when u have lil kids its hard ...

Why are you not supposed to eat them? If you can fit a little piece of whatever into your calorie goals, then feel free. But it's also a good idea to teach children the importance of a nutritious balanced diet. You don't have to let them eat whatever they want. Teach them to eat mainly whole, nutrient dense food, with occasional treats in limited quantities.

I take all of those bread crusts and leftover chicken nuggets, fries..etc that I would have eaten and put them on a plate. At the end of the day it's nice to see all of the nibble food that I didn't eat! Those nibbles really add up. I understand exactly what you mean. You just have to be strong & focus on what you really want.

BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »

Why are you not supposed to eat them? If you can fit a little piece of whatever into your calorie goals, then feel free. But it's also a good idea to teach children the importance of a nutritious balanced diet. You don't have to let them eat whatever they want. Teach them to eat mainly whole, nutrient dense food, with occasional treats in limited quantities.

Well said and I also agree with caracrawford1. Too often today we just let our kids eat whatever and we don't teach them to do the very thing we are trying to do ourselves.

It's hard not having kids. It's hard to go out to dinner with people that don't count calories. It's hard to not eat goodies at the office. But that doesn't make me avoid them. It's an excuse. We all have them but some of us have learned to push past them. What is more important? Having a cookie or losing weight? And anyway, have the cookie, log it and don't eat something later. You run out of calories? Go to bed.

Just have a little of it within your calories.

I buy my kids lots of things I can't eat a large amount of, and usually I don't even have any, but if I want some.. I make it fit in my calories. They don't like the stuff I eat (they'll eat veggies, but not mountains of them like I do, and don't like Greek yogurt, and eat tiny breakfasts, so eating what I eat doesn't always work out. Also they really don't need as much protein as I do, so having a few goldfish or a couple cookies every day isn't going to kill them).

I am NEVER tempted by their leftovers, because I get sick enough as it is without sharing their germs on purpose (and I don't trust their hygiene still, and don't know where they put their hands, so no thanks).

I have a 7 year old amd 3 year old. I stopped buying a bunch of junk, and have my kids eating better too. However, they do get some treats that I avoid simply because I don't have the wiggle room in my 1200 calorie per day diet. For me, the real struggle was (and is) just mindlessly eating some of their food. I used to eat my kids leftovers (plus my own food), sneak a chicken nugget or couple fries before giving them their plate, and other instances like that. It has gotten easier though as more time goes on. It's just about breaking a bad habit.

I have two kids under 4. We all eat for our goals. Young kids need more fat to support brain development. My oldest (3.5 yrs) is underweight for height so he definitely eats differently. That said, we all eat the same things, just in different proportions with the exception of full fat dairy (and for the 3.5 yr old, overfat dairy).

Maybe we are being a bit unfair to the OP. She didn't say her kids eat ice cream and cookies or junk food all day long. Just that they don't have to watch what they eat. Little kids are very good (well better than adults anyway) at balancing their diets naturally and stopping when they are full. Plus they are growing. Maybe the OP has an overly restrictive diet or is low carbing and just wants a bowl of cheerios or a bite of whole milk yogurt. Or an egg yolk.

Wow, guys. Maybe I misread the OP's post. Maybe she actually said "I can't lose weight, I can't eat healthy, I can only eat a ton of junk because of my kids! wah!"

But that's not what I read. I just read her say, hey, this is something that is challenging to me. Just because she admitted that it's something that's hard for her doesn't mean she's whining or making excuses or she's not as tough as you are because you just buck up and do it. Jeez.

Cazzy34 wrote: »

Hmmm, i'm guessing a few of you don't have a little terror like I do! lol It's exhausting.... which can make you reach for sugary snacks to get a bit of energy to keep up with them!! And they usually have the nice snacks that we try not to eat! It's not an excuse, its just what happens. You need to have willpower and be on track to resist nice things in front of your face everyday!

Regardless, raising children is one of the most challenging things a person can do! I would work 3 jobs and it would be easier than raising my 3 kids!! So I understand how difficult it can be at times! I have 3 very fussy children in regards to eating, so unfortunately I am unable to feed them the same food that I generally eat!

Anyway, I feel your pain at times hun!!

I find this really demeaning to folks that dont have kids. No one is saying that raising kids isn't challenging - we all know that it is. But its really condescending, in the -mother-as-perfect-religious-icon-genre- of you to say it would be easier to work 3 jobs? You've clearly never worked 3 jobs. Or worked one job, with hours as long as working 3 jobs, with an autoimmune disease that causes extreme fatigue, and pain, and dementia.

Raising children is not the most difficult thing a human being can do. There are MANY most difficult things a person can do - we all have our own.

We all have challenges - which is the point most posters here have made. Singling out being a mother as oh so much harder than what anyone else does is a cop out, and rude to everyone else who is working through their own challenges

I agree with this. I have four kids who are all very slim. They need more fat than I do and they are far more active than I could ever possibly be. They still drink whole fat milk because they are quite low on the BMI scale. Their taste buds are also different. They think the periodic hamburger helper is delicious. It makes me want to vomit, but it's economical and easy to fix so sometimes DH makes it. He also sometimes makes them tatertots, store bought pizza, etc. I don't want tater tots, yuck. I only want thin crust "grown up" pizza.

With that said, if they are having oven baked fries or whatever and I want some, I eat some. But usually, if it's a night when we're eating different things, their food is just not worth the calories to me. Though they usually eat a protein, a vegetable and a whole grain, they are not always enthused about my salmon, quinoa and spinach.

andylllI wrote: »

I have two kids under 4. We all eat for our goals. Young kids need more fat to support brain development. My oldest (3.5 yrs) is underweight for height so he definitely eats differently. That said, we all eat the same things, just in different proportions with the exception of full fat dairy (and for the 3.5 yr old, overfat dairy).

Maybe we are being a bit unfair to the OP. She didn't say her kids eat ice cream and cookies or junk food all day long. Just that they don't have to watch what they eat. Little kids are very good (well better than adults anyway) at balancing their diets naturally and stopping when they are full. Plus they are growing. Maybe the OP has an overly restrictive diet or is low carbing and just wants a bowl of cheerios or a bite of whole milk yogurt. Or an egg yolk.

Do the kids buy the groceries????