The Breakthrough Emotional Eating Podcast

BEE #150: Why Eliminating Snacks Could Transform Your Weight Loss Journey

• Kristin Jones

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Are you feeling frustrated with weight loss, despite doing “all the right things”? You’re not alone—and the solution may be far simpler than you think. In this week’s episode of The Breakthrough Emotional Eating Podcast, host Kristin Jones explores how cutting out one common habit—snacking between meals—can dramatically shift your weight loss progress and relationship with food.

Kristin shares her evolution from prescribing rigid food plans to guiding clients with a more intuitive, sustainable approach rooted in real-life behavior. Drawing inspiration from naturally slim individuals who don’t obsess over dieting, she breaks down the four major reasons why eating just three nourishing meals a day—without snacks—can be a game-changer. From reclaiming control over emotional eating to activating your body’s natural fat-burning systems, this episode dives into both the mental and physiological wins that come from a no-snacking lifestyle.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Why snacking may be sabotaging your weight loss without you realizing it
  • How cutting snacks puts you back in control of your emotional and physical hunger
  • The body’s natural fat-burning process—and how to trigger it
  • How three satisfying meals a day create more intentional, balanced nutrition
  • Why this habit shift is a foundational step in overcoming emotional eating
  • What to look for when distinguishing real hunger from emotional cravings

Whether you’re stuck in a weight loss plateau, overwhelmed by emotional cravings, or simply tired of the all-or-nothing diet cycle, this episode will give you a grounded, doable strategy that creates clarity, consistency, and confidence around food. Tune in and learn how one simple change can spark powerful transformation.

Connect with me online:

1. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristinjonescoaching/
2. You Tube channel, Kristin Jones Coaching: https://www.youtube.com/@KristinJonesCoaching44

3. You Tube channel, Breakthrough Emotional Eating Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@breakthroughpodcast-44
3 . Website: https://www.kristinjonescoaching.com

If you want to learn how to stop nighttime eating, get my 3 Day Nighttime Snacking Reset: https://go.kristinjonescoaching.com/nighttime-snacking-reset

Needing more specific and direct support for your emotional eating and overeating? Check out my online course, Stop Dieting Start Feeling, and my personalized coaching program, Breakthrough To You.

If you found this episode helpful, don't forget to leave a review on the platform you used to listen and share it with your friends on your Instagram stories. Also, be sure to follow me on Instagram @breakthroughemotionaleating, and don't hesitate to slide into my DMs to share your thoughts ...

Speaker 1:

Do you want to lose weight but struggle to stay committed to a meal plan because you constantly feel hungry? Does food provide you comfort when you're bored, angry, lonely or sad? If so, you are in the right place. My name is Kristen Jones and I'm a life coach specializing in emotional eating and weight loss, and I'm also a lifelong emotional eater. I want to provide you with information, motivation and support so you, too, can learn to manage your issues with food and develop a healthy relationship with yourself. Welcome to the Breakthrough Emotional Eating Podcast. My name is Kristen Jones and thank you so much for joining me this week. Name is Kristen Jones and thank you so much for joining me this week.

Speaker 1:

When I started coaching eight years ago, I was very, very restrictive with my clients. I told them what to eat, I gave them a food list, I told them how much to eat, I told them when to eat and, consequently, people struggled. People either would lose weight and then immediately gain it back when they stopped eating the way that they were eating, or they wouldn't lose any weight at all because they kept not following the plan, because it was too restrictive, it was too hard and people just didn't enjoy it, and I really struggled with what I was going to do with clients in the way of helping them to lose weight. I had not developed any awareness of my own emotional eating, nor that emotional eating was even an issue. I didn't even know that I was an emotional eater at that time. And so I started, you know, kind of like paying attention to how people ate who I felt had, you know, had pretty good eating habits and that maintained their weight, and one of those people was my dad.

Speaker 1:

My dad maintained the same weight within a five pound range for his entire adult life and my dad ate, and my dad never dieted. My dad ate exactly what he wanted to eat. He ate exactly what my mom made for dinner. She made him the same lunch every day. He'd have breakfast, you know, he'd have a breakfast that he wanted. But my dad never ate in between meals. He just didn't do that. He came from a family. He was, he was, uh, he was from the South and his um and my grandparents were from Oklahoma. They didn't have a lot of money. So you didn't snack, you didn't eat in between meals because usually you were working most of the time In between breakfast, lunch and dinner. You were working if you weren't at school. And if you were at school, you were playing sports and so there wasn't time to eat. You just didn't think about food. And so my dad, consequently, did not have any kind of weight issue his entire life. And so I really started looking at what he did, and not only did he eat what he enjoyed, but he did not snack in between, and so that kind of became.

Speaker 1:

It gave me an idea of like, okay, what if I, for myself as well as for my clients what if we just went back to basics?

Speaker 1:

What if it wasn't so complicated? What if? What if trying to lose weight and this isn't even even touching the whole emotional eating piece, but it ends up helping with the emotional eating piece but what if we just, like, made it simple? What if we just stopped making it so complicated and counting carbs and doing all of these crazy things? And what if we just decided that we were just going to eat three times a day and we weren't going to eat in between, and you could eat what you wanted, but you just didn't eat a ton of it, and you just you had portion control, you ate what you wanted, but you just didn't eat a ton of it and you, just, you had portion control. You ate what you wanted. Because you eat what you wanted, you could stop when you were satisfied, but there was no snacks in between you. Just you ate your three meals and that's what you did. And when you got to your next meal, you were pretty stinking hungry. But that was okay, no-transcript, and at that time I didn't even didn't even the whole idea of emotional eating didn't even come into play.

Speaker 1:

It does now, but the idea is to make it really simple, like, let's just get back to basics, let's not stop making this so complicated, let's just eat what we want, but we only eat three times a day and we don't snack in between. So today's episode is all about why. What is the whole reason behind why I would encourage you not to snack in between meals and to not make it like it's a hard fast rule. But to really look at, is it just a habit that you have developed, that you think you need, when in reality it really isn't? And it's really something that could be holding you back from being where you want to be and feeling the way you want to feel in your own body. So today's episode is going to be about snacking and why or why not, and why I say do without the snacking and see your battles with your weight disappear and have a much easier time maintaining your weight or losing weight and then keeping it off.

Speaker 1:

So the four things we're going to talk about today are the four whys of no snacking, and the first one is it eliminates untracked calories. Secondly, it allows you to take back control of your thoughts, your beliefs and your habits, and it encourages you to tell your brain what you are going to do throughout the day and then following through with that. So that gives you back your power when it comes to your thoughts, because we know our thoughts lead to our feelings and our feelings drive our actions. And so if we don't have control of our thoughts and we don't tell our brain what we want it to do, it's going to do whatever it wants to do and it's going to do what it's always done. So if you've always snacked at three o'clock in the afternoon, it doesn't matter what's going on at three o'clock in the afternoon, it's going to think you need a snack. So we'll talk a little bit more about that.

Speaker 1:

Third thing it creates a process called fat adaption within your body and that allows your body to become a fat burner and you are able to tap into fat cells and burn them and lose weight. And the fourth thing that it does is it forces you to be very conscious and very deliberate and very nutritionally minded when it comes to your meals, because you're going to go from one meal to the next, so you need to be very, very conscious and deliberate about what you choose to eat at a meal, because it's going to get you through the next three to four hours and get you through to your next meal, going to get you through the next three to four hours and get you through to your next meal. And so you really have to be pretty specific and really eat the things, not only that you love, but the things that are going to nourish your body, so, in fact, it ends up being a healthier way to eat. So we're going to address those, those four things. So the first thing I want to talk about is that whole idea of when we snack, we don't count those foods as foods that we've eaten.

Speaker 1:

It is so common for people to say, well, I was standing up in the kitchen, I was standing in the, at the at the refrigerator eating something it doesn't really count and I mean that's a joke. But at the same time people don't think about that. They don't think of all the unconscious, untracked. Just walked by my you know my boss's desk and there was a bowl full of M&Ms and stuck my hand in and grabbed them. Or went into the office and there are gummy worms and I had a few of those and I had, you know a quick, you know a quick few Mike and Ikes, or I had a Jolly Rancher or five, and any of those things.

Speaker 1:

They're all untracked calories. They're all things that we, that we take in, that we're not paying attention to and it's just allowing us to kind of go, you know, just just not not take responsibility for our eating habits. And then oftentimes people get frustrated because they're like I'm not, I'm hardly eating anything. I mean I don't understand why I'm not losing weight. Well, it's because they're not really tracking and they're not paying attention to what they're actually. They're really truly eating. They're kind of diluting themselves and we don't want to dilute ourselves If we really want to, to feel good in our bodies and we want to be at the weight that we want to be at which is going to be a healthy weight that's going to allow us to be able to live the longest, best, most health filled life. We need to be honest with ourselves and we need to start being accountable for the decisions that we're making. And so you know, eliminating snacking just takes that all away. You don't even have to worry about, you don't have to worry about tracking calories, you don't have to worry about about a sugar rush or a sugar crash, because that's just not what you do. Um, so that's the first thing.

Speaker 1:

Second thing is it this this decision to not snack anymore allows each individual to be in control of their brain, to tell their brain what they're going to do throughout the day. Because when our brain goes unchecked, when our brain doesn't have parameters or boundaries or guidelines, our brain will do whatever the heck it wants. And when it doesn't know what to do, it's going to recall what would you have done in this situation previously? What was the last thing that you did? What was the last time you were in this situation? What did you do then? So if it's four o'clock in the afternoon, you are super stressed and you're driving home and you feel totally stressed and you're getting anxiety. Your brain's going to say okay, what did she do? Cause your brain, all your brain wants to do is make you happy. So it's going to say what did she do the last time? Oh, she stopped at the drive-thru. That's what we need her to do. Okay, let's tell her to go to the drive-thru, and that's what it's going to do.

Speaker 1:

So you get to make the decision ahead of time. We're not going to snack, and this is what I'm going to do. Instead, when that situation arises, instead of driving the drive-thru, I'm going to call somebody. I'm going to acknowledge that this is how I'm feeling, that I'm feeling stressed, that I know food's not the answer. I've already made the decision that I'm not going to snack. So what am I going to do instead? I'm going to feel my feelings. I'm going to recognize that I need to talk to somebody and I'm going to pick up the phone and call a friend. I'm not denying that. I feel that way. I'm acknowledging it, I'm owning it. And then I'm choosing to make a different choice.

Speaker 1:

And when you make those different choices, your brain learns a new pattern. It gets out of the destructive pattern that you have of always turning to food and it starts to adopt this new chain of events that will move you in a different direction. So we have to start very consciously doing that and making different and better decisions for ourselves so our brain can take on these new, more healthful and more supportive systems and processes in place. So we're not continuing to do the habits that we've always done that aren't working for us and that aren't getting us where we want to be. So it puts you back in control of your brain, allows you to make the decision, but you have to make that decision In the beginning of the day. You have to say, like we're not snacking in between, we're going to eat good, solid, three solid meals and we are going to make sure that we drink lots of water and we are going to make sure that we get through the day and we're going to feel really good. And when those circumstances come up where we feel like we want to eat something, we're going to consciously make a decision. What are we going to do? And we plan ahead. We plan that ahead. We have some ideas about how we support ourselves and that's where we go from there. So that is really that's those are hugely.

Speaker 1:

Being in control of your own thoughts is sometimes a hard concept for people to understand, but it's so absolutely vital when it comes to any kind of behavior change that you have to recognize the thoughts that you have and the negative thoughts that you have that cause you to do things that, in the long run, are not going to be in your best interest. And so you have to, kind of, you have to make a plan, you have to give yourself some, some guidelines and some boundaries, and some and some paths to follow in order to be successful. And so planning things out, how am I going to handle if this happens? It's called if, then planning. If this happens, then I'll do blank, and so if, then planning is really, really powerful because it empowers you to take control of your thoughts and to actually lay out a plan. As my former business coach always said, what gets planned is what gets done. So when you make a plan, it's more likely for something to happen, for the end result to be what you want, than if you hadn't planned and just hoped that something was going to happen. All right.

Speaker 1:

The third reason why giving up snacking is something that can be very, very powerful when it comes to weight loss and especially when it comes to uh, to emotional eating as well, and that is, it creates a process in your body called fat adaption, and what that means is is that your body becomes a fat burner. So what does that mean? Your body becomes a fat burner. Our body's always in a state of being able to burn fat. Well, no, it's not.

Speaker 1:

When we constantly have food in our system and we need energy, our bodies are always going to go to the foods and to the reserves that are immediately available, and those reserves are usually the last things that you've eaten, the most recent things that you've eaten. So, if you need to have energy and energy when I say energy, I don't mean like you're constantly exercising, I'm just talking about like doing a math problem or being on the computer, because your brain takes doing mental processes. Your brain requires energy to do that, it requires calories to do that. So it's really, really important to be able to have those, those that, that those reserves in place, and so your body needs those reserves to do a myriad of things. But we want to have myriad of things, but we want to have. We want excuse me, we want to have our bodies be able to tap into fat cells.

Speaker 1:

So what do we have to do to get there? Well, the first thing is, when our bodies need energy, the first thing it turns to is the foods that we've just eaten, the most readily available energy sources. It then taps into. Once those are exhausted, it then taps into your fat cell, excuse me, your muscle then taps into your muscle glycogen that's stored in your muscles. There's a pretty small amount there, but it goes there next, uses that, and then the third area that it goes to is your fat cells. Now, if we constantly are feeding our bodies, it never gets to the point that it ever gets to the fat cells, because it always has food available to use, and we want our bodies to start using those stored fat cells. And so you want to allow anywhere between three to four hours between your meals.

Speaker 1:

It also allows your blood sugar to be stable and to not have the fluctuations of blood sugar going up when you eat and then coming down, crashing down afterwards, and so it's really important to make sure that you allow yourself to be able to have the um have a steady, steady state of blood sugar that isn't always going up and down, because that is also what causes cravings. And so, when we are able to stabilize our blood sugar and we're able to make sure that we are eating the things that we really, that we, that we, we need to eat at our meals, and then we go without our, we go without in between meals. Our blood sugar is going to settle down, because our blood sugar always elevates no matter what we eat. Blood sugar is going to elevate after you eat and then it's going to settle down and it will stay at a low level until you eat again. And that will help you be focused, be able to get things done, to have more muscular endurance, to have more mental endurance. But it also allows your body to tap into those fat cells to use that energy instead of using that readily available energy if you had eaten instead. So being fat adaptive really helps the process of burning fat and, in turn, losing the weight that you want.

Speaker 1:

But it also has a dual effect of helping with emotional eating, because it's not creating those cravings that are oftentimes attributed to the roller coaster of your blood sugar going up and down from you eating. Now, that doesn't even take into consideration the emotional component of emotional eating, but it's a great start because there is a physiological. There is a physiological component to emotional eating as well, and this kind of takes care of that. So we still haven't touched the emotional eating aspect or the emotions, and that aspect is a whole different topic and a whole different podcast episode, but this is more of the physiological and the physiological things that happen. So that is the third.

Speaker 1:

The third reason why not snacking is really is really helpful, and then the fourth reason and the fourth thing that you can do to really help with weight loss and again, this is just this is this isn't the answer for everybody, for every, every possible reason why you, or every possible way you need to lose weight or you want to lose weight. It's just a great start to look at. Okay, am I consuming untracked calories? Am I allowing my brain to do whatever it wants to do? Am I just constantly eating and my body just never has this opportunity to be able to tap into fat cells? And there are so many other components along with it. This is just one, but it's a great start. It's a great place to start to see. Hmm, what would happen if I just chose to eat three meals a day and I didn't diet. I just ate meals that I wanted to eat, but then I didn't eat in between. So I'm just giving this as a as a kind of as a a training wheels kind of, as a beginning step to to the things I teach, but I think it's a great way to show people that like oh wow, I'm eating is really helpful is because you're being asked to go for four hours, sometimes maybe even five, between meals.

Speaker 1:

You have to be very, very conscious of the foods that you're choosing to eat. Now, I always want people to eat what they want, but if you have an entire meal that is nothing but carbs and nothing but sugar carbs and you're going to get hungry really fast. So it's always a great idea to mix evenly or equally in an appropriate distribution of fats, protein and carbs, and also making sure you have some fiber and make sure that all of those macronutrients are represented and you have a solid meal that is going to sustain you through to your next meal. And I think that really helps people be much more aware of what they're eating, instead of just like I'm just going to throw down uh, you know, throw down, uh, uh a hamburger and fries and that's just going to be it. And there's nothing wrong with hamburger and fries. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying is we need to make sure that if we're going to have, if we're going to have, something like that, we want to make sure that it's evenly distributed.

Speaker 1:

It's going to be something that's going to sustain us to your next meal, and so what you'd be surprised, what I will say is if you're a person who really loves salad, that is amazing, great. Eat a salad, but make sure you have some bread with it. Make sure and I know people are like bread with salad. That's terrible. No, it's not. Our body needs carbs. It needs more sustainable, kind of stick to your ribs carbs, but it also needs protein. You got to have a protein source with that salad.

Speaker 1:

Don't just eat salad and think, well, this is going to make me really full, it's going to make you really stuffed because it's all nothing but fiber, but that's going to pass really quickly and you're going to be unsatisfied and you're going to get hungry, and so it's. It's a really great opportunity to really play with and really explore what are the things that I really like to eat and how do I want to go about eating them and how do I want to help myself when it comes to making sure that my meals are ones that I really enjoy. They're going to sustain me over the course of the next four hours or so and they're going to give me the opportunity to start tapping into those fat cells and actually get a little hungry towards the end. That's all very, very important, and it's just a really quick and easy way to see if you've been eating too many unaccounted for calories in between, and that may be keeping you where you are and it's allowing you not to actually lose the weight that you want to lose. So those four reasons are the four reasons that I would endorse, why you eliminate snacking and you eat your three meals a day and you eat what you want, foods that you enjoy, foods that are nutritionally valuable, that, again, are what you want, and to really savor and enjoy your meals.

Speaker 1:

It's not the end, all be all. It just begins to touch that area of emotional eating, but there's so much more to that. But this is a great way, a great place to start, to start to see some changes, but to also recognize that you can make the decision that you're not going to snack in between and you'll realize that it really is emotions that are kicking in, that are causing you to want to eat, because it's what you've always done. Your brain will tell you that this is what you need to do and you'll realize that you really don't need it and that you can then make other decisions that are going to other ways of dealing with your stress, other ways of dealing with things in your life that are challenging, uh, that don't involve food. So it's a great stepping stone to getting there and recognizing what it is that you need to do when it comes to your eating and your response to emotions with food.

Speaker 1:

So if this podcast has been helpful I really hope it has been.

Speaker 1:

I know it's something that has changed so much for me, but if this has been helpful for you, please would love for you to like this episode.

Speaker 1:

I'd love for you to leave me a review, on whatever platform you're on.

Speaker 1:

I would so appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

I would also love for you to comment and let me know what you thought about this episode, if you think, if you've ever tried this before and if you think you could try it, and if you do, give it a shot, and then let me know in the comments how, what your success was, if you think you could try it and if you do, give it a shot and then let me know in the comments how, what your success was, if you struggled, and then I we can always I can always direct you to some resources that I have that might help you, that might support you in being able to adopt this into your eating regime.

Speaker 1:

I hope, again, this has been, this has been, helpful for you. Thank you so much for joining me, for listening, for supporting the podcast, and I will see you all next week, take care. Thank you for listening to this week's episode. If you are interested in learning more about how I can help you understand and manage your emotional eating, including the use of hypnosis to uncover the root cause of your eating, go to my website, kristenjonescoachingcom. Thank you.