not eating right

LegacyUser

Hi, don't know whether is just a rant, but advice would be appreciated.

At the moment, I am not eating good foods. I eat crap all the time, eat too much take away and don't exercise. I know this is going to lead me down a bad road in a few years time, but I can't seem to break the habit. I do try and eat healthly but always fail! I always end up buying a bar of chocolate of jellies or something.

Because of this, I am exhausted a lot of the time, and have no energy. I eat three meals a day, but I think I eat too big meals and snack too much. The problem I am having is I know what I need to do, but finding the proper motivation is hard. I've recently been depressed and am on antidepresents now, and it's somewhat helped clear my head a bit.

My mum nags at me to exercise, which in turn makes me do the opposite and sit on my arse. I am exhausted after work (even though i just sit at a desk) and can never find the energy to do anything

I was sick a good few number of times as well last year, so should be taking vitamins to up my immune system, but i do forget!

I know i sound so extremely lazy, but is there anyone else that has felt/feels this way?

SunnyDub1

Hi Op,

Firstly , simply answer to this, is a healthy balanced diet. A lot of people fail at diets and binge eat because the follow fad diets like weight watchers etc. There all quick fix and not long term imo.
Healthy eating is the way forward, it's permanent and it's life changing not a diet.

Clear out all the junk food in your house and stock it up with healthy foods and snacks. Healthy foods = energy and feeling good.
Write out a food diary for each week and plan all you breakfast lunches and dinners. This will give you motivation.
The reason you are feeling so tired is because you are eating to much high carb,high saturated fatty foods.
Drink plenty of water, and Try eat more proteins and good fats like fish, chicken, eggs. High protein foods are good for, give you more energy and make you feel less sluggish and tired. Cut out a takeaways or at least only allow yourself one each week as a treat.

Secondly, maybe join a gym, start a class or get out for a walk each evening. Another reason why you are tired is your lack of exercise, you will feel better and have more energy after exercising. You need to push yourself more and just keep thinking how great of a person you are and how well you are going to look and feel. Do it for yourself not for your mam or anyone else.

I would also recommend taking multi vitamins and b12 vitamins each morning. Keep them beside your alarm or phone so remember each morning to take them.

Also recommend you join www.myfitnesspal.com and register. Great site for keeping track of food and exercise.

Also start by reading through this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055157091
Great advice on there, and will put you in the right direction food wise.

Best of luck.

looksee

Start to train yourself to not like fast food. That sounds a bit daft, but if you think in terms of 'I shouldn't be eating fast food, I'll just have it occasionally for a treat' then you are just depriving yourself and feeling cross about it.

Try and look at fast food and see the fat and sugar. Tell yourself its not good at all, never mind for a treat. You can get to the stage where you realise that a lot of processed food does not actually taste nice, it just tastes of sweet or salt or fat. Fat just helps it go down, it doesn't actually taste good.

Do you smoke? If you do, that disguises the taste of food so you have to have strong flavours (of salt and sugar mostly) to be interesting.

Try and taste food, savour it rather than just filling up with it. Be interested in what you are eating. Its not so much a case of eating healthy food because it is good for you, but find healthy foods that you actually like the taste of, and enjoy. If you resent it because it isn't fast food it is an uphill struggle.

Eat foods that you have to use a knife and fork for, rather than a breakfast roll that you can pick up in your hands and eat fast. Sit at a table, with a place set even if its only a mat and knife and fork and a drink. It will slow down your 'access' to food and make you eat it more slowly and deliberately.

Neyite

Op, my motto is "just a little" when I wanted to improve my diet and exercise.

Just a little more fruit and veg, just a little less junk,
Just a little more exercise, a little less parking my arse.
Just a little more water, a little less tea and coffee.
Take the stairs a little more, the lift a little less.

Over a few months, my diet and exercise was very much improved without me really realising, and I was able to build a bit on my initial efforts - just that little bit more.

Its the little things - make it easy to have better food to hand to snack on - I used to throw my salad together for the following day's lunch while making dinner, and bring the dressing to add just before I ate it. I bought fruit on Monday morning and had a little stash in my desk drawer to snack on during the day.

I switched my Domino's for a homemade pizza (most of the time ) and my Chinese takeaway for a home-cooked stirfry or curry.

I started the Couch to 5k (I had to suspend it at week 3 because I got pregnant, but as soon as the doc clears me for exercise in a few weeks I will begin it again) but I noticed if I came home from work and sat down at all that was me settled for the night, so I had to come in, change straight into my runners and do the 30 mins right away. You might find that lunchtime is your perfect time for a brisk walk, or earlier in the morning (no way would I get up to exercise, I'd just press snooze)

In the same way, I went to yoga straight from work, if I didnt I would find excuses not to go.