Calorie Counting/Food Choices

try packing lunches and bringing fruit with you. don't eat crappy foods b/c you will crave them more. maybe before you go to bed make your choices the night before and you can add them in that night.

So my biggest question is if I am going to be under in calories should I just eat crappy food to fill the void. Is it better to eat some cake/cookies/fast food and actually hit my calorie goals?

Better yet. Do you see any down side to eating "crappy food to fill the void"? If not, eat it. You can loose weight eating anything as long as you consume fewer calories than you burn.

PS. As to your busy schedule, try to take a weekend day and make larger amount of food that you can just pull from the fridge and warm up for you and your family. If their old enough, get your kids involved too.

Good luck.

When my husband was traveling for weeks at a time, I would cook a big meal on Sunday (like a casserole or stew) and eat throughout the week. Only a microwave required!

If it is just 1 week out of 10, don't worry about it. If you are feeling hungry, tired or weak, then eat something. There are lots of things you can snack on that are healthy, that you don't HAVE to eat crappy just to get the calories in.

The other thing I would recommend is looking up some Once A Month Cooking (OAMC) recipes. You make a big batch of food and then freeze it. Pull it out when you need something.

Also your slow cooker is your friend. Meal ready when you walk in the door, with minimal prep time in the morning.

I wouldn't fill the void with crappy food just to get the calories. I'm a big snacker and I work a lot (with about 2.5 hours of commuting every day) so I go for quick and easy snacks:

String cheese (70 calories)
Pear (96 calories) - I cut it into quarters and core it so I can eat it quickly on the go without having a core to eat around or get rid of and it's less messy
Almonds (160 calories for 24 almonds) - I get the baked ones with brown sugar & cinnamon or just the plain natural roasted ones with no oil
Cottage cheese & pineapple (184 calories for 1c pineapple + 1/2c 4% cottage cheese) - the 4% cottage cheese is really good. Cut up a pineaple one day and keep it in the fridge. Then you just need to scoop the pineappe and cottage cheese into a bowl.
Yogurt & frozen fruit (270 calories for 1c yogurt + 1/2c fruit) - I eat the whole milk french vanilla Stonyfield yogurt. It's really easy to throw it in a bowl with some frozen fruit, go do something else and it'll be cold but thawed when you come back to it.
Wasa crackers with light Laughing Cow spreadable cheese (95 calories for 2 light rye crackers & 1 wedge of cheese)
Whole wheat toasted or untoasted bread with almond butter (340 calories for 2 slices Matthews natural bread + 2T almond butter) - add a little honey if it's too plain for you
Steel cut oats with raisins & brown sugar (219 calories) - I make these Sunday...just requires some occasional stirring and then I divide them into wide mouth half pint mason jars and use plastic lids. I grab one from the fridge every day, microwave for 1min, stir and eat.
Chia coconut pudding (135 calories) - mix 1/4c almond milk, 1/4c coconut milk, 1T chia seeds, a pinch of sweetened shredded coconut and 1t honey in a wide mouth half pint (or other 1c container) mason jar, stir, refrigerate overnight. I make a big batch and eat them throughout the week. Sounds kinda gross, looks weird but it's really tasty.
Hard boiled eggs (70 calories per egg)
Sliced avocado (63 calories for a 1/4 avocado)