Being a parent has brought back bad habits!

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silviamartins
silviamartins Posts: 32 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hey, I’ve been using this app on and off since 2012. Being Portuguese I was raised to eat until I’m stuffed, so every time I eat I’m looking for that feeling of being full which will have me binge on anything in my path.

I’ve kicked the habit until I became a mom, It’s come back and I’m finding it so hard to stop! I work in a maternity ward (desk job) patients are always bringing in treats to say thank you! The temptation is everywhere!

The parent part is that I keep feeling like “I’ve earned this! I deserve this” I’m always giving my daughter snacks and end up snacking too! Help!

Replies

  • brightresolve
    brightresolve Posts: 1,024 Member
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    I try not to give up what I want most for what I want right now.

    I remember the years when my daughter was young. I called it discretionary eating, because often what I put in my mouth felt like the only free choice I got to make all day, everything else was constrained. It was tough.

    Snack when your daughter snacks, on healthy things you like? a fruit, a veg? I know kid food tastes can determine a lot of her snack pattern so it can be hard. Do a yoga pose or stretch while she snacks maybe? You're right there with her still, and with repetition that habit replaces the old one and feels more rewarding.

    About work, I try to save the calories for something great that I really love, that "lights me up" as a nutritionist from our local hospital says, instead of wasting calories on those plentiful snacks at work that at best are someone else's idea of a treat, and at worst a cheap way of treating a lot of people :neutral: or if homemade are not done as nicely as my grandmother would have :smile: ... "Oh thank you so much, it looks lovely, maybe later," is handy.

    Desk job me too, I go up and down the stairs on breaks to get my heart rate up a bit and clear my head. Fitness tracker very motivating!
  • tlasublime83
    tlasublime83 Posts: 35 Member
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    Yes girl !!! I was always taught to eat everything on my plate and better be full. I switched to nights which has led to a lot of bored snacking as well
    Sending you a request
  • DebLaBounty
    DebLaBounty Posts: 1,172 Member
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    I, too, started imagining that all those gifts of snacks are covered in the germs people sneezed or coughed on them.
  • VolsG8rH8r
    VolsG8rH8r Posts: 47 Member
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    Being a parent has me finishing my kids meals and snacks because I don't want to waste food. I don't want to waste food but I don't want to over eat.
  • theabsentmindednurse
    theabsentmindednurse Posts: 405 Member
    edited February 2018
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    As a mother...
    We hate waste. I totally understand.
    At home, I now freeze leftovers so they are “Out of sight-Out of mind”.
    I am a nurse. At work we had the same situation.
    I also drew back and left the treats to others.
    Deciding, I would control when I would choose when I wanted to treat myself.

    It is all “Dolly steps”.
    A day at a time.
    A step at a time.
  • Azercord
    Azercord Posts: 573 Member
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    The hardest habit for me to learn and the one that probably helped me the most was learning to throw out the leftovers on my kid's plates. It was tough at first because it was perfectly good food even if it was a little nibbled on. To start out I just tried logging it in on top of what I ate as best as I could (I'm really picky about measuring things so this bothered me and helped drive the habit) and the shock to the system as I realized how many extra calories I was pulling in was astounding. They eat the same thing we do and I never thought about it as that much because they are so young still but man it starts to add up fast.

    After a couple weeks of this it became pretty easy to save what we could and throw out the rest....except for the green beans, it was always easy to throw those out.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Maybe think about the habits you want to pass down to your daughter

    This exactly.
  • busyPK
    busyPK Posts: 3,788 Member
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    Time to decide if that cookie/brownie/treat is really worth the calories that day. Pre-log it and decide. Some days you might be fine enjoying a treat, but others it may be best to resist and eat more food for less calories. I understand the struggle as I am in charge of organizing and buying all the food for an event at my job. Just today I had to get Panera and instead of having a pastry or bagel with cream cheese I'm eating something more filling to me and within my breakfast calorie range (Greek yogurt, fruit, granola cup).

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