The whole time the Little Debbie Swiss Cake Roll made its way to my mouth, my mind was screaming, "No, don't do it. Don't eat this." Nomnomnomnomnom.
What could I do? It was there. And, might I add, it was the second package I'd eaten today.
Ever since Baby Viper arrived on scene, our lair has been junked up with malnutricious convenience food. Fast food, pizza, take out, hot dogs, snacks, candy, microwaveable meals, etc., etc., etc., all are high in ... everything bad. We know we should be eating healthier, but it's so much easier to grab something on the way home or call for delivery. It's a curse, a vicious cycle of "What do you want for dinner? I don't know. Let's just ..."
And then we eat like crap.
Neither of us wants to cook. We have healthy options in the house, but we're too tired to plan ahead. We forget to take out frozen meat to defrost. We don't think about our meals until we're on the verge of acting out The Hunger Games.
How do you shatter the pattern?
Mrs. Viper and I want to eat better and lose some pregnancy-induced weight gain, but it's hard to find the energy to make better choices about our diet.
7 comments:
HA! I'm going through this right now with my surgery. I have to have ready made meals, easy to make, b/c I'm on crutches. since this is my third surgery in 18 months, I learned to buy things that as good as you can get. I just recently learned to get frozen vegetables. Stores easy, makes easy. I buy these turkey sausage breakfast sammiches that are least a little bit better for you. Oh and prep ahead.
Congrats on teh baby!
It can be a total time-suck, but you have to meal plan for each week, make a grocery list from that meal plan, and go to the store and ONLY buy what's on the list. Ideally, you make meals at the beginning of the week and then coast on leftovers for the next 4-6 days. It can (and does) get boring as hell eating the same thing for a week, so it's best to make multiple (2-3) meals on the same day (usually a weekend/non-work day) to take advantage of chopping all veg in one go, etc. You can even just make more of one meal (e.g. a second casserole) to put in the freezer for a day/week when things don't go according to plan.
I also make the time to cut up carrots and celery to have on hand in the fridge for quick snacks. Some people have a snack box in their fridge with healthy homemade and ready-made foods (applesauce, yogurt, granola bars) at the ready. The biggest thing is to not have many (or any really) unhealthy alternatives on hand to tempt you.
Sorry for the incredibly long comment. I've had to get used to living like this for the past six months for budget reasons. It's not been bad once I got into the swing of things. The only point I consistently fail on is not buying items which are not on the list. The donuts call out to me when I'm in the bread aisle and I cannot resist their siren song.
One word: crockpot. Cook up a big hunk of pork or some chicken breasts. Portion them out and freeze in single servings. Or make a big crockpot full of soup and live on it for a few days.
I try to make 1 or 2 crockpot meals a week. We eat each kind twice and then freeze whatever is left in single servings. That way, there's always something for those nights when you need something fast.
That, combined with precut veggies, got us through kids who didn't sleep.
Meal plan. It's more time up front, but it saves time throughout the week.
It's tough with wee ones because you're probably more concerned with what he's eating vs. what you are, but keep in mind that you and the Mrs. have to also make yourselves a priority; if you're happy and healthy, it's easier to parent and keep him happy and healthy.
She's the lucky one, nursing burns as many calories as most of my workouts. We knew absolutely nothing about healthy eating or meal planning when we had kids, but she did start weight watchers when our youngest was about 6 months old. So she had another 6 months or so of breastfeeding while on WW. The point is - accept the gains you're getting for now and deal with it later. that's the new parent way. you're screwed.
The very reason I started running was due to the little gut that formed after our first kid was born and you get wrapped up in all that time-suck craziness. I didn't want to be Fat Dad. I wanted to be Fit Dad that annoys the f*ck out of every other parent at parent-teacher conferences.
Discpline, my man, discipline.
We do the meal plan/list/coupon thing for the whole week, and don't shop off of the list. There is one day a week that is for all the left-overs (D gets free lunch and I take left overs for lunch).
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