Strategies in weight loss efforts and controlling emotional eating

So, I know we are only about a week past the holidays and routine getting back to normal, but I am noticing a trend in my weight loss efforts... I find that I do quite well early in the day (breakfast and lunch).  It may be that the routine during that part of the day is so predictable that it is easy to practice both self control and careful planning. I get up early, get the kids off to school, have about an hour before my nursery school starts, so plenty of time for a healthy breakfast.  Nursery school ends at 11, and most days I am home and do writing for the afternoon, so have time to cook a healthy lunch.

As the day gets more chaotic, kids get home from school, and after homework time it gets a little more active in the house.  Then my fiance gets home and dinner is going and there is less time to think, so I am more divided in my attention.  While most of my dinners I have been planning ahead of time, it does not always work out the way I plan.  And I have less will power at night after the kids go to bed.  I am working on trying to figure out the best way to make good choices in the evening when it comes to my eating.  So far, I think the best strategy is ensuring that I have good snacks available, like lowfat yogurt, fresh fruit, tea (which seems to help more than anything--if I drink a cup of tea when I want a snack, it reduces a lot of cravings and I eat a more sensible snack).

Emotional eating is the big one that I work on, and i am getting better at that, but it takes time and efforts in areas other than food.  Some of the things that have helped are:

1) getting a good night sleep every night (I will do an article on sleep apnea and weight control soon)

2) talking out feelings when I have them rather than pretending everything is okay and letting the emotions fester so that I later use emotional eating as a way to deal with them, while this has been a bit hard on my relationship, it has actually been beneficial in some ways as well.

3) planning out meals and snack BEFORE I go shopping so that I know I have the foods in the house that I need to make good choices...it is a little hard when the kids and my fiance eat some things that I should not eat, but that is part of training my self control and emotional strength abilities.