Cold weather cravings and demotivation
 

Hi,

It's starting to move towards winter here where I am and I find myself no longer satisfied by my usual lunch and dinner ideas. I used to happily much on cucumber, carrots and baby tomatoes but now I really just want something with more substance. I have been taking soup to work but I still find I am hungry and my sweet tooth has become insane. I need some advice on what I can do to satisfy myself a bit more without resorting to eating things that are not all that healthy. At the moment I am not in a place where I feel like I am out of control eating-wise, but I am a bit worried / annoyed that I seem to be craving so much lately.

My main problem though is that I find myself so unmotivated to work out, for the last 2 months my steady routine has dwindled to off and on workouts sometimes with a laps of over a week in between. I have been good this week so far and have done half an hour each day since Sunday, and already yesterday I find myself half what through the work out and not feeling as tired as I usually did. I used to work out in the morning first thing but now I find I just wanna snuggle in bed and get a few more minutes sleep... Then at night after work, it's getting home, tidying, making food, wanting to relax and finally guilting and goading myself into reluctantly doing a work out, it just feels like I am at a constant battle with myself these days.

I am still losing, albeit slower, and I have been doing well, I have lost almost 20 kg. I am about half way to where I want to be, well, just under, so I just don't get why I am losing momentum like this, I should be pushing forward harder then ever to my goal but somehow I just find myself feeling kinda 'meh'.

So any advice, recipes, words of wisdom, personal stories or even a good kick in the pants would be welcome.

*hugs*

I personally think it's rather revolutionary to feel how you are feeling.
:: shrugs ::
I read an article once about our ancestors and how it would make sense for them to want/need to bulk up a bit in the winter.

Have you tried using l-glutamine to combat your sugar cravings? It works pretty well. Chromium can also help.

Are you taking a good multi-vitamin? Every time I'm not taking my vitamins, I don't seem to have the energy to go to the gym.

Other than soup, how about chili, stew, etc? They can be very low cal - my favorite chili is this one but I usually tweak it a bit and omit the celery and add more beans, scallion, cilantro, and change the seasoning.

Maybe your soups aren't substantial enough? I eat one cup of homemade soup at least once a day (always lunch, but sometimes for breakfast and dinner too!), but it needs to be thick - carrot/peanut soup, spicy tomato/blue cheese soup, white bean/broccoli, curry lentil, and split pea soup are some of my regulars. I cook them and freeze them in one cup servings so I can pull them out at any time.

Here is a link to a bunch of stews and soups that are simple and filling
Quick Soups/Stews

Thanks so much for your replies, sorry I have taken so much time to get back here. Thanks for the great links Munchy, I love the site.

lunarsongbird, I am in SA so I don't know if we have that here, but I am not on a vitamin, but I am looking into getting some. Thanks.