Advice for dieting in a relationship - specifically, living with someone

middlehaitch

My SO has twice the calories I have. I cook the same meal for both of us, I just have a smaller portion, especially of things like pasta, rice, breads, and potatoes- would rather use my calories on the tasty bits, not the carrier.

Use the recipe builder to store your most frequent meals. It makes life so much simpler. Things like curries, stews, and casseroles can be divided into 1g servings so you can both have the appropriate amount.

Make extra portions so your BF can take extra to work for lunch.

Chose whichever method you think will work for you in the long term. I know making 2 separate meals wouldn't work for me, but that is just me.

Cheers, h.

afatpersonwholikesfood

I'm married. My husband isn't trying to lose weight (which is totally okay with me), but he is interested in eating healthier, so that helps.

I pack him lunches that he likes. The main thing I want to keep out of the house is sweets. He doesn't care for sweets, so that's easy. He likes salty snacks, and I don't have a problem moderating those. So, sandwiches and chips and crackers like usual. I throw in fruit and yogurt instead of chips sometimes- he likes both of those. I've started to bulk up his sandwiches with spinach, lettuce, and tomatoes. We've switched out our white bread for whole wheat. We're getting leaner, lower sodium lunch meats sliced at the deli. Nothing too crazy there. My lunches don't have to be the same as his - I don't find sandwiches to be as filling as other options for the same calories.

I make the same dinners as usual on some nights, but I eat smaller portions. His portions are the same. As above with his sandwiches, I try to add in extra veggies where I can. We still eat fast food. We're ordering pizza for dinner tonight.

Other nights, we'll have salad for the main course and fresh fruit for dessert, or we'll have lots of veggies with the old standby of chicken. We eat a lot of chicken because it's cheap, but that's not actually too different from before I was working on my weight. Our grocery budget hasn't changed - it's small. He'll try anything once, so I'll find a recipe to try here or there. I like to try vegetarian or whole food type things. If he doesn't like it, then I don't make it for dinner again.

We have switched out white rice for brown, regular pasta for whole wheat, etc. We eat more beans. Things like that. Just little changes. We still use real butter and such.

If you look at choosemyplate.gov, it recommends a plate that is filled halfway with produce. Basically, we eat many of the same types of foods as before, but the proportion of our meals has changed, and apart from the occasional homemade loaf of white bread, it's all whole grains now. Produce, produce, produce has become our thing - with a side of Shake N' Bake chicken thighs or even evil, processed Hamburger Helper sometimes. Like I said, I just have smaller portions of the calorie dense stuff while his remain the same.

With a little bit of support and a willingness to try new things on your significant other's end and nothing too crazy on your end, there shouldn't be a problem.

I don't mind doing quick, simple separate meals if we're talking about packing a lunch or throwing together an easy breakfast, but I absolutely under no circumstances would cook individual meals. Nope, nope, nope. Hell to the no. Even if we had kids. Especially if we had kids, actually. Not sustainable or fair or fun.

jmpaterno

laurenthecarts wrote: »

jmpaterno wrote: »

I like your strategies! also, I really want fajitas now, might have to look up that recipe :P thanks!
We've got good'uns eh!

Thanks--and you're welcome! (And seriously, the fajitas are so good.)

hekla90

I'm a vegetarian and my boyfriend eats meat. I prepare the same meals but make mine vegetarian and lower calorie. If I make enchiladas he gets chicken in his in addition to my filling (usually green chile, corn and black bean), I leave out extra cheese in my filling he gets more cheese, etc. if we do burgers, I do veggie burgers skip the bun in favor of avocado he gets a bun and avocado etc. We do crock pot pasta sauce and just cook meat for his and add afterwards. Etc. if he doesn't like what I'm making he's a grown man and he's more than welcome to cook for himself. We both work full time and it's not my job to be his mom. I cook about 1/3 of the time, he cooks the other 1/3 and the remainder we do our own thing.

Liftng4Lis

Why can't you eat as you always do and use moderation, portion control, that equals a deficit? You don't need to eat special foods.

Graceious1

You can still focus on you and be in a relationship. My companion and I practice martial arts and outside of the sessions we take up challenges such as push up or plank challenges. We can encourage and support our partners but only they can find their own motivations for doing something. You can make it work if you really want it t, just eat foods that are nutritious and tasty. There are plenty of cookbooks and websites out there that have a plethora of ideas for healthy and nutritious meals.

All the best

atypicalsmith

If you aren't married, then you're simply roommates, so just do what you want to do and eat what you want to eat.

fishshark

i gained 15 pounds of "relationship weight" haha but I blame it mostly to working 10 hours a day on my feet to not working... Anyway my hubs is a professional athlete and boy does he eat like one. I make a LOT of high calorie meals every week.. lots of pastas, potatoes, sauces, ect. I eat whatever he eats in smaller portions and weigh it all out. Im not gonna make Alfreado from scratch for him and eat a measly chicken breast.. I'm eating that stuff too. good ol CICO.

ahoy_m8

Chicken LOVE side, portions are the answer. I shop/cook for 5, and all get more calories than me. They also eat different snacks. No problem. I might cook an extra side for them, or I might substitute spinach for rice or pasta for myself, but still the same basic meals where everyone can take what they need. You can do it!