Working fulltime = weight gain

Don't feel bad about not being able to Do It All with a full-time job. The concept of a "full-time job" was invented when the assumption was that the people doing those jobs all had someone at home (like a spouse) to take care of all the domestic stuff, including meal planning and preparation; no one was ever supposed to be able to juggle all of that solo. And the 40-hour workweek was dreamed up by a man looking to maximize his labor force's output, not to treat his employees like human beings with needs. The system has failed you, not the other way around.

Diet is going to make more of a difference for weight loss than exercise, so that's what I'll focus on. +1 suggestion to invest in an Instant Pot or similar device - if you have people that want to buy you gifts for Christmas, that would be a good thing to ask for. They're just now rolling out a new version of the Instant Pot that has an air fryer function, so you can probably get a last-gen model fairly cheap that still has plenty of functionality. Most slow-cooker recipes can be adapted for a pressure cooker, making things like carnitas, pot roast, enchiladas, etc. perfectly doable weeknight dinners - something that takes 6 hours in a slow cooker takes about an hour all told in the pressure cooker (including time to pressurize and depressurize).

I prep breakfast and lunch for the week for myself and my husband on the weekends, then plan to make dinners that will yield leftovers, so I only have to cook 2-3 nights a week after work. It's just the two of us and most recipes are written to serve 4-6, so that's pretty easy. I do also love to cook, so if it's not your favorite pastime you may have a harder time with it, I'll concede that. Cooking is my "me time" - I put on a podcast, get my ingredients, and get to work. And, at the end, I have tasty food that I get to eat!

If cooking at home is just genuinely not feasible for you most nights, then invest in some food containers and immediately pack up half of your takeout/frozen meal/whatever you're eating for dinner. I'd recommend using a food scale and really getting scientific up in this muth if at all possible.

shazland wrote: »

Dogmom1978 wrote: »

Food scale is a must. You can eat whatever you please as long as you eat in a deficit.

I work a full time job, an unpredictable part time job, and work out 7 days a week. I’m always busy. My instant pot is my savior, but I also utilize my dehydrator. Set it and forget it is KEY!

I meal plan for the week when I’m off from work. Cook and freeze portions (or leave in the fridge if they’ll keep). And EVERYTHING is weighed and tracked. Except for lunch today. A coworker bought us lunch and I had a playa bowl. That sucker was 660 calories, so I ate roughly 1/2 of it and stuck the other 1/2 in the work freezer. On the plus side, I don’t have to pack lunch for tomorrow!

I just dont get how you are able to work out 7 days a week? I don't stop once I get home, cooking dinners making school lunches bathing kids it's non stop.
Also, what is a dehydrator?
What meals do you make?

I don't "workout" 7 days per week...I don't consider most of what I do a "workout", but I exercise 7 days per week in some capacity. Both my wife and I have a full time job and two young children. I walk three miles daily in the morning first thing...I get up early and put my coffee in my travel mug and off I go with the dog to watch the sun rise. I also cycle about 40-60 miles per week and my wife and I both workout with a trainer in the weight room once per week (our kids come with us)...I try to get to the gym one other time during the week, but that one often falls off due to time constraints and other obligations.

My wife is just as active, just with different stuff. We don't always get in everything we would like to, but it is important to us and our health to be active and to also be examples for our kids about the importance of living and active and healthy lifestyle.

As domestic responsibilities go, we take turns doing different things. We cook most meals from home and swap out nights every other night or so...I'll cook dinner one night and she cooks the next, etc. If I'm cooking, she can get out for a run or do something else. Our kids are old enough now to bathe themselves, but when they weren't, we also took turns with that. We both have our own cleaning responsibilities around the house. Basically, we don't have one person doing all of the things all of the time which allows the other to engage in other activities.

All that said, where weight is concerned, it really comes down to food. We do a lot of batch cooking...in winter we make a lot of soups and stews and casserole type dishes that we can have for leftovers for lunches during the week. In summer, we grill a lot and make extra of pretty much everything so that we can take that for lunches. Our breakfasts are pretty quick and easy...usually just some scrambled eggs and toast or a bowl of oats.