What's the deal with snacking?

All of the sudden, I have major munchies! It's been that way for about a week. I'm not hungry, just want to munch. Up until now, it has really been easy for me to "be good" mostly. But now, I feel some old habits coming on and it scares me to death! What do I do? I think it is the emotional eating thing. I guess I'm gonna have to face that demon after all! How have you dealt with that? Ronda

The munchie beast has been stalking me for weeks and weeks. I used to be a big popcorn eater, but I have only had it once since surgery...and realized it could be an issue for me so I haven't tried it again. I usually only get hit with the munchies when I first get home from work before dinner or a bit later while watching the tube. Since I have realized this I have made sure there are some healthy snacks in the fridge...cottage cheese & pepperoni chips, cheese, cut up melon, and my favorite sunflower seeds...in the shell. Most days when it hits me I force myself to get on my stationary bike for 10 minutes and 3x10 sets of crunches on the exercise ball before I'll give in. I successfully stave it off most of the time, but I'm prepared when I don't.

Ronda- I have grazing devils on my shoulder. I get the urge to eat like every 1.5-2 hours. I must feed my demons, or the urge gets worse. I'm trying to stave off the urges with drinking more fluids first.... and then eating if I'm legitimately hungry 1/2 hour later. This is the worst to deal with when I'm home all day with the kids, my demons come out at their worst when I'm stressed, and I get those old urges to just pick and pick. So- if I've gotta have something, it's gotta be protein loaded or essentially non-nutritive, very low fat, like raw veggies... I keep tons of protein snacks here.. and in my pocketbook, car... -beef jerky (very low fat, very high protein... sodium loaded though) -Girlfriends Booty, of course! -Glennys' Slim Carb Bars -Atkins Granola Bars -Turkey pepperoni -ricotta cheese -cottage cheese -hard cheeses (have cut back on these...) -carb countdown yogurt products -raw brocolli flowerets (lately, big thing for me...) -sprouts -celery -PICKLES! -soy nuts, various regular nuts (cut back, hardly touch them.. but they're always here....) -tons and tons of sliced turkey (either home baked or natural deli kinds) -ham, ready to eat... -bacon, turkey bacon.. The only real indulgence lately has been those Barry's Bakery French Twists.... but I've had to stop, I am thinking those have helped stop my weight loss... since I am so low carb, and those are carbs.... So- I've quit them... for now. :-x If I must have a sugar snack, it has to come in the form of protein or Viactiv chews! I'll tell you it would be much much harder if I had anything in this house that I shouldn't be eating.... if that's a problem in your house, lay down da law! Since I buy the food and there's two post-op adults here, it's all good foods all the time.... my kids are essentially eating the same way, with the addition of more relatively decent carbohydrates and milk. No junk food, at all, comes in this house. If I need to get them a treat, I try hard to get something I *know would not be a temptation to me. If I know it's something I shouldn't have, I also know they don't need it either. If we were still crashing at my MIL's house, I'd be tempted all day long with the constant flow of junk food/fast food. My first graders' teacher told me that my daughter brings the healthiest snacks & lunch in her class. Go figure. So I guess after all my rambling here... my point is... munch, just pick the right things.... raw veggies, crunchy things, intense flavors, sour.... anything to get the urge to go.... chew gum.....sugarfree mints....ice....popsicles.... -Beth

Hi Ronda, I feel ya. I get the major muchies for about 1 week out of every month...guess why. I didn't have a period for 4 years before surgery and now...its baaacck! Beth pointed out something to me though when I listed all the crap I was eating. She noted that it was all salty food. So now I just keep salted nuts and jerkey on hand for those big munchie moments. I don't put any calorie restrictions on me during that week either (otherwise i go batty). I find if I let my self indulge for that week, I'm less likely to drag it out longer than need be (which is what I was doing before). I also read an article on a study about nuts (not sure what kind they used though). It showed that folks added 500 calories to their diet by eating nuts, but didn't gain weight with the added calories. So far it seems to be true with me. I'm still losing. Good luck darlin' Rachel

Thanks ladies! You were all so helpful and encouraging - as usual. Sometimes I think just sharing with you guys takes the "power" out of whatever little demon I'm dealing with. I am pms-ing so I'm hoping things will calm down next week. I've also noticed that my stress level is up because I've taken on too much. A lesson I THOUGHT I had learned already. Like most women I've got that "disease to please" and can't say no. However, I know that in order to take care of myself, I HAVE to say no or I'll find myself on the back burner. By taking on too much last week, I set myself up for failure by...... not making time for my workouts, eating more junk and salty snacky carbs, not tracking my foods therefore not getting in what I needed. I'm going to reverse this trend right here and now and this is my pledge to you, my fellow former obese friends! Thanks for everything! Ronda