He wants gain while I lose - ideas please

MinnieInMaine

I'll usually add a starch/carb to hubby's and kiddos' meals that I won't eat. (Not that I"m anti-starch/carb, I eat plenty of them, but at dinner I'd usually prefer to have a larger serving of meat and veggies than "waste" my calories on rice/pasta). So last night was salmon, brocolli and couscous. I ate lots of salmon and broccoli, skipped the couscous.

This is pretty much what I do too. I'll still eat the potato, rice, pasta but take a lot less than I give to Hubby to save on calories and fill up on the meat and veg.

OP, don't forget there are many other meals in the day. Encourage him to eat calorie dense foods like nuts, seeds, peanut butter, trail mix, eggs, lean meats, avocado, some fruits (especially dried ones), pasta, whole milk, chocolate milk. If he goes with protein shakes, make sure he's using some of these things like whole milk and peanut butter and banana to really bulk it up.

oc1timoco

Taking into consideration his size he sounds like a carbohydrate burning machine, undaunted by the perils of pasta. If you are in the camp of eating protein, good fats and veggies then serve him walnuts, avocado and more protein from your stuff and cut his pasta and spuds back a bit.

chani8

My DH needs almost twice as many calories as me, so I understand your dilemma.

I read that most of our excess calories come from snacking. When we cut snacks, we cut calories, so the inverse may be the solution. Encourage your DH to eat high calorie snacks, like nuts, cheese, cream, peanut butter, pretzels. Rice is packed with calories, so maybe offer rice pudding as a snack or dessert, and keep it far away from you.

kaotik26

I think he could do with more protein, I know you said he's not big on building muscle but a little bit more meat plus some time with the weights will give him a healthy gain.

lauren3101

If he's not a big eater, you can easily make a smoothie,

Yogurt ½ cup
Protein powder 2 tbsp
Peanut or
Almond butter 1 tbsp
Ground flaxseeds 1 tbsp
Canola, Almond, or
Avocado oil 1 tbsp
Banana 1
= 870 calories

Strawberries: 1 cup ~50 cals
One whole banana ~100 cals
Oats: 1 cup, ~300
Milk: 3 cups ~300
Banana Muscle Milk: 1 scoop ~150
Whey Vanilla: 1 scoop ~130
= 1030 calories

They are just two I found by googling 'high calorie smoothies'.

SuzyLy

I don't change our meals, however, I cut back or cut out/switch out foods to fit in my daily count. I'll make him a sandwich & put cheese on it, mine will be 1/2 sandwich without cheese and some roast peppers or salsa instead of mayo. I drastically cut back on rice, potatos & pasta -- try 1/4 cup & 1/2 cup if you have enough in your daily calories. I sort out my portion of those veggies prior to adding any butter or cheese. Measure or weight your portions. Plan your meal portions and enter them on your diary prior to actually sitting down to eat. It is definitely do-able. Good luck.

JoRocka

Cook things you both like, you eat less and he eats more.

+ ice cream.

but what this guy said.

JoRocka

Simplest way to bulk solo: GOMAD. You both eat the same things, he drinks a gallon of milk a day. Instantly adds 120+ grams of protein and 1600 calories to his diet.

He could even go halvsies and two QOMAD, still gets him 60g and 800 calories.

That's what I started doing- and my 2% is closer to 900 calories. it's a crap load of milk.

wmahunter

Give him snacks to eat during the day. Like said before protein shake, or yogurt or something additional besides just the 3 meals.

Time will catch up with him eventually.

katorihanzo

If you don't find that he eats a ton but he still wants to gain weight (which you do since you said he eats about the same as you and you're losing weight) there are things that are very high in calories that you can get him to snack on that will pack on the calories (and nutrition) without filling him up. Almonds are a good example (even better covered in a high cocoa% dark chocolate if he likes it). Pack a ziploc bag full of almonds and give it to him in the morning when he goes to work and tell him to snack on them throughout the day.

Try drizzling a little bit of olive oil over each of his dishes too - the stir fry for example, or over fish/meat/pasta anything really. A couple tbsp of olive oil is a couple extra hundred calories.

If he drinks coffee, ask him to use high fat% coffee cream or if he loves yogurt buy him a full fat greek yogurt (they're so delicious - my boyfriend sometimes sits down and eats an entire one. He's a yogurt fiend.)

Mrs_Marvel

You stick to normal portion sizes and double or triple his portions. That way, you are both eating healthy foods and you won't have to cook 2 different meals.

SteveJWatson

Beer.

Beer.


Cheese and bread/crackers

then

Beer.