How Do You Stay On-Track When You Are Home All Day Long

OK. I have to admit..... I can't handle being home and not eating all the time.  A nibble here, a snack there.... OMG.

HELP... How do you stay on-track when you are home all day?

And you have kids that eat all the time?

And a husband that don't EVER gain weight it seems even though he eat garbage mostly all day long?

I have all of that aside the kids!

I just sit and think about what i would like to eat until it is a suitable time to eat.

Seriously?....

If i crave something that bad yeah. Like one night i really wanted a pizza from the local take away. So i just sat and thought about it, the take away closed and i didn't have one. Craving went.

Well my eating lately has nothing to do with cravings.....just mindless eating because it is in=front of me.

I used to do that, just eat and eat and eat. I've only been at c-c two weeks but i've pretty much managed to stop that now :) 

mindless eating!  Its soooo hard! BUT it does get easier!  YOU HAVE TO GET RID OF THE BAD STUFF IN THE HOUSE!  you cant hide it, because you will find it.  until you can gain that will power and control, getting it out of the house is the best thing.

I have been known to empty coke bottles down the sink and throw away chips, cookies, etc...

I know its hard but I know you can do it!  :)

If you are eating like out of boredom or nervous habit etc try finding something you can do with your hands so that it isn't as easy to reach over and grab something. 

I find if I get busy or read a book or just do something the activity tends to keep me from doing the mindless eating thing.  take up a hobby that involves using your hands like knit or crochet... I make soap and candles when Im not working and my work consists of a lot of typing so its hard to eat when Im doing that lol... I just try to do things to keep myself busy and that has helped my habit a lot.

Yeah, I agree.  I have this same problem too, so weekends tend to be especially hard for me if I'm not out of town.  I thought being out of town would be worse since I'm eating out often.  But I find that keeping busy is the BEST way to curb those wandering phalanges!

I keep myself out of the kitchen for one thing.  My comp is upstairs in my bedroom along with my 2nd TV.  In the evenings I spend A LOT of time up here just so I'm not tempted by sight.

I also keep my hands/mind busy by surfing/chatting online, reading, or doing crossword puzzles.  I know they're kind of lame tactics, but they work more often than not.

And yeah, the biggest thing is to at least get the crap food out of the house.  That way if you do snack, at least you're snacking on decent food instead of junk!

I totally agree with mefunk and slappy!  Get the junk out of the house. 

I just had a birthday and did a great job of getting the cake out of the house ~ a friend took it home with her.  I thought I was home free.  But the next day, Sunday, instead of eating a proper lunch at lunchtime, I started grazing on all the other leftovers from the party!  Stupid stuff and because I was grazing, I have no idea just how much I really ate.  By early evening, I was taking stuff out to the garbage and pouring the wine down the drain.  Too hard to say 'no' over and over so I just said it once and threw it out.

I also agree that getting away from the kitchen with hands busy is crucial.  Ditto on computer being upstairs away from the food.  When I am downstairs, I'm either reading or needlepointing, so the hands are busy.

Playing devil's advocate here....sometime's just throwing out all the "bad" food isn't a possibility when you've got a family all under the same roof!

I do daycare in my home, so I am surrounded by snacks and little lunches all day long....grilled cheeses, mini cheese pizzas, pb&j's, fish sticks, chicken noodle soup and cheese fishy crackers, fruit fruit fruit and veggies veggies veggies...

What's worked for me is to sit down the night before and plan my menu.  Yes, it's tedious, and might seem a little silly planning out tonite what you're going to eat tomorrow.  But once it's all logged, I print it off and post it on my fridge.  There it is, right there, in black and white.  I make sure I give myself a little treat every day (no fat chocolate pudding, glass of red wine with dinner, one of hubby's homemade cinnamon baking powder biscuits...

As we all know, when you dish up food for kids, you don't dump a whole lotta food on their plate...so there's always a few slices of pizza, half a sammie, 3 fish sticks, etc.  I tell myself that all those little bits can either be safely put away in tupperware in my fridge for one of my daughter's lunches, or I can snorfle it down and add to my own bulk.  And you know what -- those little bits always look WAY better in my fridge than in me.

I drink at least 8-10 glasses of water a day.  I love jasmine green tea with no-cal sweetener -- this coming from a gal that never ever drank tea before!  The fragrance of the tea coupled with the sweetener is like a special treat just for me!

*ok stepping off my soapbox now* :D

The only thing that works for me is having a pre-plan and everything fixed and ready to eat.  If I know I'm having a snack in 2 hours, I'm more likely to wait, than if I have snacks in the house but don't know what I'm going to have.  Unplanned, I just go ahead and grab something, forget to log it, then end up with too much. 

It also helps to do things that keep your hands busy.  Do something that eating would be impossible while you're doing it.

Thanks everyone.  I am going to clean out the house.... I think that is a good idea.  Less temptation.

I am also going to plan my days like I did when I was working.

Thanks :)

I find the fact that I hate grocery shopping and do it as little as possible to be quite helpful.  It's hard to eat a lot when you have no food in the house.  ;-)

Planning a head and staying busy with the kids helps. Keep to a diligent schedule and your habits will change. I found that my body is like a clock...sort of.....You will get use to the times of eating a good meal and look forward to that rather than munching all day. It will take some doing and discipline but keep at it and soon it will be second nature and the best thing is that you won't feel hungry all day long any more. Let me tell ya....at first you will and it will be hard, but it get's easier as your body gets use to the new clock! Good luck!

All these ideas are great!

Oh man, keeping food out of the house is a BAD idea for me.  Cuz if there is nothing decent to eat, then I will find, make, and gorge on crap.  OR, I will end up ordering in or eating out.  A big part of my lifestyle change is forcing myself to go grocery shopping once a week so I have decent snacks in the house including fresh fruits and vegs.

I don't always succeed at that.  Sometimes I say I don't have time, other times I say I don't have the money... but I know it really does make a big difference for those consecutive weeks that I DO do it!

Can you allow yourself snacks that are slightly OK.

I know they aren't the best but these are lower in calories than most junk food:

The boughten not homemade rice krispie squares are 90 cals each.

2 fig newtons are 100 calories(non brand) and with a nice cup of black tea satisfies me.

There are these cookies called Simple Pleasures, 4 cookies(for the lemon ones) are 120 cals, I'm satisfied with 2 (60 cals) along with coffee or tea.
And they have a  variety of flavours with a difference in cals though. The cinnimon ones are very good.

Have you tried Crispy Mini's? They have a great variety of flavours and are only 60 cals for 8. I usually count an amount out(usually 16 or more and figure out the calories)(sometimes I do end up eating the whole bag though! *embarassed*bit I have never gone over my calorie limit)  and put them in ziplock bags so I'm not tempted to eat to many. But to me they are a really good snack.

Those are just a few things I find that help me stay on my diet.

And I also have recipes for low cal snacks as well (like brownie muffins), I'm just new here, just joined yesterday, but I'm planning to be posting some of these goodies on the recipe thread.

I hope I have helped you!

Baby carrots. They crunch, they're sweet, and they have way fewer calories than chips. lol

Although I realize it's kinda like trading one crutch for another, they really help me get through those 'munchie' days.

Some days I just have to munch. I'm home all day, too, and the drive to eat sometimes can almost consume me. On those days, I eat baby carrots and celery and often that will alleviate the need just to crunch and crunch.

I sometimes think we deprive ourselves so much that you feel like you have to eat or you'll just explode. I know I eat small meals throughout the day, but occasionally, I just have to throw in an 800 calorie meal just to feel satisfied. I make up for it somewhere else.

Not sure if that helps or not.

I feel your pain!

Scarlet