eating with Hubby

Hello everyone,
I am having a hard time with planning meal because my Hubby is a big eater. He is a very large man and he says he is going to eat what ever he wants. But my question is how do I plan meals that are healthy for me and enough so he is asking for more food an hour after eating dinner.

Replies

  • catholiclorimom
    catholiclorimom Posts: 15 Member
    you are a sweetie to plan and cook for your husband! Healthy well balanced meals are always a plus for everyone. I am in the same boat. Whenever I cook I make enough for 4-8 and weigh and measure my portion and let my husband (and kids) plate-up (at the stove) for themselves. If they want seconds they have to get up and get them for themselves (I rarely have seconds). We all eat normal food--fish chicken hamburger dishes, I just have a smaller portion. So far lost 20lbs and with no extra work! Try not to be jealous/unhappy with your husband and his own eating habits. Each of you is responsible for what you put in your own mouth :) !!
  • Thank you for the good word. It is hard because when I was single I use to use my left overs to my next day lunch at work. But now that I have a hubby, it is hard when he eats all that is left. I stated making salads and that helps a little, but not as much as I would like. I know at this point I have to keep an eye on what I eat and not worry about his eating habits.
  • Butyou
    Butyou Posts: 30 Member
    Its so hard to keep up with portion control when the hubby just eats what ever they want. I think of way to challenge myself. Just because he is doing does not mean I need to feel miserable after this meal:)
    I hope this helps. Keep up the good work. The 1st step is to start thinking about changing your habits:)
  • RinnyLush
    RinnyLush Posts: 389 Member
    My boyfriend is a big eater, too! Fortunately, he also loves to help in the kitchen and really enjoys all the vegetables and lean proteins I tend to put in our meals.

    What I do is make whatever low-cal recipe we've chosen for FOUR PEOPLE. I will eat one serving, and he will usually eat double that, sometimes more! I will also sometimes make some extra grain servings or sauces for him to fill out his plate. Here is an example of a dinner we had a couple nights ago:

    We had coconut-crusted tillapia sauteed in coconut oil, roasted broccoli, and a spicy mozzarella cheese sauce. As you can see, my plate was a piece of fish, a large helping of broccoli, and just a little cheese sauce drizzled on top:

    mymeal.jpg

    My boyfriend's plate was the same as mine + a serving of quinoa and a few heaping spoonfuls of the cheese sauce. AND he had seconds:

    hismeal.jpg
  • knittnponder
    knittnponder Posts: 1,953 Member
    Thank you for the good word. It is hard because when I was single I use to use my left overs to my next day lunch at work. But now that I have a hubby, it is hard when he eats all that is left. I stated making salads and that helps a little, but not as much as I would like. I know at this point I have to keep an eye on what I eat and not worry about his eating habits.

    I have to feed a family of six so having leftovers is a rare thing here. I do use whatever we're having for dinner for my husband's lunch the next day though so instead of waiting to see what's leftover, I put some aside before I even call them. If you are wanting to have some for lunch the next day then just get your dinner serving, set some aside in a lidded container in the fridge for your lunch the next day and then call them for dinner. If they eat and are still hungry later why can't they just go find something else to snack on if all of dinner has been eaten?
  • NatalieG525
    NatalieG525 Posts: 65 Member
    It can be really difficult eating with hubby, can't it? It's taken a while for my other half to adapt to the new lifestyle change, but he's getting there :) He still buys his awful crappy snacks in the weekly shop, but meal wise he has become a lot better. What doesn't help is that he's underweight (even though he eats for England!), so don't want to lower his calorie intake. So basically I cook enough to serve 4. That's a portion for me, a portion for my daughter (half of it put in the fridge for lunch the next day for her), and then 2 portions for him. All happy :P
  • tedsmama
    tedsmama Posts: 178 Member
    I am in the same boat. My husband is also a big guy, my 16 year old is 6'2" and my 13 year old is 5'8". They all have enormous appetites. We just eat "normal". I just either eat less of whatever we are having for dinner, or swap out a higher calorie side dish for a small salad or extra veggies. I have found planning ahead works well as I often like to eat a larger dinner so I make sure I have calories left over for the day. I don't make a big deal out of what I'm doing because my husband gets suspicious that I'm trying to slip him "diet food". :drinker:
  • wannakimmy
    wannakimmy Posts: 488 Member
    Thank you for the good word. It is hard because when I was single I use to use my left overs to my next day lunch at work. But now that I have a hubby, it is hard when he eats all that is left. I stated making salads and that helps a little, but not as much as I would like. I know at this point I have to keep an eye on what I eat and not worry about his eating habits.

    I have to feed a family of six so having leftovers is a rare thing here. I do use whatever we're having for dinner for my husband's lunch the next day though so instead of waiting to see what's leftover, I put some aside before I even call them. If you are wanting to have some for lunch the next day then just get your dinner serving, set some aside in a lidded container in the fridge for your lunch the next day and then call them for dinner. If they eat and are still hungry later why can't they just go find something else to snack on if all of dinner has been eaten?

    This ^^^
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    My hubby eats twice what I eat and sometimes an added starch, like a whole grain roll.

    If he is hungry after that, he fills up on fruit, milk and cereal, nuts and usually some kind of chocolate (yes, most nights it is "and"). If he is particularly peckish, he might have potstickers from the freezer, but he must have gorged himself on those before I moved here, because there are two bags in the freezer that he hasn't touched in nearly two months. Unfortunately, I can't convince him to take more food to work. He bikes to work now and still takes the same lunch and snacks he took when he drove!
  • WhiteRabbit1313
    WhiteRabbit1313 Posts: 1,091 Member
    Hello everyone,
    I am having a hard time with planning meal because my Hubby is a big eater. He is a very large man and he says he is going to eat what ever he wants. But my question is how do I plan meals that are healthy for me and enough so he is asking for more food an hour after eating dinner.

    Eat what he eats, in smaller portions and add some green veggies to the meal plan. Easy peasy.
  • This is going to be tuff. Because I also have a hard time planning meals with my husband. We both need to improve our eating habits. Not giving up healthy life style much needed.
  • MorgueBabe
    MorgueBabe Posts: 1,188 Member
    He is going to eat what he wants? Great. He's a grown man... he can make his own meals.
  • harmonymkr
    harmonymkr Posts: 10 Member
    Luckily, my husband and I are both "Fluffy" and dieting together but I am WAY more committed than he is. He won't eat something if it doesn't suit his tastes and takes much bigger portions than I do. I tend to do what a lot of you are saying: cook something tasty and use portion control for myself. Here are my methods:

    Use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate when serving myself
    Let him dish out his own meal or let him go back for seconds if he wants to
    Don't put all the sides and entrées on the table in front of you or else you will scoop up more
    Find recipes he will like that are also good for him (we both LOVE the site skinnytaste.com)
    serve a smaller main dish with lots of healthy sides
  • beaches61
    beaches61 Posts: 154 Member
    My spouse does not eat that much but I have 2 teens who are always hungry and like calorie-dense foods like hamburger and noodles, mac and cheese, etc. I cannot fit these foods into my meal plan because they are so calorie dense that I won't be full with the small amount I can eat.

    So I don't always eat the same meal they do, depending on what they are having. So we usually cook some chicken and other stuff on the weekends and sometimes I use the leftovers for my meals. Sometimes I broil some fish for myself and they have something else.

    If we're having something that works with my meal plan I just eat a smaller portion and some veggies.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    My spouse does not eat that much but I have 2 teens who are always hungry and like calorie-dense foods like hamburger and noodles, mac and cheese, etc. I cannot fit these foods into my meal plan because they are so calorie dense that I won't be full with the small amount I can eat.

    So I don't always eat the same meal they do, depending on what they are having. So we usually cook some chicken and other stuff on the weekends and sometimes I use the leftovers for my meals. Sometimes I broil some fish for myself and they have something else.

    If we're having something that works with my meal plan I just eat a smaller portion and some veggies.

    Why not fix a super healthy meal of lean protein and veggies with a side of mac and cheese or scalloped potatoes for them?

    I also add cheese to my husband's veggies sometimes, especially steamed broccoli.
  • wow... thanks everyone for all the comments... I will have to look into each of these and see what is best for me to get over my issue.
    I know this is not going to be an easy task.. but I just wanted to get some in site from you all.
  • jlynnm70
    jlynnm70 Posts: 460 Member
    I have a family that is ALL very thin - some almost underweight - and then - there is ME!

    I cook normal for them - or sometimes sneak in stuff. My favorite it to make spaghetti with Turkey or chicken - they can't tell most of the time and I add extra veggies to the sauce (chop it up small and they can't tell the mushrooms from the meat!) I usually eat the same and just portion control the heck out of it. If they want something HIGH in calories - I may skip that side (mac and cheese is a favorite at our house) and have a salad instead. I always serve a veggie so I can fill up on that too!

    I also eat super careful during the day at work (it's easy cause there is no one there to sabotage me) and then I have extra calories for dinner.
  • beaches61
    beaches61 Posts: 154 Member
    My spouse does not eat that much but I have 2 teens who are always hungry and like calorie-dense foods like hamburger and noodles, mac and cheese, etc. I cannot fit these foods into my meal plan because they are so calorie dense that I won't be full with the small amount I can eat.

    So I don't always eat the same meal they do, depending on what they are having. So we usually cook some chicken and other stuff on the weekends and sometimes I use the leftovers for my meals. Sometimes I broil some fish for myself and they have something else.

    If we're having something that works with my meal plan I just eat a smaller portion and some veggies.

    Why not fix a super healthy meal of lean protein and veggies with a side of mac and cheese or scalloped potatoes for them?

    I also add cheese to my husband's veggies sometimes, especially steamed broccoli.

    Sometimes we do lean proteins, and we do fish, but they don't eat things like mac and cheese as a side. I have an 18-yo 6-foot son who is still growing, and a daughter who runs and plays basketball, they need the calories. I don't. Our needs are very different.
  • Same as above, I'll make burritos for dinner, but I use whole wheat tortillas, sub black beans for regular refried maybe grill a quick chicken breast instead of the ground beef slop or just go no meat if im feeling lazy. Or with spaghetti,I'll use spaghetti squash instead of pasta and much less sauce. I don't make seperate dinners because aunt nobody got time for that, I just substitute, add or remove the stuff that doesn't work for me.
  • wshultz14
    wshultz14 Posts: 63 Member
    I have the same issue.. Wayne was a hugh starch eater, and I am not. To tell the truth I really don't worry about his eating habits.
    I fix a good meal.. I have one starch, and a vegetable for him with an additional vegetable for me. In time without saying a word, he has slooowly changed his eating habits. He has less starch and more vegetables.

    Sometimes in addition to the food I fix he likes to have cottage cheese, mac salad, potato salad, on the side with his meal. Never have figured out why, except this way he always gives himself options. I use 10 inch plates, so there is not much room on the plate for additional options. As long as this makes him happy, I don't say anything. He is eating better, but there is room for improvement..for both of us.

    Good Luck
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    My wife just eats less than me and I eat more...it's pretty simple...unless you're demonizing certain foods and macro-nutrients, then it's a ***** and I wish you the best of luck with that.
  • MysteriousMerlin
    MysteriousMerlin Posts: 2,270 Member
    My husband eats what I cook, aka, I cook what I need for myself. If he wants more, he knows where to locate the kitchen, and how to make a pb & j sammich if he's still hungry.

    I keep plenty of fruit and veggies on hand as well, so he can grab what he wants whenever.

    With side dishes, there's usually enough left over that if he wanted more, he can help himself.
  • dellaquilaa
    dellaquilaa Posts: 230 Member
    Honestly, I say just let him grab a snack after dinner if he needs to. That's the agreement my bf and I came to - he eats what I cook, sometimes a slightly larger portion than what I have. And I usually catch him having a snack before bed, like a piece of fruit or some chips and salsa. But I figure he's a big boy, he's capable of finding food for himself.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
    Garlic bread. My BF loves it and would eat it with anything, whereas I can take it or leave it so I'm not tempted. We do a lot of salads and veggie side dishes too, so he can add dressing, cheese, croutons, whatever.
  • CurviiRunnr2014
    CurviiRunnr2014 Posts: 8 Member
    Both my husband & I love to cook, so I have this problem plus dealing with his love for frying. On my nights I cook, I try to cook healthy but will skip any sauces/gravies that might add too much calories or fat for me. I'll also skip rolls/biscuits unless I can "afford" it, in my calories. If his meal, he cooks, is too unhealthy; I'll just fix something else for myself. He is a little overweight but I need to remember: just because I'm ready to lose weight, doesn't mean he is. I'm hoping to lead by example. Good luck :)
  • It's fairly simple, make a batch of food say bolognese, curry etc...you use a smaller portion size plate then he has.
    Fill that plate up and let you husband eat from the normal size plate and if he wants a refill he can just get one from the batch of food you have made so he will be full, then whatever is left over put into freezer boxes and store away in the freezer.
    This works brilliant for me especially on days when I am really busy or get in late I just take out one of the dinner I made and froze and use that.
    Just because your husband eats huge portions doesn't mean you have to :smile:
  • Did you ever try the one kal spray you use it for frying etc...or you can get an vegtable oil that is in a spray it cooks the food just as good as frying with all the taste.
  • CupcakeGangsta
    CupcakeGangsta Posts: 18 Member
    I handle this in a few ways. I will either make four to five servings and portion out my dinner first, portion out my lunch serving for the following day, and then allow my husband to dig in. Or I will make two separate meals. My husband is a picky eater so he typically doesn't like a lot of the health foods I prepare. I am also lactose intolerant and he can eat whatever he wants. He also has a high metabolism and tends to be hungry an hour or two after dinner. I always plan on making extra of either option for this reason.

    This works really well for us and I'm never left with nothing to take in my lunch the next day. Groceries aren't expensive either because we eat a lot of the same meals on rotation each week. Hope you find some good ideas on this thread!