Healthy Snacks For Weight Loss At Work

Here is the thing. You are at work. It is 3 PM. You are hungry. Not starving. Just that annoying hungry. The kind where you start looking at the clock every two minutes. You open your drawer. Nothing. You look at the break room. Someone brought donuts. You eat one. Now you feel bad. And tired. And you just ate a donut for no good reason.

I have been there. Most people have been there.

So let me tell you what actually works. Not what some diet book says. Not what your friend who does crossfit says. What works for normal people who sit at a desk all day.

Why Office Snacks Mess You Up?

When you sit in a chair all day, your body slows down. That is just a fact. You are not burning much. But your brain still needs food. Your brain is working. Your brain is the most hungry part of healthy snacks for weight loss at work.

Most snacks in an office are trash. Sorry but it is true. Chips. Cookies. Pretzels. Granola bars that are really just candy bars in disguise. These things give you a fast hit of energy. Then your body puts out a bunch of insulin. Then your energy crashes. Then you want another one.

It is a trap. A circle. You eat. You crash. You eat again. You gain weight.

A good snack does not do that. A good snack fills you up. It stays with you. You eat it and then you forget about food for a few hours. That is the goal. To forget about food.

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What Makes A Snack Good?

Two things. Protein and fiber.

Protein keeps you full. Fiber keeps you full too but in a different way. Together they work better than either one alone. Fat is also good. Not the fake fat in fried food. Real fat from eggs or nuts or cheese. Fat tells your brain okay we are done eating now. So a good snack has protein and fiber and a little real fat. No sugar. No white flour. No long list of ingredients you cannot pronounce. Also the snack has to be easy. You are at work. You are not cooking. You are not washing dishes. You need to open a box or a bag or peel something and eat it. That is it.

Ten Snacks That Actually Work

I am not going to give you ten fancy recipes. I am going to give you ten real things you can buy at a normal store and eat at your desk.

1. A Boiled Egg

• Just one egg. Boil it at home. Put it in your bag. At work you peel it and eat it. That is it.
• One egg has six grams of protein. Seventy calories. The yellow part has fat that kills hunger.
• You can eat two if you are really hungry. But start with one.
• It stays good for four hours without a fridge. If your office has a fridge, put it in there.

2. An Apple And Some Peanut Butter

• Get a small apple. Not a big one. A small one. Cut it up or just bite it. Get one spoon of peanut butter.
• But look at the peanut butter label first. Most peanut butter has sugar. You do not want sugar. You want peanuts and salt. That is it. Two things.
• Dip the apple in the peanut butter. Eat it.
• The apple has fiber and water. The peanut butter has protein and fat. This snack works.

3. Plain Greek Yogurt

• Go to the store. Find the yogurt. Get the plain Greek kind. Not vanilla. Not fruit. Not honey. Plain.
• Read the label. If sugar is in the first three things, put it back.
• Take half a cup to work. Eat it with a spoon. You can put some berries in it if you want. Or just eat it plain.
• Greek yogurt is thick. It feels like food. Not like drinkable yogurt. Thick is good. Thick stays with you.

4. A Small Handful Of Almonds

• Count out ten or twelve almonds. Put them in a small bag. Eat them one by one. Chew them well.
• Almonds have good fat and good protein. They also have magnesium. Magnesium helps your body use energy.
• Do not eat more than twelve. Almonds have a lot of calories in a small space. A little is good. A lot is bad for weight loss.

5. Cucumber And Hummus

• Take half a cucumber. Cut it into thick slices. Get two spoons of hummus. Any store has hummus. Get the plain kind.
• Dip the cucumber in the hummus. Eat it.
• The cucumber is mostly water. Almost no calories. The hummus has protein from chickpeas. Together they fill you up.

6. A Small Can Of Tuna

• Get the small can. Make sure it says in water. Not in oil. Open it at work. Pour out the water. Eat the tuna with a fork.
• You can put pepper on it. Or just eat it plain.
• Tuna is pure protein. No fat. No carbs. It kills hunger fast.
• But do not eat this every day. Tuna has mercury. Once or twice a week is fine. Every day is not fine.

7. Roasted Chickpeas

This one takes a little work at home. But it is worth it.

Get a can of chickpeas. Wash them. Dry them. Put them on a tray. Add a little salt and a little oil. Bake at 200 degrees for 20 minutes. Let them cool. Put them in a jar at your desk. They are crunchy like chips. But they have fiber and protein. You can eat a small handful.

8. An Orange And A Cheese Stick

• Get one small orange. Get one cheese stick. The kind that comes wrapped in plastic. Low fat or normal. Both are fine.
• Peel the orange. Eat the orange pieces with the cheese.
• The orange is sweet and wet. The cheese is salty and dry. They taste good together. And the cheese has protein. The orange has vitamin C.

9. Oatmeal In A Jar

This is for offices with a kettle. Get a small glass jar. Put three spoons of rolled oats in it. Not the instant sweet kind. The plain kind. Add hot water from the kettle. Wait five minutes. Add a small spoon of peanut butter. Or some berries. The oatmeal turns into a gel in your stomach. The gel keeps you full for hours.

10. Carrot Sticks And Cottage Cheese

• Get two small carrots. Cut them into sticks. Get half a cup of cottage cheese.
• Dip the carrots in the cottage cheese. Eat them.
• Cottage cheese has a lot of protein. Carrots are sweet and crunchy. It is a good pair.

How To Do This Without Thinking Too Much?

You do not need to eat all ten snacks. Pick two for each day. Eat one in the late morning. Eat one in the afternoon.

Here is an example.

• Morning. One boiled egg and a small apple.
• Afternoon. Ten almonds and some cucumber slices.

That is it. Two hundred fifty calories from snacks. Your meals give you the rest. You stay full. You do not go to the vending machine.

Drink Water

I have to say this because most people do not do it. Drink water.

Your body gets confused. Sometimes you think you are hungry but you are really thirsty. So when you feel hungry at work, drink a glass of water first. Wait ten minutes. If you are still hungry, eat your snack. Keep a water bottle on your desk. Fill it up three times a day. No sweet drinks. No juice. No soda. Just water.

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Things That Look Healthy But Are Not

Some foods trick you. They look like they are good for you. They are not.

• Granola bars. Most have as much sugar as a candy bar. Read the label. If sugar is in the first three things, do not buy it.
• Rice cakes. No protein. You will be hungry again in thirty minutes. Tops.
• Trail mix with chocolate and dried fruit. Dried fruit has a ton of sugar. Chocolate has sugar and fat. Plain nuts are better.
• Fruit juice. Even if it says no sugar added, it still has all the sugar from the fruit. But no fiber. Eat the fruit. Do not drink it.
• Low fat cookies. They take out the fat. Then they put in sugar to make it taste good. They are worse than normal cookies.

How To Keep Snacks At Your Desk?

You do not need a fridge for most of these.

• Almonds and roasted chickpeas and peanut butter stay in your drawer for weeks.
• Apples and oranges and cucumbers and carrots stay on your desk for two or three days.
• A boiled egg stays good for four hours in a small box.
• Yogurt or cottage cheese needs a cold pack. Get a small lunch bag and one cold pack. It stays cold until noon.
• Tuna in a can does not need a fridge. Just open it when you eat it.

Use Your Hand To Measure

• You do not need measuring cups. Use your hand.
• Your protein snack should be as big as your palm. One egg. One small can of tuna. One cheese stick.
• Your fruit or vegetable should be as big as your fist. One small apple. One small orange. Half a cucumber.
• Your nuts should fit in your cupped hand. Ten or twelve almonds.
• Your yogurt should fill a small cup the size of your fist.
• If you use your hand, you will not eat too much.

When To Eat?

Do not wait until you are starving. When you are starving, you eat anything. You eat the donut. You eat the chips. You do not make good choices. Eat when you feel the first little bit of hunger. That is usually two or three hours after breakfast.

Eat your afternoon snack two or three hours after lunch. Before the afternoon crash. If you eat dinner late, add a third snack at five thirty. One boiled egg or a few almonds. That stops you from eating a huge dinner.

A Seven Day Plan

• Do not try to do everything at once. That is how people quit. Start small.
• Day one. Bring water. Drink three bottles.
• Day two. Bring one apple and ten almonds. Eat them at 3 PM.
• Day three. Boil two eggs at night. Bring one to work. Eat it at 10 30 AM.
• Day four. Bring half a cup of plain Greek yogurt. Eat it at 3 PM.
• Day five. Bring cucumber slices and two spoons of hummus. Eat it at 10 30 AM.
• Day six. Bring an orange and a cheese stick. Eat it at 3 PM.
• Day seven. Look at your week. You ate good snacks. You did not eat vending machine food. Now do it again next week. Add one more change.

If You Have No Time

• I hear you. You are busy. Here is what you do on Sunday night.
• Boil six eggs. Put them in the fridge.
• Cut up carrots and cucumber into sticks. Put them in small boxes.
• Put almonds into small bags.
• Make a jar of roasted chickpeas.
• Now every morning you just grab one egg, one box of vegetables, and one bag of nuts. It takes thirty seconds.
• If you cannot do that, keep almonds and roasted chickpeas and apples on your desk at all times. Always. That is your healthy snacks for weight loss at work.

One More Thing

You can lose weight at work. You do not need expensive food. You do not need to be hungry all day. You just need to bring food from home. Food with protein and fiber. No sugar. No white flour. Drink water. Eat when you first feel hungry. Try it for one week. Just one week. See how you feel. I think you will feel better. Less tired. Less hungry. Less guilty about donuts. Now go boil some eggs. Or don't. But if you do, you will have a good snack tomorrow. And that is a small win. And small wins add up.