How to snack without gaining weight

Many modern nutritionists adhere to the concept of fractional nutrition. This means that you need to eat five to six times a day. Meals can be of equal calorie content, or they can be broken down into higher-calorie main meals and snacks.

Based on this, for eight hours of a working day, you can afford to eat three times – eat a second breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack. If you are late at work after 19:00-20:00, it would be wise to have dinner at the office, as the last meal should be 3-4 hours before bedtime.

A few words about calorie content

Our calorie needs are determined by gender, age, weight, and amount of physical activity. Another important factor is the speed of metabolic processes, but it is difficult to determine it on your own. Women leading a sedentary lifestyle usually need about 1400 kcal per day, men – 1800 kcal.

If you go in for sports three times a week, you can increase the daily diet, but not significantly – by only 150-300 kcal.

Based on the daily calorie content, it is reasonable to make the main meals 25% of the total nutritional value, snacks – 10%. If your daily norm is 1400-1500 kcal, then breakfast, lunch and dinner should be 350-400 kcal, and snacks should be 100-150 kcal each.

What to eat to lose weight

An early snack – second breakfast or lunch – is the perfect time for fruits and dairy products. Because of the high sugar content, fruits are best eaten in the morning. For 150 kcal, you can eat yogurt and a large apple or 50 g of dried fruit, or you can drink a glass of kefir with a handful of fresh berries. You can also eat a light fruit dessert – jelly, soufflé, mousse, but you need to control the amount of sugar, otherwise the blood glucose level will rise, and the appetite will only clear up.

A snack in the late afternoon (afternoon snack) is best done with vegetables. A vegetarian casserole, fresh vegetables with a light dressing, or a salad will do. If calorie content allows, whole grain bread and light cheese, such as homemade or Adyghe, can be added to vegetables.

Cottage cheese is a great option for a snack at any time. Cheesecakes, cottage cheese casseroles, cottage cheese with berries and fruits are suitable for lunch. For an afternoon snack – cottage cheese with vegetables or unsweetened casseroles.

What’s under the ban?

The main rule is not to snack on sweets. Sugar provokes a sharp release of insulin into the blood, and this, in turn, leads not only to the formation of insulin resistance and a decrease in immunity, but also to an increase in hunger. Sweet has a bad effect on the skin and causes premature aging of the body due to protein glycation.

If you really want to eat a chocolate bar or cake, do it immediately after the main meal, for example, after dinner.

The second rule is don’t drink calories. Any high-calorie drinks – juices, smoothies, with the exception of protein-vegetables, specially balanced in composition, will not saturate you for a long time, and in terms of calorie content and amount of sugar, they will most likely go beyond the permissible limits.

Nuts and seeds are also not the best snack, despite their high content of unsaturated fats. Nuts are too high in calories (500-600 kcal per 100 grams). This means that for 150 kcal there are only 25 g of nuts. Our body evaluates saturation not only by calories, but also by the volume of food. 25 g of nuts will “slip” unnoticed, but you will not feel satisfaction and saturation.

5 rules for a healthy snack

1. Eat at regular intervals. For example, if you have breakfast at 8:00 am, have lunch at 11:00 am, lunch at 14:00 pm, afternoon tea at 17:00 pm, and dinner at 20:00 pm.

2. Never eat on the job, especially without portion control. An open pack of cookies in front of your computer can run out unnoticed while you’re busy working on a project.

3. If you have sweet tea parties at work, bring healthy alternatives: cottage cheese casserole, cheese, fruit.

4. If you have a sedentary job, eat more fiber and dairy products. This will help the intestines cope with hypodynamia. Fiber is found in all vegetables and many fruits, as well as bran and whole grain bread.

5. If you really want to “chew something else”, and snacks are already over, try crunchy bran. They quickly saturate and help lower blood cholesterol levels. But do not consume more than 30 g of bran per day and be sure to drink plenty of water.