Stay At Home Moms, HELP!

Same boat. 5 yr old son and 3 yr daughter. Are you a snacker? That's what my problem is, I seem to always be in the kitchen. My "danger zone" is nap time so I try to stay upstairs or keep myself busy from 1-3. It helps that I am lazy so if I stay upstairs, I usually won't venture down just for food.

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I take glass pie pans and stack them up with foil which I reuse. I put cooked chicken or lentils on them and cut up a cauliflower, broccoli, eggplant, celery, carrot, or whatever I bought. Then I weigh each pan and Tare out each veggie as I add. I make about 4 at a time, all a touch different. Takes me about 20 mins. Then I bake the pie pan for my dinner. At 450 for 20 mins and add soy or hot sauce. So tasty and so filling, usually less than 300 calories. Also a pot of soup made with boxed chicken broth, ground lean turkey, canned tomato, and veggies can last days for dinners and is cheap and fast to prepare. I rotate these dinner ideas and don't ever get sick of them. Ps I have three kids but I work full time and am home four days a week with them:)

AmandaJeanHornik wrote: »

macasey82 wrote: »

Same boat. 5 yr old son and 3 yr daughter. Are you a snacker? That's what my problem is, I seem to always be in the kitchen. My "danger zone" is nap time so I try to stay upstairs or keep myself busy from 1-3. It helps that I am lazy so if I stay upstairs, I usually won't venture down just for food.

I usually don't snack, however I eat way too much. I also, the time I over indulge is when they go to bed. So about 10pm, I have a "4th meal". It's a. Horrible habit.

I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables

I am an emotional eater too! I am being more conscience about it and letting myself have a small snack here and there, but I am careful not to binge, or stop a binge before it gets crazy.

Have you looked into ways to relax and de-stress? Hobby's? Friends? Wine?

Sahm of 4 here...ages 8,6,5,2

I dont make separate foods....they eat what I eat. Usually they have eggs, oatmeal or pancakes for breakfast and I usually skip breakfast. Lunch is leftovers, sandwiches, hotdogs, soup, etc...

Dinner is usually a protein and a veggie...tonight was chicken breast with asparagus. The kids dipped in BBQ sauce.

Snacks are usually fruit, crackers or pretzels.



Re relaxing....find a way to carve out time for yourself. Are your kids content in a stroller? Strap them in, put headphones on and go for a long walk. Take a half hour after bedtime to do NOTHING.....just sitting in silence can help.

If you can afford a membership, the daycare can be a GODSEND on days you need a break....

I'm a stay at home Dad if that helps. I do my kids different foods to what I eat. They have cereal I eat oats. I eat a lot of salads, they also like salad & eat a lot of fruits. It is hard when you cook them something you want to eat, if I have to eat it I'll make sure I go out for a long walk afterwards & use the Endomondo app. Start with a good breakfast is the best tip. I have oats or if you eat eggs I have about 3 scrambled on whole meal toast. It will fill you for longer & you'll feel less peckish through the day

I'm a SAHM to a 2 year old and a 1 year old. I'm an emotional eater and I struggle with snacking because I'm so stressed and tired. My 1 year old is still up several times a night. I'd love tips! I've got about 10 pounds to lose.

AmandaJeanHornik wrote: »

michelleepotter wrote: »

I'm also a SAHM. Most of my kids are older, but my youngest is 2. What's tripping you up? I don't think it's necessary to make separate foods. My older kids make breakfast and lunch for themselves, but my toddler often eats my food. I typically eat the same foods every day, or at least plan out all of my food in advance. It's much easier when I know exactly what I'm going to eat and I don't have to think about it. I don't really prep meals in advance, except for freezing individual portions of chicken breast for my lunches, I just keep it simple.

My portion control is horrible. Also have to count calories when making a meal is super tedious. I sometimes think of just getting frozen meals for me like weight watchers. What are some examples of quick meals you make?

I'm sorry, I missed this. One thing that helps is if you eat the same things often, and you make it the same way every time, you don't have to figure out the calories every time. For example, every morning I eat 2 slices of bacon (the same brand), 1 jumbo fried egg, and 1/2 a serving of grits. (I crumble the bacon up and mix it all together. SO GOOD! And filling.) Since I eat that a lot, I don't have to figure it out every time. I have it saved as a meal in MFP, so I just add the whole meal and there are my calories.

For lunch, I have a few things I like. I do grilled chicken breasts with hot sauce and ranch (actually some that I make myself by dumping a packet of ranch mix into a large container of Greek yogurt, much fewer calories than regular ranch and IMHO tastes even better). Or I mix 1 can of tuna with 1/2 cup of cottage cheese. Sometimes this really good chicken salad that is chunks of grilled chicken, avocado, Greek yogurt, and lime juice all mixed together. All of these things are saved as meals in MFP, so all I have to do is make sure I make them the same way every time (or weigh the meat and adjust it in my diary). This does mean you have to weigh / measure all of your ingredients every time, but just think of it like following a recipe to make sure it comes out right.

For portion control, I try to stay under 400 calories each for breakfast and lunch. (Which, with exercise, hopefully leaves me about 800 calories for dinner.) If I am not feeling full on that, I change what I'm eating. I was having fruit and yogurt for breakfast, and left always feeling hungry. So I switched to the bacon, eggs, and grits, and the increased fat and protein makes a huge difference. I was eating sausage and a small piece of very rich cheese for lunch, but it was NOT filling. I can eat a much larger piece of chicken for the same calories. For a snack, I keep around these 100 calorie bags of popcorn.