Help, giving up on eating right

RaggedyAnnazon

Does anyone else just go shopping one day, and go, "F***, I have no idea what I'm making." Then as you sit there and try to think about you, you just get more and more exhausted and worn out trying to make it all work?

Like that's where I am.

Everything I looked at that involved getting prepared within less that 5 minutes left me feeling just like I ran a mile and had nothing to recooperate me.

I'm the cook in my house, my mom has no clue what she's doing, so I usually plan the meals, make the shopping lists and prepare the food.

I'm just like, done, I don't wanna do it anymore. The idea leaves me tired and irritated. I just want a nap.

So it's like all of a sudden I don't care whats for dinner, mac and cheese and hotdogs? Right on, unhealthy all the way.
But it's like I'm done.

Help, how do I snap out of this?

PS. I'm also on SNAP, so not only do I cook and shop, but my budget is incredibly limited.

DrWhoodles

This is me like all of the time lately. I'm hungry, I'm tired, I'm more hungry, and I don't know what to eat. So I can tell you that, yep, others go through this too.

Maybe instead of focusing so hard on "eating right" you may want to just focus on keeping up with your calorie deficit and exercising. And it's ok to sometimes eat foods you enjoy - you have to live your life too! When you start feeling this down about it that usually means you could use with a change. Something to shake it up a bit. Try a new exercise, go for walks more, try something you've not eaten in awhile. Have cereal for dinner! Something you would enjoy!

RaggedyAnnazon

This is me like all of the time lately. I'm hungry, I'm tired, I'm more hungry, and I don't know what to eat. So I can tell you that, yep, others go through this too.

Maybe instead of focusing so hard on "eating right" you may want to just focus on keeping up with your calorie deficit and exercising. And it's ok to sometimes eat foods you enjoy - you have to live your life too! When you start feeling this down about it that usually means you could use with a change. Something to shake it up a bit. Try a new exercise, go for walks more, try something you've not eaten in awhile. Have cereal for dinner! Something you would enjoy!

I actually really enjoy eating healthy food, like, more than I think most people do.
So unless I'm a diet of strictly donuts and pastries I'm always eating foods I enjoy.
I'm just to exhausted to cook. I hate processed food and everytime I turn to it to take the place of actual cooking I just feel awful.
It's just becoming exhausting, maybe it's that I'm needing help planning? I don't have enough variety?
idk I'm just lost.

LKArgh

Then cook/prepare something simple: sandwiches, pasta with cheese, rice with vegetables, stir fry, a salad, an omelette, scrambled eggs. These are all easy, take very little time and usually you have at home the ingredients for something like this.

MxcnMrcnZrr

check out minimalism, Mark Bittman has a cookbook. Simple can be beautiful. Good luck. Do you do leftovers. Cook just a couple of times a week. Crockpots are great. keep it simple, meat, veggies in the crockpot.

MxcnMrcnZrr

salads plus some meat or protein, and a whole grain roll are a go to for me all the time. 5 minutes or less for the salads. You can prep a lot of the salad ingredients a couple of days a head of time. Try to prep a bunch of the stuff and you'll find out quick what doesn't really last so well, once it's prepped. Does that make sense?

MxcnMrcnZrr

great response. All quick easy meals. Fried rice is very easy and quick. Did you mention that one? I think maybe you did.

kuolo

Don't worry, it's pretty normal. I generally love cooking but there are days and sometimes weeks when I really cannot be bothered, it just seems like a monumental effort.
For those times we have something easy like a piece of fish baked in the oven with some baked potato wedges or rice or just some veg.
Maybe find the simplest thing you can face doing and just do that, deal with the rest of the week later. You don't have to make extravagant meals every night, maybe look up a few easy quick things to do when you're feeling less motivated. We have a long list of meals we eat on the fridge so if I'm feeling really tired I can just look at it and choose things for the week without having to actually think too much.
The other thing we do is make extra and freeze the leftovers so we have some cooked ready made meals on hand too. And we cook for two nights at once, too, so we only have to actually prepare something 3 or 4 nights a week.
But don't give up! Just find a way too make it easier on yourself if you're feeling stretched.

Xingy01

I find that it's easier and cheaper to just focus on calories while substituting a few things or buying some extra fruits. I once tried to switch to eating only healthy stuff and I was miserable. Planning on what to cook made me think about food even more and I hated it. As if I didn't already think about food enough as it was. Now I just eat what I would normally eat, but smaller portions...and I make sure to buy some extra fruit/make some substitutions like baked or grilled chicken instead of fried.

mortuseon

I usually have a browse through foodgawker to decide on recipes before I make my list, so that I'm inspired to try new things. It makes the task of planning and shopping much less tedious. If the recipe is 'unhealthy', whatever you take that to mean, you can always make some crafty substitutions or additions (e.g. 0% greek yoghurt instead of cream in stroganoff, or adding extra veggies). I often have stuff in the freezer from previous recipes in case I don't feel like cooking at all, too.