How did all you girl Mums do it?!

How did you all keep from snaking? Are you just not hungry people? Do you fill up on high calorie meals that take ages to digest? Constantly drinking diet soda? :DD:

I have come to the conclusion I am a moo cow - I constantly graze. I am having so much trouble stopping myself from snacking, it's second nature to just stick food in my mouth. Only small amounts (a rice cracker here, a few slices of cucumber there), but I shouldn't be doing it!
Please tell me how you all did it!

I can eat a late breakfast and an early dinner, and therefore go 14 - 17 hours over night without food, but then that block of time between I just find myself poping food in my mouth. I'm a bit of a piglet I think :worry:

Atomic - I eat a vegan,low carb / low calorie diet within the LE diet ranges (1200 - 1400 most days naturally) and am fairly slim ( currently at my lowest adult weight since I conceived my daughter), and stay empty for a fair amount of time overnight.
I know nothing is certain BUT...... Are big spaces between food MORE important than lower calorie intake in your opinion? Wouldn't higher calorie intake send messages to your body that times aren't so tough? Or does snacking send a bigger message that food is plentiful, even if calorie eaten are low? Or is it the combination of both that's the kicker?

Am I better eating more calories and REALLY filling up at each meal in the hope it helps me cut down on snacking, even though I will gain weight if I eat more? Or should I stick to what I'm doing and just cut down on the snacks as much as I can (it won't be completely)?
I don't want to use soda as a 'filler' as I am fearful of fake sugars and the health implications.

I feel so embarrassed - I sound like such a guts!

Yes, I guess most of us are just not the hungry people. I never ever snacked, was thin, I practically lived on low fat diary.
I can't stand potatoes for example.

Eventhou I've changed my life style dramatically in order to have a :bigboy: I still ended up pg with a girl. I'm feeling really miserable and lost, no matter what I do I can't have my baby boy.

LE diet seems to work like a charm for :XX: everybody is getting their long awaited girls just like that. So stick to it, I'm sure it will work for you too.

Big hugs ZB

Little Bairn lol I´m just like you, snacking all day long so I wondered how girl moms do that too during my sway.
Did you try chewing gum and tea or coffee as snacks?

LittleBairn - you sound just like me...i was a constant grazer! And i struggled with cutting it out, and i still do.
I think the no snacking is a 2 pronged attack, it makes your body think times are tough = girl sway, and it keeps your glucose long = girl sway.
The things that help me are sugar free chewing gum...i eat tons of it, the stuff with aspartame as that is supposed to sway girl too.
I also drink tons of tea, peppermint from AF-O (again thats a girl swayer) with aspartame as sweetner, and rooibos tea from O onwards. I have about 4 cups a day.
Diet coke helps as well with the hunger

Good luck :luck: and just keep thinking pink! Sometimes when i am struggling with the diet i google some pink things and that helps me too :)

I have no advice as I haven't even started my sway yet, but I think the no snacking thing is going to be the biggest challenge for me too. I graze all day, I don't eat that much in calories but I spread it all out across the day so I'm constantly eating.
I think I'm just gonna have to try and find ways to keep myself busy, because I mainly eat when I'm bored.

I found Diet Pepsi to be really good at tricking my belly into thinking it was full, but if you're leery of fake sugars then I guess that's not for you. I also drank tea all day long: peppermint and raspberry leaf. That really helped. And I could never have done the no eating till noon thing without my morning coffee.

Good luck - I know it's tough, but soooooo worth it.

My mom never ate breakfast, never snacked, ate a tiny lunch and then a small dinner. That's just how she ate for years. She smoked, drank plain unsweetened tea/coffee and chewed sugarfree gum between meals.

When I conceived DD I was really distraught and had pretty much lost my appetite. I never noticed if I was getting shaky, I was drinking a TON of coffee so I think I was filling my stomach with that. I usually eat like 5 times a day so very very different for me.

Bearing in mind that I have no way to say for certain without a study, I think the lower caloric intake would outweigh the "no snacking" idea. Obviously, combining the two is better. But if you're already going 14-17 hours without eating, you have no reason to worry about how often you're eating in the meantime. The point is just to have several hours out of the day where you have lower blood sugar, and you've already accomplished that.

There is no one-size, fits-all approach with diet. What works for one person will render another totally miserable. So you have to be flexible and forgiving with yourself - as long as you're moving in the direction of less FOR YOU, it doesn't matter what anyone else is doing. Your body notices what is less for you and takes note of that...it has no way of knowing what anyone else is eating. Your body cares about your environment, not anyone else's.

Just having had 3 girls after my son, my biggest difference was in how I ate. I always just had a cup of coffee, then 3 hours or so a piece of fruit and a cookie an hour later maybe. Then my kids would go down for nap ans I would finally eat my first meal around 2pm. Usually salad and chips. Then dinner was peanut butter and ice cream.
Anyway, I got very used to skipping in the am, but would get hungry and that's when I'd grab the cookie or the piece of fruit. I think it was more impt. that I didn't eat a lot. Maybe just one piece of cheese on a cracker when you're really hungry?

What about chewing gum to help with the grazing?

I think it all starts at the supermarket. Dont buy it and you cant eat it. I know lots of people do a whole weeks worth of grocery shopping, but i used to just grab a few dinners, bread, milk, coffee when DD was concieved i had the mind set that cooking and eating were a chore that i didn't like, don't get me wrong i was not anorexic or anything, i would only find something to eat when my stomach would really growl at me, that was just the way i lived. I think eventually your stomach shrinks and you fill up on very little food, for example instead of making a sandwich for lunch i would just cut a chunk of cheese and eat that and be full.

I lived in the buzz of feeling hungry and keeping thin.. sad I know but I think this is why I never had a boy..

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Originally Posted by TTC5

I lived in the buzz of feeling hungry and keeping thin.. sad I know but I think this is why I never had a boy..

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Oh I hope that is true TTC5... that's how I feel on the LE diet! On the HE diet though, didn't you feel the opposite? Still think you are pg with a baby boy, can't wait until you find out for sure :)

Well, I eat all the time and always have. I have GBG. The stuff I snacked on before my boy sway was all empty calorie, junky sweet stuff (I could eat a package of Oreos all on my own, in one day--not kidding). So I am sure my blood sugar was all over the place!!

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Originally Posted by TTC5

I lived in the buzz of feeling hungry and keeping thin.. sad I know but I think this is why I never had a boy..

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until now silly!! ;)

Thank you so much all of you! You are so supportive - I love this forum :bighug:

I've stuck with it and think I'm slowly adjusting. My body went into panic mode at first - haha!
I keep heart by reminding myself of how different my diet and lifestyle is now compared to a few years ago, and any other changes I make are just helping even more. I have a tendency to beat myself up big time if I feel I am / have failed.

Thanks again ladies :)

so interesting, I just recently looked at people around me in real life again, especially those with 3 or more kids ... and yes, those with many girls or significantly more girls than boys are the ones that are skinny, (like 55kg max), the vegetarian ones, the ones that eat tiny portions and make me feel like a monster when out with them.

Boy mums around me can still be slim, but more so in a healthy, toned way not skinny or tiny as such.... sigh, I dont think I will ever have another girl, I dont know how I did it LOL.... I am such an eater... I did loose weight while swaying thi stime, but I think my diet was way to healthy (I didnt follow LE sadly, had already started my sway when finding this site and conceived 2 weeks later...)

I am a snacker to. Always eating and putting something in my mouth. I am slender though. 55 kg and 170 cm.
I don't eat big meals or lots of fats but constantly chewing or drinking. Could be coffee, diet coke, pieces of fruit, biscuits, raw veggies, some candy, chewing gum, pieces of cookies (just breaking a couple of pieces of....don't know why i do that). So at the end of the day I have had not many calories but my body probably thinking there is food everywhere.
So it figures I have 5 boys!! My eating habbits have to chance drasticly to get a girl!

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Originally Posted by wilma_five

I don't eat big meals or lots of fats but constantly chewing or drinking. Could be coffee, diet coke, pieces of fruit, biscuits, raw veggies, some candy, chewing gum, pieces of cookies (just breaking a couple of pieces of....don't know why i do that).

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This is so me LOL! I do the cookie breaking-pieces-off thing!

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(just breaking a couple of pieces of....don't know why i do that)

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i do this tooo!!!!!

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Originally Posted by Pangea

I have no advice as I haven't even started my sway yet, but I think the no snacking thing is going to be the biggest challenge for me too. I graze all day, I don't eat that much in calories but I spread it all out across the day so I'm constantly eating.
I think I'm just gonna have to try and find ways to keep myself busy, because I mainly eat when I'm bored.

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Same here - keep yourself busy! I could literally eat all day, every day. I admit I do it becuase I'm bored, or I see food and I'm like that looks good, and I'm a HUGE emotional eater-I get frustrated/sad/angry I eat. It's SO hard to keep it under control (not started diet, but I always feel guilty snacking all day)!! But, on days I don't sit at home with the boys I can go all day without eating, so I know I don't need to eat that much! I hate sitting down to big meals. I'd rather eat some soup or a veg burger or something then snack all day lol Am also thin, always hungry, fast metabolism. DH always says you don't eat enough! He doesnt see me - I snack all day, I just never sit down to meals
I can guarantee you my blood sugar never has a second to creep down, I keep it on an even keel. LE diet is 100% opposite how/what I eat for me

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Originally Posted by wilma_five

... pieces of cookies (just breaking a couple of pieces of....don't know why i do that).

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Haha - me too on the cookies! As if seventeen half-pieces of cookies is better than eating the three whole ones that normal people do :D

I don't usually do sweets, but I have a soft spot for cookies - especially homemade choc chip ones!

I am so firm in my belief that Atomic and the lovely ladies on this site are completely on to something. When I "fell off the LE Wagon" a few weeks ago and went back to how I was eating it was even MORE evident to me that although this eating thing may not apply to everyone I 100% firmly believe it does with me. I went back to eating every 1-2 hours grazing all day long on healthy things like fruit, and hey this is "calorie free" cause it's a fiber bar so it will just flow right through right? And who counts a glass of milk with ovaltine because it's liquid for goodness sake.. and on and on and on...I'm not saying that we will conceive a girl but I know it my heart it will be the most ideal environment for that half of the swimmers because I never realized how I could write a book...honestly I should COACH women on how to conceive boys I am healthy as a horse..and frankly I eat one every day...taking a bite just about every ten minutes!Oh and BTW I totally aggree with PP I feel fantastic (first day back on) because there is something freakishly "high" about skipping breakfast and then not getting on that glucose rollercoaster all day...at least for me!!! Best wishes to all Ladies!

I don't know how I did it... I was STARVING in the first few weeks before I got used to eating no breakfast and generally eating as little as possible lol I suppose my will to give swaying my best shot and do the best sway possible was stronger than my will to snack. I knew if I let myself give in to temptation that I would beat myself up about it.

I am the same way, always snacking. I found that to be the most difficult part of the diet, if I could have eaten whenever I wanted but stayed at a lower caloric intake it would have been easier for me. Once I was pregnant I started eating whatever I wanted, (actually before I knew b/c my body was starving!), but I would often catch myself thinking, "Wait!! It's not time to eat yet"! I hope the hard work pays off for everyone!