How to Stop Eating Your Way Through Motherhood


I will admit, I struggle with self control when it comes to food. I always have. Thanks to my husband, my diet and food behavior has radically changed from what it used to be, and I possess far more self control around food than I used to.

Just the same, when we were expecting my daughter, the idea of leaving my full-time job to stay home all day every day once she was born (all alone with a fridge and a pantry full of food …) was a little scary for me.

I tend to turn to food when I’m tired, lonely, or mentally bored – so basically, motherhood is a recipe for overeating! I know food is a struggle for a lot of moms, so I want to encourage you first of all by telling you that you are not a fat failure of a mama without any self control as you may sometimes be tempted to think!

Motherhood is exhausting! And draining. And it tends to leave a lot of emotional holes in our lives due to the fact that we are too busy and too tired to connect with our spouses, family members and friends. It is easy to embrace the one thing we feel is always there when we “need” it: Food.

However, as I have learned over the years (and it’s finally beginning to sink in), food does not solve problems and it does not ultimately make you feel any better. In fact, at the end of the day, you feel worse. You feel worse physically from the food overload that your body didn’t need, and you feel worse emotionally because you know you gave in to temptation … several times.

But do not get discouraged. Do not give up and decide this is the only way you know how to deal with the stress of being a mama without taking it out on your children. You can change your behavior.

Listen to me: You do not have to stop craving and thinking about food all day in order to change your food behaviour. If you think you have to stop wanting food before you can control your behavior, you will never make any progress.

I am going to provide you with some tools to distract yourself so that you cannot give in to the urge to eat as easily. And you know what? Once you get your mind absorbed in something else, you won’t even care about eating.

Put that Food-Craving Energy to Good Use

My first piece of advice involves the dreaded “E” word (exercise). I know it feels like the last thing you want to do when you’re tired, stressed and just want to sit down with a yummy snack and a good TV show … But you need to let out those tension-creating cravings somehow.

It will be hard to get moving for the first couple of minutes, but once you get into the movement, it will start to feel really good to work out that stress. Once you start to feel the endorphins that are released as you exercise, you will actually feel relief from your stress instead of heaping calories on top of it.

Once you get into the movement, it will start to feel really good to work out that stress.

Now, when I say exercise, I don’t mean that you have to dedicate an hour to doing a high intensity circuit and lifting heavy weights. Just do something intense enough that you feel like you are exerting yourself to some degree – go for a brisk walk or do some jumping jacks for a few minutes.

A lot of times, when I can’t get outside, I jog in place in my living room for five or ten minutes. It doesn’t sound like much, but since I’ve been breastfeeding, my energy is easily spent when I push myself too much, and this short workout is actually enough to curb my appetite for a while.

Part of the reason this is effective is because the exertion allows me to put my emotions into something tangible, and I feel like I’m burning away the frustration along with the calories. It also is effective physically. I simply don’t have as intense of a desire to eat after working out (unless I’m genuinely hungry).

Be Around People You Enjoy

This tool obviously meets the need to feel connected to our loved ones. It’s hard to carve out time to be social – even with family members sometimes – but it’s essential to make it a priority now and then. If your basic human emotional needs to be around and engaging with people are being met, you won’t have a hole that you want to fill with food.

It’s hard to carve out time to be social but it’s essential to make it a priority now and then.

I have days when I just feel ick all day – moody, lethargic and craving junk food constantly; but as soon as my husband gets home from work, my whole world suddenly lightens up and I feel happy, relaxed and I don’t really care about finding something to snack on anymore.

Spending time with your spouse, your family members and other people you care about (besides your kids whom you love to death but care for all day every day and still feel lonely …) can have a lasting effect on your appetite. If you are being emotionally satiated, your cravings – which are often hungry emotions in disguise – will subside.

Do What Needs to be Done

Sometimes, when all else fails and nothing seems to take your mind off of that bag of chips in the pantry … you just need to keep busy so you don’t have time to give in.

Mamas have a million things to do and there is never enough time to do them. If the regular daily household chores are not enough to keep you busy, keep a list of things you’ve been wanting to get to for a while and use these moments of temptation to cross something off that endless “to do” list.

Use these moments of temptation to cross something off that endless “to do” list.

This might sound like a really obvious thing that you don’t think will be effective ultimately. But I have found that when I’m craving food (but not hungry) and I can’t seem to get my mind off of it, if I just refocus on what needs to be done, I get too busy to have time to dwell on food.

Use up All Self Control While Grocery Shopping

This last tip isn’t a distraction but it has always been the most effective way for me to avoid eating junk food. If you don’t feel at this point like you even have the willpower to exercise, talk to somebody or do some chores when those cravings hit you, the best thing you can do is use every ounce of self control you have ever possessed to grocery shop wisely!

If you can resist those cookies in the grocery isle for three minutes, you won’t have to resist them in your pantry day after day. I cannot stress enough how essential it is to have healthy grocery shopping as a habit and a priority.

This is what changed everything about what and how I eat (enforced by my husband at first), and it is the number one thing that keeps me in line. Although I can resist sweets and treats that are in our house for a time, inevitably I will give in to that devil in my mind telling me, “That chocolate cake is there to be eaten … So eat it!”

When we do have junk food in our pantry or fridge (usually bought for company, received as a gift, or occasionally purchased as a splurge by us), we sometimes throw out all or part of it to avoid regular snacking on unhealthy foods.

Of course, I am human and far from the healthiest eater on the planet, so I do indulge and that’s not always a bad thing. I do not believe it is unhealthy to have a treat now and then. What is unhealthy is indulging daily for the purpose of feeling better about something unrelated to a real need for food.

I do not believe it is unhealthy to have a treat now and then.

As much as I believe and try to practice that consistently, it is unbelievably hard some days to resist junk food in my pantry just waiting to be eaten. But if there is no junk food in the house to eat, I’m forced to give up wishing for something delicious to snack on and go about my day.

You Can Do this Mama!

It takes time and lots of self-forgiveness to stop eating your way through motherhood, but it is completely doable. You will feel better emotionally and physically the more you learn how to have a healthy relationship with food.

I am not a skinny-mini health and fitness coach talking to you; I’m a real mom living a real mama life and making real mistakes every day, but I have learned how to significantly change how I think and feel about food, and I am in a constant state of improvement. If I can do this, you can do this!

What is your hardest food craving trigger? Tell me about it in the comments!


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