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Stay At Home Mom's- How did you do it?



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I am going in next monday for my sleeve. I have a question for all you stay-at-home moms/dads. I am a binge/grazer/boredom eater. Honestly, it was never a problem because I was never home this much. But, after surgery I will STILL be home for the next few years. How did you get past your eating habits? I have a newborn, so he still sleeps a lot, giving me a fair amount of down-time a day. That down time is my danger time when it comes to eating. Im contemplating letting the house get really messy every day to occupy myself...HELP!

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I am a stay~at~home mom, and that to was one of my concerns. However, i am 4 1/2 weeks post op, and HAVE NOT been hurngry. I have to remind myself to drink my Protein, I talked to the DR yesterday and he said to expect the NO HUNGRY to last at least 6 months! Good Luck.

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With great difficulty..lol!

I know working outside the house would make a huge difference in my life.I even lose weight faster when I stay in a hotel for 3 weeks than what I do at home,too close to the fridge,even now!

But,the fact that it was more difficult doesnt say it didnt work.I just had fo suffer a little more...lol

Good luck.

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Thanks gals. Desertmom- look how close you are to goal!! Go YOU!

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I'm a retired jr/high school teacher turned tutor/nanny. The downtime can be tough. Luckily, the beautiful family I work with has nothing in the house to eat, lol! Try to rid your house of the useless food, but if you can't put it out of sight in places you never use.

You will need to begin training yourself for a new lifestyle and be diligent in doing so. Make sure you have a bottle of your favorite flavored water to put in your mouth a gazillion times a day.

Hope you have help caring for kids for a few weeks and good luck on you journey

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It will stop but you will have to find something to replace that time with. Do you like to read? any hobbies you do or want to start. Try to fill your nap times with something or make a list of things for you to do when baby naps.

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I was on maternity leave when I had my sleeve. I didn't feel a need to eat at that time but if I stayed hpme now I probably would! Try to avoid watching a lot of TV. That's when I would binge....at night in front of the tv! Maybe try knitting, reading, picking up an instrument, getting a treadmill or recumbent bike. Cleaning, like you said. Keep yourself busy. Right now I'm working, going to school,and have a 4 yr old and 5 month old so I keep busy....it helps.

Still when I do have down time, the tv is my trigger. So I keep it to a minimum.

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I'm a stay at home mom! But my children are school age (11 and 16). So I have LOTS of free time! And yes I'd find my way to the kitchen a lot for no particular reason.

I was sleeved on 11-13-12. And I had a few weeks of "head hunger" which is pretty normal for all of us.

But now it's not a problem, in fact nowadays eating and drinking the "required" amounts is like a full time job!

Another nice thing is you tend to want to get out more and do things in my case with my friends like going for walks or going to the beach and ride bikes then get coffee. You will find yourself out more in the world with your baby doing things.. Which is good for both you. :)

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Laura I was sleeved 10 days before you! We are sleeve sisters!

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SAHM here too, though all my kids are in school now.. usually just hubby working from home to keep me entertained. I am 2 1/2 months out.

Grazing - Honestly, it's weird, and you'll hear it over and over again.. the urge just isn't there. I still love my morning naps, but my morning second breakfasts, lunch, snack before kids, snack after kids, etc just don't taunt/call to me like before. I keep individually wrapped packages of cheese (string, cheddar, colby, whatever) in the fridge and when I really feel like I need a snack, I go grab one of those. (90 cal, 5 Protein, 1 carb, I don't count calories or fat as much as protein/carb) I can go grocery shopping and not feel like I need to pick up a king size bar of chocolate or two (or larger.. eek!)

Stick with your Proteins and liquids and you won't feel hungry :)

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Laura I was sleeved 10 days before you! We are sleeve sisters!

One of the many reasons I love you!! :)

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I am NOT a stay at home mom but I do work from home and I have a lot of downtime. I picked up hobbies like crocheting and soap making to help pass my time. Take the money that you would have spent on food and put it towards a craft. You'll be satisfied that you created something and you'll keep yourself busy.

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One of the many reasons I love you!! :)

Awwe shucks! Love you too boo!

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I am going in next monday for my sleeve. I have a question for all you stay-at-home moms/dads. I am a binge/grazer/boredom eater. Honestly' date=' it was never a problem because I was never home this much. But, after surgery I will STILL be home for the next few years. How did you get past your eating habits? I have a newborn, so he still sleeps a lot, giving me a fair amount of down-time a day. That down time is my danger time when it comes to eating. Im contemplating letting the house get really messy every day to occupy myself...HELP![/quote']

I am a stay at home mom too and worry about this too.

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Let me tell you what works for me. I'm 6 months out- and I work outside the home, but I am also home a lot in the mornings/afternoons with my small kids. I noticed that when at work I do great- I pack my food and also log it into MFP. The days where I was not working at home I started to graze, and make bad choices. Also I was snacking on my kids snacks... That was not good. So every night- regardless if I work or not I still pack my food. I get everything cut up, portioned and logged into MFP. This way I know what to eat, there is no questions on my menu for the day. It really has helped me make better choices. I sit down at the end of the day and often I don't eat everything I have packed so I go and delete it off MFP and start planning for the next day. The only thing I don't pack is usually dinner- if I'm home. It's WORKED well for me!!! :) good luck!!!

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    • LeighaTR

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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