Is snacking stopping your fat loss?

"My meals are pretty good, it's my snacking that's the problem."

If only I had £1 for every time I heard this...

What to eat between meals is one of the scourges of many people's fat loss efforts and having seen more food logs than a dentist has teeth I can see why it's such a concern.

If you'd rather listen, then why not listen to the "Snacking Solution" podcast me and James recorded?

But for now let's tuck in to the top 3 solutions to help people with their snacking.

Solution 1 - Eat bigger meals.

It's common to see people have 30, 40 or even 50% or more of their calories for the day from their snacks compared to their meals.

The issue here is their snacks are low protein and low veg so whilst this takes up 30-50% of their calories it takes up 10-30% of their total food volume and so it's inefficient.

If they had bigger meals. More veg. More protein. More slow release carbs. They'd eat fewer calories over the day.

You wouldn't believe how many people have tiny meals and are then looking to fix their snacks when the solution is right under their nose.

Solution 2 - Change what you think of as a snack

For a lot of people snacks have to be convenient but the real issue lies within their willingness and not in the form that snack is in.

There is too much problem finding. "I couldn't possibly snack on (insert perfectly valid snack food)"

"I couldn't eat a meal at that time."

But, what about a small meal? Some chicken and some salad? Some potatoes and chilli? Some veg sticks and some cooked ham?

This is not as bad as you think. The pleasure from food rarely lasts for minutes but people sacrifice their happiness and the length of time they have on this earth for it.

If your snacks are holding you back from happiness and reducing your chances of living a long and healthy life then changing your idea of what a snack is will really help.

Solution 3 - Ask yourself WHY are you snacking?

Often when people ask for snack ideas a Sustain coach will ask them why they need a snack.

If the answer is ANYTHING other than hunger then the solution is anything other than eating.

You wouldn't scratch your arm if your leg itched, so why are you eating when the problem isn't to do with food?

It's likely we know the answer and it's because we have incorrectly (consciously or subconsciously) associated food with fixing our life problems. But this isn't how it works.

The life problem in question remains but we now have to deal with the extra calories consumed as well.

This isn't to guilt trip you, these are just chances to learn and do better. If you want to change, and change for good, then asking better questions is key.

We've launched a "Snacking Solution" training for those in our free support group so if you'd like help from us to stop your snacking then click here and comment and we can send this exclusive training to you.