Fussy eater

leeds230

Someday maybe I'll work up to eating salads, but that day isn't today. However I've lost 21lbs in less than 2 months by eating below my MFP calorie goals each day and doing a ton of walking.

Congratulations on the weight loss xxx

scrapjen

I'm extremely picky as well. People say "just try it" but I really can't make myself. I realize this makes eating healthy a little more difficult, much more monotonous, but still possible. I still haven't mastered the "healthy" eating, but I am at least committed to tracking everything I eat, counting the calories and trying to stay under what I'm expending.

I'm a SAHM with the kids in school, so I have more time and no excuses (really none at ALL as I have a home gym) so I do get in a lot of activity. I totally realize it is so much harder for those of you who work, but from personal experience, I find a workout makes me feel less tired, it gives me energy and makes me feel good. I've actually become addicted to exercise and on a day I don't have the time to get one in I drag so much more than on the days I get in several workouts. It's good for you mentally and physically and of course gives you a few extra calories to play with too.

jsmith1167

I don't think it was that harsh. Let's get serious here, you have to work hard and sometimes do things you dont' like to do if you want things to change in regards to weight or exercise. I mean, seriously, I have never enjoyed lifting weights or running but I do them religiously to maintain my weight and try to stay in shape. It's all about sacrifice and being strict with yourself. In terms of vegetables, hard not to eat them if you want to be healthy really----they can't all be that bad can they?

leeds230

I think this is fun........http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjduJjO1pLg&feature=related
This is great because you can do it indoors, it takes very little space, and you go at your own pace.
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Just seen a small section of this video clip and it looks good. Do you know if it's available on DVD in the UK at all?

animatorswearbras

Hi Leeds230 welcome to the forum and well done for making this massive step.

As others have said just make some small changes at first and you'll work your way up, I know it's absolutely freezing at the mo but definitely try doing a 20min walk around the block first thing before work to get your steps up or is there any chance you could walk or cycle to work, if you're only a mile or 2 thats a do-able walk 2-5miles is cycle-able for a beginner.

As for food STAY AWAY FROM ASDA COUNTER PIZZA those things are lethal lol I would guess the pizzas to be between 1200 - 2000 cals for the big ones, I go for the pizza express ones which are usually on offer and not too bad for the cals if you have half.

Also get rid of any junk snacks in your house, biscuits, chocolate, crisps as it's so easy to go grab a bag or a biscuit if you're just infront of the box not thinking about it. I know you have kids who may complain but it'll be good for them too

As for trying food, maybe see if there's any local council run healthy eating cooking classes, they might be free or reduced if you're on any in work benefits too (I used to enroll people onto college courses in York many moons ago)

My fave new vegetable is butternut squash (it tastes half way between a carrot and a potato to me and is half the cals of potato)

My fave recipe is butternut squash chips

peel a butternut squash then cut into chips/wedges spray with some one cal spray and sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika then shove in the oven at 200 degrees C for 20-30 mins or until soft in the middle. They are an awesome alternative to chips, count as one of your 5 a day and are super healthy and low cal

Good luck hun x

spatulathumbs

I'm going to be a politely blunt as I possibly can: You need to decide whether your picky eating and other bad habits are worth more to you than your health. Those are not things outside of your control, they are decisions that you have made and rationalizations you use to justify them to yourself. You have a lot of excuses but ultimately the choice of what to put in your body is yours and yours alone. Take some responsibility and push yourself. Add one new food a day, pick up something that's an interesting color, and eat it. Go for a walk. Drink your water.

rockmama72

Thank you very much. My other major problem in life is that I have been in a crap job for 4/5 years now, I hate it and am trying to find a way out at the moment. My self confidence has been very low for a long time, possibly for longer than me being in this job. I think the way I feel in my head is a big issue for my comfort eating etc. My weight is something I do want to change but is in amongst a lot of other things as well, which I think is why I find things hard.

I don't really care for vegetables - I have tried some but just don't like the ones I've tried. I'm not fussed on peas but will eat them, I don't like swede or broccoli, cabbage or cauliflower (that's all I can think of at the moment). Fruits - I don't like oranges, not keen on apples, I don't mind peaches, again can't think of anything else at the moment.

Yes to pizza though we have recently acquired a brand new asda with a pizza counter and I find every time I go to asda I want a pizza. I don't always have veg on top tho - I will have mushrooms and don't mind pineapple but not too keen on the latter.

I think I will have to force myself to have more fruit and veg as that could be the only way to help myself.

I live in Worcester, UK but have never heard of the store you mentioned. I have got a couple of games for my husband's Xbox - Zumba and dance but don't often use them as I find I'm just not very motivated.

It stinks to be in a job you hate. You're going to find that as you take control of your health, you start to take control of your life. Health breeds confidence! Take little steps, vow to try new things, get out and walk... It's SO free. And it's fun. Being here on MFP is awesome. STAY here and learn and thrive!

TeaBea

I think this is fun........http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjduJjO1pLg&feature=related
This is great because you can do it indoors, it takes very little space, and you go at your own pace.

Just seen a small section of this video clip and it looks good. Do you know if it's available on DVD in the UK at all?
[/quote]

This particular workout....I don't believe so. This one was a workout Leslie did for ExerciseTV. BUT, several of her workouts are available at stores........many have worldwide region codes. You might check Amazon (UK)

http://www.collagevideo.com/exercise-videos/leslie-sansone-exercise-videos-10

This website is great, you can look at video clips....to help you decide

animatorswearbras

Oh I do zumba on my xbox kinnect it's a really good workout! I know it's hard to find motivation at first but it'll get to be a habit after a couple of weeks, just look at some of the girls from the success stories page if you really want some reasons to get motivated.

ZeroTX

I don't understand people who allegedly want to lose weight or eat healthy, but insist they must be able to do that on a diet of brownies, pasta, white rice, and milkshakes. Come on.

Vegetables are amazing, and how can you dislike every fruit? Seriously, as someone stated, there are many delicious fruits.

animatorswearbras

I don't understand people who allegedly want to lose weight or eat healthy, but insist they must be able to do that on a diet of brownies, pasta, white rice, and milkshakes. Come on.

Vegetables are amazing, and how can you dislike every fruit? Seriously, as someone stated, there are many delicious fruits.

I tell you what annoys me, your two comments which are ridiculously unhelpful and very intimidating for a beginner, people have to start somewhere she's here and asking for help, so stop lurking/trolling and give some advice if you've got some.

leeds230

Hi Leeds230 welcome to the forum and well done for making this massive step.

As others have said just make some small changes at first and you'll work your way up, I know it's absolutely freezing at the mo but definitely try doing a 20min walk around the block first thing before work to get your steps up or is there any chance you could walk or cycle to work, if you're only a mile or 2 thats a do-able walk 2-5miles is cycle-able for a beginner.

As for food STAY AWAY FROM ASDA COUNTER PIZZA those things are lethal lol I would guess the pizzas to be between 1200 - 2000 cals for the big ones, I go for the pizza express ones which are usually on offer and not too bad for the cals if you have half.

Also get rid of any junk snacks in your house, biscuits, chocolate, crisps as it's so easy to go grab a bag or a biscuit if you're just infront of the box not thinking about it. I know you have kids who may complain but it'll be good for them too

As for trying food, maybe see if there's any local council run healthy eating cooking classes, they might be free or reduced if you're on any in work benefits too (I used to enroll people onto college courses in York many moons ago)

My fave new vegetable is butternut squash (it tastes half way between a carrot and a potato to me and is half the cals of potato)

My fave recipe is butternut squash chips

peel a butternut squash then cut into chips/wedges spray with some one cal spray and sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika then shove in the oven at 200 degrees C for 20-30 mins or until soft in the middle. They are an awesome alternative to chips, count as one of your 5 a day and are super healthy and low cal

Good luck hun x

Thank you very much for your welcome and reply

I have thought about cycling to and from work but it is difficult in that 1) I don't have a bike and 2) I only have a 30 min window to fetch my son who I have to pick up from his childminder and because she is a distance, albeit small, from me - about 10 mins drive, I don't feel its feasible to cycle the journey, it's just easier to drive! She does however live in an area that has a lot of cycle/walk paths, problem is I'd get lost going along the routes, they are massive and unless you live around them it is very easy to get lost!

The butternut squash sound interesting, I think I may have even seen a similar recipe somewhere.

leeds230

I don't understand people who allegedly want to lose weight or eat healthy, but insist they must be able to do that on a diet of brownies, pasta, white rice, and milkshakes. Come on.

Vegetables are amazing, and how can you dislike every fruit? Seriously, as someone stated, there are many delicious fruits.

I tell you what annoys me, your two comments which are ridiculously unhelpful and very intimidating for a beginner, people have to start somewhere she's here and asking for help, so stop lurking/trolling and give some advice if you've got some.

Thank you for this - it's not great to get rude and unhelpful comments from people, especially when I'm someone with low confidence already!!

rockmama72

I don't understand people who allegedly want to lose weight or eat healthy, but insist they must be able to do that on a diet of brownies, pasta, white rice, and milkshakes. Come on.

Vegetables are amazing, and how can you dislike every fruit? Seriously, as someone stated, there are many delicious fruits.

I tell you what annoys me, your two comments which are ridiculously unhelpful and very intimidating for a beginner, people have to start somewhere she's here and asking for help, so stop lurking/trolling and give some advice if you've got some.

I don't understand people who choose to be negative instead of helpful. Who said anything about milkshakes?

mccindy72

I don't understand people who allegedly want to lose weight or eat healthy, but insist they must be able to do that on a diet of brownies, pasta, white rice, and milkshakes. Come on.

Vegetables are amazing, and how can you dislike every fruit? Seriously, as someone stated, there are many delicious fruits.

Well, to be honest, OP can lose weight eating only brownies, pasta, white rice and milkshakes, as long as she eats them in a calorie deficit.

rockmama72

One thing that has helped me get back into exercising is to have no rules around it. Meaning if I want to surf Youtube and find a 10 minute video to try, that's cool. If I take my kid for a walk around the block, that's cool. Just try to do more.

leeds230

Meant to say - someone had posted about me not being a good role model for my son - he's completely opposite to me and eats fruit and veg just like his dad, his favourite is cucumber and apples. He's forever running around and being a normal kid so gets 10 times more exercise than me - maybe I should take a leaf out of his book? I currently find exercising very exhausting, maybe that's just because I'm not very fit but I get breathless quite easily. (Currently I do have a nasty cough but the breathlessness is a normal thing for me and has got worse as I've got older)

mccindy72

Also consider different ways of cooking vegetables. Roasting them for 15-20 minutes with some drizzled olive oil and seasonings can be good, and they do taste different depending on how they are cooked. Grilling them is also another way to try.

animatorswearbras

I don't understand people who allegedly want to lose weight or eat healthy, but insist they must be able to do that on a diet of brownies, pasta, white rice, and milkshakes. Come on.

Vegetables are amazing, and how can you dislike every fruit? Seriously, as someone stated, there are many delicious fruits.

I tell you what annoys me, your two comments which are ridiculously unhelpful and very intimidating for a beginner, people have to start somewhere she's here and asking for help, so stop lurking/trolling and give some advice if you've got some.

Thank you for this - it's not great to get rude and unhelpful comments from people, especially when I'm someone with low confidence already!!

Your welcome, trust me you'll get some people with the whole tough love attitude on here (which I think is totally inappropriate and intimidating when you're finding your feet) they see it as a wake up call and don't realise they're being harmful in some cases as it is a huge lifestyle change, you don't need to be barked by a drill instructor day one. Just ignore the attitudes they mostly mean well but don't express themselves very sensitively or constructively.

rockmama72

Meant to say - someone had posted about me not being a good role model for my son - he's completely opposite to me and eats fruit and veg just like his dad, his favourite is cucumber and apples. He's forever running around and being a normal kid so gets 10 times more exercise than me - maybe I should take a leaf out of his book? I currently find exercising very exhausting, maybe that's just because I'm not very fit but I get breathless quite easily. (Currently I do have a nasty cough but the breathlessness is a normal thing for me and has got worse as I've got older)

Yeah, see, you know the answers! Have fun with your son. Do you smoke? I ask because that was 100% my nasty cough and breathlessness issues.

WJZR

How about walking for exercise.... have a friend or hubby walk with you. Do you like smoothies? Low fat yogurt and fruit is a great sweety without a lot of calories. I've beern to Leeds, loved it. You have better winter weather than we have here in PA,usa,but I love to walk out side. Doing an exercise class with mates might be fun. Hate to exercise at home alone. I do ride my exerbike while I watch tv in the evening... I forget im moving my legs... i get so caught up in the show! I just kep going. Then when the adverts come on I pedal faster till they are over.

Don't be discouraged...best of luck.

emczech5

then sitting in front of the tv for pretty much the rest of the day and night. Unfortunately I have no motivation, or little anyway, and I therefore find it very hard to be bothered to get up and go for a walk etc. I am very tight on money as well so don't do any exercise classes and do not belong to a gym.

Finding the motivation is hard, especially after working all day. When I'm done for the day, I want to go home, not to the gym. You can easily find ways to become more active at home. You say you watch TV, so start by getting up and walking in placing during commercial breaks.

With regards to food, I am very fussy in that I don't eat fruit or veg - except strawberries, potatoes and carrots.

Well, the best advice I can over here is smoothies. You like strawberries so that's a start. Blend strawberries with a ice, a little bit of milk or apple juice and add a handful of spinach. Spinach hides really well in smoothies. But I have to agree with a lot of other people, you just have to try new things until you find stuff you like. Sometimes you have to try and cook it different ways too. Boiled asparagus=nasty, roasted asparagus=delicious or I like cooked carrots, but cannot stand them raw.

Kevalicious99

Excuses will get you exactly where they should .. no where. Excuses are not acceptable if you are really serious.

Money .. sorry not a valid excuse. You don't need a gym membership to be successful.

I assume you have 2 legs .. use them. Go for a walk. No one ever got fat walking. It is great exercise.

Re your fussy eating thing .. well sorry, unless the food makes you physically sick (which I doubt), you need to eat more fruit and veggies. They are good for you .. and soon you will love them.

I wasn't very fit 4-5 months ago when I started but have made very good progress .. you can too, as long as you don't continue to accept the excuses.

Good luck.

janeite1990

I often wonder what "fussy eaters" would have done back in the day when all these different food options weren't available to us. Die of starvation?

I've had this thought, too. This can sound harsh, but I use it for motivation. Being picky about food is such a 1st world problem. When our old parents used to tell us that someone was starving in China, well, it kind of makes sense. I try to get to a caveman or pioneer place in my head. Wow, children in a ****ens novel would be thrilled to have an orange instead of gruel or instead of nothing. If you work on your brain, it can get you there.

Ang108

Thank you Ninkyou for your reply. It doesn't sound harsh at all, more realistic!

With regards to having a walk at work, I don't have a lunch break as when I went back after maternity leave I didn't incorporate this into my working day - I work 9am-2pm three days a week, 9am-3pm and 9am-1pm the other two days (mon-fri). Once I finish work I have to, some days, rush to my car to go and fetch my son. Certainly if & when we get some better (drier) weather I will try to take my son to the park more often, at the moment here it's so wet all the time! Other than that I ought to really get the 2 games out that I've got and use them as exercise as well.

With all due respect; you have to take responsibility for your life. I read a lot of " I'll aim to ", or as in this post " I'll try to ", which is not a good attitude for an adult woman with a child to have.
What would keep you to walk, or go to the park with your son....I think only you.
Why can't you make up your mind and say " yes, I will find half a dozen of veggies I can eat ", or " yes I will do something with my son three times from Mon-Fri and at least once a weekend ".
I know from my own experience that when I say " maybe ", or " I'll try " that 98% of the time it won't happen. I also think that in that I am not an exception. I now make decisions ( like walking 45 minutes at least five times a week ) and when I stick to them for a given time, I reward myself. These days it's audio books ( which I get from free websites ), so I am not bored when walking....and you know what ? It works !

donnat238

Don't try to completely change your life over night. Start out logging your food in MFP daily. Try to add 10-15 minutes of walking to your day. I bought a pedometer and I started with a goal of 1000 steps per day and added 500 more each wk. Now my goal is 12,500 per day. Try at least one new fruit or veg a wk. I'm not a huge fan of raw veggies, but do like them roasted or a good sauteed veggie hash. Add a little fruit to yogurt or make a smoothie.

Persipan

Exercise-wise, having a concrete goal to get you up and moving can be helpful. If I'm not mistaken, Worcester Race for Life is on the 6th July. You have more than enough time between now and then to be able to do a couch to 5k programme to be able to cover the distance - start by building up walking, and work up to jogging/running. (And I know you've said it's raining a lot at the moment - that's true, but it's OK to get rained on; you just come home and change.) I'm not surprised you're feeling breathless and generally run down at the moment since you're physically carrying around a fair bit of extra weight, and your mood sounds pretty low, too - but I think you'll find that if you get some exercise into your daily routine, you'll start to feel a lot better about life.

Nicole_gets_a_grip

Take your son to play in the park?

Elsie_Brownraisin

I'm the exact opposite. Other than kidneys and celeriac/celery I will eat pretty much anything. Which is why I'm here :laugh:

I'd start on something small, rather than trying everything at once, it can be overwhelming. I started by quitting smoking, then reducing alcohol significantly and then I started gentle exercise before moving on to my diet.

For the exercise, I got DVDs and exercise books from the library. I'm also on a tight budget, and was too self concious to join a gym at the time. If you would like to join a gym or start a class at some point, the local leisure centre and the library are good places to check and are much more reasonbly priced than other places. The leisure centre and the library near me offer reduced rates for memberships/ free swimming/DVD rentals if you are on certain benefits, not all of which depend on income (carer's allowance, disability living allowance, for example) and I swim for free. I go to a gym attached to a college near work, I get an NHS discount and it costs £12.99 a month. I used to spend more than that a week on *kitten*.

Trying a greater variety of fruits and veggies may help and trying them more than once (it took me years to accept mushrooms into my life), which isn't easy this time of year as some of the more interesting stuff is tasteless and expensive. For veg, you could chop them into very small bits and add to food you do like, as a start off. You could try preparing it in different ways too - baked fruit, veg curry etc. Again, the library is great for cookbooks and you can always check what's popular/easy on Amazon and then reserve it at the library.

Taking some time out besides your singing, if possible, may also be helpful, it's not easy when you have a child, but being kind to yourself and giving yourself non-food treats makes things better. Being defeatist comes with the territory of low self esteem, but I can say from personal experience, becoming physically healthy has made a vast improvement to my mental health. It has not been a cure all, but if you told me 2 years ago how much better swimming would make me feel, I wouldn't have believed you.

Good luck, hope you stick around.

leeds230

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Your welcome, trust me you'll get some people with the whole tough love attitude on here (which I think is totally inappropriate and intimidating when you're finding your feet) they see it as a wake up call and don't realise they're being harmful in some cases as it is a huge lifestyle change, you don't need to be barked by a drill instructor day one. Just ignore the attitudes they mostly mean well but don't express themselves very sensitively or constructively.
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Thanks very much, greatly appreciated x