure out a small portion and put it in a container and take that. If you’re at home when you’re snacking, do the same thing. And try not to eat on the couch in front of the TV. Sit down at the table, eat your snack and when you’re finished, go back to what you were doing.

Article written by Rachael Attard

Rachael is an Australian born certified personal trainer and nutritionist who holds a Bachelor degree in Science.

After struggling for years to find an exercise and diet program that is tailored to women striving for lean and toned body with no bulk she designed her Lean Legs Program. This program is tailored to each body type and focused on helping women get toned but feminine bodies, without getting bulky.

Her mission is to empower women and help them stay in shape in a healthy and balanced way.