Are 100 Calorie Snacks Really Enough?

I can’t help but laugh at the recommendations and prepackaged snacks that are 100 calories a pop. Honestly, even when I’m hardcore dieting, a 100 calorie snack usually does not do the job for me. I’m not sure if I have a higher than usual metabolism and just burn it off too fast, or whether my problem is that I just eat it too dang fast, but a 100 calorie snack for me on most days is like a tease, a drop in the bucket, a “snack” before the real meal, if you know what I mean.

I pass by the 100 calorie snack packs that adorn the grocery store aisles and think to myself, my gosh am I really that big of a pig, or is it just me who is not satisfied at all with a 100 calorie snack?  Apparently though, there are lots of other people like me because a lot of people say that they cheat and consume 2 of these bags because 1 doesn’t satisfy their blood sugar plummeting enough.  How are you supposed to suppress hunger with these minimal snacks between meals?

And yet, most diet books will tell you to try to stick to two snacks a day at about 100 calories each. In all honesty, I usually make my snacks about 180 to 200 calories, and that tides me over until dinner, but 100 just leaves me really hungry and wanting to scarf down a lot more food at dinner time. I’m talking about my snack in the afternoon especially, my mid morning snack I’m usually ok with the 100 calorie rule since my snack mid morning is usually a 110 calorie yogurt cup -Activia in fact, and not the low fat version, which is my favorite.

I think that if you under snack, you are setting yourself up for failure at dinner time and you will just wolf down everything in your sight since you are still ravenous from the day at work. If you consume about 180 calories, you’re not bottoming out at dinner and shoving food in your mouth indiscriminantly.  This works for me, and what does not work for me is to do the 100 calorie one after lunch and before dinner. Now, if I have not worked out that day and have a low appetite for some reason, it might work, but otherwise I just feel like it sets me up for eating too much at dinner time and beyond, in the evening, which is when it’s worst to consume the bulk of your day’s calories.

Also, the 100 calorie rule, I feel, makes it harder to stick to diet plans that dictate this requirement because you are still ravenous when you’re done with your measly little portion. Instead, just make sure your meals and your other snacking is never out of control, and you should be fine.