Healthy snacking Ideas and Encouragement

At six months out I didn't think of snacking. I thought of everything as a meal 5-6 meals a day that follow the same rule- protein first.

For later in the evening I wouldn't want to be chewing on a steak. Personally I would focus on Greek yogurt or protein powder. I have also used premier protein as hot chocolate.

Greek yogurt I recommend Fage. Very thick. I like to flavor with a tablespoon of SF pudding mix or vanilla extract and sweetener.

Protein pudding: one premier plus enough milk to equal 2 cups + one box SF pudding mix. About 300 calories and 36g protein for whole batch. Divide into portions.

Im not sure how great they are, but I like eating raw baby carrots before I go to bed. They are low calorie and really filling. If Im wanting something sweet, I get a spoon full of peanut butter and "dip" my carrots in that. Not sure if its the best but its what I use.

This is probably a stupid question but do you just heat up a chocolate RTD to make the protein-shake-hot chocolate? Because I have thought about HC instead of decaf or tea in the evenings (calories/protein permitting of course) and wasn't sure if I could just nuke some of my premiere or not.

Yes you can just nuke your Premier. Just stir occasionally as you do it. It will get a skin like real hot chocolate if heated too fast.

I see this in my near future!!

Reading through the thread I can see that you have already received some very good advice but I just wanted to offer some support. Remember you are worth it and you CAN do this. Do you have any local support groups in your area that you could attend? Best of luck to you, hope you continue to find knowledge and support here.

My response is similar to H.A.L.A.B.'s. I also struggle with night eating. From the time I have dinner until I go to bed, I struggle to not eat constantly. I tried structured meals and snacking throughout the day. I tried larger meals and no snacking, but whatever I did, I still wanted to eat a ton at night.

I also adjusted my schedule. I now eat my "breakfast" between 11am-12pm, then I eat lunch between 3pm-4pm. And because I stay budy at work, I don;t feel compelled to snack. This allows me to push dinner bac****il 8pm or later, which minimizes my window for night eating. I then allow myself to continue to eat, but I eat low calorie-dense food, so I can consume a large quantity, but it usually adds up to only a few hundred extra calories.

I still struggle with the head games, as I feel like I've "screwed up". Every day I step on the scale thinking "man, I did some damage last night", yet everyday I continue to maintain my weight (I'm well in to maintenance mode, so this is my goal, not weight loss).

I talked through this with my therapist as it still doesn't feel right. She asked me two questions: "is the food you're eating on-plan?" and "are you gaining weight?". When I answered "yes" and "no" respectively she said "so what exactly is the problem?"

I play that conversation over and over in my head to try and remind myself that while my eating patterns may be different than others/most, they aren't necessarily wrong.

Moral of the story it to try and figure out what works for you to meet your goals and worry less about what you "should" be doing. It's not easy, and will probably take some trial and error, but I'm sure you can figure it out.