eating crap feeling crap

[Questionsagaintoday]

So, I've got a 5 month old baby (BF) - returning to a demanding but very loved career in a few weeks.

I started pregnancy at a BMI of 24. Wore size 10/12 and felt and looked great. I had always had massive distaste for sweet Tastes and by sweet I mean I could never even stand the sweetness in a banana.

From about the second trimester I developed a massive craving for junk food. Burgers chips crisps and - even cakes and chocolates.

Today 5 months post birth I have a BMI of 31. I am inexplicably still in size 12 clothes and 14 on the bottom. I truly cannot decipher how. I went out today in size 12 dress. I have gained 25 kilos.

Here's the thing. I am always tired and DH and I feel like we are chasing our tails. We do our best and end up eating crap, we promise to look after our diet to feel a bit more energetic and voila - at the end of the day when he's in bed and we are shattered - it's Burger King.

I used to have a knee dislocation issue in my teens. It's come right back. My thighs are too heavy for my knee cap to stay in its place.

I am caught in a Cycle of eating crap putting on weight feeling lethargic due to excess weight and eating crap and I absolutely don't know where to begin. We get healthy stuff in weekly shop and it gets chucked out because we can't find the energy to make that wonderful chopped salad.

We've got two slow cookers now and have managed to eat hot meals home mad for a week. But the craving for crap and the feeling lethargic continues. My knee dislocated today and really shook me.

So where do I start? Both of us are tired of feeling tired and eating junk and we would really like to make a change.

I know exactly what you mean about it being easier to eat crap when you're tired and can't be arsed to create wonderful, healthy meals from scratch. My worst dieting days are the exhausting ones, but I've been doing SW for several years and all the talking has taught me that the key to better eating is planning!

Do you have any time to batch cook stuff like bolognese or chilli, a good chicken curry or a lovely rich stew? When you know that by the end of the day you're just going to have to collapse on the sofa, get something out of the freezer and then either throw some broccoli in a pan or get out a bag of salad leaves and some gloriously indulgent cherry tomatoes to add that element of fresh.

Fresh healthy food doesn't need to take ages to cook. We eat loads of fish. Slam a piece of fresh / frozen cod or salmon in the oven with small tomatoes, sprinkle a few herbs and lemon juice over and it's cooked in 10 minutes- have with steamed broccoli or spinach. Or pan fry it in 5 minutes. if you buy fish and freeze it, just take it out the night before.

Can you make a menu for 5 nights of the week? Quick meals might be grilled chops, batch made chili ( as PP says) , baked fish, jacket spuds with cheese or prawn mayo and a salad (bag of ), stir fry, .

If you are breast feeding still, eat healthy snacks and just cut out all sugar, cakes, biccies etc- just don't have it in the house.

Try changing a few small things one at a time and it will get easier. May be try eating nothing at all and just drinking water until lunch time as intermittent fasting is so good for the body and is very simple and requires no time at all.

Then have a nice lunch big bit of fish, loads of vegs. and once you're back at work that as soon as you get back from work after you've breastfed the baby if you are still feeding it. I always got in from work, breastfed within 2 minutes as I more than the baby was desperate for that and we ate.

Make sure the only foods you have in the house are good stuff. If you're hungry fill up on good fats rather than carbs.

It's all easier said than done though - if we all knew how to force people to eat in a healthy way so they'd lose weight we'd be millionaires.

Good idea all thank you.

I'm just feeling so intimidated as to how much weight there is, how bad it's made my knee cap situation how much crap I eat and it's all really overwhelming and I can't think of any baby steps

Good idea all thank you.

I'm just feeling so intimidated as to how much weight there is, how bad it's made my knee cap situation how much crap I eat and it's all really overwhelming and I can't think of any baby steps

One baby step you could do as a couple is a 2-week meal plan and maybe an internet shop for all the things you need?

Maybe buy a cook book on quick and easy meals? You know- meals that have 3 ingredients?

That sounds doable. Any suggestions of recipe places for really really easy quick things? DH and I have just spent the last hour feeling sorry for each other sitting on the sofa we are both so eager to start feeling and eating better

?

I do bang on about it a bit, and I don't know about quick, but the SW website has a 7 day suggested menu for people who want to see if it's their kind of thing.

Otherwise, why don't you google meals in a hurry or something like that?

For some people eating lovely food you like works eg have quick and easy to make good meals like omlets which take about 5 mins to fry in good oil and then if you need your junk have it immediately after. then don't eat until your next fixed meal time. Then eventually you will be eating so many good foods at meal times the junk will cut itself back,

I don't think I eat anything that takes very long to cook at all and I eat pretty well. So a lunch might be a bit of fish./meat etc with some salad, veg etc. I don't think it takes any longer than junk food ori f you need a snack have nuts around as even though they have a lot of calories they are better for you than junk.