Cooking for people different caloric requirements.

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MrsBingley
MrsBingley Posts: 145
in Food and Nutrition
Hey all.

I am currently eating about 1500-1800 cals/day depending on my exercise load. This is a pretty decent cut from what I was eating before. To make the adjustment as comfortable as possible, I have adjusted most of my home cooked food to be less calories dense (volumetrics).

The problem is, My husband needs an insane amount of food to maintain his weight (he's a lean 187, 6'4"). If he eats less than 4000 cals/day, he loses weight. (I know many of you won't believe this, but he is metabolically abnormal-diagnosed)

He can't eat enough of my volumetric food to feel satisfied without simultaneously feeling stuffed and bloated. As a result, he is heavily supplementing his diet with "junk" food. Now, I'm perfectly fine with that, as "junk" food has always been about 1/3 of his diet, but lately it has been about 2/3 of his diet and he has been complaining about not feeling well.

Many nights, I have taken to making 2 seperate dinners. I really like cooking, but this is a bit much even for me.

What I'm looking for are some suggestions for dinner recipes that can be easily adjusted to calorie dense/calorie light versions.

Some considerations:
I can't just add avocado to stuff- he hates it.
I can't just add bacon to stuff - he eats a crapload of it at breakfast and gets burnt out on it.

For any recipies where it actually makes it taste better, I have been adding herb infused olive oils, but that only gets me so far.
I have also been adding cream/butter/sour cream to his soups.

Any other ideas are greatly appreciated.

Thanks
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Replies

  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    What types of food are you preparing? Can he just add a couple pieces of chicken or a steak on the side? A roll or piece of bread with butter, drizzle some olive oil or melt some cheese over his veggies?
  • GardeningZombie
    GardeningZombie Posts: 55 Member
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    Prepare your high and low calorie foods separately. For example, cooking up beans and rice, and sautéing up cabbage and other vegetables. Then you can have a 2:1 cabbage to B&R, while he reverses the amount. As long as you can portion them separately you both can enjoy the same meal :-)


    BTW If your not used to a beans, rice, cabbage diet, be prepared for a sheet lifting nigh t:noway: Those gut flora may no be ready for the long chained carbs.
  • kowajenn
    kowajenn Posts: 274 Member
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    I have skinny men in my family. The difference in our diets tends to be in carbs. They eat a lot of pasta, rice, bread and potatoes whereas I eat very little of those items. They eat two or three times the portion sizes of meat and veggies I do. And yes, they eat junk. My teenaged son drinks a lot of milk and supplements with ramen. He would die without ramen.
  • mapenguinkeeper
    mapenguinkeeper Posts: 191
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    does hubby have broken arm? why can't he cook some nights?
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    The problem is, My husband needs an insane amount of food to maintain his weight (he's a lean 187, 6'4"). If he eats less than 4000 cals/day, he loses weight. (I know many of you won't believe this, but he is metabolically abnormal-diagnosed)

    i hate him
  • rachface1234
    rachface1234 Posts: 227 Member
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    Add nuts and cheese and more carbs to his portions! :) lucky man!
  • VelvetMorning
    VelvetMorning Posts: 398 Member
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    Nuts are pretty darn high in calories. Two cups of cashews = ~1,200 calories, and two cups isn't really a great deal. Maybe keep some nuts in the house for him to snack on in the place of junk to wean him back to 1/3rd instead of 2/3rds?

    I kinda wish I had his problem.
  • missyfitter
    missyfitter Posts: 11 Member
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    I have a 6'4 husband too - i always double or triple his portion compared to mine.

    I try to make healthy food from my Jamie Oliver cook books. His ingredients are wholesome and the meals are tasty.

    I also encourage him to snack on nuts, dried fruits, cheese, and protein shakes between meals.

    Good luck!
  • PennyM140
    PennyM140 Posts: 423 Member
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    Fried Chicken!!
    I don't really have anything helpful to say. I feel bad for you having to cook calorie dense food for him that you may want to limit to stay within your calorie goals. It would be very hard for me to lose or maintain weight around him, I'd be so jealous.

    More good carbs? Try adding olive oil or coconut oil to everything. Maybe some high calorie smoothies??
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
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    Make a lot of food. Give him a lot of food.

    If he's still hungry, show him where the freezer is, and stock that with ice cream.
  • PennyM140
    PennyM140 Posts: 423 Member
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    Make a lot of food. Give him a lot of food.

    If he's still hungry, show him where the freezer is, and stock that with ice cream.

    Love it, I almost said Ice cream but I know you were looking for healthy options. Maybe frozen yogurt though!!
  • iechick
    iechick Posts: 352 Member
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    I eat totally separate foods/meals than my family and have been doing this for over a year now. It works really well for me and I plan on doing this long term.
  • ClementineGeorg
    ClementineGeorg Posts: 505 Member
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    There are tons of other things you can add to normal meals to make them more caloric.
    Cheeses and nuts came in many varieties, and you can find something he likes and still don't get bored. Even salads can became super-high caloric with 50 ml of dressing and 100 g pine nuts on top.

    Make/buy him desserts, if he likes them. Some cakes have like 500 calories for 100 g.

    Also, you can encourage him to snack on high calorie snacks in order to reduce the calories he needs at one meal. It can be nuts, peanut butter or even 3 bananas, or two handfull of dried dates.

    Again, pasta, rice, bread are calories added to normal veggies/meat meals.
    You can buy sausages to replaces his meat with some meals. Some sausages are like 500 calories each. You just grill them a little to become hot.

    You can serve him the same meat as you, with two pans: you grill yours and fry for him.

    But, he can also get involved in cooking. I know some men hate cooking. But he at least can make a meal 1-2 times a week for him, in order to help you. He can make more portions to have throught the week.
    There are a ton of recipies out there, from the most simple (how hard is to put some ingredients in a crockpot?) to more complex. In time he can learn to cook some simple meals that fit hit better.
    Or he can help you by doing other chores instead of you to have more time for cooking for him also. You gotta help eachother.
  • kjimmie4848
    kjimmie4848 Posts: 123 Member
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    I don't cook for myself, I cook for the family first. Then I make myself an extra vegetable and skip out on the high carb side, which is usually pasta, rice, or potato.
  • MrsBingley
    MrsBingley Posts: 145
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    does hubby have broken arm? why can't he cook some nights?

    I cook, he does laundry and fixes stuff.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Hubby's not on a diet and only has dinner at home really. He eats more of what we're having, then has a snack later. Or if we make pasta/rice etc, sometimes I don't have any and everyone else has some.

    I really wouldn't make two meals honestly.
  • MrsBingley
    MrsBingley Posts: 145
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    Prepare your high and low calorie foods separately. For example, cooking up beans and rice, and sautéing up cabbage and other vegetables. Then you can have a 2:1 cabbage to B&R, while he reverses the amount. As long as you can portion them separately you both can enjoy the same meal :-)


    BTW If your not used to a beans, rice, cabbage diet, be prepared for a sheet lifting nigh t:noway: Those gut flora may no be ready for the long chained carbs.

    I do this, and it does help. Thank you
  • selfepidemic1
    selfepidemic1 Posts: 159 Member
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    Oh man that sounds SO expensive! 4000 calories? Perhaps get him/make him some protein shakes, coke floats ( add double cream to coke ) should help cover a few of the calories. I have no idea how someone can eat that much D:
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
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    Smaller portions for you, larger portions for him.
  • JenniTheVeggie
    JenniTheVeggie Posts: 2,474 Member
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    I was going to say avocado. Hmmmm...what about nuts and/or peanut butter? Cheeses? More snacking throughout the day?

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