OT - How do you balance a busy life and still keep your diet

andeemoon
andeemoon Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
I work full time about 45 hours per week, commute 1 hour to work each way, and have a small child. Thankfully, I have a husband who is a big help, however he has odd work hours with being gone sometimes at night and on the weekends? How does everyone manage their stress in their incredibility busy lives? Also, how do you take time to cook decent meals, exercise, keep your diet in check and still manage to lose weight? It just all seems so overwhelming.

I'm finding that when my child goes to bed and the house is quiet that I just want to raid the pantry. I'm wondering if this is how I'm dealing negatively with the daily stress in my life. Does anyone else have this issue also? I've found that reading or doing other things helps instead of de-stressing by just eating.

Replies

  • pavlinm
    pavlinm Posts: 15
    Exercise definitely helps a lot with stress and sleeping issue. Also, I found out if I eat three balanced meals per day and follow high-protein, moderate-fat and low-carb diet I don't get cravings and hungry in between meals. So the first step would be to look into your diet, find a plan that works for you and learn how to make some healthy simple recipes and keep repeating them over. Good luck
  • verdammtwenig
    verdammtwenig Posts: 48
    My life isn't that stressful, so I'm probably not the best person to ask. But I have an idea for making food easier:

    If you have a day or two in the week which are generally more relaxed, do more cooking on those days. Make a big pot of healthy soup that you can eat all week. Grill up some extra chicken breast or fish that you can eat for a couple of days. Make a big batch of black bean and sweet potato burritos which you can then freeze and take for lunch. Etc. Etc.
  • bme8956
    bme8956 Posts: 6 Member
    I too have kind of a busy lifestyle and keep odd hours as I own and operate a small pizza franchise. I like to eat about 5 smaller "meals" a day. first one being at about 1 am when I get home. If you did that then one of your "meals" could be when the kids go to bed. then you could indulge a little and not feel guilty about it.

    I put "meals" in quotes because sometimes its really just a snack to keep me going. By spreading the calories out it keeps my metabolism going the whole 24 hour period.

    Good luck and have fun!
  • cannonsky
    cannonsky Posts: 850 Member
    have you tried pre-planning your meals? Knowing what you are going to eat if you get hungry might help you from raiding the pantry... It'll also take some of the stress out of the day to day craziness
  • KelseyDawn84
    KelseyDawn84 Posts: 129 Member
    1. I plan meals a week ahead.
    2. The crockpot is your friend.
    3. I prepare one days meals the night before.
    4. Big batches + freezer
    5. Short, efficient workouts.
    6. Playground workouts.
    7. Accept that I am not (nor will ever be) "Supermom"
  • kepete
    kepete Posts: 268 Member
    I exercise at night when the hungries come on!
  • LilynEdensmom
    LilynEdensmom Posts: 612 Member
    I preplan my meals and my snacks, put them in my diary each morning, so I know what if any kind of wiggle of room I"m looking at . And try to cook big enough portions of chicken and meat that I can have it as left overs for a day or two and then I just have to add a side to it.

    I keep all junk food out of the house, that way even if I do want to go on a night time raid once the kids are in bed, I only have healthy options, which do add up but don't totally wreak your diet you know?

    For exercise, I'm not hardcore or anything lol I can squeeze in 10 minutes burst of cardio here and there ( I know I know I need strength training in there as well, I plan on trying to start that in the fall when both of my kids are in school and I have more free time). I get up earlier and spend less time on line to fit in atleast 30 minutes a day.
  • HMVOL7409
    HMVOL7409 Posts: 1,588 Member
    I honestly don't know I just do it. I work FT nights, in nursing school finishing my RN FT during the day 3 times a week, have an 8 hr day of clinicals, hours upon hours of studying and 1 hour commute for all things school related. I workout 6 days a week and am training for a 1/2 marathon. My husband is a huge help! He does the grocery shopping so there's always healthy meals and snacks. I pack everyday for school and work, making sure I have fruits or granola/protein bars available. I actually plan my workouts 2 weeks in advance so I know I'm getting everything in and all my training sessions done. For me I also look at it as my alone time, my destresser time bc that is in fact what it is. I honestly haven't snapped once or had a severe melt down bc working out has helped with my stress so much. I guess you could find a million excuses to not do something but I always find reasons to do it and those outweigh all the exuses in the world for me.

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