Help! How do I break my convenience addiction??!

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Replies

  • alfiedn
    alfiedn Posts: 425 Member
    What if you packed up your lunch with what was supposed to be leftover from dinner before you ate dinner? Perhaps not having that food available for dinner will help with your dinner portion control and give you a great tasty lunch?
  • kikityme
    kikityme Posts: 472 Member
    What if you packed up your lunch with what was supposed to be leftover from dinner before you ate dinner? Perhaps not having that food available for dinner will help with your dinner portion control and give you a great tasty lunch?

    Brilliance!
  • ASKyle
    ASKyle Posts: 1,475 Member
    Awwww :heart: to you too! Yes it does somedays feel like I'm the only one working this hard, ugh, that sounds selfish but we've all been there.
    Yes! I need to really truly think of food as fuel too, not something else, and I really don't know what I think of it as, but I think too much about it I know lol.
    I've thought about doing that food prep thing ahead of time and I know I'd want something different then I'd wait to long to use the mushrooms or something and they'd be icky.

    I swear today as I ate my modified meatloaf, no crackers, or bbq sauce/ketchup, just venison, onions and mushrooms...and my greek yogurt, the maintenance guy walks by with these gorgeous chili dogs....I mean I seriously wanted to cry. Bread!!! I havent had bread in foooooooreeever....so emotional!!! :sad:


    Hon, you're gonna have to get away from the notion that you are depriving yourself - crying over bread? Seriously? That's a sure way to set yourself up to fail. Work bread into your daily plan. Or you will sabotage yourself, and the pattern will start all over again.

    "modified meatloaf' is just regular meatloaf to me. Only extra lean ground beef, not venison. ;-)

    Good luck.

    I have to agree with this. I have several friends (that I love dearly!) that just play the victim to their weight. Until you take responsibility for your health and habits, you will not be ready to change.

    That said, way to take these comments like a champ. So many people on here ask questions like you did and then get defensive, hurt and angry over the answers. Honesty (from others and with yourself) will get you a long way. Good luck!
  • sparklefrogz
    sparklefrogz Posts: 281 Member
    the other night I seriously found myself saying as I'm chopping up veggies for whatever it was we made, that "ugh, this takes so much time I could have just popped something easier in the oven and did the dishes in the sink or another load of laundry." then I had to mentally remind myself that this is how it's supposed to be.

    Learning something new is hard, and I'm finding this is the hardest thing I've ever attempted

    It is very hard to begin with, I won't lie. But food prep gets quicker, I promise! The other thing is, getting takeout or drive thru often only feels faster because you can distract yourself while you're driving/waiting. Use a timer to actually time yourself prepping a dinner salad or grilled meat + veg vs the moment you leave the house to get fast food/the moment you order takeout until it arrives. It's not nearly as big a difference as you think.

    Also, if you just don't have the time to prep, use a slow cooker. Or find dishes that require little active prep time and just sit in the oven until they're done (roasts, whole chicken, etc.). If you need a shorter cooking time, look for thinner fish fillets, stuff you can grill, and marinate everything the day you go grocery shopping, so it's ready to go whenever you need it.

    If you have children who are preteen or older, or a supportive partner or other adult living with you, you can enlist them to help you -- you prep the met while they chop the veg, for example.
  • nicjustine
    nicjustine Posts: 37
    Meal-Prepping is awesome. It takes some time once a week or so, but having ready-to-go meals that are healthy, quick alternatives helps a lot.

    Eating small meals frequently (eating/snacking every two hours or so on good stuff), protein, and fiber, combined with always drinking water really helps keep you full and satisfied and helps reduce the urge to grab something you don't need.

    Definitely stock your fridge with healthy alternatives, fruits, veggies, hummus, etc. so you can at least have the option to grab something good for you.

    If you're on the go, definitely pack healthy snacks like fruits and almonds before you go so you can help fight junk food urges. I often drive 3 hours one way on weekends and used to have the urge to stop and get food at mcdonalds or gas stations, but that urge is basically gone now that I pack healthy snacks to-go and water.

    Good luck! The longer you do it, the easier it gets.
  • Jayma375
    Jayma375 Posts: 60 Member
    I can certainly relate to your situation. We have a nutritional coach we see twice a month and I think we put her through her paces because of our need to have "grab and go" type of food. Some of the things I've been bringing to work are:

    - ready to eat tuna salad in the pouch. I also bring whole wheat bagel thins to make a sandwich. Together that gives me 210 calories and 17 grams of protein.

    - Love Quest bars especially the Strawberry Cheesecake and double chocolate

    - Dill pickles very low calories but a nice treat with lunch

    - I actually bring 2 uncooked eggs and scramble them in a bowl and microwave for a minute for breakfast (I don't like hard boiled eggs but that's an option too). I could add a little cheese but I haven't done that yet.

    - fat free greek yogurt and I add sweetener and strawberries

    Just a few options, again, we are pretty lazy and have been able to do this for the last few weeks and I don't think it should be a problem continuing to do it.

    Good luck!!

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