Staying within the Calories

ladydvldog

Is anyone else having trouble staying within 1200 Calories?

I wake up at 5:30am to get ready for work and I"m and I get home from work around 6pm. I keep plenty of snacks and my lunch with me during the work day as I like to try and eat something every few hours. The problem is that as soon as I get home from work I'm heading out to soccer practice or football practice and not getting home until 8pm so we are not eating dinner until almosts 9pm. I know that its not ideal and its recommended that you shouldn't eat after 6pm but in my life that is impossible.

If I'm snackig every 2-4 hours thoughtout my day plus breakfast and lunch I end up accumulating more than my daily allotment of 1200 Cal. And if I eat a dinner I'm definately going over. I am not always able to exercise with my hectic schedule. I usually try and run a few laps around the track while my kids are at practice but I'm not burning a significant about of calories plus physically I'm limited do to ailments so I have to take it slow. Exercise after 9pm is not going to happen not to mention I would be wide awake and when I need to go to sleep.

Anyone have thoughts or suggestions? Should I just skip dinner all together? The regular snacking helps curb my appetite but with my extremely long day I'm worried that skipping a meal would put me in binge mod down the road.

8467Keeley

HI. I have thoughts and suggestions but, I'm not sure how healthy they will end up being in your current lifestyle.

I am staying within the calorie goals but, I am a vegetarian. I also was raised eating six little meals a day to due to really low blood sugar. (that is not a problem now but, I maintain that life style.) I have MS so I am also very limited. I am going to give you a few examples of what I am doing that is keeping me under the calories. You can see if it works for you.

breakfast I have three choices: hard boiled egg (70 cal I think) and fruit (between 70 and 100 calories depending on fruit)
or
green smoothy (also works for dinner on the go) Protein powder, one apple (I like green for this) two cups spinach and a cucumber (you can look at other green smoothies on line.
or
forest berry trail mix by wild roots

between 2-3 hours later I eat a second meal which is usually an apple and two tablespoons of peanut butter. ( have recently tried almond butter which has about 20 calories less.

My lunch at this time is salad made with romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato, low fat feta cheese and Balsamic vinegrette. I have other lunches like subway veggie delight on work out days.

fourth meal usually is carrots and nuts or celery and cream cheese. Lately it has been stonybrook yogart. I haven't been here long enough for the carrots and nuts but the rest should be in my log.

my fifth meal or dinner can be grilled cheese with mushrooms and soup or omelet with lots of veggies.

I haven't cut out bread and fried foods altogether but, I have quite a bit. When my husband cooks it usually is Ravioli or beans and rice. I measure and weigh everything since I am currently retraining myself of food value and portion size.

When I look at the value of food before I eat it, it helps me. Example: I like Lance Sour cream and onion crackers. When I looked at the value of this food I decided that I would not eat it for awhile. I like ice cream and can not eat artificial sugars so that is a once a week splurge.

What I am learning is that food in its more pure form is better for me and makes me feel better. vegetables have less calories that other foods and make me feel full.

Somethings you can do that may help with the whole exercise thing: A pool is very helpful. I walk in a pool sometimes at the YMCA where I work out. Things I did when I was younger would be marching while brushing my teeth, stretching while cooking, jumping jacks while the microwave is going. My son gets up in commercials and does exercise until the commercial is over.

If possible, and with the time demands of being a mother it is very hard, carve out 15 minutes a day just for exercise in the morning and 15 minutes a day in the evening.

You can get a pedometer on your smart phone that can help keep track of walking calories too.

good luck and I hope you find something useful in my post.