So sick of food
 

Has anyone here ever gone through a period where you're just SICK of everything you eat? For about the past week it's been a struggle for me to eat anything that we've got in the house. I just don't "want" any of it...

My go-to breakfast cravings for months and months now have been oatmeal, cereal and scrambled eggs. Now the thought of eating any of it just makes me not want to eat at all. Same for my lunch "regulars" and the veggies I've been loving at dinner time.

What's worse is that this stuff is literally ALL I've got in the house. Right now I'm starving and want breakfast, but the thought of eating MORE cereal or MORE toast or MORE eggs or oatmeal makes me not want to eat at all, which isn't good.

I've also been just...mad recently about food, for lack of a better way to explain it. I'm sticking on plan and all, but it has been hard. I'm not craving bad stuff, but I'm incredibly, insanely tired of counting every single bite and making sure it all fits into the "plan" when I just want to "eat" and not worry about it anymore. I found myself telling my husband the other day that the ONLY thing I miss about being 220+ pounds is that I could enjoy food without worrying about the consequences. And I meant it. I still didn't go get a DQ Blizzard like I thought about, but I meant it.

Maybe it's just PMS...maybe I'm having a breakdown. Who knows. Anyone else go through this? What did you do?

You know, lately I've just been sick of THINKING about food. I feel like I never thought about food when I was at my heaviest. I wasn't obsessed with food. I wasn't constantly thinking about what I was gonna eat for lunch, what I should have for dinner etc. At my heaviest it's not like I ate fast food all the time. In fact, I mostly ate home cooked meals.. just bad ones (hence the extra 100 or so pounds on my body). I also miss never thinking about the nutritional value of food, and I'mREALLY pissed that I never really ate nuts before I started counting calories (they are my current weakness and if I didn't count calories, I could easily eat my weight in cashews, peanuts, walnuts, almonds etc yummm you get the picture).

On my "worst" days now, the days when I can't stop obsessing about food, I feel like i just want the day to be over. I feel like I just want it to be after dinner already so that I don't have to count and weigh and measure everything to make sure it's exactly 1200, no more no less.

These days don't come TOO too often, but when they do, it really does feel like crap.

Basically, I'm with you on the counting/tracking everything etc. For me, it's not that I don't like the food that I eat. I just wish I didn't have to be so obsessed with the exact number I eat. Maybe when I'm in maintenance I'll have a range of 300 or so calories and zigzag. That way if I feel like having eggplant but I only have room for zucchini, I can be over one day and under the next. I realize I can do this now but it's my obsessive nature that won't let me get above 1200.

Anyway, maybe you could do the same? Switch up your routine. What do you WANT for breakfast?? Could you have something higher calorie (or whatever it is you keep track of) and then have a lighter dinner, or have a lighter next day, while still having the same amount of X (calories etc)?

I think that if you look at the big picture, you might find that you're in a little bit of a rut, maybe a few days or so.. if you really take a step back and look, I think (I hope) you'll find that it's a large series of good days, with some off/down days in between. Ultimately, you know this is absolutely worth it, and there's really some value in stopping, taking a deep breath, and letting your mind relax and stop obsessing a bit (I'm projecting here lol :) )

I hope it's just a rut...it's been a 2 week rut so far...

I am SO glad to not be alone in this sentiment. I'm tired of thinking, planning, obsessing about my food. I'm tired of trying to keep myself satisfied but on plan but varying what I eat and making good choices not just low-calorie ones... etc.. etc... it's exhausting. And some days I just want to skip on the meals entirely, but I know my metabolism will punish me for it.

I miss the days of not thinking about food, and that was only 20 pounds ago! I hope it passes. I'm trying hard to keep things interesting and satisfying, and to create good habits that will make eating and cooking well second nature. Just tired of it.

Can you try new recipes? What about not having typical "breakfast" foods for breakfast? Or turning your old favorites into healthier low cal versions (a la hungrygirl.com)

As for being mad about food... do you have any health/ fitness related goals? By your profile it looks like you're maintaining... maybe it would help you to create some goals that would give you motivation to continue counting and planning, etc.

My problem with food is that, particularly at breakfast, I'm seriously limited. I get up at 5 am, work out and get to work at 6:30 am so I can leave early in the afternoon and get a good dinner cooked before my other work stuff.

At work I've got access to a refrigerator and a 1960s model microwave that takes 5 minutes to cook instant oatmeal. Popcorn takes 7 minutes. I don't trust it to cook anything beyond oatmeal. So it's oatmeal and cold cereal that I can eat closer to 8 am, when I'm actually hungry. I tried breakfast bars for a while, but they don't fill me up and are loaded with sugar.

I WISH I had that problem!

I love food, and I am the most unpicky eater ever. If I ate sawdust everyday, I think I'd still be excited about meal and snack times. I usually have just a few meals that I eat over and over and over (currently it's oatmeal for breakfast, chicken and veggies wrap for lunch, chicken stir fry for dinner), and I'll eat the same things for weeks. I never get tired of it, and I watch the clock tick by until the next meal time. Every once in awhile I'll discover a new food and eat that over and over and over, lol.

So no, I don't get tired of food, and I have never had a problem with finding something that I'm willing to eat. My problem is forcing myself not to eat everything, no matter how bland or icky it is.

I do, however, get sick of thinking about food day in and day out. I wish I could go a few hours without thinking about the next meal or adding up calories in my head or thinking about meal plans for the next day. It's not that I'm craving anything or feeling hungry, my brain is just always on food...which gets tiresome.

YEAH THIS lol! That is exactly me. I love the foods that I eat and I don't get tired of eating the same thing. I just hate having to add up the exact number and obsess over the number. That's why I think having a range and counting everything up at the end of the day will work for me in maintenance (assuming, of course, that the foods I'm eating during the day are foods I have eaten before, and know the general range of calories, that way I don't go way over). It just feels a little torturous to see that my tomato is a little larger than I planned, so I am 15 calories over and have to adjust everything else lol. Am I the only one that does this?

For the OP, do you have the ability to go to different grocery stores, maybe some that have more than shaw's generic type stuff, and try looking for new awesome food finds. I love doing this, but it's not something I can do if hubby is with me at the store. I have to be alone and I go aisle by aisle, reading the nutritional info and picking out something new and fun. There are plenty of things you can find that don't need to be "cooked," or can just be microwaved in the 1950's microwave after they've been cooked the night before, when you have more time. What I've found is: Just because it's "breakfast" doesn't mean you need to eat a typically breakfasty food. The same goes for all meals!

I hope things get better! But I do know exactly what you mean. I will be starving and spend 10 minutes staring into the cabinet and fridge knowing what I NEED to eat, but not wanting any of it. It really sucks.

And I hate obsessing over the calorie counting. It drives my DH crazy, but its like I can't help it! Like you said... it was easier when I didn't give a crap!

No...just one store in my town. Nearest different store is 40 miles away. :( So 'til we go out of town again, I'm stuck with what I've got. I'll try to look up some new stuff for then, though...

One of my biggest problems recently has been settling for food. I'll eat because I have to - not because what I'm eating is what I want. Then I'll just want to stuff my face constantly to satisfy whatever it is my deep subconscious apparently wanted to begin with that I never figured out. I'm shocked I haven't gained weight...

i've gotten in ruts like that before... i thought i'd never get sick of english muffins and veggie burgers, but i definitely did. maybe look around for new recipes?

for breakfast, can't you have anything that's generally healthy? like a sandwich, or a homemade breakfast burrito? if you baked a batch of muffins, you'd be set until you got sick of those also lol.

for some reason, i found that when i stopped packing my lunch for work i stopped getting crazy cravings and stopped feeling like i was in a rut. just having the impression that i could choose whatever i wanted for lunch was liberating. of course, i still get a salad every day, so i think it's more of a mental thing for me.