Substitutes for loaded baked potatoes and french fries.

Sweet potato fries are quite good. Instead of sour cream on a loaded baked potato try plain non fat greek yogurt. Similar consistency and still a bit of a sour taste, but way healthier and more protein.

I have both sweet and white/ red potatoes pretty regularly. The potatoes themselves are a bit less than 1 calorie per gram of raw potato (~80 calories per 100 grams), and that's not too bad. I do a lot of baked fries, both store-bought and cut up at home. I actually prefer the taste of baked fries now. Sometimes I chop potatoes with peppers, onions, zucchini, squash, etc, spice them, and bake them for 40 minutes or so. And I love shredded hash browns for breakfast- just make sure you use a very small amount of oil/ butter (or cooking spray) to cook them in! The frozen bags of hash browns are usually 80 calories for an 85 gram serving.

As for baked potatoes, it all depends on what you put on them. Skinnytaste.com has some wonderful loaded potato ideas, but some of them are more of an entree than a side dish:

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/12/loaded-baked-sweet-potato.html
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/09/loaded-turkey-chili-baked-potato.html
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/01/broccoli-and-cheese-twice-baked-potatoes.html
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/10/sweet-potato-irish-nachos.html

If you didn't want to sacrifice your toppings, maybe you could buy smaller potatoes, or split one regular potato with your husband? That way you wouldn't give up your flavor, but you'd be getting less calories because of the smaller portion. Another compromise would be buying 'light' versions of your toppings- fat free sour cream usually has about 20 cals per serving, but the texture is way different. Plain Greek yogurt makes a fantastic substitute- it's not super-low calorie, but it's packed with protein. Cheese made from skim milk has less calories than regular cheese, at 80-90 cals per 28 gram serving versus 120 or so. Salsa is another option- it's extremely low calorie and very flavorful.

I bake my french fries if they are store bought. If I make them from scratch I throw them into the ActiFry. No way on earth I'd give up my fries.

My husband and I feel like we have to have french fries or a loaded baked potato at every meal.

Just... don't do that? Have them once or twice a week; skip them at the other meals and just have (slightly) larger portions of your protein and vegetables.

Or you could make them with lower calories and have them whenever you want...

My boyfriend and I made a batch of twice baked potatoes that were 175 calories each and froze them. All we needed was a kitchen scale to weigh the innards and skins, reduced calorie cheese and sour cream. Roast a head of garlic and mash it with everything else in a bowl. Add salt and pepper to your taste then restuff, sprinkle paprika on top and freeze. It's fairly easy to calculate the calories in a full recipe and divide by the number of portions.

I oven roast my potatoes in wedges. For each serving (double ingredients for 2 servings):

4 ounces of baby red potatoes cut into wedges (with peel on)
1/2 tsp olive oil
dash of paprika
dash of garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Stir together in a bowl to coat potatoes, then spread potatoes evenly on a baking sheet or dish. Bake in oven at 400 for about 25-30 minutes (the longer, the crispier they get).

Very satisfying sub for french fries.

During my diet i found squash to be the perfect substitute for potatoes.

We love grilled potatoes. I slice them into wedges, cut them into thick slices, or dice them really big. Toss them in a little bit of olive oil, garlic powder, pepper and oregano and they are fantastic!! I cut them different ways, just to change it up a bit. This goes great with grilled zucchini and onions too. If you don't have access to a grill, you can bake them at 400 for about 35 minutes or so.