Smugly overweight??
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I make great bread, baked goods, amazing sauces, roasts, etc. and I make almost all of it from scratch. We go through tons of butter, eggs, flour, potatoes, sugar, etc. I love to cook, I love making big meals for my little family of 4, and it's even more exciting when I can show it off. I'm a stay-at-home mom, I feel like you should get a 5-star meal if you come over for dinner. and that's not to say we don't eat out some times, and I don't stock some junk food, but mostly, if I eat it, I made it.
BTW......cooking at home could be that you are making great stuff, but loaded with calories (fats and sugars) and that is not helping. In my cooking, I eliminated the butter in 99% of the cases (use olive or avocado oil instead), sweets are just on rare occasions. When we crave sugar it is fruits or dark chocolate. I learned in the last couple of years to cook light, yet gourmet. there are plenty of recipes for light cooking. When I have guests for dinner, I am a bit more generous with the ingredients. :-)0 -
I agree with lambchristieI think if you go and add your recipes to the recipe maker you won't have to spend hours a nite entering everything.
I am with others ... you have got to want to lose the weight in order lose the weight.
You are a stay at home mom...I like the suggestion of going to the library and get some healthy cooking books and see how you can change up your recipes for everyone's benefit.
You can do this...your mindset needs adjusting before it will work.
Best of luck!!!!
I also am a SAHM that love to cook and make great food...
then my husband got diabetes... *sigh* what a game changer
We took a class in how to feed him and I learned how to make great healthy food. BTW I'm totally ok with you adding a smidgen of butter to make the sauce shiny. :-) But I helped him (and myself) by freezing the uneaten muffins, cakes, and well I stopped making bread because he can't resist it. I also got rid of the microwave so if i want to eat a frozen muffin It has to thaw naturally, and by that time I just hand it to one of the kids because the craving has usually passed.
My hubby went vegan, then raw, then my child had to be GF and Dairy free, I learned how to make gourmet food in each stage. I saw it as a challenge.. how can I make healthy food taste so good no one realizes it's healthy?
I helped myself by taking the time to add in the recipes here in MFP and now its so easy to track my homemade foods. I did take some weeks where I just repeated 4-5 meals so I only had to add in the 2 new recipes etc... on lazy days for example, I just type in homemade guacamole.... and go with what sounds the most like what I made. a guesstimate is better than no tracking at all :-)0 -
I'm a pretty decent baker/cook myself and tend to make quite a few meals from scratch. I usually buy organic, fresh food as well.
But my issue was portion control - I could cook a beautiful homemade meal made with lots of great ingredients - and then eat 2000 calories worth of it. :laugh:
So... it's a trade-off. You can try to swap out some ingredients with lower calorie options and have larger portions, or you can use the usual ingredients and have smaller portions. I tend to do a little of both.0 -
Overweight is overweight, no matter why the extra pounds are there. There is not one excuse for over-eating that is better than any other excuse.0
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You're trying to rationalize why you're overweight
yerp.
I agree with this as well. With regard to the difficulty in counting calories when cooking from scratch I suggest you either start exercising more to compensate and/or buy a food scale like other MFP members in your situation.
Being a great cook is wonderful but does not need to interfere with your diet/fitness goals0 -
Ok - I'm looking for some "no, you're not crazy" here. And I totally don't mean to offend anyone. But I had this conversation with my husband the other day and he said I was crazy. I'm about 30 lbs. overweight, but outside of the concept of portion control, it's because I'm an awesome cook. I make great bread, baked goods, amazing sauces, roasts, etc. and I make almost all of it from scratch. We go through tons of butter, eggs, flour, potatoes, sugar, etc. I love to cook, I love making big meals for my little family of 4, and it's even more exciting when I can show it off. I'm a stay-at-home mom, I feel like you should get a 5-star meal if you come over for dinner. and that's not to say we don't eat out some times, and I don't stock some junk food, but mostly, if I eat it, I made it.
I think tons of butter, eggs, flour, potatoes, and sugar could make just about anyone a stellar cook (at least in terms of taste!)... but I agree with the others who have posted: find a way to be a stellar cook with more nutrient rich food. For example, the other day at work, we had a lunch meeting that was catered with vegetarian enchiladas. They were AMAZING. Had a really nice kick to them, and the filling was cauliflower, cornmeal mush, butternut squash, black beans, spinach, onions, peppers, etc... only a tiny bit of cheese on the very top. They were some of the most amazing things I've ever tasted, and super super healthy. This last weekend, I tried to duplicate the recipe and came really close - I didn't get enough spice into them, so I need to play with that, but it was DELICIOUS even still... and about 300 calories per serving and full of wonderful nutrients. Not a drop of butter.
See it as a challenge
(also, you could be setting your kids up for failure, if they are only used to the kinds of food you're currently making, those are the kinds of foods they'll eat as they get older and - as most of us do - likely become "less active." Teach them that prepared correctly, healthy foods are AMAZINGLY great. 0 -
Your heart, lungs, overall health, stretched pants, and double chin don't give a single, healthy damn how "smug" your are about being fat.
Keep right on cooking, feeding, and growing. See if you don't end up here in another 30 lbs with a thread entitled "HELP! I'm 60 lbs overweight and I CAN'T STOP EATING!!!".
- Signed, another "awesome cook"0 -
You're trying to rationalize why you're overweight
^0 -
When I see someone overweight I have never never wondered if it was from eating out or eating in. Lifestyle or medical condition maybe.0
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This sounds like the same kind of justification my husband falls back on. "We don't eat garbage, almost everything is homemade. We eat better than anyone else I know, so I don't know why..."
I can kneed bread all day but the work I put into making it doesn't make it calorie-free. Nor does making brownies from scratch vs from a box. Sure, you might be saving yourself on things like preservatives, artificial flavorings and sodium, but those things are in there as flavor enhancers and fillers. Most of the time you're just replacing that stuff with more butter, more salt, more sugar, more chocolate which just means upping the calorie count.
It's like fat vegetarians {looks in the mirror}. Just because I don't eat meat doesn't automatically mean my diet is any healthier than a meat eater's. You can eat nothing but candy bars and still call yourself a vegetarian.
If you're fine with your weight, that's great, but don't kid yourself that because you slaved away in the kitchen that it's any healthier by default.
Learn to substitute. Monday I made vegetarian Shepard's Pie. I "saved" a ton of calories by replacing about 1/3rd of the potato with roasted cauliflower, skipping the cheese, reducing the butter and bulking up the "meat" layer with carrots, peppers and celery {further reducing the size of the "potato" layer}. Next time I'll do half and half with the cauliflower/potato mash and cut the butter even more since the roasted cauliflower lends a nice rich flavor of its own. Still feels as decadent as my normal version, but the calorie count is much kinder for a "meat and potatoes" sort of comfort food.
Even when I do prepared foods I tweak. Box of flavored rice? I add a cup of plain quinoa, a bag of veggie crumbles and a bag of broccoli or cauliflower. Now a 4-serving side dish is an 8-serving meal. At first look, I only save a few calories, but I've slashed the sodium levels and reduced the superfluous calories I would have added if I'd kept the everything separate and added butter/sauce and the oil I would have needed to prep the "meat". Plus using the crumbles means I didn't resort to a heavier option like the "sauced" or "breaded" vegetarian meat replacements, which are significantly higher in calories and sodium.
As far as counting calories for home made stuff, I plug in my stuff as I make it using this recipe calculator. http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp I like to cook things so I have leftovers for days, so I like to measure out entire packages and then divide the entire meal into servings. There's usually plenty of time to do that as I'm sweating veggies, preheating or waiting for water to boil. Then I write down the meal and calories per serving in a little file on my desktop so I only have to think about the recipe once. I just plug in the pre-configured calories into MFP as needed.0 -
I can also good really good meals that all my family enjoy - and ask for again. I'm sure nearly everyone on this site can rustle up cracking meals that they and their family love!
As a great cook your pride should come from seeing others enjoy it not from seeing how much of it you feel compelled to eat. I am fat, that is why I'm here. I overate - no excuses and no 'but its because the food was so good'. I am learning that a really great meal is one that is well balanced, fills you nicely and tastes good - I use herbs and spices for flavour (my boys love them.)
Please don't justify why you are overweight by making out you have a better reason than most, we all have reasons and we are all here because they are NOT justified.
I look at myself and I am not smug, I feel disgusted. My lack of control caused my weight. Extra weight causes health risks. I have a son with special needs who will need constant care, by putting my health at risk, I could be depriving him of his quality of life if I'm no longer able to support him.
Look at the bigger picture, you obviously love your family, so make sure you will be around for them.0 -
I'm a crap cook. However, I do eat a lot of homemade & from scratch stuff when I'm at my mam's & when I'm at work. I wouldn't even have a clue to the accuracy of the calories in these meals. I just go off guesstimates.. But I'm still managing to lose pretty consistently. It's all about the portion control if you eat less you'll lose weight.
* I don't think the "my fat is better than your fat" argument really holds much weight.0 -
I'm a crap cook. However, I do eat a lot of homemade & from scratch stuff when I'm at my mam's & when I'm at work. I wouldn't even have a clue to the accuracy of the calories in these meals. I just go off guesstimates.. But I'm still managing to lose pretty consistently. It's all about the portion control if you eat less you'll lose weight.
* I don't think the "my fat is better than your fat" argument really holds much weight.
Actually I think it does hold weight - thats the problem! 0 -
I think it is great that you have your family's nutritional needs at hand. That means that you alone can be responsible for them eating nutritionally balanced, appropriately portioned meals. You are the master. You can make it happen.0
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Will you be proud of 'nurturing' your family when your daughter is 30lb overweight and crying because she's being bullied for being fat?0
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I think it's one thing to be proud of being a good cook and making nice meals for people, but that's a separate thing from being overweight, or judging other people for the reasons that they're overweight. People have problems with weight for many different reasons, there's really little point in competing over who has the best. I'm a good cook too, and I love cooking/baking things for other people that give them pleasure. That's not why I was overweight though. I was obese because I consumed too much over many many years. The reasons why I did that are more complicated, but nothing to do with my cooking skills.
Today, I'm still a great cook, still love baking, still use butter, chocolate, sugar etc in my baking. Still cook mostly from scratch. But, I eat the appropriate amount of food that my body needs and have been maintaining a healthy weight for over a year.
Is someone's adultery "more ok" because they're amazing in bed? Is someone living a completely sedentary lifestyle "more ok" because they're a prize-winning novelist? Is that more acceptable than someone being sedentary because they love crappy tv?
You're not overweight because you use butter to make sauces shiny. You're overweight because you're consuming more calories than your body needs. It does take some effort to address that, but that's your choice. It takes a little more time to measure and log food that you're preparing from scratch, but you have to decide if that time and effort is worth it or not. I decided that for me, it is. The recipe builder helps a bit, the "recent/favourite foods" lists help a bit. I choose to put time aside on the weekends and in the morning to prepare my lunches, and I spend a few extra minutes while I'm cooking in the evening. The results are worth it to me. You have to decide whether or not they're worth it to you.0 -
In my opinion being a great cook doesn't mean that your fat is 'better' than anyone else's or justifies why you are overweight. If you look at the multitudes of TV chefs out there, the majority of them are not fat, for example:
- Jamie Oliver
- Gorden Ramsey
- Heston Blumenthal (one of the top chefs in the world too)
- Micheal Roux Jr
- Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
- Keith Floyd
These are just a few off the top of my head, none of them would be considered obese and yes, even though some of them advocate healthy eating styles, they all tend to agree that the fat in meat adds to the flavour, that salt is needed, butter can be essential. But they all preach moderation and portion control, so they eat damn well, but still remain in shape.0 -
You're just deluded- your joints,your heart and your liver don't give a **** how you got fat.
Playing devil's advocate here- one could argue that If anything being a good chef makes it worse because you could have used your knowledge to make your food healthier,but instead you actively chose to continually make bad decisions.0 -
In my opinion being a great cook doesn't mean that your fat is 'better' than anyone else's or justifies why you are overweight. If you look at the multitudes of TV chefs out there, the majority of them are not fat, for example:
- Jamie Oliver
- Gorden Ramsey
- Heston Blumenthal (one of the top chefs in the world too)
- Micheal Roux Jr
- Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
- Keith Floyd
These are just a few off the top of my head, none of them would be considered obese and yes, even though some of them advocate healthy eating styles, they all tend to agree that the fat in meat adds to the flavour, that salt is needed, butter can be essential. But they all preach moderation and portion control, so they eat damn well, but still remain in shape.
Agree.
I will also add - the Hairy Bikers with their Hairy Dieters - How to Love Food and Lose Weight books (http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Hairy-Dieters-Love-Weight/dp/0297869051). OP, it sounds like you're in the US so may not have heard of them, but they are TV cooks whose 'thing' is that they were cuddly (and beady, and ride motorbikes, but that's another thing ) - then they went on diets but still wanted to eat great food, so looked for ways to make their recipes healthy. Maybe Rocco Dispirito would be a similar US example? 0 -
I might not be a SAHM but I am a great cook and I don't sub the butter ever...that's just not right.
But that isn't an excuse for being over weight...Gordon Ramsey...he's a chef...he's not overweight.
You apparently don't want to lose the weight...it appears you feel like you shouldn't have to for whatever reason which is totally on you but your husband is correct.
Entering recipes in here and calculating the calories is not that hard nor time consuming..I have pages and pages of personally entered recieps...esp the ones my family loves like pie0 -
OP - I'm not sure what you're saying here. At first, I read your post as a revelation. Like - you realized you were doing this, and know it's bad. But wanted to know if anyone else felt the same...but after all the replies, I read again, and now I'm not sure...I think if you go and add your recipes to the recipe maker you won't have to spend hours a nite entering everything.
I'm also a great cook, and love eating what I've put time into. Feel pride in making pie crusts or noodles from scratch. If you're the kind of cook I am, it will be easy to cook by taste...make your sauces taste better with spices instead of butter. Save that extra pat for the last minute if you want shiny sauce - but skimp on the butter earlier in the prep.
As above - entering a recipe into MFP will allow you to repeat that without the hassle. It takes a long time to get it in correctly, especially if you're not cooking from a recipe...but once it's done...you're finished with that. I try and add only one or two new recipes a week to my personal database. Because I don't have time. And when I do make that yummy thing, and realize what I'd have had as a serving has 800 calories...I have half, or a third. : )0 -
Boom.You're trying to rationalize why you're overweight
use your fabulous cooking skills to make delicious nutritious healthy meals which are lower in fat and sugar etc , still eating well, but losing weight too!0 -
Crazy might be harsh but you are making an excuse to justify staying overweight.
Gordon Ramsey is a reasonable cook but runs marathons!0 -
What are your strength, performance and endurance goals and are you meeting them by being 30 pounds overweight with these finer foods?0
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If you are going to rationalize why it's ok that you are fat, why did you join MFP? Fat is fat. it doesn't matter if you got fat from eating too many fast food meals, or from eating large portions of homemade food. You gain weight from eating too much and exercising too little.
^^Gordon Ramsey is a reasonable cook but runs marathons!0 -
You're just deluded- your joints,your heart and your liver don't give a **** how you got fat.
Playing devil's advocate here- one could argue that If anything being a good chef makes it worse because you could have used your knowledge to make your food healthier,but instead you actively chose to continually make bad decisions.
this FTW! In my book a "great cook" doesn't focus just on taste but also nutrition and health. You can do both, you know, but haven't chosen to do so.
Edit: also this:Will you be proud of 'nurturing' your family when your daughter is 30lb overweight and crying because she's being bullied for being fat?0 -
Whether you eat a nice sauce with lots of butter at home or a nice sauce with lots of butter prepared in a restaurant it still the same kind of food, still fat and calories. It good that you enjoy cooking and take pride in it and taking care of your family but unhealthy eating is the same where ever you eat it. The different is that by cooking from scratch you can be in control of the ingredients, you can make small changes that can make a big different health wise. Also you make 'big' meals for your 'skinny ' kids. I'd be careful with that also as my mum made big meals for us growing up and it mean that my idea of a healthy portion size was way off and that was one reason why I put on weight as I started cooking my own meals as an adult . Me and my sister where both skinny kids but overweight adults.
If you are happy to be 30 lb overweight and with the food you and your family are eating then carry on with that (but I'm guessing that you are starting to question that hence the post) but don't kid yourself.0 -
Yes, I'm this. And to top it off, I view these meals as part of nurturing my family. I think if I were a "true" cook, I'd figure out how to do all this, and make it healthy, so I could do it all I.e. be a great cook, a nurturing mother, and healthy.0
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Ok - I'm looking for some "no, you're not crazy" here. And I totally don't mean to offend anyone. But I had this conversation with my husband the other day and he said I was crazy. I'm about 30 lbs. overweight, but outside of the concept of portion control, it's because I'm an awesome cook. I make great bread, baked goods, amazing sauces, roasts, etc. and I make almost all of it from scratch. We go through tons of butter, eggs, flour, potatoes, sugar, etc. I love to cook, I love making big meals for my little family of 4, and it's even more exciting when I can show it off. I'm a stay-at-home mom, I feel like you should get a 5-star meal if you come over for dinner. and that's not to say we don't eat out some times, and I don't stock some junk food, but mostly, if I eat it, I made it.
To the I'm not crazy point, I feel like my fatness is "more ok" that someone who did it with eating out or prepared foods from the grocery store. I realize it's completely stupid, but that's the thought I have when I debate adding a pat of butter to finish a sauce and make it shiny (which is why you add a smidgen of butter at the end). AND because I make so much from scratch, it's a huge pain to count calories because only a few things come with "reliable" labels as we go through tons of produce and protein. So when i do count my calories, it adds tons of time to my food prep (3 meals and 3 snacks a day for my very skinny and active girls).
Is there anyone out there like me? or is my husband right?
Couldn't disagree with you more. I also cook nearly every meal that I eat. I also bake all the time. I also go through flour and butter and eggs and sugar like nobody's business. And I'm not fat. Because you know what I don't do? I don't overeat, and I don't act like making things from scratch excuses me from calorie counting. I have over 100 recipes in my MFP recipe collection. Every time I make something new, I add the recipe so that I can accurately track things. It's not that hard.
Being a good cook doesn't make it okay to be 30 lbs overweight. You're not crazy. You're just wrong.0 -
Ok - I'm looking for some "no, you're not crazy" here. And I totally don't mean to offend anyone. But I had this conversation with my husband the other day and he said I was crazy. I'm about 30 lbs. overweight, but outside of the concept of portion control, it's because I'm an awesome cook. I make great bread, baked goods, amazing sauces, roasts, etc. and I make almost all of it from scratch. We go through tons of butter, eggs, flour, potatoes, sugar, etc. I love to cook, I love making big meals for my little family of 4, and it's even more exciting when I can show it off. I'm a stay-at-home mom, I feel like you should get a 5-star meal if you come over for dinner. and that's not to say we don't eat out some times, and I don't stock some junk food, but mostly, if I eat it, I made it.
To the I'm not crazy point, I feel like my fatness is "more ok" that someone who did it with eating out or prepared foods from the grocery store. I realize it's completely stupid, but that's the thought I have when I debate adding a pat of butter to finish a sauce and make it shiny (which is why you add a smidgen of butter at the end). AND because I make so much from scratch, it's a huge pain to count calories because only a few things come with "reliable" labels as we go through tons of produce and protein. So when i do count my calories, it adds tons of time to my food prep (3 meals and 3 snacks a day for my very skinny and active girls).
Is there anyone out there like me? or is my husband right?
Ok, I am with you on this, my friends call me a food freak because I make EVERYTHING from scratch (in the winter I buy tomatoes sauce-the only packaged thing I buy-, in the summer I use tomatoes from my garden). I love to cook gourmet food for my family of 3 and I am very concerned with the a balanced nutrition. I buy mostly organic foods and our family NEVER steps foot in a fast food place, we do not drink soda or have any junk food in the house (chips, cakes, candies, etc). Now, that being said I am 15lbs overweight and very unhappy about it. The truth is (just like some else said In a post) even the best homemade, organic, healthy food can make you fat...and fat is fat no matter what (that is what I see when I look in the mirror and I hate it).
I am so frustrated, because I feel like I have to choose between my family and my myself. If I stop cooking I know I could lose some weight, BUT my family would eat bad foods and I would feel guilty. So hard....
This makes no sense. Just eat less of what you cook. Exercise a bit. Boom - done.0
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