A healthier lifestyle for my husband and I

IntoTheCrimsonSky
IntoTheCrimsonSky Posts: 2
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey Everyone,

My husband and I have recently decided to lose a bit of weight and start a more healthy diet together, but we often eat different things for breakfast and lunch (especially since he goes to work and I am at home). We also have different levels of activity because he's stuck at a desk job for 9 hours a day. I try to track my own intake and exercise, but am not sure how to handle tracking his. He is very busy and doesn't have the time/attention span to track it himself, and I'm the one who normally makes most of the food, so he wouldn't even know what goes in recipes. He's also a stress eater and, even when I portion control, he normally ends up snacking on stuff like chips on a regular basis and as gained about 15lbs. I'm kind of hoping that showing him his full calorie intake might help him realize he needs to watch that more.

How do you guys handle lifestyle changes for a household? Do most couples track their own progress, or are there any tips or tools you guys can suggest to better manage it?

Also, anyone have any tips for exercise when options are limited? :\ To make this more challenging for me, I moved countries and changed lifestyles from a very busy job that kept me on my feet all day, plus 8km of walking to and from work, to being home all the time. Due to this I seem to have ended up with a higher fat percent and gained a few pounds (it looks like I gained 10lbs, when I only gained 3lbs).

We currently live in a very hot climate and so I have lost the option to go for my daily speed walks/jogs, and we are not close to a gym. We do try to go on a 2 mile walk every night together, but the pace is much slower and I used to do that on top of my previous one.

So yeah, sorry if this is a bit of a ramble. We both really want to be healthier and our optimal weight, but I'm just not sure how to go about it. So any tips would be appreciated.

Replies

  • ashdawg8790
    ashdawg8790 Posts: 819 Member
    My hubby is a snacker also and also is trying to lose some weight... kind of... Anywho, I try to always have healthier snacks prepared for him so his only options aren't chips... He still goes for them of course but I like to have cut up apples, cut up celery and carrots, Greek yogurt, cheese sticks, baggies of mixed nuts, etc for him to munch on. He hates anything he has to make himself. :) It helps if I label everything and remind him it's in there, too... Plus he likes smoothies, protein shakes, etc, because they fill him up, they're easy, and he knows he or I can hide fruits and veggies in there. :)
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
    1) Can't control your husband. He can make his own choices, and will.
    2) You have the option to go on your walks and runs, you just choose not to. Except for disasters, weather isn't a reason, it's an excuse.
  • benaddict
    benaddict Posts: 1,381 Member
    My husband and I have started getting healthier too. Actually, I started in March, and never told him he should do it or anything but he decided a month later he wanted to start too. I count calories but he doesn't. I weigh myself every day, he weighs himself maybe once a month. I cook almost all of our food, so other than breakfast we eat pretty much the same thing, but his portions are way bigger than mine. We both started running (again, me first, then he decided on his own to try it too) and he runs twice a day (2 miles each time), I only run once. We live in a hot climate too, but if we get up by 6 AM it's tolerable to run. We've each lost about 20 pounds. The point is, different things work for different people and everyone will do it in their own way. I would never dream of trying to count my husband's calories for him, he's not my child. If he wants to count them, he knows exactly how to do it since I've been on MFP over four months and have told him how it works. Your husband has the same choice. Good luck.
  • maidentl
    maidentl Posts: 3,203 Member
    Also, anyone have any tips for exercise when options are limited?

    YouTube has lots of free exercise videos:

    BeFit https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD0nBMLdq_KbIK9u-mzpNkA

    Fitness Blender https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiP6wD_tYlYLYh3agzbByWQ

    Blogilates https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIJwWYOfsCfz6PjxbONYXSg
  • IntoTheCrimsonSky
    IntoTheCrimsonSky Posts: 2
    Thanks for all of the replies. Sorry I was a bit late responding, it's been a busy few weeks for me. :)

    I appreciate the tips about keeping healthier foods handy and leading by example. I'll definitely try that. He's very much the "grab anything on hand quickly" type. He does love when I give him healthier options at lunch, like fruits and veggies, he just won't prep them himself.

    I just wanted to clarify -- I'm not trying to control my husband. He wants me to help him lose weight. He just has very little time to track things himself, and is struggling with stress/burn-out from work, so it's hard for him to stay motivated. I'd rather him spend his free time doing things to de-stress, than worrying about calorie tracking. The other day I asked him if I could track his calories for him by downloading the MyFitnessPal app on his phone. I add anything I prepare for him in it. This seemed to be the best option, because now that he's started to see what he's eating, he's got interested in keeping track himself -- he adds little additional snacks, and has been asking me a lot of questions about different foods and serving sizes. I think it helps that I started tracking him on a day that he was nearly double his recommended intake. It made him realize that his portions were WAY off. He's never really been exposed to how to eat healthy, just thought he needed to exercise more.

    Although this is currently working, it's still a bit of a pain to have to manage it on his phone or log into his account to log everything manually on a browser. But, at least it's better than before. :)

    To the comment about natural disasters being the only reason not to run/walk...I think it depends on the person. :\ I am extremely prone to heat-stroke and have made myself sick trying to go out a few times. It's also a dangerous area for walking alone. The safest time was about mid-day. I am trying to do some at-home exercising like jogging on the spot now. We will be moving in a few months and this will be much easier.

    Anyway, thank you again everyone. :)

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