Anyone else burnt out on food?

BrittneyT2

I used to love food, but now it's become a chore. All of the measuring, calculating, judging portion sizes, etc. has made food unappealing at this point. Here it is Saturday, a cheat day where I could eat anything I want, and nothing sounds good. Anyone else experiencing this?

Confuzzled4ever

which is why I don't bother to measure I did for a bit.. but I know about what a cup of rice looks like.. I use my measuring cup as a scoop. I take the weight of the meat that's on the package and then divide by how many pieces are in it and use that number for each piece I eat.

Also why I don't do cheat days or any kind of special things. i eat what I want whenever I want, so I don't have to worry about it as much. Makes this whole lifestyle change a lot easier.

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Julesbait

which is why I don't bother to measure I did for a bit.. but I know about what a cup of rice looks like.. I use my measuring cup as a scoop. I take the weight of the meat that's on the package and then divide by how many pieces are in it and use that number for each piece I eat.

Also why I don't do cheat days or any kind of special things. i eat what I want whenever I want, so I don't have to worry about it as much. Makes this whole lifestyle change a lot easier.

This. Exactly.

You can't put too much thought into this stuff and let it consume your life. It will get really old, really fast.

tjsoccermom

which is why I don't bother to measure I did for a bit.. but I know about what a cup of rice looks like.. I use my measuring cup as a scoop. I take the weight of the meat that's on the package and then divide by how many pieces are in it and use that number for each piece I eat.

Also why I don't do cheat days or any kind of special things. i eat what I want whenever I want, so I don't have to worry about it as much. Makes this whole lifestyle change a lot easier.

Glad that's working for you, but I'd venture to say that most of us got into the position of needing to lose weight by eating what we wanted whenever we wanted. OP, I do feel that way some days but I also realize that it's a slippery slope to get back into old habits. Once I've been doing this for a while, I hope that I'll have a better reality of portion sizes. Also, by concentrating on working out more than calorie counting, I can eat more. Maybe find a few favorite meals that you can freeze and eat when you feel this way so you know that you're still eating what you should? Takes a lot of the guess work out.

olstudios

I got like that when I was eating wayyy too clean. Tuna, brown rice, and veggies for most of my meals. I found that adding variety to my meals helps me alot and doesn't make food a chore. My girlfriend (Mrs. Dash) and Walden farms dressing has helped me get some flavor into my food.

MeeshyBW

Sounds like you're going to have a rough time adjusting to a new lifestyle or you just don't want it bad enough.

^^^ This.

I have digital scales that are on my work surface and I weight everything. I don't understand how you can say it's a chore, it takes a second to throw something on the scale before I put it in my recipe. You can't have been weighing food for long as it's clearly not a habit for you. Now it is just a given for me and something I do when cooking. It takes 21 days for form a habit so my guess is it has yet to become a habit.

Most meat will have the weight on the packet so no need to weigh, just divide. Things like rice I use my cups to scoop it out the bag so it's dead easy.

My view is I really want to lose weight so weighing things I eat is not really a problem.

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MyProgressISYour1Proof

every day of my life...

damienmyers69

For me as a diabetic, I am actually more interested in foods than going off them.

Thanks to this site and the android app on phone, I've started to check up a lot more on the things I used to love eating and still do, and in many cases actually shocked at just how much crap gets put in them.

Like cheese, 4 slices of gouda cheese, more sodium than ya can normlly have per day, thats before ya even get to the bread and marg and anything else with it.

I guess for those counting calories, it could get rather dull because nothing else really matters apart from the portion size, but when ya only use calories as a guide, and start to look at other parts of a healthy diet, as we all know counting calories doesnt mean ya eating healthy, just means ya eating less calories.

So maybe for those who have to stick to some sort of diet maybe try looking at other things instead, give you a reason to be interested in food again.

Meggles63

I've always eyeballed approximated my amounts, and done just fine....if I had to weigh and measure everything, I'd go crazy, lol. You may need to give yourself a little break...this is supposed to be a lifestyle change, and if you aren't comfortable with it, you won't be able to stick to it. Good luck!

conniemaxwell5

Are you eating a good variety of things or have you limited yourself to just a few items? I have some favorites but I like to try at least a couple of new things every week. Maybe it's not the process that's become a chore but instead you're bored with the limits you've set on yourself as to what you can eat. Get on line and search for low calorie recipes and find some new things to eat. I agree with most of the people that have responded so far - if you want to be successful you're going to have to measure and track your food. Yes, it's a little repetitive and mundane sometimes but the results are so worth it!

Warchortle

I got burnt out measuring when I cooked EVERYTHING, I buy some of my stuff and just make 1 container serving size now.

1 container of vegggies, 1 container of XYZ.

michaelgkucsma

I have. I have found that "taking a break" from this a couple of days at a stretch when I began to feel this way helps. We all know what this App is all about. I have a routine in my meals so I know that if I "guestimate", that I am in the park with my calories and can just not record anything for the day. Hopefully, when I make my goal I can put this thing down all together because I will know my body and my routines well enough to just wing it. I have lost 24 pounds since January and have 10 to go. Good luck to everyone!

1brokegal44

Variety is the spice of life! Sounds like it's time to branch out and try some new foods and new ways to cook and prepare them.

vmekash

I found all the measuring to be quite a chore until I got a food scale. Now, I set my bowl or plate on the scale, set to zero, and pour whatever I plan to eat. Much easier and so no big deal. AND, if a serving is 28g, and I happen to pour 30g, I just don't sweat it and simply count it as a single serving. When things are kept simple, I am much more likely to stick to it. So, love love love my food scale. :bigsmile:

ninjakowski

I feel the same - thats why I try to take a break from logging on weekends. Just so that I can have fun cooking a meal, adding a bit of this and a bit of that, without having to stop and measure every little thing, and not have to weigh every snack before I can sit down and eat it.

Like someone mentioned above, if you are counting everything the rest of the week, you still have a good feel for what you're eating and probably won't end up too far off your goals.

Really helps me stay sane, might be worth a try.

jhealy1191

I got like that when I was eating wayyy too clean. Tuna, brown rice, and veggies for most of my meals. I found that adding variety to my meals helps me alot and doesn't make food a chore. My girlfriend (Mrs. Dash) and Walden farms dressing has helped me get some flavor into my food.

^ Post made my day with the Mrs. Dash comment! Thanks.

spud_chick

I have digital scales that are on my work surface and I weight everything.

I have one as well and find it use it daily, though not necessarily for everything. Easier than counting/scooping.

I don't know if you've tried to make a radical diet change (foods really different from what you usually eat) or are just finding it hard to deal with the practicalities of portion control... I didn't decide to change to "eating clean" or paleo or any of that stuff. I eat about the same kind of diet I did before and yes, I eat some convenience foods, like veggie burgers and snack/nut bars. My choices now lean to things I can log without a lot of difficulty and it has made for a somewhat repetitious diet, but variety is possible.

Knowing how much food 'costs' now makes most food look like it's not worth it. I kind of miss food being potentially recreational, but then it's also a good thing.

fiona2785

Sounds like you're going to have a rough time adjusting to a new lifestyle or you just don't want it bad enough.

I'd agree with this.

Food has totally changed for me since I've been weighing, measuring and counting. It's gone from something I don't really think about, and use for comfort, to something that I am totally intrigued with. I'm a bit obsessed with numbers now, but I think in a good way - I find the whole process of planning and looking for numerical balance in my diet fascinating. The only downside with this is stopping myself declaring the nutritional info of what other people are eating and annoying the hell out of them!!

BrittneyT2

To those saying I'm just having a hard time adjusting, my husband and I have been doing this for 3 months. I don't think adjusting is my problem as things were fine until the last few weeks. I think I've adjusted to it too much- a little OCD about it and am not happy with that.

Thanks for the reminders to try new recipes. We're eating very clean & almost everything organic. We also live over 30 min away from the nearest grocery store, so I have to plan everything out a week at a time and do my shopping all at once. On the surface that sounds great, but once the week plan is made, we can't deviate from it at all or it will have a chain reaction effect on the rest of the week. We're a household of 2, so I find a lot of recipes that sound good, but I'd have to buy a lot of ingredients that I'll only use a little of and then the rest would go to waste. Guess ill just have to keep searching :-)

Oh, and I think someone commented that food isn't meant to be pleasurable. If that were true, God wouldn't have given us taste buds.

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sgv0918

This feeling comes and goes. Do your best to wait it out. Like anything moods shift

Rocknut53

which is why I don't bother to measure I did for a bit.. but I know about what a cup of rice looks like.. I use my measuring cup as a scoop. I take the weight of the meat that's on the package and then divide by how many pieces are in it and use that number for each piece I eat.

Also why I don't do cheat days or any kind of special things. i eat what I want whenever I want, so I don't have to worry about it as much. Makes this whole lifestyle change a lot easier.

I would not do this. For the most part, with no disrespect meant, this is lazy and thoughtless. I would never ever prescribe to doing anything close to this. Just stick to it and be diligent. It's easy after a while. It's become automatic for me. You get efficient at weighing after a while. When I put creamer in my coffee, I just set my coffee on the scale, set it to zero, pour in creamer until it reads 7 or 8 ml. That's it. I'm done. I had to pour creamer in anyway. The only real extra step is setting the scale to zero, which is just the push of a button, and watching the scale as I'm pouring.

I guess you can try it the sloppy way and see what kind of results you get. But, if you find you gain weight or whatever, you'll know why.

Food is not really supposed to be pleasurable. It is nutrition for your body. It's good that you are learning this.

Sounds a little harsh. To me, taking a more relaxed (not lazy) attitude toward this whole process has helped me accomplish what I have so far. I know what made me need to start this life change, I like food and just ate too much. I still like food, just not as much. Simple.

ChubbyBunny212

In the beginning I would measure and weigh but after several months I am also able to tell the volume of food visually. Not the weight but the volume. And I divide the meat into 4 oz. packages after purchasing and before placing it in the freezer. Then I never have to be concerned about the amount I'm eating at any time. It's already done.

And I don't use "cheat days" either as they only prompt one to extend them to "just one more" during the week.

I'm more careful about my food choices these days but never would I deny myself a yummy food if I really wanted it. I would just make sure I didn't do it very often and I would adjust the intake for the remainder of that day to account for the yummy food. It's worked very well for me...especially since I cannot do any exercise. I have continued to lose about 1# per week with no saggy skin.

Don't give up.

thecakelocker

I've lost a good deal of weight by dividing the packaged meat weight, using the measuring cup as a scoop and generally being relaxed about measuring things. If my weight loss stalls or I gain, maybe I'll get more neurotic about it. Until then I'm good.

sPaRkLiNgLYFE

i don't do all the measuring, i use my own judgement, if i made a mistake the tracker will let me know.

AnnaVee84

I still love food!! Just making sure it fits my macros now! :laugh: It gets boring sometimes when I eat the same thing for lunch a few days in a row... but never enough that I'm not then looking forward to my next snack or dinner or glass of wine This is your new lifestyle, you gotta find what works for you so it can be maintained for the rest of your life!!

petersonj78

My wife has done it so long she just knows how many calories are in food it's scary lol

erinpd

Maybe I'm a total nerd, but I love using my scale. It makes everything so much easier.

Plus, measuring out my food means that I can make it last as long as I need it to, and I know how much to buy next time.

I also really enjoy logging my food. I should leave the thread now....

:bigsmile:

skywa

Sometimes it helps to just do all your measuring and prep work once a week. Then u can just grab your pre designated portions when your short on time. I think this tends to be the best, no excuse method, for many ppl.

I personally only carefully measure things like pasta, meat, cereal....higher calorie things that arent as healthy for me, so i try to eat predesignated portions so i dont over do it.