Do You Know How Many Calories You Snacked On?

One of the sneakiest ways calories enter our body is when we leisurely snack either at home, in the car, or at the workplace. It's these specific snacking instances when those who want to lose weight need to really focus so that the episode does not turn into a caloric nightmare.

Most assume the word "snack" automatically translates into something that will be small and insignificant. This is why many people often overlook what a snack actually does to the body.

Likely the word snack did originally have that intention to be small and nutritious, but with the plethora of unhealthy choices around these days along with the portion sizes offered, a snacking instance can often total more calories than an entire meal.

Therefore before you dig your hand into that bag of chips, open up that box of crackers, or pour a tall glass of soda to enjoy while watching television, let's take a closer look at how quickly a snack can turn into an unfortunate weight gaining experience.

Choose Your Snacks Wisely

Keep in mind in order to lose weight in a healthy way, the number one thing you do not want to do is put too many calories into your body. If you do, exercise will be the one positive way you will be able to burn that excess off your body.

When you don't make the time to fit in a workout on the day you snacked on too much, that's when the weight goes up. This is why it's imperative you stick within a healthy appropriate calorie range particularly on days you know you are not going to be able to exercise.

Let's take a look at a few popular options that many choose snack on along with some possible alternatives to help you turn the meaning of a snack into a positive, healthy occurrence. Here's how many calories are in:

Nacho Cheese Doritos: 11 chips = 140 calories
Chips Ahoy: 4 cookies = 290 calories
Oreos: 3 cookies = 160 calories
Pepsi: 20 ounces = 250 calories

Now at first glance the numbers may not seem terribly excess 160 calories for 3 Oreo cookies. Even though that snack is no where near something that's nutritious for the body, if that snacking moment was to stay just at 160 calories that wouldn't be very detrimental to an overall calorie total for the day.

However think about how often does a snacking moment stay under control like that? If you are someone who eats Oreos, do you just have 3 or usually more than that?

Think about your last snacking moment and how many calories you actually consumed. Most people go way over the one serving of 3 Oreos and can easily eat 6, 9, 12 or even more.

Tabulating the calories for that increase you get 320, 480, 640 or more just in cookies! Then usually tied hand in hand with that edible snack is a sugary beverage. Unfortunately a 0 calorie beverage like water is often not consumed, and it's often soda which packs on its own set of calories taking the snacking total even higher. Picture this, a snack of 9 Oreos along with a 20 ounce glass of Pepsi and you just ate 730 calories for a "snack"!

Instead of forcing your body to deal with all this junk food that has absolutely no positive impact on your health, let's turn the snacking episode around so that it will become something nutritious yet satisfying.

One of the first items of business that needs to be taken care of are the choices of your snacks. Whether you are at home or away, the snack you eat should have healthy nutrition as the top priority. Drill into your head that healthy does in no way mean boring and bland.

There are many snacks out there that are delicious and healthy so don't feel as though you have to just eat lettuce in order to snack in a proper manner. All it takes is the willingness to try something new. You may find that a 100-200 calorie snack is just as filling and satisfying as that other 700+ event you used to partake in regularly.