Dinner = Problem

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Shoegazings
Shoegazings Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm new, please go easy on me if I'm doing this wrong, hah.

So I'm a little lost about how this whole losing weight thing works, but I have a general grasp of it. Just trying to eat healthy, low-calorie food and up my exercise, ya know?

Anyway, ever since February this year, I've been living with my partner and his family. I love them to death, they're awesome, but, dinner is a bit of a problem. They eat pretty unhealthily; I'm talking fatty meat, lots of pasta, rice, potatoes (basically just a lot of carbs) and not too many vegetables.

I'm a student and I'm on a low income so I can only really afford to buy enough groceries to cover my breakfast and lunch meals- muesli, yoghurt, fruit, salad and salad ingredients, stuff like that. So since it's convenient and respectful, I sit down with the family every night and we all eat the same thing for dinner.

I worry that what we're eating for dinner is affecting my weight loss...I tend to lose either a little bit each week, or gain a little bit, or just stay around the same weight. It's annoying because I feel like I eat pretty well throughout the day, but I was thinking, maybe if I started eating healthier dinners then I'd see better results.

I think it would be a little rude to ask my partner's Mum to accommodate my diet with dinner so I'm not sure if I should go that route.

Do you guys have any advice about what I can do to improve my dinner situation?

Thanks,
Benji

Replies

  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    You have lots of options here.
    Talk to the mom and to your partner to see if she can add vegetables some nights.
    Offer to help plan and prepare the meals. Remember to clean up after dinner,.
    You could eat smaller portions at breakfast and lunch in order to eat her dinners.

    Fatty meats are fine to eat. Put small portions of the meat on your plate. The same goes for the pasta, rice, potatoes -- put a child sized portion on your plate.
  • Chezzie84
    Chezzie84 Posts: 873 Member
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    You have lots of options here.
    Talk to the mom and to your partner to see if she can add vegetables some nights.
    Offer to help plan and prepare the meals. Remember to clean up after dinner,.
    You could eat smaller portions at breakfast and lunch in order to eat her dinners.

    Fatty meats are fine to eat. Put small portions of the meat on your plate. The same goes for the pasta, rice, potatoes -- put a child sized portion on your plate.

    ^This
    Remember that there is no such things as bad foods only bad quantities.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Maybe you can save some of your breakfast/lunch funds for some veggies and offer them up to contribute towards dinner? You know, teach by example.
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
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    Honestly, I wouldn't "worry" so much about the types of food offered at dinner. With exception of the lack of veggies (mmm, yummy veggies), the "meat and potatoes" is a hearty and filling meal. I'm probably a bit biased, as my family eats a similar dinner nightly, as I see nothing inherently wrong in that meal. We just make sure to eat the veggies for lunch (yummy garden salads and whatnot), and a roast type meal typically for dinner.

    If it were me, I'd continue to focus on eating my veggies during earlier meals (as it sounds you already do), and enjoy the meat and carb load for dinner. I'm guessing you are able to choose your serving sizes, so just pick a modest portion of what looks appropriate for your needs.
  • jenniferplankenhorn
    jenniferplankenhorn Posts: 3
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    Offer to shop for and cook a few dinners. Maybe you can help everyone in your family eat healthier. Also after they see how good it can taste they may even want it more often.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    You don't have to eat everything served. You can take smaller portions. Make a vegetable dish to add to the meal. Have vegetables or fruit for a snack before or after dinner.
    If you are logging everything as accurately as possible and staying with your allowed calories then you are going to lose weight no matter what you eat.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    edited January 2015
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    RodaRose wrote: »
    You have lots of options here.
    Talk to the mom and to your partner to see if she can add vegetables some nights.
    Offer to help plan and prepare the meals. Remember to clean up after dinner,.
    You could eat smaller portions at breakfast and lunch in order to eat her dinners.

    Fatty meats are fine to eat. Put small portions of the meat on your plate. The same goes for the pasta, rice, potatoes -- put a child sized portion on your plate.
    ^This. Also offer to cook as well. You can plan and ask for certain ingredients plus contribute to the meal since you can't afford to buy the ingredients yourself.

    You can also eat smaller portions of the other food and maybe buy some frozen veggies to supplement with. They are usually pretty cheap.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    Rice, pasta, and potatoes are all vegetables, but that's not what you're asking. All you really need to so is track your calories and make sure that you are eating less than you burn.
  • hamoncan
    hamoncan Posts: 148 Member
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    If you're an average sized guy or bigger, just eating normal meals shouldn't be much of a problem if you eat normal portions - what's your daily calorie goal?
  • Stitch_down_carbs
    Stitch_down_carbs Posts: 52 Member
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    I would suggest talking them about introducing more variety of vegetables or cooking the meat in different ways. You could maybe eat smaller portions or if you are really loving those big dinners, eat lighter somewhere else. Blend up cheap vegetables for smoothies.

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