The Best Stay At Home Mom Diet To Lose Weight

By Kayley George, RDN, LD

Being a stay at home mom is often misinterpreted to the common eye as an easy job, but in reality they are the modern day superheroes. Having to juggle the tasks of maintaining a healthy lifestyle for your family and constantly putting everyone and everything first, means you may forget to put your health and wellness at the top of the list as well.

Even with a hectic schedule and making sure your family has everything they need to succeed, it is important for stay at home moms to place their needs as a priority too. In this post we are reviewing the top tips and hacks for creating a healthy stay at home mom diet.

Why Am I Not Losing Weight as a Stay At Home Mom?

When you focus on putting everyone else first, it is easy to let a lot of lifestyle choices slip. There could be many things in your stay at home mom diet that are acting against you when trying to lose weight.

Perhaps you are forgetting to eat meals, over or under eating at meals, or you are not eating meals that fuel your body. Another thing that can easily slip our minds is trying to fit in exercise during the day, when taking care of kids can feel like enough exercise in itself.

It can also feel overwhelming to start exercising because you don't know where to fit it in, or how to start. 

What Stay At Home Moms Need To Do To Lose Weight

So, how do we make changes to lose weight as a stay at home mom? It starts with knowing that it is a lifestyle choice rather than a diet.

Starting a new diet can make us feel like we need to restrict and lose weight quickly and unsustainably. Changing our lifestyle on the other hand, will help make small and sustainable changes throughout our normal diet and exercising patterns that we can maintain for a long time.

Not only can these small and attainable changes help us lose weight, but they can actually make us feel better too. I know you're thinking , “but really, how do you actually make these lifestyle changes when life is already crazy and you don't have time?”

Well, there are some tips and tricks for setting yourself up for success and making life a little easier too, which we will review now.

The Best Healthy Stay At Home Mom Diet Tips

One of the best ways to stay healthy is to stay ahead when thinking about meals. There are a lot of things you can do to set yourself up for success with a smart stay at home mom diet, and we are reviewing them in detail below.

Planning Meals Ahead / Grocery List

When preparing to shop for food for the week, it can be very beneficial to stick to a list, not only to stick with buying healthy options, but it can also help with grocery cost because you aren’t wasting as much food.

Before hitting up the grocery store, moms should plan out their meals and snacks for the week. List all the ingredients you need for recipes and the amount of each ingredient.

One way you can do this is by writing out the ingredients for each recipe you plan to make for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Then, combine the list in case there are overlapping ingredients.

This will make it easier to follow when at the grocery store and help you make sure you have everything you need for the week without overbuying a product, or buying ingredients you won't use. Going to the grocery store with a planned list will also help you stay away from items you know you probably shouldn't buy because you are walking into the store with a mission, rather than perusing the aisles to come up with ideas for meals for the week.

Meal Prep

So, you've been to the store, bought all your food, life is great! Until Monday starts and the next thing you know it's 5:30 pm and everyone in the house is on the verge of hanger and dinner prep hasn't even started.

One way to combat this is to prepare your meals. Whether you find its breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, or all of the above that are hard to prepare when your time is crunched, it may be beneficial to prepare these meals for a cook time at another point in the day when things aren't so crazy.

You can use the night before to bake something for breakfast, or create something so it's ready for the morning, like overnight oats. Use this time at night or even quiet time in the morning to prepare anything for lunch or dinner that needs to be cut up or can be cooked early and can stay fresh in the fridge overnight, like grilled chicken or soup or stew.

Prepping either certain parts of a meal or the full meal can really help with cooking time and help you avoid going for fast food or snack foods instead.

For more meal planning assistance, grab our FREE mix & match meal prep guide.

Freezing Meals / Leftovers

Another way to have meals ready on the fly is to either make enough one day to have leftovers, or to freeze unused leftovers. Plan to make enough of a meal to have leftovers during the week if you know it may be too hectic by the end of the week to make a new meal.

If the food goes uneaten, freeze the leftovers to have in a jiffy when you need a meal prepared. It can be heated quickly to stay on track. Most food should generally lasts for three to six months in the freezer, and can last in the refrigerator for a couple of days, to stay on the safe side. 

Balanced Meals and Snacks

Meal planning and prepping for shopping at the grocery store may not be where you run into problems, but rather trying to think of meals and snacks that are better choices for you to have. Balancing your meals with lots of fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, and healthy fats helps you give your body what it needs to work well.

You will not feel as much inflammation, and will give your body the right nutrients to function effectively. Having carbohydrates that are high in fiber, like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains allows the carbohydrates to be broken down slower in the body.

Something else to remember is trying to have a protein source with every meal. Our bodies use protein as building blocks, but can’t store them for use like fats or carbs. Adding protein to every meal can help our bodies have a continuous source of fuel for our everyday metabolism.

Quality food actually helps our body work more efficiently. You can think of your body just like a car, the better quality oil and gas you put in it, the better and longer it will drive.

Take a look at your usual meals and see if you are able to incorporate fruits and veggies taking up about half the plate, have a portion of lean meat (about one quarter of the plate), and a starchy food or veggie (on the other quarter of the plate). Then, take a look at your snacks and see if the carb is a complex carb, like a fruit, veggie, or whole grain option and if it is paired with a protein or healthy fat (nuts/seeds, hummus, avocado).

These check-ins with your meals can help bring more quality into your diet. 

Carbs Are Okay

As mentioned above eating the right types of carbs reduces the spike in blood sugar effects that carbohydrates can have on the body, and instead make our blood sugar more stable over a longer period of time. Another way to do this is to pair a carbohydrate source with a protein source or fat source to have the same effect.

Trying to keep our blood sugar stable throughout the day can help out a lot with our overall health, and subsequently, our weight status. Remember, just because we’re focusing on healthy sources of carbohydrates instead of processed carbohydrates like chips or candy, this doesn't mean that we need to cut out carbohydrates from our diet entirely.

Carbs are important sources of quick energy for our bodies, allowing us fuel to work out, run after kiddos, and is actually the primary source of fuel for our brain and red blood cells. This makes them important in our diet to keep our brain focused on tasks at hand.

Portion Size

A great way to make a small change to your stay at home mom diet is checking the portion sizes of your meals. Often, we put way more food on our plate than we need, and our brain feels the need to eat all of that food in order to feel satiated.

I challenge you to make a bit of a smaller portion for yourself the next time you cook dinner and sit at the table with your family, truly focusing on the food you are eating. Another way to do this is by filling a smaller plate than what you usually fill to still get that satiated feeling of finishing the whole plate of food.

Connecting your mind to the food you are eating will help you feel more satiated during the meal, and will allow you to eat slower too, which helps your brain send signals that your stomach is full. We tend to eat our food distracted in front of screens now and don't realize how much we are eating and how good the food we ate was, so then we go back for seconds.

Try allowing your brain time to send a signal to your stomach when it's full by focusing on your food when you are eating it, and waiting 20 minutes before deciding if you need seconds.

Knowing What To Limit

Simply trying to mindfully limit certain things in your diet can help as well. This can include fast food, processed foods, sodas or other sugar sweetened beverages, and alcohol. All of these food and beverage options add a lot of calories to our meals without adding nutrition to our diets.

But, quitting some of these things cold turkey can be really hard, and make us crave these items even more. This is where diet sustainability comes in.

Make a promise to yourself that you know you can commit to. If you eat out five times a week, try eating out 3 times a week or less for a month and reassess your cravings. Small habit changes over time can lead to permanent lifestyles!

Smart Eating When Going Out To Eat

Sometimes going out to eat is unavoidable. There are birthdays, get-togethers, reunions, and so many other reasons to go out and celebrate with others by enjoying food together.

If you feel like restaurants are where you overdo it, think through some ideas with me. Restaurants give out portion sizes way bigger than what we actually need for a meal.

Try to stick with your balanced meal tactics while eating out, by ordering veggies with your meal or getting a lean source of protein and whole grains, like brown rice, or quinoa. Try to stay intuitive when you eat, as hard as it can be when sharing a meal with people you haven't seen in a while.

Paying attention to how much you eat can help you regulate eating less of the bigger portion size served at the restaurant. Another way to combat this is by asking for an appetizer plate to put a portion of your food on to eat.

These plates are smaller, and give our brains the illusion and satisfaction of eating everything that is on the plate without having to eat the whole portion given.

For more help check out this FREE guide on the healthiest choices at fast food restaurants.

Increasing Water Consumption

Something that most of us can benefit from is increased water consumption. Drinking enough water everyday is not only very beneficial for our health, but can help us stay feeling satiated all day long.

Make sure to be continuously drinking water throughout the day, as well as with meals.

Not Restricting Yourself Too Much

Often we can get too overwhelmed with being perfect in our diet and won’t eat what we enjoy. But, a healthy lifestyle is all about balance. If you are craving something, eat it!

If we restrict ourselves too much, and then finally have a food that has been a craving, we can easily binge on food and possibly even stop all the small changes we made to our diet. Use the mindfulness practice to truly focus on what you are eating and let yourself enjoy that food.

Most importantly, don't beat yourself up for having cravings, or eating something that isn't considered “healthy”. Enjoy the food, and move on with your lifestyle.

Life is about enjoyment. Food should be enjoyed too!

Exercising To Lose Weight as a Stay At Home Mom

Exercising can be a beneficial addition to stay at home mom diet changes. Including exercise or trying to find the time to exercise as a stay at home mom may feel overwhelming, but scheduling out time every day can be the cherry on top to weight loss and feeling good. 

Figure Out How You Like to Move

We don’t all react the same way to different exercise styles, and it is important for you to find a way to move that makes you comfortable and happy. Try to find moments everyday to move, even if it is for 15 minutes at a time.

Remember, the goal is always just to move more and sit less. There can be a lot of ways you do this, whether it is walking, running, biking, swimming, yoga, Pilates, strength workouts, or at home workouts through YouTube.

You can even put your smartwatch on and let it count how much work you are doing when starting that spring clean you have been meaning to do, or picking up after a long and messy day with the kids. Smart watches also count your steps, which can help to remember to be moving more throughout the day, or even to just stand up more often.

Block Out Time Everyday

Another way to think about being fit is by blocking out a time in the day to focus on you and your movement goals. It is not only important for your exercise goals, but to have time to reconnect with yourself and your daily goals.

This could be going to the gym some time during the day, or just putting yourself in a quiet room in the house and doing yoga, or even going on a walk outside and soaking up that nature and sunlight.

Be Proud Of Yourself

Finally, be proud of yourself! Trying to start being more mindful of movement and exercise can be a hard thing to do, just like trying to be more mindful of our meals.

Give yourself a pat on the back for trying new things, and maybe even spoil yourself with something like a massage for sticking to your goals for the week. 

How To Create a Stay At Home Mom Workout Schedule 

It can be hard to get a workout in when you have other tasks distracting you. However, if you make it a point to set away time, you are more likely to adhere.

This is why it is beneficial to come up with a workout schedule that fits your daily routine. Maybe you have to get the kiddos to school early in the morning, and therefore, know you will not be able to start your day off with a workout. That’s okay!

Find time that works for you. You can make a schedule simply, using a piece of paper, notebook, planner, or even a phone application (they have many that can alert and remind you).

This is also a great tool you can use to keep track of your progress. Maybe you have a goal to workout four days a week. With a schedule built, you can mark whether you completed the workout or not.

If you weren’t able to meet your goal that week, tweak your schedule so that you can cross potential time barriers that were in your way. By doing this, you will soon find a workout routine that allows you to also get your other tasks completed. 

For more information on nutrition that serves us best, grab our FREE Women’s Nutrition: Clean Eating 101 Guidebook!

Living a healthy lifestyle in order to lose weight as a stay at home mom can seem like a lot of work, but with simple diet changes and incorporating exercise, it’s actually easier than it seems.

Remember, small changes are key, and are what will help you continue making changes for your stay at home mom diet in the long haul. Not only will making diet and lifestyle changes help you lose weight, but have the added benefit of making you feel better!

Lastly, if you need some meal planning help from a registered dietitian, reach out to me, Kayley, today for a FREE discovery call!

Published on Apr 18, 2022 at 10:59 am