I'm sure many on here are parents - and you can totally relate to the witching hour - in my house it's the hours between 5:30 and 7:30 otherwise known as dinner time! I am so very proud that we have this time as a family and we make it to the table together each night nearly 7 days a week - my problem is I'm an excellent cook and make delicious food - albeit - probably not the most figure friendly - hence why I'm in this place to begin with... so rather than digressing I'll get to the point -

What do YOU do to satisfy your hungry belly as soon as you come into the house and start cooking for the family? I have been drinking Arizona diet Tea - but with the aromas of the food and the 650 calories I've eaten today - well - I can be described as a GRIZZLY BEAR!!!

Please post some ideas to feed the beast that won't derail the day and get me thru to my actually sitting at the table with my meal without feeling ravenous, which will help me to eat slower and enjoy the food rather than trying to tame the beast in my belly... I'm sure you get the point.

I usually snack on a cheese stick, chips sometimes until dinner is ready. Most of the time I just wait because I really want what I'm going to cook. 1/2 a cup of yogurt is great also.

I don't get it

I'm avoiding you because as I was preparing dinner I heated up a tamale and ate it. Do not do as I do

I don't have small children but I have a 17 and 20 yr, old boys that have a appatite , but I just either drink a couple glasses of water or drink a protein shake and that seems to do it while they eat then I wait till they get done that's about 30 min then I can either eat or just be satisified or have a 1 Atkins candy and that is it I am done , or while I am fixing their food , yes I fix their food sometimes lol I do the dishes by hand as I go, just suggestions.

It's tough...I have a 3 1/2 and 7 year old and besides preparing the foods actually sitting and enjoying the meal is tough with the distractions, and talking and questioning and the COMPLAINING....LOL.

I, too, am grateful for the family dinners together but it is hard.

I try to drink but that doesnt always work and sometimes I just have a little bite of whatever I'm making. That little bite curbs the desire to eat more until dinner. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt.

Sorry, not the best advice but all I've got...its a day to day battle....good luck and keep us posted!

I'm well passed the 'children to feed stage of life.

However, "witching hour" is accurate and happens to me most often mid-afternoon, 3:30 ish. Sometimes 10"30 ish.

While I do rotate as needed, the last year or so I've been on a 'spaghetti squash' kick.....cold, microed, plain, with a little something.

It's pretty well replaced any interest in Pasta. And I favor other squash too.

Yellow peppers, or better RED peppers, sliced a variety of ways....crunchy, delightful, easy/healthy.

Sometimes a 1/2 cup of snow peas are my special friend. They also make a delightful addition as a 'veggie omlette'.....if you can stan eggs at this point.

Then again, I've been able to correlate have a 'decent' Protein a coupel times a day helps diminish or displace the Witching Hour(s).

i cook for my husband and i cook for myself. so i have 2 dinners going. his has gravy, butter,french fries, beef cheeseburgers etc. but as much as i want all that i know i can only eat a small amount and its going to be Protein. i just keep this in my mind. i think if i was extremely hungry a Protein shake maybe a hot coffee Protein Drink and sip on it while cooking. for those that are wondering how to have a hot protein drink just make a paste with your Protein powder first and than add your hot Water or hot coffee slowly stirring all the time. it works the protein doesnt do that nasty thing. or have a salad. make your own vingarette so you can control the fat in it. make this part of your meal. you are just eating it first, salads on the most part slide through the band pretty easily so you will have room for your main protein. don't let yourself get that hungry, being hungry is when we make mistakes it also makes us miserable. good luck

I have not gotten my timing down yet. If we are eating at 6:30 then I need to have something to eat at, say, 2PM to hold me that 4-5 hours. If I've had my morning protein shake with fruit, etc. at 11 or so, I'm not hungry yet at 2PM but I'm pretty ravenous at 5PM. My body is programmed for wine and cheese party at that hour LOL -- years of calories during those evening hours. You know, the 5-10 PM graze-a-thon. Some of that is habit and boredom but if it is kicked off by real hunger I need to eat.

Its just me and my hubby now. He's pretty much on his own since surgery in Sept. I'll stop and get him fast food when he asks every now and then. He's really understanding. I can; only: imagine how tough it can be with kids. My hat is off to y'all!!!

re: "don't let yourself get that hungry, being hungry is when we make mistakes it also makes us miserable. good luck"

yes......a MOST ESSENTIAL part of coming to understnat HappyBandsterLife is to step away from the edge before we fall off...

Even still, if I get TOO hungry.....there's trouble of one kind or another.

I timed it just right today, out in restaurant/business and did fine on soup/salad/bread/ OK, it was Italian place, I left probably 3/4 of the tiny loaf they served) the the Soup (some spicy chicken thing) and salad were superb. It was enough to last me from noon to nearly 6pm.

I ate a small dinner (my squash treat) and have been anticipating 'the rest of the meal'...but actual 'hunger' has not reared it's ugly countinence. Almost too late to have 'dessert' a homemade gooseberry/chopped filberts diebetic recipe.

Wait....I'm going to try a bite....

No little ones at home these days they are all in their late teens and 20's. In the past I would run out of the office at the end of the day and take that long drive home and think the whole way there what I am going to get these kids and me and the hubby for dinner. By 6:30-7 when I get home from work it's a solid 6 hours since I had last had a meal. (Not good!) So I would get the fastest fast food thing I could think of and go home and "feed" everyone.

Even in the early stages of being banded this was still the way things were happening. It took me a bit to get a handle on things, and now I will make sure that I have a snack around 3-4:00 before I leave the office. I make sure it's either a Protein shake or a Protein Bar and that will hold me over until I get home and get dinner cooking.

We usually sit down to eat by 7-7:30, and I am feeling good and ready to have a small dinner at that time. Giving myself that snack and buffer I am actually in control and able to go home and make a healthy meal that we can sit down together and eat. IN SILENCE! The only witch in the witching hour is me I guess. I have a rule that they are not allowed to complain or converse while we are eating.

It's great because it's teaching them the proper way to eat a meal.To enjoy the presentation, the aroma, the texture, the flavor and not to just chomp and and chat their way through 3 plates of food.

Most of the time they choose not to eat with us....and make their plate later....I wonder why that is....