Advice? My legs are my enemy!

[ATrollFromTheFatBoard]

Hmm. Cool info.

Not to delve too much into this, but I've seen this pattern too often: if you're doing all the chores, working and trying to take care of yourself, it's too much pressure. You might need more help with household chores or to out-source them.

I live alone, and have to watch what I spend. I am going to try to find cheaper housing, so maybe that will change soon.

My problem is once I have been away from home 4-5 days at a time, I am so freakin' tired that I just can't make myself clean. I get to the gym, do things I've wanted to do all week and couldn't, and I ... um ... eat out. Then when I finally do get a few days off the housecleaning (or rather, the lack thereof) has grown to MONSTROUS proportions. Like, I have enough to do now to take me the better part of a day. Fortunately I have 4 1/2 days off, so even with distractions, I should have time to shop and cook some healthy chicken and brown rice!

My other thing is I hate EATING at home. I hate staring at the same 4 walls. I go out and work on some writing I'm doing, and being out in public provides some background noise and a change of scenery. Plus I do not have to clean the dishes ...

I'm getting totally addicted to Japanese food, especially sushi.

Probably not regulation, huh?

 

[Pink Space Biscuit]

I mean if you are trying to just make lifestyle changes and not be a strict super lean machine, just making smarter choices when you go out to eat makes a ton of difference.

I go through spurts of eating Japanese. At least you are getting your protein even if white rice isn't that great. It's still better than french fries.

But if you say money is an issue, eating out is probably your culprit! This lifestyle is cheap compared to the prepackaged frozen meals and side dishes most people buy at the grocery store and every side dish combined for 2-3 weeks of food is certainly cheaper than one trip to the sushi bar.

5 lbs of rice, super size container of oats, 10 lb bag of red potatoes, it's really easy and pretty cheap and I usually buy tons and tons of meat when there is a sale.

 

[wannabeBB]

Troll, you sound JUST like me! I am so glad you got on this topic. I am starting out too. This past month is the first time I've actually got it all together. I used to be really overweight. If I had started this diet (or way of eating) at my heaviest I would have failed. I was addicted to fast food. I read in one of your past posts about taking the non-diet approach. That miserably failed for me. This just gave me an excuse to eat what I wanted, when I wanted. I was raised to eat fast food all the time so I know no different.

You got to take baby steps. Work on getting rid of that addiction of going out to eat. I know it's hard. My parents go out to eat EVERY meal and this is how I was raised. I would associate going out to eat with relaxtion, having fun, and vacations. Now my husband and I pack our food in a cooler and take day trips. Focus on progress and not perfection.

You really do have to plan. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
There really is no way around it. I cook up a bunch of chicken breasts , portion them out, and freeze it. I cook up a lot of brown rice in my rice cooker for the week. I do the same with sweet potatoes. This way if I'm in a hurry, I can just grab something and go.

Dont overwhelm yourself at first. Eating out and eating bad foods was a HARD habit for me to break. I could never have done it if I started out too strict.( I have no idea where youre at right now, this is just me).
First, I worked on eating healthy and eliminated going out to eat so much. Then I followed a meal plan eating 6 times a day - good, clean healthy food. Now that I have done that, it's easier to do something more strict. Focus on progress and not perfection.

 

[keiko]

I do love to eat out, but that's not always feasible--so when we do we make it count. I can pass up local Chinese for a big night out.

Rather than eating out every meal, eat the healthy stuff at home and then take yourself out for iced tea or coffee after. Do you have a place where you're a regular and they know you? I have a local coffee place and I can nurse one iced coffee for a good long time.

Don't forget the concept of "cheat " days. Basically, this is a way of cycling your carbs--take yourself out for a little ice cream, good cookie, etc. I'm not cutting for a show (as if!) and when I want a cookie, I eat a cookie. But I'd rather have good home made or good bakery than two boxes of Snackwells. You're changing your whole way of eating and regarding food, so find ways to make this enjoyable.

I lover food and love to eat with all the whole sensual social aspects of it. But when I'm not enjoying myself on plan and on my terms, I think of food as fuel. Sure, I eat birthday cake--if it's great birthday cake--if it's junk from the Safeway bakery, I smash around a tiny piece. Life's too short for cheap cake.

 

[ATrollFromTheFatBoard]

I'll see how it goes. It *is* possible to eat healthy in a restaurant. The trouble is, restaurants don't want to cook healthy. There is usually ONE healthy entree on the entire menu, and I get sick of the same thing all the time.

I don't want to get stuck in eating the same old thing, day in and day out. It feels like a diet -- like you're being punished for how you look -- and, for me, that is a recipe for failure. If it were possible, on the other hand, to take food I warmed up here out someplace and eat it, I would lots of times.

I'm not going to get myself into a mindset of hafta-hafta-hafta do this, hafta-hafta-hafta only eat that. I've spent WAY too much time in my life doing things I DID NOT LIKE, all for nothing. The first criterion is, I hafta like it. The second criterion is, if I want to do something else from time to time, it's OK. The third criterion is, I'm not spending 100% of my waking hours doing culturally scripted work I hate and don't want to do. Within those parameters, much can be done.

I'm never going to be perfect. But when I was closest to acting perfect most of the time, I hated every minute of it ... AND I was gaining weight.

 

[ATrollFromTheFatBoard]

*eats maybe one Snickers bar a year*

One thing that has been good about turning 30 is I can't seem to eat sugar anymore. It actually burns my stomach!

No, my downfall is anything fried and greasy. Especially potatoes. And fatty meats.

After years of "I hafta, I shouldn't, I can't, I musn't, I want it but I'm bad if I eat it," it's really hard to get over the mindset that bland whole food, especially if it's the dreaded SALAD, is punishment food.

*sigh*

 

[Hannibal]

If it makes you feel any better, I almost never eat salad.

Not even with salty green olives??

 

[Arioch]

My food eats salad like substances.

Does that count?

 

[makedah]

Spatts - what brand of steamer is that? (if it's the same one you own) I have heard absolute RAVES about a steamer that looks like that, but I can't remember the brand. How much did it cost? And oh yeah -- your chicken breasts don't get dry from sitting in the fridge for a week? Your veggies don't get yucky-looking? If I bake a sweet potato, I have to eat it the next day - it just gets runny!

 

[ATrollFromTheFatBoard]

*afraid of pressure cookers*

POW!!!

But I do own a steamer. It has a basket for steaming rice.

I didn't use to like to use it because it is a pain to clean, but then I got a George Foreman grill.

Talk about a pain to clean!!! Heh heh the steamer is easy!


*notices that legs ache after work and wonders briefly if the whole problem is she needs new shoes*