Hi! Its amazing what improvements a good diet can make to your energy and your general well being! If they don't want to eat what you eat and you don't want to eat what they eat there is not very much you can do, but there are a few little tricks. I notice you say "traditional meat, starch, veggie meal". You can make something here which will suit everyone. So use sweet potato as your starch, its a great energy food and tastes amazing. Use lean meat such as chicken, turkey or fish and veg.... well if they eat veg and you eat veg, all is good! I try to eat as clean as possible but if my partner makes a lasagna, I will have some, we usually cook from scratch and if it fits my macro's I am OK with it! If your co-workers aren't being supportive, then that's why we are all here! I find bulk prepping some items really helps. Also you could try tempting the family with some nice clean eating desserts! Maybe have a little talk with those around you explaining how important this is and how much you would appreciate their support?

My household loves takeaways and I wish I could but my tummy just wont allow it and some things just arent worth the agony. As far as hubby's concerned the shopping hasn't been done unless there is bread and jam in the fridge, and for me, the shopping hasn't been done unless there is bowl of fruit and a bowl of salad veges in the fridge. Funnily enough though, he notices when the fruit's gone (because he's the main one eating them). Slow and steady does it

I cook separately. I usually cook something for myself on Sundays that I can heat up throught the week because honestly I'm okay with a little monotony. I know it's not for everyone. It saves me time since I cook my husband his own meal. Not to mention it keeps me on track. By the time I get home from the gym I want to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible and if I don't have something quick to heat up it can spell disaster.

If my SO doesn't want what I'm making, then he'll just make his own dinner and we'll eat different things together. If he doesn't want to cook that night, then he'll have what I'm making. It has really opened him up to new things. His go to dishes used to always be pasta, bread, and SO MUCH CHEESE (we don't eat meat). Last night, he said to me, "We should have a really good dinner tomorrow. Like a filling dinner, not something quick. Maybe that veggie quinoa stir fry stuff we made last week?" If his parents heard him say that, their jaws would be on the floor.

Another thing that has helped is that we've talked a lot about how important it is to me. He knows that I feel pretty crummy about myself when I'm not watching my weight and eating foods that are good for me. For Christmas, he got me a cook book that has high protein vegetarian meals. He numbered each recipe, and now we draw a number once per week so the cook book decides what we make and we can't say "no" to the recipe. There have been some things that we haven't liked at all, but there have been some we thought we'd hate, and ended up loving!

Again, this is coming from someone who would go weeks without eating vegetables just a year or two ago.

Good luck!

My sister, who likes to cook much more than I, typically makes three dinners-one for herself, one for her husband who is on a no salt diet, and one batch for their three kids. Me? I' learning to cook healthy foods for my self, and my son is going along.

I cook for myself, my hubbie, and 3 middle aged kids. What really helps me is making a large portion of something and then varying what I put underneath it. Tomorrow I am making a big pot of spaghetti sauce. Organic beef, onions, garlic, seasonings, cans of no sugar added tomato sauce. Then I will make the noodles on the side as well as steam a couple heads of cauliflower. They will eat some of the vegetables, but I will put 1/2 to 1 head of cauliflower under the meat sauce for myself, while they enjoy their noodles.
I made a big batch of chicken noodle soup last week. I took out 1/4 of the veggies and put them separate in the crock pot and made my own version without the egg noodles.
Chili- make a healthy pot of chili and warm up a yam or sweet potato to go under yours, while they can have corn bread, cheese, etc...
Grill, Bake, cook 3-4 pounds of chicken on the weekend and use it for meals.
This way you are only cooking once but it works for everyone.
This is at least what works for me, and my family gets to advantage of having a good portion of their food have a healthy base.

PS. Don't tell them it is super healthy chili, just call if by the regular names and they won't think twice.

Super post, NOTREADYTOQUIT!

I am having the same problem... and we cannot afford to double meals ... so i have kinda given up. it's two against me. and they like white everything!! ugh white rice which i hate, white bread, white pasta. I am stuck!!

I am very adamant about what I eat and won't eat. That is hard for some people. But if they want to eat a lot of stuff that I don't eat any more that is fine. I just tell them to hide the tempting things.
One thing for sure is that it is worth it!

I agree - Super post, NOTREADYTOQUIT!