Help me understand this eating behaviour

[Paniniandsalad]

Is appreciate any insights into my behaviour around eating please.

I fall into a pattern where I seem to want to eat out all the time and feel like it's very hard to motivate myself to cook. The thought of cooking drains me even though what I can make at home is often healthy, nicer and less faffy with children involved. I hate the fact lots of children's food out is awful too - chicken nuggets and chips type food.

I'm overweight atm. I've been up and down all my life but mainly within healthy Bmi. I work almost full time in a stressful job - not WFH. I can motivate myself to go swimming and to the gym in the evening so I get even more frustrated 're cooking motivation.

This problem seems to be worse after I have had children. It feels like a sort of comfort eating linked to tiredness/ decision fatigue. It's sometimes the planning I struggle with, knowing what to make, getting the ingredients etc.

Anyone similar or have any tips- how can I motivate myself to make lovely food at home. I'm considering batch cooking a Bolognese sauce and freezing to make it the easy option.

Can you get up early and do exercise? I find that if I start the day with a run (or a walk or a swim time allowing but something that you enjoy that makes you feel good and you can make a regular habit) then I am less likely to eat crap.

Also if I have set meals for the day like fruit for breakfast and soup for lunch then I allow myself treats if I want them but I need to plan and spend some time at the weekend prepping and shopping. And the basic 3 meals tends to make me less hungry for crap and less likely to hit the fuck it button and have a full on binge.

I'd say gradual change and treating food like fuel. Eg I don't eat chocolate at my desk any more as I know it gives me a slump afterwards and I don't eat before running as I know it causes me a stitch. Chewing food for a while as well so it's properly digested and you are thinking about it as I have a habit of mindlessly wolfing food and then realising I got zero enjoyment out of it. Hope this helps.

I love following good home cooking accounts on Instagram- maybe search ‘fakeaway’ as a start? I sometimes get bored of being in a cooking rut and I find picking something that looks delicious and I’m actually excited to eat is really good at motivating! And if recipe has too many ingredients just pick another similar one.

Or also I recently got a code from a friend to try Gusto for 60% off- if you’ve not done it before it’s great and might be a good first step? It was £12 I think for 4 meals and you get to pick from a long list. Personally I would find it too expensive to do every week however lots of my friends do, and it definitely takes all the planning/stress of buying ingredients away, and would be cheaper than eating out I guess

@Pinkjacket22 thank you for your reply. I'm out the house by 6.30am for work and don't like morning exercise. I tend to go 8pm or later which works for me. I agree it helps regulate appetite though.

I have the same lunch pretty much everyday and that helps. I think some if it is not knowing what to cook, which is also probably linked to my children getting fussier and fussier.

are you the only adult? If not could someone else cook or plan the meals and shopping list? Even an online shop that’s delivered or click and collect so you don’t have to spend time walking around the supermarket deciding things.

if not maybe just pick 7 evening meals that are easy and you know how to cook and make them on the same day every week. Then if you want to change one you can, but it’ll give a few weeks respite from decision making.

batch cooking may be a good idea
and what about a few snacks that are easy to just Chuck things together, not ally a ‘meal’
Sometimes I just Chuck a load of veg in air fryer (or you can boil or fry or oven or steam)
then make something else, like a batch of boiled eggs and toast, some lentils, just chicken and plain rice, baked potatoes with tuna or beans, a big scoop of hummus with a nice drizzle and added seeds and things like that
Those things take less than 20 minutes and don’t really require much thought from me
but obviously depends what you and your kids will eat

how old are your kids can they help? Could they chop some veg for example and you could fry off chicken then you’ve got stuffed pittas or wraps or a million other things quite quickly

i wouldn’t try to change everything at once though
pick meals you already eat and like then slowly add in one more recipe when you can be bothered or want a change. Accept you’ll fall back on chips and chicken nuggets etc but if you can do that 2 nights a week instead of 6 for example then that’s a huge improvement

My husband cooks the nights I am late back from work but in honestly it's not great. It will rarely be a balanced meal with veg included. He falls into the cook 'what the kids will eat' trap where as I will make a balanced meal and if they don't eat it tough.

We do have online shopping which helps get the food in but adds to the stuck in a rut feeling as you never just notice something new.

Just writing it down has helped me see what some of the issues are and how it's got worse and worse.

I think meal planning would be good and I think if I can get husband to follow a recipe rather than turning out pasta with or freezer crap that would help