i cant stop snacking!!!

Thanks, Hollykim. Yes, I am.

My plan does not count carbs, but we're told a good rule of thumb is 12-20 grams per meal.

For me, carbs beget carbs, leading to cravings if I eat certain foods on our shopping list. (I'm looking at you, cashews.)

Greek yogurt has worked really well for me (just so long as there's no fruit on the bottom), while some other healthy choices leave me with one foot on the slippery slope and the other on a banana peel.

Good luck with your choices.

I feel your pain because I too have been battling the late night snacking and bouts of return weight gain. I can usually get a grip but lately it is hard. I am RNY, coming up on 9 yrs. Post op on Feb.6. I go to my support groups, two different ones but still have problems with late night eating. I just feel so out of control at times. I went from 270 and now due to weight regain am back up to 164. You are not alone, nor a bad person, look how far you have come. Just saying, we all are human, we fail daily, but tomorrow will come and with it a fresh start.

If you feel like a failure, your self-esteem will plummet and you may well start eating to console yourself! Time for a mindset change! You got it wrong. You know you did. You know you can rise above this! 

Snacking was always my downfall. Actually grazing is probably a better description. And there is no easy answer, we just have to find our own way. Mine has always been to keep busy, keep snacks out sight!  But I have never gone as low calorie as many seem to so I can incorporate an occasional extra meal in my plan. I lose weight on 1200 calories a day, not as fast as people on lower limits but the same as people following any non-Wls diet like Weigh****chers. Our docs are all different and our surgeries have different effects but I have always been under strict instructions never to go under 1100-1200 a day and it has works  very well for me. I lost all my excess weight (110lbs) in just over 15 months despite being post-menopausal and not doing regular exercise. 

So my way when I felt hungry between meals was first to try to distract myself by some sort of activity. If that didn't work, I ate an extra small meal and counted it in my daily total. 

So 1400 calories a day is likely to cause gain. But maybe dropping down to 1000 would allow you to feel more satisfied. I simply cannot imagine living on less than that although I know many do! 

You lost 100lbs in 6 months so you do know what you need to do. It's a matter of getting back on track. The 5 day pouch test isn't any kind of test really, It's just a plan to get back to basics and off the carbs. Yes it was the Holidays and you ate more than you thought you should in your mind. Don't beat yourself up...you probably did much better than other years....just move forward. Maybe journal for a week if that helps.

i wanted to revisit this thread because i too "snack" a good deal sometimes. i do see now OP mentioned a "pouch test" so am assuming he / she is RNY, same as myself

well, we have a small pouch. if you must snack, snack on foods which will fill the pouch. or eat a "meal" first. if you want to snack and do so on slider foods imo it is indulging in some old eating habits. it's really the only way RNY patients can eat more often. but fill the pouch first and unlike before when we could fill out stomachs and keep eating filling the pouch by "snack" or meal will satiate your appetite and help build new eating habits

its a mental / mindset thing. sometimes we have to remind ourselves our very anatomy is different now, and if we want to lose weight we can. we have the tool, how are we going to use it? 

also if capable exercise helps much in my experience. to suppress appetite and keep food out of your mouth. kick start the metabolism, too. many of us wls patients of course are unaccustomed to exercise working for weight loss because it never worked before. of course not. had it, we would not have chosen wls. but it does work. its just our unhealthy bodies and eating habits would cancel it out. however flip that switch in your brain and understand you have a powerful tool to help it work now, and you might be amazed at the weight loss results when you combine using your pouch and exercise

don't be scared, you're doing great. can you do better? i want you to find out and take it to that next level!

I add an extra high protein option when I'm struggling. It isn't perfect but it is planned and defined.  I might have protein ice cream as my snack as it takes a lot time to eat and I ride the time using it.  Focus on protein, planned meals, lots of water In between 

Stop being so hard on yourself!  Try to remove all the temptation foods/snacks.  Replace them with high protein choices.  Sip water non stop and stay busy.  The increase of protein will help with the munchies too.  Hang in their   Keep us posted on how you are doing.