It can be tough to break from habitual behavior in the moment (i.e. when you’re reaching for a snack). Instead try putting some effort on making it harder or more inconvenient to indulge in that habit, while also giving yourself alternatives so it doesn’t feel too torturous and make you want to give up.
For example, I’m guessing it will be a lot less emotionally “painful” to resist buying those snacks when you’re out grocery shopping than it will be to resist grabbing them when they are already in your pantry. Use that to your advantage and stop buying the worst ones and try replacing them with a few healthier alternatives so that when the urge to snack hits at least the worst options are not available to you.
I’m hardly the healthiest eater, but a good apple sliced up satisfies a lot of my urges to snack. Baby carrots with hummus also keep your mouth busy and fill you up with relatively few calories. Try a few fruit/veggie snacks to see if any scratch your itch to snack. You don’t have to change 100%, if you can break the junk food habit even 1/4 of the time, that’s a step.
Another thing that’s worked for me is portion control. Instead of bringing the whole bag of chips with you, pour a bowl and leave the rest in the kitchen. You might go back for seconds sometimes, but it still creates a barrier to eating more.
I think the most important thing is don’t try to make it all or nothing. That will just set you up for failure and frustration. Take steps that are meaningful but achievable. And when you have the motivation, try to think of ways to set yourself up for it to be easier to make good choices when you have less motivation. You got this 💪
Just stop buying that kind of food if you can’t control your consumption of it. If that’s too extreme for you, buy less of it, and when you do eat some, put one serving in a bowl and eat it out of the bowl. When the serving is gone, no more, no refills, you’re done snacking on that food.
don’t buy it. ever. and if people bring it over make them take it back. make grocery lists before going to the store with healthy snacks you like on it or meal plan filling meals. and eat before you go to the store so you shop with your head, not your stomach lolol.
Basically we all need to learn how to hack ourselves.
Whatever that may look like for you is fine, so long as the hacks don’t cause secondary problems then whatever works works.
Your Ritual = sit, watch, snack on crap, repeat until ??
So maybe try and replace each bit, one at a time, and see what you can bear to white knuckle long enough for it to transform into an enjoyable habit:
Sit -> walk on treadmill / exercise bike / whatever while you watch, or go outside for a walk while you listen to podcasts etc
Watch -> listening to podcasts and music or video audio frees up your eyes to be doing a crazy or hobby while you listen. This also means your hands will be occupied and not snacking.
Snack -> swap in fresh sweet crunchy veg (carrots, sweet bell pepper etc) or popcorn (no butter ya sneaky bugger) etc
Repeat until ??? -> Portion control. You don’t take the whole bag of chips out of the kitchen, you take out a small bowl full and that’s your limit
Pick whichever one you want.
Change is hard. We kinda hate it. But it’s worth it.
Find hobbies or projects or do stuff with friends to the point that you don’t have time for movies and youtube
When you’re at the store, don’t buy junk food. If it’s in the house it’ll be extremely difficult to say no to, but while shopying it’s easier to make a more rational decision. Also, plan your meals for the week and maybe meal prep
Following as I’m in the same boat as you… for me the only thing that helps is when I’m doing one of my hobbies or something else, although usually I end up forgetting to eat in that scenario 😢
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