Chicken and eggs and chicken and eggs and chicken and
I've been tired lately. This is probably due partly to my work, which is only mentally exhausting on the days when it's not also physically exhausting. My hours are better this year than last year, in that I'm only completely worn out twice a week, rather than completely worn out twice a week and mostly worn out the other three days. But I still come home worn out pretty frequently. It may also be partly due to my neglecting my thyroid, and I am making plans to pay my thyroid more attention in the future, although my thyroid has never before minded being neglected. And it is probably partly due to my eating habits.
When I'm tired after work, I don't eat a good dinner. I eat cereal, or a sandwich, or throw some eggs or tortillas and cheese into a frying pan if I have a clean frying pan. Occasionally I fall asleep on the couch and eat no dinner, but more often I do muster up a tired dinner. But tired dinner is a sketchy dinner. A sketchy dinner does not include lunchworthy leftovers.
Then I wake up tired and without the energy to pack anything more substantial for lunch than cheese and crackers. Insubstantial lunches increases the chance of my arriving at home too tired to cook. Which is bad news for dinner and tomorrow's lunch, which is bad news for tomorrow's dinner and the subsequent day's lunch. Chicken, egg, chicken. Or grapenuts, cheese and crackers, grapenuts.
So I am making a commitement to food. Because I want to be less tired. I want to increase my circumference so my tighter skirts will be way too tight and the majority of my skirts will fit properly, and if I need to acquire still wider skirts, I will do that. Because I haven't yet given up on my dream of weighting 100 pounds someday. But mostly because I want to be less tired.
And I'm putting my commitement here, for future reference and in front of witnesses. I know I won't manage every part of the plan all the time, but I need to manage more of them more often.
1) Make a weekly menu and post it on the refrigerator. Consider posting it to LJ as well. Take into account the days I will have time and oportunity to heat lunches up in a microwave at work and the days lunch needs to be cold and efficient. Plan to eat dinner at work on Tuesdays because of the proximity of dance class to work. Also take into account the days I can cook more after dinner (mostly Wednesdays) for anything that needs cooking rather than mere reheating.
2) Either shop for the menu, or make the menu based on what looked good at the grocery store. The latter is probably the better option. But make them relate to each other. Don't buy an avocado and then put stir-fry and fried eggs on the menu every night. Don't buy mushrooms and then call for matzoh brei and rice pudding. This wastes money and food, not to mention perfectly good calories.
3) Eat right after work, every day. Put a pot of water on the stove before changing out of work clothes if needed. Precook on weekends if needed. Eat fried eggs or melted cheese on crackers or oatmeal. Eat grapenuts. But eat. (I've considered the alternative of napping right after work and eating a later dinner, but mostly that interferes with my bedtime snack due to blood sugars and such.)
4) Pre-cook as much as possible for the week on weekends. Also end the weekend with clean dishes, because they aren't going to get washed mid-week. Accept that cooking and dishes really aren't going to happen mid-week.
5) Fill the freezer and keep it full. Freeze extra anything that can be frozen. Create a stash to get through the weeks when I couldn't cook the previous weekend due to travel or illness or other forms of Life.
6) Make a pot of rice most weekends. That's 4 meals in 30 minutes, ready for vegetables and protein. Stir-fry, curries, Spanish Rice, rice pudding, fried rice, rice and beans, sushi salad. What other rice things am I not considering (that can be made with leftover cooked white rice?)
7) 2 meals per pot, minimum. If I'm going to clean a pot, make the pot do double duty first. Boil pasta or spaghetti for 2 meals. Stir fry or curry for 2 meals. Vegetarian bacon for 2 meals. Pancakes for 3 meals. Random weekend vegetable latkes made by throwing the refrigerator into a bowl - for 2 meals.
8) Make and eat calorie balls more often. Sometimes called edible playdough, this is the preschooler mixture of peanut butter, dry milk, honey and wheat germ or oatmeal, rolled into sticks or balls. Pep up lower-protein dinners with a calorie ball chaser.
9) Drink juice with dinner, unless I'm having milk or the meal really insists on tea. Drink juice with lunch or dinner on weekends. 30 seconds work for 60 calories. I like juice. I shouldn't have to remind myself to drink something I like. But evidently I do.
10) I ultimately want to work in more snacks, but right now the Diabetes Fairy has a tantrum whenever I try.