I need a 4-5pm 'get home' meal that won’t push me over my calories, but will fill me.

Two tidbits if you don't mind me offering.

1) Set an interval timer on your phone (find an app) that alerts you every 2.5 hours or so ... if you'll have something even small, think apple, your blood sugar will keep even and you'll not be so hungry when you get home. You'll be hungry but not the kind that makes you fall off your plan.

2) Simple things I like to have for a small dinner or when I get home = an apple, steamed broccoli in a bag (sometimes I have to just chew part way and swig it down with water bc I'm not feeling it ... but it'll fill me up good for about 50 cal), berries are great for helping me feel satiated without being a ton of calories, cucumbers cut up are great ... even in ranch, sometimes I'll have 1/4c irish oatmeal soaking in 1c water...pop that in the microwave for 2min, add some sweetener and cinnamon (or whatever) and it's filling for 150cal, toast with avocado, toast with peanut butter. Hard boiled eggs. Or hard boiled eggs made into egg salad. Low fat deli ham and some cheese. Non fat greek yogurt to which I add lemon zest and a sweetener. YUM! Cottage cheese + sweetener + berries + low carb cereal like Kashi. Salmon cooks up very quick. Greek yogurt + protein powder + peanut butter + sweetener + banana.

(can you tell I like sweetener? I use Monk Fruit or Stevia bc I've learned they don't affect blood sugar ... but it seems none of the others may either)

If I am smart enough to meal plan I'll have a meal waiting. Or I'll have some cooked sweet potatoes in the fridge. I like those with brown sugar or with a meat chili on top, or BBQ of some type. If you have a sous vide machine you can have amazing chicken breast waiting for you, just brown both sides for 60 seconds each and it's delicious.

chicken breast cut up + avocado mashed + greek yogurt + cucumbers + cabbage = a type of chicken salad that keeps well in the fridge and is easy to eat when you get home.

Lastly ... having some hearty (but not cream based) soups can really help a lot.


Hope any of that helps. I would just say that my personal ah-ha moment was learning to keep the blood sugar in check ahead of time as it kept the hunger pains away and allowed me to make less emotional and "hanger"-based decisions about food.

Cheers!

I'm not sure how many calories you have to spare, but my usual snacks are about 200 calories. Whenever I need a snack that feels like a meal, I boil a potato. A medium one is about 150 calories. I cube it into a pot full of salted water with half a small onion and a bay leaf. When it's done, I drain it, let it sit covered in the pot for a couple of minutes and I'm done in about 15 or so minutes. That's about the time it takes to change clothes and settle in. I add a couple of small pickles and a tomato for a 180 calorie very filling meal-like snack. If I want something even quicker, I just open a can of tuna and add diced tomatoes, crushed garlic, and lemon juice. That's a 5 minute very satisfying tuna salad (about 180 calories too).

For satiety and with 200 cal, I would likely go for a couple of hard boiled eggs or some cottage cheese or maybe smoked salmon for the majority of the cals, and then (for the mouth hunger/more volume bit) snack on chopped up raw veg (celery, carrots, radishes, cucumbers, kohlrabi, etc.) while cooking. (A pickle would also work and also have very few cals.)