Wednesday is here, and it shall be a cardio day I do declare! Plan is to walk around Lake Andrea with my son after work, haven't checked the weather report; hope it plays nice. If you get a moment today check in on a fellow blogger I follow regularly, Lisa ...she is a veteran blogger and has made progress since starting her journey but seems to be in a slight rut lately. Maybe together we can help her out and on her way forward again.
Yesterday I had a snack attack, a serious snack attack. You know the kind with teeth, claws and some sort of jedi-mind powers that can lift and throw a perfectly healthy human, or a very overweight one, into a vat of ice cream. Yeah, one of those dreaded snackinators came calling on me. Just a month back I'd still be digesting that ice cream. However yesterday, a month into my mission, I repelled that attack; albeit barely. It occurred on my drive home and I was oh-so close to taking a left towards those golden arches. I told myself I'd get a chicken sandwich, like that wouldn't hurt.
How do you suppress snack attacks?
Thankfully I drove by, shook my head and grabbed a stick of gum. It was an impulse move grabbing that stick of gum; it was the closest thing to food I had in the vehicle. To my surprise just a few minutes into some frantic chewing, and I did chew as if I might find a prize inside if I just chewed hard enough, after just a few minutes my hunger abated, my mood calmed and I made it home having added no empty calories to my body.
Maybe I should have known it as it seems obvious today, but chewing a stick of sugarless gum does suppress the urge to snack. A strong flavor gum would likely do an even better the job I imagine. Not sure if it is a physiological thing, or, a mental thing, but whatever it is about gum, chewing it slays the snackinator.
Responsibility 199... Gotta Do It!!
p.s... Happy Birthday Dad! I miss you with all my heart & soul. Until the day we meet again - stay peaceful.
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Snack attacks are tough. I have learned just to eat want I'm craving right away cause if I don't, I end up eating everything else in sight first, they still what I wanted to begin with. AH!
ReplyDeletesnackinator! supress him.
ReplyDeletegum does work most of the time for me. I don't put a lot of worry with it being sugarfree or anything - even though i should...but my theory is moderation.
keep up your good, hard work patrick!
Hey, good for you. I get a visit from the snack monster a lot at night. I try to be proactive and keep junk food out of the house. My best advice and what works for me is to limit snacks to things that take a few minutes to prepare and also that take a while to chew. A salad, apple slices with peanut butter, that type of thing. It's way to easy to grab a bag a chips and devour the whole thing within minutes.
ReplyDeletePatrick, thx for the shout out & glad you are feeling the new moves.. change is good! That is what I have to say to Lisa.. if you are bored, try something new. So many ways to move & work out. A few on that post too.. some new types of classes out there & just so many other things one can do from kickboxing to self defense to rollerblading, hiking, swimming & any & every class under the sun. Find something you enjoy & if you get bored, do something else.... just don't give up!
ReplyDeletePatrick, congrats on getting past the snack attack! I was going to say keep healthy snacks handy in your car but maybe gum is best for now in case you think you may not be able to portion control. Just a note, gun can bloat many people sensitive to the sugar alcohols in the sugarless stuff.. I had to stop years ago off all the sugarless candy & gum... I did a post quite a while back on it...
Patrick for the ice cream urge I keep sugar free fudgesicles in my freezer, they are 40 calories a piece so I have 1 or 2 most nights. I can't have the skinny cow or any of the other low cal ice creams stuff or I want it all but the fudgesicles are just enough to tame my snack monster. I also love hot tea or coffee (decaf) with milk and artificial sweetener. It fills me up and gives me that little bit of carbs/protein from the milk. Way to go on choosing gum over stopping. Sorry your dad is no longer with you. Way to go on the workout, I'm achy from mine last night too.
ReplyDeleteGood job...I think there is a correlation to "oral fixations" in general to weight management. Are you an ice chewer? I am...when I was in an office (instead of telecommuting), I had a bag of lifesaver mints when my mouth started craving something.
ReplyDeleteI used to snack all day long! I don't snack very often anymore. But if I do, I will have a fruit, a few nuts or some dark chocolate! These usually do the trick!
ReplyDeleteTB, just eat what you wanted huh. Tough choice that would be for me now & expecting to make progress. Maybe when I get to maintenance I can satisfy attacks with what is craved.
ReplyDeleteSeth, gum did the trick on the snackinator this time and hopefully will the next time too.
Karen, that's a good idea setting up house so snacks take effort to pull together & satisfy urges.
Jody, Thanks again for the exercises. I admit not knowing much about sugar alcohols but I thought they were considered friendly to low carb diets; not that I am on one.
Dawn, you been in our freezer? We have low-fat fudgesicles in there :-) I try & avoid them, at least lately. Oh they definitely are a healthy choice compared to a vat o ice cream so I am not knocking them. But right now my mindset is that if I indulge in dessert of any kind I am slipping.
Kyle, handfuls of candy vs ice? I do chew ice & haven't thought of it as a snackinator weapon, until now~ thanks!
Carla, I've replaced some bad snacks with those items too. I find I have to think about the amount of nuts I eat though as they are very good and can rack up calories fast if not careful.
Thanks for the thoughts everyone!