Hello all I'm just very new here and am looking for some support from a different context : I live in the land of rich (delicious) food and I hate to cook, and obviously am having diet issues.
when i lived in the UK i wasn't much better though...
i dislike exercise intensely, and yet keep feeling bad about myself.
Does anyone know how to get out of this rut?
obviously feasting on foie gras (yes, you can get it cheap) on Ryvita (this is my bi-cultural compromise) is not going to get me thin, but cooking is a nightmare and sport is hard.
please someone, find me the solution! motivational videos? hypnosis?
thank you...

Hello Frustratedinfrance and welcome

I wish I could be of more help but I need a bit of motivation myself at the moment.

Take care

Michele

I would imagine that you can get some pre-prepared stuff in France, even if there isn't as much convenience food as the UK or US. Could you switch from foie gras to salads and concentrate on lower fat, healthy choices?

To be honest it sounds a bit as though you're looking for the answer to losing weight without making any changes to your lifestyle, and frankly, if there was a way to do that we'd all be on that bandwagon right now

Just realised that didn't sound all that supportive! I really do sympathise, it is very tough to find that motivation, but dig deep and I'm sure you'll get there, and remember we're all struggling alongside of you

Try "French women don't get fat" and Paul McKenna's "I can make you thin". I think it's something I would look at where most of the food is fantastic! You don't have to eat all low fat or cut out food groups or anything.

Welcome to 3FC and do join our little chat thread

Also - cooking ain't THAT hard. Can you get a george foreman grill shipped over there or something like that? Grilling chicken breasts is easy - microwaving veggies is also easy. The French have lots of seasonal fruit and veg which is all good. So I'd say concentrate on doing easy cooking.

Welcome!

Theres a lot to be said for a diet rich in raw nutrients - which is great if you don't like to cook. How about buying bagged salads and pre-prepared veggies, sliced deli meats, nuts, seeds and plenty of fruit?

If you REALLY don't like cooking the best way of dealing with it is to just do it once a week - cook lots of several dishes and then freeze it in portions - then all you've got to do is microwave it hot.

I can't really help you with the exercise thing - there is no alternative - if its incentive you need then how about finding yourself a personal trainer - expensive but effective.

Welcome FIF You've come to the right place for some motivation, come and join us in the monthly/daily chat thread and you'll get some lovely ideas for grub that's healthy, and exercise that can be enjoyable and just some nice general chit-chat as well....we're all in the same boat, we all have good days as well as bad and we're all full of motivation, whether it be for ourselves or someone else

Hi there and welcome, I love cooking can i come and be your personal chef in sunny France lol!!!

Tell you what, I HATE exercise with a passion though! Only reason I am going to the gym is that hubby bought me a years membership so that i HAVE to go !! I know he has done it for my own good bless him (he is going too and also on a diet!) If you dont wanna do specific exercise why not try to build in more to your every day life, take the stairs not the lift, park further away from your destination, do more cleaning (boring but burns the calories) Good luck anyway and keep coming on here, its a godsend

wow, all of you are really great! I didn't imagine i'd get so many replies! Your ideas are also really good... I've never seen preprepared vegetables here but will look for them... and the cooking once a week thing - that's a novel way to think! cool... plenty to get me started.
And yes, piddlingaround, you're right, i'm dead set in my ways and that's where the frustration come from... there's still a major gap between what I want and what i'm prepared to do about it.
Your ideas are all so fab that i may just start implementing all of them (including doing more housework TracyJ - is it soo obvious that i am just laaaazy!?)
motivation motivation, this is the place to find it, THANKS ! BritinJNJ I think I may just find what i'm looking for here indeed...
I'm hooked to cheese (camembert is my other fave food)
one existential question remains : when hungry, is it best to fill up on a moderate amount of carbs or on a huuuge amount of veg?
see: i'm motivated already!

PS - fresh veg is yucky here, much better (and tastier) selection in the UK... sounds surprising but it's true. is there anything wrong with frozen stuff which i should know about?

Cheese = FLAVOURED FAT! (thank you Sarah!)

Oh and if you're hungry EAT. I go for protein with lots of veg and a smidge of starchy carbs, depending on the time of day.

BTW - veggies are carbs

I was addicted to cheese - it was my biggest problem, I just couldn't resist it - I loved the smooth blue stuff like Stilton & Gorgonzola and Brie and Camembert - right up until recently when someone 'helpfully' told me that cheese is gross because its just flavoured fat. Ever since then every time I see cheese the words 'flavoured fat' go through my mind along with a picture of white flabby fat and its completely put me off. Its really strange being craving free for it after so long, especially as I keep on ordering it (out of habit) and its kind of piling up in the fridge.

Like Frus (Jen) says the best thing to eat when you are hungry is some protein (cos its more satisfying) with some fruit and/or veggies. I eat carbs but I stick to Low GI ones otherwise you could kick off a binge.

Nope - there's nothing wrong with frozen veg at all - and canned veg/fruit is okay as long as its preserved without additives, salt or sugar - in fact its often much better than 'fresh' produce which has probably been picked at some distance, stored, transported to be packaged, stored again, then transported again to the supermarket and then generally hangs around in back of store for several hours before its finally put on the shelves where it waits until someone wants to give it a loving home - and then it generally sits around in a fridge for anything up to a week until its eaten - whereas frozen is usually processed within an hour or two of being harvested. The best, of course, is to grow your own or buy fruit & veg from local street/farmers markets no more than a day or two before you want to eat it.

(My husband used to work for a fruit and veg importers for a living so I'm full of useless information on the subject. )

good news about frozen food, thanks
bad news about cheese though... sniff, snivel, blubbbb...

Do they have low fat cottage cheese out there - I think I may have seen it somewhere in Paris. I saw quite a few low cal low fat food there and don't believe it was all for the tourists! Whereabouts in France do you live?

My
um reckons that you only see decent fruit and veg in the South of France. Certainly forget it in Paris. The apples are just like the golden 'delicious' french ones we get here - pappy and yucky. The only decent fruit we got there came from Argentina!!!

You don't have to give up camembert - but just go easy on it - just buy a small amount and bung on crispbread rather than a bagette or have with salad and don't use mayonnaise - do a dressing of olive oil with lemon juice and garlic, salt and papper etc if you cannot find a low cal version in the shop. Oh and keep away from those devine choccies and madelaines!!!

google on some of the diet sites such as weight watchers, Slimming World and what is the scottish one - damn cannot remember but they al have interesting recipes. Oh and look at our UK chicks recipes too!