On track until I get home from work! Help!

teresashrinks

I have been counting calories now for a few weeks but I struggle so bad when I get home from work. I do so well for breakfast and lunch and a few snacks, but when I get home, I want to just eat everything. Then I just spiral for the rest of the night because I “blew it”. Any tips or advice?

lifestyle50

I share your problem. I tend to move calories to late in the day so I have room for that snack when I get home. It isn't as healthy but for me I need to do it. I tend to fill in my diary in the afternoon, putting in the diary the snack I will have when I get home to give me that comfort hit I need. I also pre plan my evening meal, so that I know the snack plus the meal will still come in under my goal for the day. It's not perfect, but it seems to help me. That and sugar free bubble gum!

LiveOnceBeHappy

That was my demise previously. I'd come home from work and need to relax and tune out. This meant tv and food. I'd get home starving and need to eat! This time around, I find a snack that fits. An apple and PB2 has been my go-to lately. Or a coffee. Or both! Plan, plan, plan!

corinasue1143

Have an apple, a string cheese, or a jerky as soon as you leave work (or before) so you won’t be so hungry when you get home. As soon as you get home, fix yourself a drink— iced tea or hot coffee? Enjoy it with some prepared and waiting for you snacks.

KerryITD

You might want to eat a little more earlier in the day as well. I find when I'm doing "great" at work and looking forward to having plenty of calories left for home, I kind of set myself up for nonstop eating due to starving myself during the day.

ahoy_m8

I identify with this pattern, OP. For me, undereating is a binge waiting to happen. As @KerryITD suggests, if "doing great" is actually undereating, then you might want to reevaluate your caloric intake--not just during the work day but also over all. A caloric deficit that leaves you legitimately hungry and in the binge danger zone is not sustainable. A smaller deficit (slower rate of loss) that is actually doable for you in your real world life will have better results.

Sparkuvu

I was horrible with this when I worked. Most all of what others answered with was suggested to me by a dietian, and can be considered very sound advice! I was not good at following her advice,, and was not successful loosing any weight, lol.. But what I finally came to realize was that, because I was not eating much during the day, a realitivly long time passing between eating at lunch and when I next ate --post stressful horrific commute-- in late evening, that once I did eat the large quantity I was ravenous for at that point, it was effecting, spiking my sugar levels causing me to just drowse in the chair and do nothing the rest of the night. If I 'woke', it was late, and I'd eat more, probably to soothe myself to sleep so I could get up to do it all over again. No medical test or person confirmed this--just my 2 cents of what I think was happening in same scenario to me.

goal06082021

Plan your snacks. Bring a granola bar or something to have later in the afternoon at work, or decide in advance what you'll snack on when you get home, and have it prepped and ready to grab and go. Find a way to fit it into your budget.

AnnPT77

I agree with the above - evaluate what and when you're eating during the day, consider whether it would be more sensible overall to try a little slower loss rate, plan ahead, etc.

Also: How is your sleep? How is your stress level, at work and home?

Fatigue can trigger hunger/cravings, and those are more likely to happen toward the end of the day, since - obviously - that's when fatigue really starts to sink in. If sleep quality or quantity can be improved, it may help with food cravings. (It's not a panacea: Nothing is. Sometimes it takes tweaks of various types, to get the results we want, not just one single magical fix . . . unfortunately.)

Stress can also be a trigger. It can act by causing fatigue, or more directly by triggering a habit of food as self-soothing. If stress could be part of the issue, take whatever steps you can to reduce the stressors, or identify non-food ways to address/reduce the stress, such as mild exercise (short walk, yoga or stretching, etc.), a warm shower/bath, sooting music, meditation or prayer, a restful hobby like coloring, or something(s) like that.

You can find some solution(s). Don't give up: Try experimenting with some ideas, each one for at least a couple of days, see what seems to help. In one sense, success at weight management is a series of experiments, aimed at figuring out how best to get over, around, through, or otherwise past our individual challenges. It's OK to try an experiment, find that that strategy doesn't help. Just try something else. As long as you don't give up, you can chip away, be successful.

Wishing you success!

88olds

Great advice on this thread.

A couple of things I’ll add. An early battle for me was getting past the vending machines leaving work. To do that I needed a snack at home that I was willing to wait for. If my at home snack was going to be carrot sticks, that wasn’t going to work. I had to experiment and I had to spend some calories to get something good. This also meant being hungry on the way home. But that was temporary. Then the last step was to avoid charging into the kitchen to eat the first thing I could get. So I’d get in the house and just sit for about 5 min and try to wind down. No electronics. No nothing. Just quiet. Then into the kitchen for my planned snack.

Let’s talk about blowing it. Do you keep a food diary? A food diary is a thing to do. The only way not to do it is to decide not to. Don’t decide that. Abandoning the process aka quitting is the point where people blow it.

You have not blown it when you go over your number. In fact it’s impossible to lose a significant amount without going over our numbers from time to time. Anything from poor planning, loss of concentration at critical times to simple math mistakes will put us over our numbers. There’s a significant calorie counting learning curve. It took me awhile to figure out that reading NI on a package was useless if I wasn’t going to check the serving size.

Keep your food diary no matter what. Mistakes and all. Even a big mistake, say 500 calories is not a reason to quit for the day and throw on another 500 or more. Keep working. Weight loss is mostly about problem solving and persistence. Good luck.

2020yesyouwill2020

When you get home are you alone? Or do you have to take care of others like children? If you're alone. I recommend walking ir some form.of exercise to knock off thr stress of the day. If you can't exercise, I recommend a hot bath everyday. Something to relieve stress. I binge at home regardless of how much I eat during the day if I'm stressed. Really try to find 10 minutes to yourself before you start the chores of being at home.

This is what helps me. I've noticed if I walk for an hour outside talking on the phone or take a very hot bath before bed I don't wake up and binge. It's definitely a stress relief to eat comfort foods. Hope this is helpful.

What ever you do don't give up trying to figure out what works for you.