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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 814
 
Location: California | Hi Ladies...I'm hoping you can help me out with this one.
So, my husband and I could both benefit from going on a diet. Back story is this...we have been married for 3 years and let's just say I'm not the best cook in the world. I don't know how to make very many things so we have ate a lot of hamburger meat, red meat, pastas, etc. I look through recipes on Pinterest all the time and have actually tried making things out of the ordinary, but my husband turns his nose up at those things. I married the pickiest man alive!!! Whenever I try to make a healthy meal, he wants no part of it. I am frustrated that I have not only gained weight after losing 40lbs a few years back, but my husband has also gained weight. I am concerned about our health and want us to be the healthiest versions of ourselves that we can be.
Here is where I need your help...how in the heck can I get him on board with a diet?? Or maybe I should just call it a lifestyle change. I know if I come right out and say "we are going on a diet" he will laugh in my face. I have no problem dieting, but it is hard to cook my husband dinner then have to make something different for myself.
He has a very on the go agricultural job and never seems to be at his desk or able to go home for lunch, so he says that it wouldn't work for him to take a lunch to work. I'm needing ideas that I can try with him. Maybe how to cook dinners without him really knowing it's low calorie and healthy...things I can try to pack him for lunch and see if he will eat it during the day. Any ideas will help!! |
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 Party Girl
Posts: 12293
  
Location: Buffalo, Wyoming | Tell him this is what we are having for dinner, he can either eat, go hungry or make his own food.
I am lucky my guy will eat anything or else he would get the above statement. I have no other ideas for you has I only have to cook for mine on the weekends when he is home. He eats pretty dang healthy when he is gone.
I pull this one on my dad all the time, " Do you want to be around to see your grandkids grow up?" Usually works while I am home for the weekend and then he goes back to his old ways. |
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 I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
Location: MD | work on yourself, let him know that YOU are going on a diet and "X" is what you're cooking for dinner. If he wants it, he can have some... if not... he can get to cookin. You can only change yourself, don't expect him to want to come around if he's not ready to change himself. Explain you're concerned about his health for whatever reasons so he understands. I wouldn't go into this expecting him to just follow like a puppy. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 814
Location: California | UTAHCANCHASER - 2015-06-30 3:21 PM Tell him this is what we are having for dinner, he can either eat, go hungry or make his own food.
I am lucky my guy will eat anything or else he would get the above statement. I have no other ideas for you has I only have to cook for mine on the weekends when he is home. He eats pretty dang healthy when he is gone.
I pull this one on my dad all the time, " Do you want to be around to see your grandkids grow up?" Usually works while I am home for the weekend and then he goes back to his old ways.
I was raised that way and 100% agree with you! If I didn't like what my mom cooked, I either sucked it up or went to bed hungy.
I just have a hard time implementing that with my husband. I know he works long hours in the heat and I know he is starving by dinner time and just wants his "meat and potatoes" so to speak. I would be good with a salad for dinner, but that doesn't fly with him.
If any of you have picky husbands and have gotten through to them, please feel free to share your secrets!
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Crowned Image - 2015-06-30 5:48 PM work on yourself, let him know that YOU are going on a diet and "X" is what you're cooking for dinner. If he wants it, he can have some... if not... he can get to cookin. You can only change yourself, don't expect him to want to come around if he's not ready to change himself. Explain you're concerned about his health for whatever reasons so he understands. I wouldn't go into this expecting him to just follow like a puppy.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 814
Location: California | Definitely not trying to get him to follow like a puppy. Just looking for some suggestions from those of you who may have been in this type of situation. |
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 Firecracker Dog Lover
Posts: 3175
| Tough situation but my husband went to the dr a year ago and they wanted to put him on cholesterol medicine. He too is a FOOD guy and I can cook - all the good stuff - like homemade mac and cheese, pastas, red meat dishes, etc. He didn't want to take medicine so he's basically cut out the saturated fat in his diet. Carbs, sugar, and everything else the dietician told him were okay in moderation. Now I was not as strict as he was so I might have lost 5 lbs. and he lost 20 BUT his cholesterol went down 29 points and we all feel better eating fresher, healthier meals. We have a monstrous garden this year that is my husband's pride and joy. I do make the good (bad) stuff but have limited it to once a week. And the bottom line is we both FEEL better and eating anything deep fat fried anymore is not good on our systems. I hope this helps. Good luck to you. |
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Meanest Teacher!!!
Posts: 8555
Location: sunny california | green smoothies disquise with blueberries. as long as it is red/purple mine drinks them. start with more fruit then go very light on the fruit over time
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 Off the Wall Wacky
Posts: 2981
Location: Louisiana | I promise you don't have the pickiest husband alive. I could list EVERYTHING mine eats. He eats like a picky child.
Meat-pretty much any land animal. He will eat fried fish if it's his only option at a restaurant. No other seafood.
No vegetables besides a French fry or raw potato. Seriously.
Fruits-banana, green apples
Mac n cheese or plain pasta noodles.
Nothing with spicy seasoning. The only two things he eats mixed together are pasta and cheese, or ground meat and cheese-weird yes.
Ham sandwich, hot dog, burger. All plain.
Biscuits, crescent rolls-he could live off of those! Cinnamon rolls is a weird one bc he doesn't like cinnamon on anything else or icing on anything else. Plain white or yellow cake. Nothing chocolate besides choc chip cookies or m&ms. A crap load of sunflower seeds. Cornbread-jiffy only lol.
And I think that's it!! Hahahaha....
i just oust try to buy the healthiest version of what he does eat. Lean meats, whole wheat bread and pasta, that hidden veggie pasta, 2% milk-that one was hard at first bc he grew up on a dairy so he's used to real milk.
I don't fry anything unless we're just craving it, maybe once a month. We bake or grill all the meat.
Then I eat pretty much anything lol. If I want it, I cook it. Yes, sometimes I cook two meals. He will help though. Especially if I'm dieting and counting calories. He might fix some Mac n cheese and I'll grill enough chicken for us both, then put mine on a salad. He knows he's a little difficult so he isn't demanding lol. |
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 Chasin my Dream
Posts: 13651
Location: Alberta | Don't be afraid of spices, life style changes doesn't mean you have to eat plain tasting food all the time lol
Portions is always the key.....
Steak, sweet potato (or wild rice) & a salad....
Chicken cooked with salsa, peppers with a pinch of cheese, throw into a whole grain wrap (my husband loves those)
Sandwiches (whole grain bread)
Shakes? Watch your sugar content on them tho
Veggies & low calorie dip
Peanut Butter (organic, watch sugar on other brands)
My husband does like ceaser salads, I just measure the dressing on my portion
Protein Pancakes- 1 egg 1 c gluten free oatmeal & 1/2 soft banana
Sugar is something to watch in any sauces you want to use, Walden Farms is a great resource for zero calorie sauces & more!
0% MF Greek Yogurt is a great substitute for sour cream
It's doable, you buy groceries and make the meals...just keep it fun and tasting good I'm sure your hubby will come around.
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10D Crack Champion
| No suggestions. Good luck! Eating healthy is kind of difficult for a person who isn't the best cook....or at least it is for me. I don't enjoy cooking and I'm not very good at it. One of the first orders of business if I ever get rich......hire a personal chef. LOL |
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 Cotton Balls are the Devil
Posts: 1271
Location: My own little world! | Watch the movie Fed Up together. It will inspire you both to make healthy changes by cutting out sugar and processed foods. It's not really a diet if you think of it that way. Helped us to both eat better and lose weight. |
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 John Deere Green
Posts: 12272
Location: ~Kansas~ | I started losing weight in April 2013 and just started cooking healthier and making smarter choices...
I have lost 75 and hubs has lost 30.. I just make supper and if he don't like it tell him to make his own is what I do :)
It is great support to have him on board , just tell him you really want the support and encouragement from him . |
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 Expert
Posts: 1367
Location: mi | My husband is also pretty picky and we also love a good pasta dish. What I try to do is at the beginning of the week cook up a bunch of chicken and have stuff in the fridge for a salad. That night we also have grilled or baked chicken as our main coarse. Along with that I make a big salad and he can have a baked potato or mashed or something of that sort. I just dont. For the rest of the week he gets maybe a steak with a side salad and a potato and I eat the salad with some chicken or a cut a small portion of steak off. If I want to make spagetti or mac and cheese I do. I just try to keep my portion small and have a side salad with it.
You can change him and you don't need to really make 2 meals just really work on portion control and making sure some part of the meal is healthy and make that your largest portion. another trick I do when I make spagetti is to only cook enough pasta for us to have a reasonable portion. when that is gone you are done. If your still hungry eat more salad. No one is going to go back and make more noodles. Any left over sauce can be frozen for next time. and make your own sauce as the sauces at the store are full of sugar.
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 Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | Have any of you tried time restricted eating? Instead of focusing on what to eat and what not to eat.... Look into only eating during a certain timeframe. You can read about the 8 hour diet or others, but I can tell you it really works. If I eat after 6pm it's only a few bites of some sort of protein, just to not feel like I'm starving. I don't hold to this strictly and still enjoy my life, it's just been a very simple way that I've figured out how to manage my weight. By the time my twins were 8 months old I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight without doing anything crazy to get there.
Most of my physical activity comes in the evenings as I have a desk job. This also helps. I burn calories and stay busy instead of taking in more calories that I won't use. Diets have never worked for me at all...restricting time is much easier because there's always something to do at our place other than eat! lol |
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 Own It and Move On
Location: The edge of no where | I grill tons of stuff.... veggie kabobs and steaks. Pork chops.. It works well for us both to limit wheat products, no pasta, no potatoes. I will fix fajitas once every couple of weeks. I'm very challenged in the kitchen. I do fix lots of salads, but always have a meat to go with them. The body by vi shakes are really good, I've actually gotten my husband in the habit of having one for breakfast. (His breakfast when we got married was a diet coke and little debbies :-/)
If he doesn't like what I've fixed....then he's welcome to scrounge up whatever he can find. LOL |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 814
Location: California | Thank you all for the suggestions and tips! I guess I needed a plan when approaching this. I have a tendency to over cook...I'm only cooking for 2 but could feed 8! So it looks like I should start with my cooking portions, that will in turn make us eat smaller portions.
I can totally get on board with not eating after 6pm! That is a great idea and not really something I have thought about before.
I do drink the Body by Vi shakes myself, but my husband has zero interest in drinking shakes. I admit that I don't really enjoy them, but do know the benefit from them.
Once again, thank you for all of your input! This is going to give me a place to start! |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 425
Location: California | I would suggest cutting out all sorts of pasta. It doesn't really matter what type it is, it's not healthy. (& this is coming from an Italian lol). Basically the major thing is to cut out sugar and flour. Red meat is not good for your body to have all of the type. Try to switch it up with chicken more often. I know you said he doesn't like fish, but try to sneak it in somewhere. I agree with what others have said-that portion control is huge. Limit what you eat. Our stomachs are only as big as our fist, but they will stretch. Eat snacks through out the day. Try having him switch from sunflower seeds to pumpkin seeds... |
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Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | GoBuddyGo - 2015-07-01 11:04 AM Thank you all for the suggestions and tips! I guess I needed a plan when approaching this. I have a tendency to over cook...I'm only cooking for 2 but could feed 8! So it looks like I should start with my cooking portions, that will in turn make us eat smaller portions.
I can totally get on board with not eating after 6pm! That is a great idea and not really something I have thought about before.
I do drink the Body by Vi shakes myself, but my husband has zero interest in drinking shakes. I admit that I don't really enjoy them, but do know the benefit from them.
Once again, thank you for all of your input! This is going to give me a place to start!
Another silly little thing that actually helps is using smaller plates. We eat off of salad plates most of the time. This time of year grilling is a great alternative as well. Carbs in the evenings will cause you to be hungry when you wake up.... little things like that will add up.
Some people advise against it, as "you shouldn't be obsessed with your weight", but one way I've always held myself accountable is to weigh myself every morning when I wake up. This keeps two pounds from turning into twenty and getting away from you. |
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Expert
Posts: 1367
Location: mi | The only cooking for 2 but enough food for 8 can be fixed a bit by immediately putting your portions on your plates and before you sit down to eat put the left over in tupperware in the fridge. That works pretty well for not going back for seconds. |
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