Ok, my apologies because this is going to be a doozie of a post.

I am stuck in a rut and I need advice. First, a little background info.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with Graves Disease aka hyperthyroidism. I decided to go the medication vs the radiation route, and so far the treatment has been sucessful. Well, as far as dealing with my symptoms it has been. But, there was one teensiest little detail that they left out when they offered me the choice...and that is that the medication often slows down your metabolism and most patients gain weight on it. So here I am, a year and twenty pounds later, finally being weaned off the meds. I'm excited, of course, because I finally feel like I can get back to the weight loss ball game. I was already 100 lbs overweight when this whole ordeal started. So, I have some serious work to do.

However, over the course of the past year, I have also had another life change, I went back to work after being a SAHM for close to nine years. So I work retail, my weekday hours are from 4 to 10 Pm and I work various long shifts on the weekends. This has really thrown my life and my schedule into a tizzy. I have gone from having plenty of time to cook a good healthy meal for my family to pretty much getting take out most of the time. I am harried and tired all the time and I skip meals for myself because I just don't feel like getting everything out and then cleaning it all up. The one bright side is that dh is on the Atkins plan and fends for himself mostly. I personally can't do all the meat that he eats. Oh, and plus, my 2 year old has a crazy sleeping schedule because of my hours. I generally eat when I get home after 10 pm, and I'm up a couple of hours after that because I have caffeine in my system and can't wind down. So my 2yo dd stays up late with me because she can't get to sleep if I'm not asleep. And then we both sleep in late the next morning. Well, correction, I get up at 6:30 to get my 9yo dd ready for the bus, and then go back to sleep. I don't normally eat until we get up between 9 and 10 am. Which is prime exercise time, really, I just never get to it because I'm always behind. Add in that any errands need to be run before 2pm when 9yo dd gets home and then it's homework, dinner and getting ready to leave for work directly after. The timing just stinks.

Unfortunately changing my work schedule is out of the question right now, for several reasons, so I need to try and develop a healthy schedule around it. I can attempt to cut back on the caffeine that keeps me up late, but I also need to find some type of small meal that will digest quickly and not keep me up as well. And I need some quick, healthy meals for before work that take minimal prep time. Kid approved, at that. It just seems so daunting, I'm tired just typing this all out! I appreciate if you've read this far. I know it's a lot to take in!

Your situation seems complicated. I'd maybe think about starting with something you can do, something that doesn't take a lot of time.

As far as losing weight, the vast majority of it is the food you eat (and don't eat). Exercise helps some, but it's actually not very good for weight loss unless you're doing a LOT of it. I'd recommend starting on the food part of things. Some people here have lost a LOT of weight without exercising until they got closer to goal.

If you cook, try easy, 6 ingredient recipes. There's a whole bunch of healthy options in the food section of the forum here. And if you don't like those, I would Google some other options.

Good luck with everything.

You can cook food ahead of time and keep it in the fridge. Right now my fridge has boiled eggs, oatmeal, baked chicken, brown rice, boiled cabbage, boiled potatoes, and frozen veggies. When I get home I arrange what I want on a plate and I am eating a delicious, healthy meal five minutes later. Oh and beans... beans are healthy, filling, and delicious. Every week I cook up a big pot and keep it in the fridge. Get some beans, spinach, and tomatoes together and you've got the base for a super healthy salad. Just add a vinaigrette and you're good to go.

i work nights too. having food cooked/prepared is really essential. by the time i get home from work i am so tired and famished that i just don't even care if what i eat is healthy.

also, i have a few moments to slip away and eat something at work..maybe you should try the same? i'll bring in some greek yogurt and fruit, or an instant oatmeal package, or soup-at-hand. this way i don't need an entire meal when i get home to feel satisfied.

have you ever gotten those steam-in-a-bag frozen veggies? i'm not super excited about the prospect of plastic in the microwave, but they claim its safe. anyway..they make a lot of nice combinations. you can find veggies with "cheese sauce" and they have one that is green beans/almonds. its actually really good lol. and easy.

I think another great idea for you would be to look up some healthy crock pot recipes. Buy a crock pot if you don't already have one!

Then when you're up at 6:30 getting dd1 off to the bus, you can pop your ingredients into the crock pot, turn it on, and leave it for the day. By 3:30 when you need to leave for work, dinner is virtually ready (maybe just microwave another veggie to put on the side and you're done!).

It's a great method of cooking as it doesn't need oil, and you can control how much salt/sauce you put in. And I find (I'm the mom of 3 kids, aged 8,7, and 2) that most things that come out of the crock pot are pretty kid friendly as they're very soft, generally in small pieces (after breaking up meat with a fork etc), and saucey.

GL!

I second Crock pot cooking. And try to get some bulk cooking done on your days off that you can dethaw and reheat.

I normally ALWAYS preach healthy home cooked foods, but sometimes there just might be exceptions to the rule. Would a meal delivery system work better for you...at least until you can work some other options into your plan? Like Jenny Craig, or maybe one of the other popular programs? Maybe something like that would free up some of your time and take the guesswork out for awhile. Just long enough to get you back on track and jump start things for you. Your situation sounds very difficult, so I'm really at a loss of advice except to suggest that maybe you should try forcing yourself to sleep more normal hours...lol

Another cheer for the crockpot here. Google OAMC (once a month cooking) for recipes and really detailed plans for how to get a ton of cooking done in one day, then portioned out and frozen so you can re-heat a meal at a time. It takes time to plan/prep, but I bet you could enlist your oldest as a sous chef for some parts!