Christmas dress

I'm trying to lose weight to fit into a christmas dress. I'm exercising 3 x a week and eating 3 healthy meals, but I can't stop snacking. Any ideas on healthy snacks or how I can resist them all together?

Have you tried nakd bars? They're made from fruit and nuts pressed together and count as one of your five a day. They're great as a mid-morning/afternoon snack.

Yes I love them. My fav is the orange and choc flavour.

you may find you're snacking when your blood sugar is low.  keep something sweet to hand, a apple or banana.  They should do the trick.

good luck at getting into that dress

That's good advice, i think i tend to snack when my blood usgar is low. Instead of stop snacking why not eat a few healthier things, like naked bars, fruit or some rice cakes. Marmites ones are nice and healthy.

Btw naked bars are lush!

I love naked bars and chilli popcorn or the wasabi popcorn from m and s, yum

Wasabi popcorn sounds good - I think they sell it in Topshop too.

I bet you look great just how you are! But to boost your confidence then maybe try and squeeze in an extra gym session per week

I feel quite lucky that once I decide to take action I can generally see results quite quickly -it's just having the motivation to actually hit the gym and cut out chocolate that's the problem!

Yeah maybe switch to healthier snacks and opt for low Gi foods which will keep your blood sugar levels steady (such as nuts, oatcakes and hummus with vegetable crudites). Also you could try making your meals smaller and snacking on smaller snacks more regularly to keep your energy levels up.

I will be going shopping today for oat cakes and hummous then! Thanks Hannah_Mc! Has anyone else got any suggestions for blood sugar level stabilisers?

The best thing you can do to stabilise your blood sugar is to cut down the size of your 3 meals and split them across 5-6 lighter ones. Breakfast, mid-morning, lunch, mid-afternoon, evening, supper (if needed).

I discovered Nakd bars by accident and they are quite nice even if they are expensive! I've found them to be good mid-afternoon. I suffer with the midday energy slump if I eat carbohydrates during the day but these don't kick off any symptoms and are good for a reasonably filling small snack that counts as a portion of fruit.


IF you suffer the midday energy drop keeping off the carbohydrates is the best thing you can do... avoiding bread, pasta, rice and snacks such as crisps, chocolate, oatcakes and ricecakes between 11am-5pm. You can make good lunches with proteins, fats, fruit and veg that will leave you feeling more energised. It also keeps your blood sugar more stable. Soups, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, yogurts, chicken, replacing rice with mixed beans (good for chilli con carne) and interesting salads (i.e. feta cheese, rocket, mixed salad of the peppery/non-sweet kind, pine nuts and grapes) are good choices.

I'll have a decent breakfast, a mid-morning snack such as an apple with some mixed nuts, my lunch which is usually non-cream soup and a yogurt and a higher-energy afternoon snack such as a banana or nakd bar at around 4-4:30pm. I have my evening meal and I don't tend to eat after that. This keeps my blood sugar stable so I'm not craving chocolates or sweets. I drink plenty of water and workout daily. Matching your afternoon snack to your workouts is good, if you need an energy boost before the gym them consume a carbier/energy giving snack such as banana, cereal bar or a slice of cheese with chopped tomato. If you aren't exercising them choose lower energy fruit, chopped veg such as pepper or cucumber or lean slices of cold cooked meat.

If you get a sweet tooth in the evenings and indulge in it, it's usually a case of breaking the habit. Go for a walk, wash up or do some tidying or exchange it by grabbing a hot non-caffeine drink or fruit instead. It takes about 4 days to get out of the mindset and up to a couple of weeks to remove the craving.

Don't worry too much about the dress, I'm sure you'll look fab :)