I allow myself one snack a day at around 5pm when I get very peckish. A small lump of cheese (100 cals worth) is pretty good for curbing my appetite but it is mighty small! The best thing though is cold meat. 3-4 slices of beef, ham, chicken or turkey come in at 100 cals and 20 mins after I’m not hungry at all. In fact sometimes I then don’t fancy dinner.

I’ve had quite a few evenings when I’ve just picked my way to my 400 cals for dinner. Starting at about 5pm, and then having 100 calorie groupings of nuts (15 almonds is 100 calories), meat and cheese over a 2-3 hour period. I feel surprisingly full by about 300 cals worth (say 8pm) and often treat myself to a spoonful of clotted cream for my last 100 calories. I’m not saying this is the healthiest approach (I should have salad really too), but it does work.

In case anyone is interested there is a new course starting next week on Future Learn (futurelearn.com) on childhood obesity called Preventing Childhood Obesity: An Early Start to Healthy Living. These are great courses and this one is 4 weeks for 2 hours per week, so not a lot of work, mainly listening to videos and ready. I have a grandson who is verging on overweight and want to help him without making a big deal out of it and hope this course can help me. This is not a scam post or selling anything, these courses are free.