Weird Question (SFW)

VarunaTT · March 2024

I am trying to re-learn some eating and exercise thoughts/habits, etc.

My father was a diabetic, and b/c my mother is who she is, dinner was at 5:30 every.night.without.fail. Like, drilled into my skull that's what time we ate. So, I've always eaten at that time and if I don't, all sorts of bad things happen (I'm also realizing this is an OCD thing for me, but that's not really relevant).

So, what time do you eat dinner? Cook? Clean? How does that daily night of having to eat look like? I think I just need some examples, b/c I just can't imagine anything else -- my previous partners had me in charge of this part, so we did what I wanted. I just don't think I'm maybe even hungry right after work and would like some time to sit/decompress. So, just looking for some info from a variety of folx. Thank you.

banana468 · March 2024

I try for earlier but it's usually 7 PM that we eat.

I find myself often on midwestern time for work so it doesn't help. Then I prep and cook and get food on the table for 7.

I have made a bigger effort in the last year to have meals far more focused on protein. Often I like to grab piece of salmon or mahi and bake it with garlic and olive oil and serve it with a salad; sometimes with croutons or a small amount of pasta/rice on the side. We try now to have fewer meals that are carb centered like pasta and meatballs even though my kids love that.

Clean up is before 8 and then demon possession hour hits the kids and I yell til 9 when I can usually unwind.

Casadena · March 2024

We usually eat ~6. I do dinner most of the time and prepare while kiddoes play or watch tv for ~30 minutes with H. We clean up immediately after, one does cleanup, one plays with kiddos. H almost always has a snack or small meal at 830/9ish when we're done with bedtime stuff.

I personally would prefer to eat closer to 7, but with kids that just not feasible.

CharmedPam · March 2024

One of the good things about single is eating when you want, what you want and how you want! I hate being in big groups with timed eatings and reservations now.
i am hungry at 5 when I get home and have a snack because my bedtime is between 10:30 to 11, and 5 is too early for dinner. It ranges on hunger levels and what I’m doing but I’d say my average is 7.

mrsconn23 · March 2024

Our typical afternoon/evening goes like this:

DefConn gets home at 3pm. He has downtime, then it's homework and chores. He usually has friends stop by or goes to find them after he's done with school and house stuff.
I don't typically have late day calls, but DH may have a 3p or 4p. We're both usually off work by 5p.
I will do dishes and general kitchen pick up from the day when I walk away from my desk.
Depending on dinner plans (I make a menu every week), I start dinner after I do dishes or I'll go decompress by stitching or listening to a podcast and playing on my phone.
DH putters around the house (folding laundry or whatever) or works outside in the garage or yard. If we're grilling, he takes care of that (I can grill if I have to, but DH is far more adept and likes it more than I do).
We normally eat between 6:30p and 7:30p
After dinner, we clean up from dinner and typically rinse and stack dishes in the sink to go in the dishwasher the next day; Thurs is trash night, so we're doing that after dinner
DefConn typically showers after dinner and then plays Xbox until bedtime. He will come down and see what we're up to and scrounge for an after dinner snack/dessert
We watch one of the various shows/series we're invested in. Sometimes, we end up deep in conversation about something and don't even watch TV.
DefConn goes to bed at 9:30
We try to head up between 10 and 10:30. We may read, scroll our phones, or he'll read and I'll listen to a podcast. A couple times of week it's sexy time and then we typically both conk out after. LOL

levioosa · March 2024

I am going to be a hard outlier and I fully acknowledge that my schedule is a mess and has room for improvement. Also I don't have kids so the only person who really suffers from my routine is me (and sometimes H--but the man can eat earlier if he wants).

During work days, I wake up at 6:30. I force myself to eat breakfast now because of the medication I take and the fact that it's so hard for me to jam enough calories in throughout the day otherwise. But honestly I absolutely hate breakfast and when I'm not on the medication my default is to fast until 1-2 pm. Then I snack during the day because often I don't get real breaks at work to eat a lunch. After work (best case off at 5:20 and with traffic home at 6-6:15), I work out and that usually is from 6:15-8:30. By the time I get home and shower it's usually 9-9:20 when I sit down and eat dinner. I usually end up going to bed at 11. And I wish I wasn't like this but I just cannot go to sleep earlier. I just lay in bed wide awake for hours. In fact I'm amping up at around 10-11. It's awful because I spend the whole day just exhausted and then ping, I get home, decompress for a minute and then my body is like "yes, this is our real awake time." Clearly I was meant to be one of the night watchman in our caveman days.

I typically save cleaning for a chunk of time on the weekend. There's just something about having the entire place clean at a single time which speaks to me. Yes, I should do smaller chunks every night when I get home, but that's literally the last thing I want to do when I get home from being gone all day. I also get anxious (like last night) when I do clean after work, and I start to get in the groove only to realize it's 10 pm, I haven't eaten anything, I have to stop halfway through being finished, and there's still work the next day.

banana468 · March 2024

I barely hold it together on cleaning. When I mentioned cleaning I meant meal clean up. I'm behind on laundry after last weekend being out of the house so much so today I've done 5 loads of laundry with more to go. The rest of the house likely won't see a brush/mop until the weekend. I want an instagram house but I'm left with awkward family photos.

VarunaTT · March 2024

I'm trying hard to listen to my body and eat when I'm hungry, but struggling a bit b/c sometimes it's 9 pm and I go to bed around 9:30, 10, sometimes earlier. If I eat that late, I sleep like poo.

I have found that for me (and I don't have kids or anyone else to consider/take care of) the prep cooking for the entire week on Sunday and cleaning up from it is a lot better than anything else I've tried. Then I have lunch/dinner already ready, the kitchen stays clean, and I'm just fundamentally happier with that schedule and my home for the week. I have some flexibility at work but generally am expected to take lunch at noon.

@levioosa I also detest breakfast. Now I'm just using my AG1 and almond milk for breakfast and it's okay. I think if I had my way, breakfast would be at 10, lunch at 2 and dinner at 7, but I don't for 5/7 days. I'm also learning how to let go of routines w/out feeling guilt, anxiety, or other heightened emotions about it, but finding a new one is rough.

mrsconn23 · March 2024

I don't eat breakfast until 10am at the earliest. I don't like to eat food and drink coffee at the same time (unless it's like a doughnut or coffee cake, which aren't a staple...LOL). It typically takes me until about 10am to be done with my 2ish cups of coffee.

short+sassy · March 2024

On days when I work at the office, which is 3 days/week, I don't even get home until 5:30-5:45pm. So I'm definitely not eating dinner that early.

It can vary by as much as a couple hours, but I usually eat dinner around 7pm. If I exercise, it tends to be later, because I like to eat as relaxation time. And I can't relax as well if I have "chores" to do. I consider exercise a chore, lol.

I do a LOT of batch cooking on the weekend. Especially now that I've been eating a high protein diet for weight loss. Weekday dinners are often me just heating up lean hamburgers or a couple drumsticks that I made over the weekend and microwaving green beans or spinach. Other typical quick meals for me are fat-free refried beans with cheese and a 100-calorie cup of guac/avocado. Cutting up a green apple and eating it with slices of cheese and turkey luncheon meat. Or a can of soup and a protein shake. I have these same meals for lunch and sometimes breakfast.

I probably don't spend more than 20 minutes making something in the kitchen during the week and it usually isn't even that much time.

My H also makes dinner sometimes. When he does, we often eat a bit earlier. He sometimes even has dinner ready almost as I get home. But I'm just not hungry that early and will usually heat up whatever it is, later on. He also does most of our dishes. So the only "cleaning" I do during the week is putting my plates/utensils in the dishwasher.

I am also a night owl. My new big goal is to change that. I've always had an issue with feeling more tired than the average person. Or at least it seems like it! And not getting enough sleep certainly doesn't help that. Lately, I've been seeing how badly it is affecting so many aspects of my life. Like, I need to add exercise into my routine. But when I've been tired and dragging all day, there is no way I have the energy to exercise.

I'm surprised how hard it has been to break the habit of staying up too late. I've finally been doing it consistently for most of this week. I've felt better, but not as good as I was expecting (sigh). I'm still tired most of the time. But have had the energy to exercise twice this week, so at least that is something.

I know exercising in the morning is something a lot of people prefer and you have talked about it also. But that can only be a retirement or weekend goal for me, lol. There is no way I can get up that early on a weekday.

MyNameIsNot · March 2024

This is a little counterintuitive, but the thing that's helped me get the evening schedule on track is moving my work-out to early morning. Working out early means I'm hungry when I get to my desk at 8-8:30, and I'm still ready for lunch at noon.

Anyway, we're also on the 7 pm train. We usually work until 5-6, and then I want a little down time to play with the dog, read a book, whatever before I have to start cooking. After dinner I'm pretty much a heap on the couch until bed.

VarunaTT · March 2024

MyNameIsNot said:

This is a little counterintuitive, but the thing that's helped me get the evening schedule on track is moving my work-out to early morning. Working out early means I'm hungry when I get to my desk at 8-8:30, and I'm still ready for lunch at noon.

Anyway, we're also on the 7 pm train. We usually work until 5-6, and then I want a little down time to play with the dog, read a book, whatever before I have to start cooking. After dinner I'm pretty much a heap on the couch until bed.

Part of what I'm doing is getting up to do the early morning workout. Usually for breakfast I'm just doing the almond milk and my AG1. However, my coaching program has given me the idea of adding a scoopy of protein powder to that to maybe help with the hunger that hits too early now, but also isn't so heavy that it makes me feel gross. It's just rude that my body is like, Oh, I've been up and I'm hungry, but also breakfast gives me an ick.

short+sassy · March 2024

VarunaTT said:

MyNameIsNot said:

This is a little counterintuitive, but the thing that's helped me get the evening schedule on track is moving my work-out to early morning. Working out early means I'm hungry when I get to my desk at 8-8:30, and I'm still ready for lunch at noon.

Anyway, we're also on the 7 pm train. We usually work until 5-6, and then I want a little down time to play with the dog, read a book, whatever before I have to start cooking. After dinner I'm pretty much a heap on the couch until bed.

Part of what I'm doing is getting up to do the early morning workout. Usually for breakfast I'm just doing the almond milk and my AG1. However, my coaching program has given me the idea of adding a scoopy of protein powder to that to maybe help with the hunger that hits too early now, but also isn't so heavy that it makes me feel gross. It's just rude that my body is like, Oh, I've been up and I'm hungry, but also breakfast gives me an ick.

I drink a lot of Premier protein. They probably have powders available, but I buy the "ready to drink" ones. It can be a good option as a snack or to stave off hunger a little until I'm ready to eat. I've found it to be one of the more affordable brands that still has the high protein and low carbs I want. They are 30g of protein, 1g carbs, and 140-160 calories each depending on the flavor.

charlotte989875 · March 2024

Late to the party but we do dinner around 6 so M can be in bed around 7. We either do meals that are ready in ~20 minutes or crockpot/ prepared earlier in the day.

In grad school that was my schedule @levioosa, I think H would still follow it (and does many days!) if we didn’t have to feed the kids.

ei34 · March 2024

I’m an outlier. Early bird special over here. I’m home around 3 and dinner is ready by 4. This started when the kids began school a few years ago and would come home “starving”. They’d eat their weight in snacks (not even junk, healthier things too) and then not want dinner at 5. So I thought I’d try them walking in the door to dinner and then if they needed, have a banana or a yogurt around 6pm (their bestime was 7, is now 7:30). It worked like a charm and we haven’t looked back.

I go to bed between 9-9:30, and my body is weird and needs a few hours to digest before bed, so even if the kids weren’t around I’d probably have dinner around 5.

Agree with PP that just aren’t hungry in the morning. I exercise most mornings from 4:40-5:10 or so, and even by 9am I’m not hungry for my protein shake and baggie of berries, but I know my body needs some sustenance. My biggest meal of the day is lunch, around 12:30, it’s a delicious cauliflower rice based veggie taco bowl that is so satisfying and that I prep five of each Sunday. On Sunday I also make a couple of dinner components here and there (a gallon ziploc baggie with chicken & peppers marinating for sheet pan fajitas one night, a pot of red lentils to serve with falafels another night) but not too much dinner prep. Again I’m home around 3, the kids don’t get in until more like 3:40, so I really do have time to make dinner each day in the moment. I (obviously) do all of the cooking and cleaning. The kids bring their plates to the sink, things like that, but I like to scrub my own pans, ya know?

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