Need help - no self control!

My first trigger is afternoons around 3:00. My energy is at an all time low, and it is a very stressful time. The kids are home from school, I have to unpack backpacks, make snacks, do homework with unwilling kids, and then when that's all over, I have to start preparing dinner. The stress always gets to me and I turn to food.

I don't know you or your kids or your daily schedule. I only can make suggestions based on my personal experience.

I fully understand how stressful the time between 3pm and 6pm is with 3 elementary school aged kids and a 1 year old. It's it's own special kind of hel--I mean chaos.

To make life easier set a firm schedule. Oldest comes straight in and does their homework, while middle takes the baby while I get youngest squared away with homework while I start dinner. This works because middle is more intelligent than I am and does homework fine independently. I make sure that the table is clear and ready for homework when they walk in the door.

It helps me to have as much meal prep done while they are at school. Either by cooking in a slow-cooker, having something like tacos, prepped--all veggies cut, cheese shredded and meat prepared waiting to be warmed (or being kept warm in the slow-cooker). That way the only thing that has to be done is the shells heated, and the refried beans cooked in the microwave. Cooking dinner several week nights in the slow-cooker. Or having casseroles waiting to be finished in the oven. Leave these easier meals for the week and save more intricate things like roast chicken for weekends.

To be fair, I need to stress that my experience comes not from my own children but from taking care of other children (sometimes for months at a time). Though all of the times have been during very high stress moments (their mother or father being hospitalized). Except for the once when I was taking care of my cousin while his mother was working 13+ hours a day. So, I don't even have the benefit of being the mother.

Also, I've adapted this to work in different situations with different kids, my point isn't so much to follow the plan I laid out but to make some kind of weeknight after school plan and stick with it. Find ways to make dinner easy. To make this time less stressful for you so you can avoid the stress eating.

FWIW, starting when I was 9 I was expected to come home several nights a week after school and start dinner BEFORE I even did my homework and if it was an easy enough dinner I wasn't expected to just start it but make it completely and then after dinner my dad and I would sit at the table and do my homework together (that's a whole other thread but I was that kid that HAD to sit with my parents to do my homework).

Oh, and maintenance for me is 1700 calories net, so my goal is 1200 calories a day net, for 1lb of weight loss a week. I'm lucky if I can stick to even 1600 calories a day.

To lose a pound a week I have to eat no more than 1400 calories. I plan everything. Breakfasts, lunches, dinner and snacks. It's a crappy, crappy thing to have such a low calorie number. I get it. You just have to find what works for you and sometimes that takes a lot of trial and error. Also, since my TDEE is so low I often set my weight loss goal low. For MONTHS it's been at half a pound a week. Maybe that will help you?

I don't know these are only my ideas and your mileage my vary. I wish you lots of luck, with those crazy after school moments and your weight loss

I just need to feel full...

You're just going to have to get used to feeling not-full.

That's the long and the short of it.

I sucks, I know, but it is what it is...

Try sugar-free jelly. You get it in the same place as the regular aeroplane jelly. It tastes amazing, and has next to nothing in it- but it makes you feel full and definitely satisfies the sugar craving late at night, which I also experience. Give it a whirl, I guarantee it'll help and keep those calories down

I am the same - i actually first joined about a year ago and did nothing but gain weight

Finally after realising that pretty much nothing in my wardrobe fits - and not wanting to splash on on new clothes in bigger sizes / feel between when I work-out / not feel so tired, I decided to do something about it.

One tip I do have (and it sounds so annoying) is that I do better when I plan. So instead of writing down what I have eaten, hoping to come under my daily allowance (just over 1200) - I plan my days meals to try and keep me under, or gain some extra calories through the gym.

Thanks so much for the ideas! I have 2 kids at home with me right now still, and my kids hate casseroles ( or anything where the ingredients are mixed! ) But you make some very good points on how I need to make things easier for myself in the afternoons. I will be thinking about what I can change to make things less stressful. Thank you!!!

Well, maybe in that case start with one casserole (or really mixed up, slow-cooker meal) every week or two where things are touching... to gradually get them used to the idea. Sometimes it's just 'tough cookies!" (Though I can sympathize, I still don't like certain foods touching but it used to be all of them!!!!!!!!! LOL

Some great ideas here. Another one: keep low-calorie, filling snacks around for when your tummy feels empty. I eat a lot of dill pickles, and I buy pre-cut celery sticks so I can have celery with a bit of salsa, without having to wash and trim the celery. Since they're mostly water and cellulose, they have very few calories. They don't fill you up for long, but they can get you over the hump. And I find that with a spicy salsa, celery is quite satisfying. Carrots are also good, though they have somewhat more calories.