I am a self-confessed snacker!

Every time I've tried to diet in the past I've listened to the rubbish I've been fed by the media:

• Eating after a certain time of night will stop you losing weight

• Carbs make you fat

• Sugar is the devil

• Snacks should be as low calorie as possible if eaten at all

It's a pretty miserable existence to cut out foods you enjoy, so like many people I would restrict myself to the point of giving up and then throw myself into a full on binge of all the things I'd missed out on Pizza, Crisps, Chocolate, Cake, etc.

Thanks to a lot of the veteran MFP Forum users I've managed to educate myself a bit on the fundamentals of weight loss and realised that whilst a good balance of food including fruit, vegetables and lean meat is important for nutrition, it's not the magic solution to long term successful weight loss only eating less calories than you burn is, and that can include foods and drinks you enjoy, albeit in smaller portions than previously eaten.

So on my new weight loss journey, snacks are a very important part of keeping me on track with my calorie goal. How have I managed to factor in what once led me to excess calories?

• Portioning out snacks such as nuts, crisps/potato snacks into 25-30g pots

• Buying packs of smaller chocolate bars such as Dairy Milk thins and factoring them into my weekly food plan instead of bingeing on a full big bar.

• Finding protein snacks I enjoy - I really enjoy Bounce Protein Bombs, Myprotein Wafers and Myprotein Muffin Mix (I'll share some of my recipes in the recipe page)