Snacking and Mindless Eating – How It Can Ruin Your Fat Loss Progress

Photo credit: Rex Roof

Mindless eating and consistent snacking on “health foods” can pose a major roadblock for those who aspire to achieve a lean, chiselled physique.  Not to mention the population who prefer life to be simple and wish to harbor absolutely zero preoccupation about their dietary plans.

My inspiration for this article came from multiple conversations with a few ladies who both struggle with daily snacking, but more so with the mindless part of the equation.  I asked one individual a few “why” questions and the main reason she felt the need for snacking was shear boredom.  Another stated that snacking was merely a habit she picked up over many years, and a bad one at that.

In my opinion, snacking is a often terrible idea for many fitness enthusiasts, especially those who are aiming to lean out, or better yet, maintain a lean physique with relative ease and a worry-free philosophy.

Grazing, Calorie Content, and Impact

First of all, snacking can also be likened to grazing; you know, that thing cows do?  It’s fairly common within our industry for the typical fitness enthusiast to build their diet around 3-4 meals and a few snacks throughout the day – especially when the metabolism-revving ideals are concerned.  Luckily, we now know through research, as well as anecdotal evidence that old dogmas can now rest in peace.  As long as calorie and macro totals are met, the rest is merely minutiae.

What I want to look at is how quickly mindless grazing and even healthy snacking can quickly become a rusty fork jammed violently into your fat-burning turbine.

When the idea of grazing comes to mind, quick-and-easy foods flood your psyche.  Trail mix, 100-calorie packs, pre-packaged cakes, crackers, cookies, nuts, dried fruit, etc., are all very common.  If you’ve ever checked the labels, most of these foods pack a hefty dose of calories for a small serving.  A serving (~28g or 1 ounce) of regular trail mix (not the kind with candy and added sugar) will yield about 120-150 calories.  Now just imagine what the same mix would have with higher fat/sugar candies included.

For me, 28g worth of trail mix is about a handful – and you know you can’t eat just one.  If you get started, it’s usually 3-4 handfuls, if not the entire bag.  It’s nothing but a calorie bomb just waiting to explode all over your insides.

The same goes for the other foods I mentioned.  Snack cakes, cookies, croutons, and dried fruit are all loaded with calories.   Now, a more sensible snack would obviously be something containing water, fiber and real nutrients such as a piece of fruit, veggies, or lean meat such as home-made jerky.  However, the healthier options usually require some initial planning and mindfulness with regards to storage and refrigeration.  It’s a lot easier to keep a bag of granola in your desk for a month than an apple or a few sticks of celery.

But really, I mean, who has time to (gasp) actually think about what they’re putting in their mouth and how it affects their ultimate fitness and physique goals?

Ultimately, one-too-many handfuls of trail mix, nuts and dried fruit could add up to an extra 1000 calories (or more) by the day’s end.  Congratulations, you just hit half (and sometimes much more for lighter females trying to lose body fat) of your daily caloric intake with food choices that are basically void of micronutrients and satiety-producing benefits.

Snacking and Bad Habits

To be blunt, I hate the idea of snacking.  Mainly, it’s because I like to eat large meals and because of how often it does very little for producing the aesthetic results a person is often after.

To me, it’s much more enjoyable sitting down to 2-4 meals, and actually feeling fed, rather than hitting my caloric mark (or going way over) by 5 p.m. with lingering thoughts about how hungry I feel.  However, moving to such an approach is often difficult.  If there are no back-of-the-mind neuroses about meal frequency, then it’s often the reluctance to change a bad habit.

Due to certain hormones (like ghrelin, among others) in the body, we get very used to a particular eating schedule and hunger will be noticeable around the same time each day.  If an individual finally decides they’d like to cut out snacking altogether, the biggest problem in their way is destroying the bad habit.  Thus, old habits die hard; the cliché is painfully true.

It’s typically a difficult process when attempting to change or break a habit and it’s oftentimes just as hard to create a new one.  However, we’ve been forming habits our entire lifetime; so it’s definitely possible, and we must be mindful and stern during the process.

Is Snacking Halting Your Progress?

Just recently, I took a look at a friend’s diet to determine why they weren’t losing weight as fast as they calculated.  This is what their breakfast consisted of: a handful of raisins, a protein shake and a tbsp of peanut butter.

What do we see wrong with this picture?  There’s hardly any fiber or satiety benefit.  Now, this particular person claims to enjoy eating a small breakfast but as he gets a few hours into his shift, he’s over at a friend’s desk bumming trail mix and packs of Hershey’s chocolate to munch on until lunch time.

So I asked if he was including the candy into his daily totals – turns out he wasn’t.  It’s no wonder fat loss wasn’t happening.

At this point, I gave him a few suggestions.  They were to either spend a little extra time preparing a somewhat larger breakfast and to cut out the quick-fix foods, or to pack his breakfast and eat it during the time he would normally begin snacking.

Of course, another option is to forget about breakfast altogether and just start eating around lunch time.

Fasting is a great way to break some bad eating habits.  If you’ve gotten yourself into a rut with continual snacking, I’d recommend you give fasting a try – even if it’s just for a short period to regain some control over your habitual intake.

And now, let’s look at some guidelines.

When Snacking is Okay

It’s rare that I will ever tell someone it’s okay to be snacking.  Here are a few exceptions:

• They’re really skinny and want to gain weight.
• Strenuous backpacking or hiking all day – it’s often easier to carry snack foods in your backpack than it is to fit a chicken, a few heads of broccoli and a sack of potatoes.
• You’re lost in the jungle and have access to random fruits and bugs to eat – then it’s perfectly acceptable.

When It’s Not

• If you’re on a low calorie diet and trying to reach a goal of a lower body fat.
• If you’re an emotional eater and food is your crutch.
• If you use boredom as an excuse to munch on empty calories to pass the time, stay occupied, etc.

Practicality

Remember, everything I’ve written is merely my views on snacking – it’s simply not for me, nor is it for most others I’ve helped out with their diet.  If it works for you, simply disregard this article.  If you do insist on snacking, I’d rather it be in the form of filling foods like fruit and veggies.

However, if you’re one of those folks who are sabotaging your physique-improvement efforts due to mindless munching, then it might be best to consider giving up snacking for a while, if not forever.

The first thing you’ll need to do is make a commitment to change your habits and to stop snacking.  The first few days are not going to be easy in regards to giving up this old habit.  You’ll probably slip up a bit – no big deal, just keep your focus on the big picture.  Just don’t cower away.

Secondly, I’d suggest keeping a food log.  This can either be online or my preferred method of a pen and notepad.  By writing it all down, you’ll remain accountable to yourself.  If you choose to snack, you’ll see just how much of an impact that 2-3 servings of trail mix has on your food selection and thus satiety, which ultimately affects your adherence.

Thirdly, I’d recommend basing your diet around real, whole foods that you must spend a little time preparing.  It doesn’t have to take all of your time, but setting some time aside to prepare a solid, healthy meal will be much more rewarding and enjoyable than all the mindless snacking.

What about you?  Are you struggling with your diet as a result of all the mindless snacking or do you fare well with a few daily snacks in your diet?  Tell me about it in the comments.

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On a brief side note: Erin Elberson of Gluten-Free Fitness recently released an awesome product titled 7 Quick-Start Tips for a Healthy, Gluten-Free, Fit Life.  This isn’t an affiliate link – I’ve simply had a chance to sit down and go through the product and it’s just so good.  I never knew how difficult life can be for someone who has to maintain a gluten-free diet.  So if that’s you, it’s a fantastic resource.

I also mentioned this product simply because of the recipes included; despite being gluten-free, they are pretty awesome.