Getting my husband on board :)

melodymartinez

How do you get your SO on board with your weight loss goals?

My husband is the cook in my house. I don't cook at all. I hate cooking, he loves it, so that's the arrangment .

It's kind of an unspoken deal that my husband makes the food and that's what we eat. Most of the time he will just ask me do I want chicken, fish, or whatever and then I'm basically not allowed in the kitchen after that and he tells me when dinner is ready.

Now my husband makes great food, a lot of times it is healthy (ex: boneless chicken with veggies, turkey burgers, etc.). But a lot of it isn't. He does not use recipes or measurements. And he doesn't like being asked what's in his cooking! I just have to try and watch him from the living room to see what is going into the food.

This arrangement has worked great for us, but you can see my dilemma in trying to log what I'm eating. I try to explain to him what I'm doing with the food diary and he looks at me like I'm crazy. He tells me that what he makes is healthy food. Mostly that is true, but today I come home and he has made me this gourmet sandwich with ham and salami. Certainly not the healthiest thing. But he was all proud of himself...I ate it...SO GOOD. I logged everything that was in the sandwich.

I don't know what the solution is, just sharing I guess I'm lucky to have my husband to cook for me( I call him my Top Chef). When we met I would eat half a can of tuna for dinner. I was also super thin then, so maybe that's the answer...

smuehlbauer

Pose it to him as a cooking challenge. If he ever watches a cooking show say soemthing like - oh honey - think you could make a healthy version of that?
Or, find him a healthy recipe and ask him to make it for you. (cookinglight.com or the magazine can be found at the grocery store)
Only things I can think of......sorry, and good luck with that.
Steph

lutzsher

You may have to get more involved in the kitchen. Hover, ask questions . . offer to chop . . . until you become a participant you cannot give "suggestions" or they may be viewed as critisizm. Keep an eye on everything that goes into each dish as that is the only way to change to some healthier options.
My husband couldn't cook anything but breakfast (his homemade hashbrowns are to die for) but when he got sick a few years ago we had to make a lot of changes for his health. Im the cook so I did a lot of reasearch and when I went to see a dietician and nutritionist he wanted to come with me. He is now involved in preparation of every meal. We have an herb garden to flavor our food instead of salt and fat now and both tend to that. Meals have become a combined effort, which is a dream for me.
Make this part of the journey together!

bcampbell54

I'm the same as him. However, this website has given me a little challenge. I know what I cook is mostly healthy, but it's quite a challenge to actually prove how you're measuring up. I'm just thinking that the Mr Fixit in all of us men might find this site appealing.

melodymartinez

Thanks for the tips. I definitely want to get more involved. Maybe he will even let me cook one night a week I started getting the Cooking Light magazine last month. My husband won't even look at it and refuses to follow recipes. Haha.

Meag83

Would it help if you showed him the recipe part of this website and had him log the ingredients in. Maybe give him the challenge to keep the meal under a certain number of calories.

Good Luck!

leighshutter

Kudos to your husband for taking on that duty in the house! It's very refreshing to hear. I agree, though, that you should make more of an effort to get in there and see what is going on. The problem in my house is I have an underweight husband and 3 kids to feed as well. I don't want to serve them "diet food" if I can help it, and I don't always want to make separate dinners for everybody because... well... it's a pain in the butt. SO I have decided that I can only be concerned about what I can control. The only meal we really have to share is dinner. That means I can be accountable for myself for the rest of the day. I can control my breakfasts, lunches, and snacks. This makes up a HUGE portion of my actual eating, and if I can go at that stuff moderately I won't have to worry so much about what's for dinner. I have also started making a salad EVERY night with dinner and if you eat more of that, you will be less inclined to pig out on the not so stellar stuff. If you don't know how to make a salad, trust me, you will pick it up easily. Good luck!