I have tried various strategies. I have tried to eat more during the day. I have eaten healthy snacks in the car on the way home from work. I don't think the problem is that I am too hungry to wait. I just want to eat everything.
I try to distract myself with something else. There are tons of things I can do around the house, including fun stuff. But I find I am constantly going back to the kitchen.
I have tried walking in the neighborhood when I get home from work. It is difficult for me to make this happen because when I get home I just want to relax for awhile. As I am sure any of you who live with other people will agree, occasionally having the house to yourself is precious time. Making myself get back out the door is the last thing I want to do.
Tonight I did have a measure of success. I didn't eat a single bite between work and dinner. I had my husband take me with him to work. While he took the kids home I walked around the neighborhood of the school. I forgot my Garmin watch. So I can only estimate how far I walked. Based on my normal pace I figure I walked between 2.5 and 3 miles. Much more productive than snacking :)
It did have a good time walking in a different neighborhood and seeing new things. I especially liked having a sidewalk to walk on so I didn't have to worry about cars at all.
It turned out to be a very good walk. I had everything planned and ready to make dinner when we got home, but we ended up stopping for a sandwich. I ordered mine without mayo (I love mayo) so I was able to keep under my calorie goal. I won't lie. I did miss the mayo.
Although I was successful this evening I don't think this is an every day strategy for me. Maybe it is something I can do when I am feeling particularly weak. There is no shame in having your husband babysit you to protect you from uncontrolled snacking, is there?
What a great idea to go to work with your hubby, get some exercise in and see some sights in the process! That neighborhood is adorable too!
ReplyDeleteI was definitely happy I did it. I love to see new things.
DeleteOh man, I know how you feel. Friday evenings my husband has hockey. And every Friday evening I have this wonderful internal struggle where I just want to eat EVERYTHING! I usually end up making deals with myself like "you can have a sncak after you do the laundry" and then I push it back to "you can have a snack after you lift weights" and then by the time I am done with stuff like that I am ready fro dinner and the urge to snack has passed.
ReplyDeleteBest advice I can give is what you did, either exercise instead OR snack but on healthy things. Cut up an apple and take your time eating it instead of eating it whole. Slice up a cucumber or some carrots and do the same thing. I know it's not the same but it might help.
HAve you tried hummus on a sandwich instead of mayo? I hate mayo so I always have to look for subsitutes to help keep a sandwich from drying out.
I am going to try to prepare some more snack options - portioned out and available. This evening my husband is working so I made a dinner he wouldn't like and ate early. I still have some calories for a snack so I feel pretty good :)
DeleteHeck no! Absolutely no shame in that and way to pick a better and healthier option! I definitely have issues with snacking while I am in the house. The biggest thing for me is to just not buy the stuff that I really like snacking on. If I have to put actual effort into my snacking, I will probably just not snack. If that makes sense?
ReplyDeleteWe really don't have much in the way of "bad" food in the house, so that is definitely makes the snacking less "harmful" :)
DeleteSo, my advice may be a bit different. I figured out that the time you are talking about is when I actually wanted to eat dinner. My body didn't want a light snack, it wanted dinner. When I flipped my meals and had my dinner then, and my snack when everyone else sat down to dinner later (or not at all if I wasn't hungry) I suddenly wasn't going crazy wanting to eat everything anymore. I often didn't even want a snack at dinner and I was perfectly content to hang out with water and chat with everyone. It's just an idea, but it's made a HUGE difference for me and my snacking and calorie intake.
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting idea. We usually eat the same thing but maybe that would work for some of our dinners. I will have to give that a test run and see how I feel for the rest of the evening.
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