How To Stay Slim If You Stay At Home

Posted on August 12th, 2008.

If you are a stay at home mom or if you happen to work from home, you may understand how difficult it is to steer clear of the kitchen in between meal times. You may know first hand how treats in the pantry seem to call your name in the late afternoon, begging for you to eat them. If you are at home most of the time, you may also understand how your eating schedule can easily be thrown off… causing you to eat too often, eat too late, or eat too sporadically. Whatever your weakness may be, staying at home all day long and being close to the refrigerator and pantry can be hazardous to your health (and waistline). 

 

I know first hand just how challenging this can be. After the birth of my first child, I stopped going into the office and worked primarily from home. I found myself in the kitchen a LOT – whether it was to clean up, wash dishes, feed my toddler, make lunch for my husband or to start working on dinner – the kitchen seemed to be the place where I spent the majority of my time. 

 

In the current house we live in, my office is situated right off from the kitchen, making it WAY too easy to slip in for a little snack. And now, with two kids who are coming and going at different times, needing to be fed on different schedules and with the great room attached to the kitchen, I feel like our kitchen is Grand Central Station for all of us. The problem with this, is that it is SO easy to eat when you’re not hungry, which adds way too many calories to your diet, therefore causing weight gain and frustration. 

 

So how do we overcome this wonderful dilemma? (Wonderful because we are able to stay at home and dilemma because we don’t want to gain weight.) Here are some tips that help me with this on-going struggle:

 

1. Close Up The Kitchen

There are times in my day, when I literally have to tell myself and my family that the KITCHEN IS CLOSED! This means that I am not making snacks, I’m not opening the pantry, the refrigerator door stays shut… simply put – the kitchen (AND the cook) is out of commission. To make this announcement stick, I find that it helps to turn off the lights, put the bar stools on the counter and move into a different room altogether. 

 

2. Keep Your Mouth Occupied

The title of this one sounds funny and no, I don’t mean that I’m locking lips with my husband when I want my mouth to be occupied… (although I’m sure he wouldn’t mind!) What I mean by this one, is to chew sugar free gum after a meal so you won’t be tempted to eat more food. Or brush your teeth so you will enjoy a fresh, clean feeling in your mouth and the desire to snack on something will go away. Another thing you can do is drink water instead of eat food. All of these things keep your mouth occupied and help you steer clear of eating when you really don’t need to. 

 

3. Stay Busy

Even though there is always something that needs to get done around the house, I often find myself taking a break or getting bored of the project I was working on and somehow end up in the kitchen with a snack in my hand. This drives me crazy because if I stop to think about why I’m in there, it’s usually NOT because I’m hungry. Most likely, I just needed a change of scenery, or my mind needed to be refreshed, or I’m simply trying to figure out what to do next. Boredom and loneliness often urge us to eat – without even realizing it. Staying busy – and keeping yourself involved in planned projects will help cure the mindless snacking that goes on when you’re not hungry. I keep myself on track by making a list of things I need to accomplish that day and when I can successfully check off one item, I get busy with the next!

 

4. Don’t Have Unhealthy Foods Around

This one sounds like a no-brainer, but if you don’t have unhealthy foods around the house, there’s no way we can’t eat them! Many times, sugary snacks or processed foods are purchased for the other family members to eat, while YOU are trying to be healthy. Kind as that theory may be to the others in your home, you are just setting yourself up for failure! We all have good will power sometimes, but watch out for those times when you don’t! Besides, you would be doing your whole family a favor if unhealthy foods were kept out of the home.

 

and last but not least…

 

5. Schedule Eating Times

Let’s face it…our schedules are hectic. Sometimes we don’t get a chance to eat breakfast until 10:00 am or even worse – not at all! Occasionally we have to shove food in our mouths at the crack of dawn and end up feeling hungry for lunch by 10:30! When our schedules are thrown off like this, we have a harder time knowing when to eat next and sometimes, wonder what to eat next. (Do I eat lunch, do I eat breakfast?) The best solution is to try to come up with a schedule and stick to it – no matter how hard it may be. Our bodies need fuel first thing in the morning, so breakfast should never be skipped. Also, we should be eating small meals every three to four hours to avoid feeling extreme hunger and to keep our energy up throughout the day. Of course, paying attention to your hunger signals is more important than sticking to a schedule, but having guidelines helps you avoid eating foods when you shouldn’t. 

 

I hope these tips are helpful to those who are at home a lot, who are in the kitchen a lot and who don’t want to gain extra weight from unnecessary eating. It’s important to just be aware of when you eat and why. Focus on your internal hunger signals and choose wisely the things you eat. Following these simple steps will help you maintain a healthy weight or even lose weight each day you spend in your home. 

 

 

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