My DH is losing too much weight since I started this!

CasperNaegle

Pump some good lean meats into your diets!!

joinn68

What's his BMI? Is he underweight or just thinner than you are used to? It's very thoughtful of you to worry about him. Hopefully some of the others' suggestions will help him up his intake

cwolfman13

My wife and I are both cutting...you both need to realize what your needs are...you can eat in the same manner for the most part, but you can't have the same plan. Whether it's a cut or maintenance, he needs to eat more than you do.

I have larger portions than my wife in both a cut and in maintenance.

In a cut, she may have her protein and a huge serving of veg...I have my protein, a huge serving of veg, and a grain or starch. She has one whole egg and a couple egg whites for breakfast...I have two whole eggs and 4 eggs whites for breakfast. She has 1/4 dry oats in the morning...I have 1/3 cup dry and add and ounce of almonds. I have 2-3 snacks per day that are usually around 200 calories each...she has 1-2 snacks per day that are more in the neighborhood of 100 calories. I get desert most nights...she doesn't...etc, etc, etc, etc.

He needs to understand his needs. Also, I have a hard time believing his TDEE is 2000 calories as a 5'11" male. Even without exercise and I have a desk job and I'm somewhere between 5'9" - 5'10" and I need 2300 - 2500 just to maintain weight...with exercise I'm closer to 2800 - 3000. I cut easily on 2,300ish calories per day.

elaineamj

cwolfman13 wrote: »

My wife and I are both cutting...you both need to realize what your needs are...you can eat in the same manner for the most part, but you can't have the same plan. Whether it's a cut or maintenance, he needs to eat more than you do.

I have larger portions than my wife in both a cut and in maintenance.

In a cut, she may have her protein and a huge serving of veg...I have my protein, a huge serving of veg, and a grain or starch. She has one whole egg and a couple egg whites for breakfast...I have two whole eggs and 4 eggs whites for breakfast. She has 1/4 dry oats in the morning...I have 1/3 cup dry and add and ounce of almonds. I have 2-3 snacks per day that are usually around 200 calories each...she has 1-2 snacks per day that are more in the neighborhood of 100 calories. I get desert most nights...she doesn't...etc, etc, etc, etc.

He needs to understand his needs. Also, I have a hard time believing his TDEE is 2000 calories as a 5'11" male. Even without exercise and I have a desk job and I'm somewhere between 5'9" - 5'10" and I need 2300 - 2500 just to maintain weight...with exercise I'm closer to 2800 - 3000. I cut easily on 2,300ish calories per day.

This (along with all the other comments on this thread!) is very helpful. Initially I thought he was going to be fine just eating a bit more than I was. But realistically, because I have been focusing on cooking satiating, low cal foods, he has been feeling full eating only about 1.5 times more than I do (a guess since he doesn't calorie count and I don't weigh his portions). On top of that, he has upped the amounts of plain veggies considerably and cut out a lot of junk food.

I haven't done much calculations for his TDEE either so your numbers are very helpful. I have to admit I only did a very rudimentary calculation to get at the 2,000 number. He's 46 and has never had trouble hovering around a healthy weight because he's somewhat active (although with little purposeful exercise) and he has no issues controlling portion sizes without thinking about it.

And maybe I just want to try to "sneak" more calories in since it's bothering me more than it's bothering him (like a PP pointed out lol!). Right now his focus is to increase nutrition, hence the extra veggies. Combine that with my focus on low-cal meals....I don't want my own diet to cause him under-eating problems, especially with his medical issues.

hlcook

I'm 5"4 and female and my TDEE is more than 2000 .... that's just your DH's daily expenditure to maintain ... my BF is 6"2 and he needs at least 3300, mine is more like 2300...

You may need to make some adjustments in your portion sizes or types of foods. It's not too hard to make substitutes for basics like pasta so he eats the pasta and you eat the spaghetti squash pasta

antennachick

elaineamj wrote: »

I recently switched our milk to 1% and am going to switch it to whole milk (not so good for me - but I can deal). He can also have coconut oil/milk so I think I will make more curries. Although I am groaning a bit at how calorie dense that would be for me if I up the amount of coconut milk in it! Might have to become a short order cook and split off my portion before I sneak more coconut milk in for him (this is going to make the recipe builder even more complicated - boo).

Why not buy whole for him and whatever you want for yourself? I always do almond milk and my husband drinks whole. Its a pain in the butt but usually I have something up different or add to what I made myself for dinner. For instance tonight is pasta and red sauce for me and cream butter sauce for him.

elaineamj

Glad I got concerned. I made him go over everything he ate so far today and I am guesstimating it was 500 calories before dinner. *sigh*

Thought I was cooking a higher cal eggplant curry for dinner. Finished building the recipe after DH ate a big portion - 500 or so cals (he ate before I could weigh) is what he ate. I'm getting too good at the skinny recipe thing lol. So that's 1000 calories so far today.

We talked tonight and he agreed he would do better - he did admit to being a bit hungry after dinner. His strategy will be to eat more nuts and more avocados. Also will start adding chia seeds to his water. He doesn't want to eat more cream, rice, potatoes, pasta, etc.

Also, we are having a romantic getaway this weekend and will be primarily eating Thai food (his fave) - and he won't be able to stop the chefs from adding extra oils.

AliceDark

elaineamj wrote: »

He doesn't want to eat more cream, rice, potatoes, pasta, etc.

Why? Do they bother his system or make him ill? If not, this seems like a strange thing for a man who needs to gain weight to worry about.