Balancing a Healthy Lifestyle and Life

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tiffles17
tiffles17 Posts: 28
in Motivation and Support
I live in Alaska and am currently working a 3 week on and 3 week off rotational schedule on the North Slope. (oilfields for those of you who are not familiar) When I'm at work, it's easy to get into a decent routine for eating healthy (I think) and exercise. In the 3 weeks that I'm working I can easily lose up to 6-8 pounds. The only real complaint I have is that Alaska in general doesn't always have very fresh foods and most come up preserved in some way. I deal with it though and all is usually well.

My biggest issue is a number of factors when I get home. Plain and simple, I don't want to do very much. Mostly I just want to spend time with my husband and it usually involves a lot of video games, movies or just plain down time. He's not overly interested in eating healthier at this point because his main focus is quitting smoking. Usually with life at home I end up gaining exactly what I've lost at work.

Does anyone else have problems like this? How do you balance it to where you're still getting results you want but not taking away from your family? I lost 60 pounds before but I think it was much easier for me because I was single and had no social life at all...

Any advice or help at all is most welcome. And don't worry, as opposed to some people I know I actually want the truth. I'm not scared :-)

Replies

  • LillyBoots
    LillyBoots Posts: 114 Member
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    You really have to control the food that gets cooked, meaning you should cook and make healthier versions of what ever you eat, you know, baked not fried. Grate veggies into chilli or meat sauces, use yogurt not cream in sauces .

    Also try making things that can have toppings like bacon and cheese so your husband can have them but you don't and he doesn't feel like he's being forced to diet.

    I'm a smoker and haven't taken up any exercise yet as I want to stop but fear replacing the oral fixation with food so I understand your husband not wanting to forgo food as well.
  • loricshields47
    loricshields47 Posts: 134 Member
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    you can make this work! If you take charge of the cooking, he will eat healthier and be none the wiser. There are so many interactive video games out there. If your game system allows for it sneak one into the rotation. Find a mutually acceptable challenge~loser does the dishes, winner picks the movie. Trying to quite smoking is tough, but might be more successfull if he has something to gain like beating you at dance party!!! Pop in a biggest loser dvd workout (or any other that intrigues you) I have all the richard simmons sweating to...they are easy, fun and affective. 30 minutes a day just for you. Believe!!
  • tiffles17
    tiffles17 Posts: 28
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    Thank you! These ideas are definitely worth a try! And please don't get me wrong, I am really proud of him for trying to quit. So far he is doing very well and I know it's hard on him so I don't push him. Thinking about it, taking charge of cooking will not only fix the problem of deciding what I eat, but also will be sure to get me off my butt at least for a little while :-) I will need to start looking up some recipes!! Do you have any suggestions or websites? The video game thing should be an easy thing to work in (hopefully). We have an Xbox with a Kinect sensor so I will look for some more active video games when I get home.
  • yelldan22
    yelldan22 Posts: 35 Member
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    skinnytaste.com and emilybites.com are my two go to websites for healthy food. They don't leave you thinking you're eating healthy. And my husband who cringes at the term healthy, eats it. I have this same situation going, but my husband is finally on board which is making things easier. Good Luck!
  • AprilBarkulis
    AprilBarkulis Posts: 76
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    A lot of the other replies are solid advice, ('yelldan22').
    Success is a lot about 'habitual' moves, like exchanging frozen yogurt for ice cream, fresh veggies for chips and the like. It is often true that the 'stubborn' soulmate becomes at first a 'temptation' to not follow the nedded changes, but a little will power soon not only defeats that problem, but many times he/she slowly 'comes in' on the healthier changes. What I do know from experience is that the 'meals' are the heart and soul of the matter. Changing those is not alway's an option because of considerations for our other siginificant other's, or ability to control the meals themselves. So, there is one sure way to 'help' overcome those kinds of barriers.... snacking between the meals! If you have 'larger' or 'more' HEALTHY snacks before meals, you will find you need less of those meals and thus you take in less of the 'bad' foods and such!
    It took my husband a while to convince me to snack more, (felt guilty even though it was healthy foods!)... but once I got into it, I soon found that this really works. A little research will also show us healthy snacking foods that have added benefits, like curbing hunger longer, adding fat burning elements, or lowering the effects of those not so good elements most 'really good' foods are full of.

    Do you have a food dehydrator ? I was thinking if you can dehydrate some of your fruits and pack then with you with some nuts mixed in could help for both work and home .


    I hope all this helps

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