Couples Dieting
EmilyOlguin
Posts: 6 Member
I am trying to diet with my boyfriend. We both have different goals but overall we need to lose quite a bit of weight. We do well on the weekdays when we aren't with each other and busy with work, however we have lots of trouble staying on our diets on the weekend. We usually over eat or eat a big meal and then snack all day.
My boyfriend is a not a picky eater, he just doesn't like much except junk food. During the week he will eat brown rice and chicken. It's very bland but he enjoys that over other healthy options(not big on flavors).
I on the other hand will eat anything under the sun but settle on the same junk food my boyfriend will eat.
What options are there for good eating on the weekends? I'm not looking for the healthiest alternatives, just ones that won't destroy the week of dieting. By no means am I asking for salad recipes and avocado zucchini pasta ideas!
My boyfriend is a not a picky eater, he just doesn't like much except junk food. During the week he will eat brown rice and chicken. It's very bland but he enjoys that over other healthy options(not big on flavors).
I on the other hand will eat anything under the sun but settle on the same junk food my boyfriend will eat.
What options are there for good eating on the weekends? I'm not looking for the healthiest alternatives, just ones that won't destroy the week of dieting. By no means am I asking for salad recipes and avocado zucchini pasta ideas!
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Replies
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What about having a make your own pizza night?
Use tortillas for the pizza crust. I typically use 10" flours and the calories typically end up around 300 for the whole thing.
Or what about making a crock pot meal? Something like Chicken Taco Chili from Skinnytaste. It's great and it makes a lot of servings so you can save some for quick meals later in the week.
There is also a recipe for Buffalo Chicken lettuce wraps (sooo good) on Skinnytaste.0 -
My fiance could easily polish off more than 1200 calories in pizza by himself. Instead, when we get pizza, he gets five pieces, I get three and we split a small Greek salad.
After dinner (not on pizza nights, lol) he could also pack away a "small" ice cream stand ice cream, which are about 8 ounces. Instead, we get the Ben & Jerry's four ounce mini cups. He actually hasn't requested one of those for a while - he's been eating 70 calories worth of Ghiradelli squares for dessert.
Last night, he ate a whole chicken piccata entree, but when we get dinner before seeing a movie, we split one of those plus a Caesar salad.
He's easily satisfied with less food, the trick is to give him smaller portions
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Personally I'm not a fan of "couples dieting". I did it the once with my husband and he lost weight much faster than I did without seeming to suffer and I found it demoralizing. Both of you choosing more nutritious foods and avoiding calorie dense "junk food" is absolutely a good idea but if he doesn't like vegetables I don't think I'd be hitching up my wagon. I know there are people on here who have achieved success without eating vegetables but for me they are a big factor in my success or failure.
ETA: I've heard it said that ultimately we are all alone on our journey. I agree.0 -
Some things I use:
I've found I can make healthier chicken tenders by getting boneless, skinless chicken tenders, oven bake them, and then doing different things with them. Sometimes I use longhorn steak spices (found it at store, or taco seasoning is another option) and rub them on before cooking them, then cut them up after cooking and make hard tacos with reduced fat mexican cheese, lettuce, tomato, and guacamole. Another option is to use hamburger buns instead and make a chicken sandwich (usually don't use the spices in that case, and melt reduced fat mozzarella cheese on top of chicken at end of baking time). I also sometimes make a buffalo sauce and toss them in that.
Also, sometimes I will get pork shoulder (Boston butt roast), add my favorite BBQ vinegar based sauce (more liquid than other sauces), and cook it in the crock pot for pulled pork sandwiches (this way you can trim some of the excess fat off of it before going in the pot)
These aren't super healthy, but with keeping portions reasonable and counting calories I regularly use these meals.0 -
Funny, I'd think that being apart would be harder than when you're together since you've set this goal together. it sounds more like you're encouraging negative behaviors when you're together instead of helping each other to reach a shared goal.
Can you create some "rules" for weekend eating and then help each other enforce them? You could then create fun "penalties" if someone "breaks" a rule. It could be something as mundane as a dollar in a jar that you'll use to pay for your next vacation or something that you want to buy together. Or the rule breaker has to give a foot rub to the other person. I'm sure you're probably more creative than I am but it could be fun as well as helpful for keeping yourselves on track.
If he cooks, and maybe even if he doesn't, take turns finding good recipes online and trying them out. Moms have pretty good luck getting their picky-eater kids to eat things they've helped to cook, perhaps the same would be true for him. At the very least, he'll come up with recipes that sound like something he'll eat.0 -
goldthistime wrote: »Personally I'm not a fan of "couples dieting". I did it the once with my husband and he lost weight much faster than I did without seeming to suffer and I found it demoralizing. Both of you choosing more nutritious foods and avoiding calorie dense "junk food" is absolutely a good idea but if he doesn't like vegetables I don't think I'd be hitching up my wagon. I know there are people on here who have achieved success without eating vegetables but for me they are a big factor in my success or failure.
ETA: I've heard it said that ultimately we are all alone on our journey. I agree.
Well I know he's going to lose faster than me and that I've accepted. I'm sorry to hear it sucked for you, but since you mentioned vegetables( I know I can't make him eat any) I will look into those success stories you mention! (:
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shadow2soul wrote: »What about having a make your own pizza night?
Use tortillas for the pizza crust. I typically use 10" flours and the calories typically end up around 300 for the whole thing.
Or what about making a crock pot meal? Something like Chicken Taco Chili from Skinnytaste. It's great and it makes a lot of servings so you can save some for quick meals later in the week.
There is also a recipe for Buffalo Chicken lettuce wraps (sooo good) on Skinnytaste.
We will definitely try the tortilla pizza and also check into the site you mention, thank you (:
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kshama2001 wrote: »My fiance could easily polish off more than 1200 calories in pizza by himself. Instead, when we get pizza, he gets five pieces, I get three and we split a small Greek salad.
After dinner (not on pizza nights, lol) he could also pack away a "small" ice cream stand ice cream, which are about 8 ounces. Instead, we get the Ben & Jerry's four ounce mini cups. He actually hasn't requested one of those for a while - he's been eating 70 calories worth of Ghiradelli squares for dessert.
Last night, he ate a whole chicken piccata entree, but when we get dinner before seeing a movie, we split one of those plus a Caesar salad.
He's easily satisfied with less food, the trick is to give him smaller portions
My boyfriend especially liked your idea because all he would do is eat less of the stuff he likes, and I guess I wouldn't mind either. We will give this a try and see if it doesn't ruin our diets at the end of the week. Thank you (:
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crewbprice wrote: »Some things I use:
I've found I can make healthier chicken tenders by getting boneless, skinless chicken tenders, oven bake them, and then doing different things with them. Sometimes I use longhorn steak spices (found it at store, or taco seasoning is another option) and rub them on before cooking them, then cut them up after cooking and make hard tacos with reduced fat mexican cheese, lettuce, tomato, and guacamole. Another option is to use hamburger buns instead and make a chicken sandwich (usually don't use the spices in that case, and melt reduced fat mozzarella cheese on top of chicken at end of baking time). I also sometimes make a buffalo sauce and toss them in that.
Also, sometimes I will get pork shoulder (Boston butt roast), add my favorite BBQ vinegar based sauce (more liquid than other sauces), and cook it in the crock pot for pulled pork sandwiches (this way you can trim some of the excess fat off of it before going in the pot)
These aren't super healthy, but with keeping portions reasonable and counting calories I regularly use these meals.
We will totally try the pulled pork idea, and hopefully the home made chicken tenders will work out well! Thank you for sharing (:
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Funny, I'd think that being apart would be harder than when you're together since you've set this goal together. it sounds more like you're encouraging negative behaviors when you're together instead of helping each other to reach a shared goal.
Can you create some "rules" for weekend eating and then help each other enforce them? You could then create fun "penalties" if someone "breaks" a rule. It could be something as mundane as a dollar in a jar that you'll use to pay for your next vacation or something that you want to buy together. Or the rule breaker has to give a foot rub to the other person. I'm sure you're probably more creative than I am but it could be fun as well as helpful for keeping yourselves on track.
If he cooks, and maybe even if he doesn't, take turns finding good recipes online and trying them out. Moms have pretty good luck getting their picky-eater kids to eat things they've helped to cook, perhaps the same would be true for him. At the very least, he'll come up with recipes that sound like something he'll eat.
You're right, we should be encouraging each other more when we're with each other but for whatever reason we like to indulge in bad things together.
But I really love the idea of penalties for breaking some bad habits we have. I think we will try this out for one of those weekends we really have terrible cravings for cookies and late night treats.
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I eat lower calories during the week which allows me to have more calories on the weekend. Try having a weekly goal instead of a daily goal.0
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What about picking up an activity together as well? My honey and I like to hike and bike together - there's lots of room for indulging on a Saturday if there's also a 5 mile hike!0
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My boyfriend is trying to gain weight while I'm losing!
So far he's gone ~5kg up while I've lost 10kg. It's perfect for me because the foods he eats are not a part of my life (as a vegetarian) so I don't crave them. And we are only like 9kg apart in weight! One of my goals is reaching his body weight... 0 -
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Great ideas here!
I'm just over 5ft tall and I'm now in that nebulous spot between "just wanna lose 5 more pounds" and maintenance (but I've been successful and getting weight off when I try, and keeping it off when I'm not) and the hubby is almost a foot taller than me, has a very active job and about 8% body fat.
Basically, we do a combination of the things talked about on here: We try to be active, we have bikes and try to ride 8-10 miles, approximately 3 times per week (in the nice weather) and I have a regular workout schedule that I stick to as much as possible. More moving equals more food for me!
We tend to fend for ourselves about 80% of the time for breakfast and lunch, so I can stick to my lighter fare and he can load up on a salad bowl full of pasta.
For dinner, 99% of the time, we eat the same things, we just divide differently. I'll take a slightly higher proportion of veggies and a smaller portion of the protein and carbs, to stick with my calorie goals. He'll have an extra (sometimes two or three) taco or slice of pizza and he'll have two beers and I'll have my (carefully measured) single glass of wine. I just have to remember that I can't eat like him if I want my clothes to fit (even if I *could* out-eat him if I tried! ) and things truck along okay in our world.0
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