When you're the only one dieting...

kyladefranco
kyladefranco Posts: 34 Member
edited November 14 in Motivation and Support
Just looking for ways to stay motivated when you're the only one on a diet in your household. I end up making two meals for dinner or just eating what I've made for everyone else. What do you do?

Replies

  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    Make 1 meal, presumably with a mix of higher calorie things & lower calorie things, and choose your portions accordingly. If that's you in your pic, I think maybe you should be eating 2 portions. ;)
  • sbrandt37
    sbrandt37 Posts: 403 Member
    edited December 2016
    I'm not dieting, I am eating healthier and eating less. When I cook, everyone gets what I get, but it isn't all that different from usual. The biggest changes is fewer carbs and more protein and veggies. That means a modest change in some of our regular foods and a few things have just dropped out of our meal rotation entirely. My wife sees the positive impact on our kids, so when she cooks, she has started doing the same.
  • jennybearlv
    jennybearlv Posts: 1,519 Member
    I cook the same stuff for dinner we've always eaten, have a reasonable portion, then eat lighter during the day when I'm on my own.
  • kyladefranco
    kyladefranco Posts: 34 Member
    Yes, I eat pretty light during the day but my boyfriend is the type who eats barely anything all day then a huge dinner (followed by pie and/or ice cream). So for him, he needs a pretty high caloric meal, still portioned well with protein, carbs, fats, but by that time I'm trying to have one of my lighter meals which works out occasionally. I'd really like to avoid making two meals (I've done that, not fun; plus occasionally leftovers don't get eaten and I HATE wasting food). Anyone have good meal ideas that would solve this???
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    My husband is a lifter... he can easily put away a 2000 calorie meal when he's active & bulking. I really don't do anything differently. Grilled chicken & veggies- I eat a modest amount, he eats a lot. Then he has ice cream, an entire bag of popcorn, banana bread, Greek yogurt, a couple bowls of cereal, etc. Pizza- I have a couple of slices and a salad, he has the rest, maybe more. You get the idea. The food itself doesn't matter. If he's hungry, he'll eat whatever you've got, and if you have a reasonable calorie goal and eat light during the day, as you say, you can work with whatever the two of you might be having.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    And I hate when food gets wasted too... use your leftovers.
  • jennybearlv
    jennybearlv Posts: 1,519 Member
    Start composting. You will feel less bad about food waste because you are feeding the garden.
  • lauracups
    lauracups Posts: 533 Member
    It depends on the meals, I have tummy trouble with cheese and doughy breads but I still get pizza for the boys once a week, I have something else. For Xmas there's prime rib, got myself a sirloin patty. Most other 1 pot meals I try to work into my macros. I'm cooking for many so my dietary needs shouldn't effect them.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I make one meal and have a reasonable portion. I don't typically make high calorie things though... A couple times a week we just have leftover nights though so that's the nights I'll make mac'n cheese for the kids if they want some, for example... and I'll just have leftovers. So yeah, if you don't want leftovers to be wasted, just make something that you'll eat too... Every time I make something that someone else asked for, and I don't particularly like, it gets wasted too though, so I hear you...

    My husband doesn't eat much during the day and has a big dinner too. Not a big deal. He just eats more of it and has a snack or two afterwards.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    My wife and I share kitchen duties throughout the week...we primarily make meals prepared from scratch, whole ingredients which I believe to be pretty healthy (note that healthy has nothing to do with caloric density)...we eat these foods in portions that are appropriate for whatever our weight management objectives are. If my wife is cutting for example and I'm making a pork roast with veg and mashed potatoes, she will have whatever portion of pork roast and pile up the veggies and forgo the potatoes...just as an example. She can also control her calories throughout the rest of the day as she prepares her own breakfast, lunch, and snacks...same for myself.

    Personally, I don't know who has time to make separate meals...and I really don't distinguish between "diet food" and just food....
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
    kyladefranco wrote: »
    Yes, I eat pretty light during the day but my boyfriend is the type who eats barely anything all day then a huge dinner (followed by pie and/or ice cream). So for him, he needs a pretty high caloric meal, still portioned well with protein, carbs, fats, but by that time I'm trying to have one of my lighter meals which works out occasionally. I'd really like to avoid making two meals (I've done that, not fun; plus occasionally leftovers don't get eaten and I HATE wasting food). Anyone have good meal ideas that would solve this???

    My BF is the same way; I say he eats like a boa constrictor, whereas I eat smaller meals regularly throughout the day. I usually make us the same base meal, but he'll add things like butter/cheese to his veggies and I won't, or I'll make extra sides for him that he likes and I don't. Or I'll plan our meals so that they make three portions (two for him and one for me).
  • kcpond
    kcpond Posts: 661 Member
    I usually try and cut back on the portion size. I also tend to do the cooking, but don't have alot of time to make really healthy dinners so I try to eat less of it and make it up on the other meals where I have more control over.
  • Melawesomes
    Melawesomes Posts: 17 Member
    If you really need separate meals, how about your boyfriend make his own dinner?
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    edited December 2016
    In my case, since I am bulking, I just eat more. I typically cook pretty healthy dinners.. lots of veggies and stuff, but I eat more carbs and meat or whatever and I am fine. My dinners can get pretty calorific that way - 1500-2000, never had an issue.

    In your case just eat more veggies or fillers, and less of the other stuff. Serve cream sauce and cheeses, extra bread etc on the side for your BF.

    ETA: another idea, if you are making chicken or something, cook both white and dark meat and just have more of the leaner one
  • kyladefranco
    kyladefranco Posts: 34 Member
    He actually suffers from PTSD so he's very weird about food, won't cook for himself... He also gets heartburn from virtually everything, so cooking is like trying to solve a puzzle with no solution. Haha. He's just not into healthy, so cooking your basic chicken, veggies, starch will not typically work in my case.
  • Papatoad194
    Papatoad194 Posts: 251 Member
    the struggle is real.
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    Melawesomes wrote: »
    If you really need separate meals, how about your boyfriend make his own dinner?

    This.

    Also this:
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Personally, I don't know who has time to make separate meals...and I really don't distinguish between "diet food" and just food....

  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    I do not make seperate meals for everyone.
    I eat the same food pretty much as my family but my plate doesn't look exactly the same. I eat smaller portions, have more vegetables, less rice, less cheese, less bread.
    I drink mainly water or unsweetened tea.
    I eat more of my calories later in the day so I typically have 500-600 calories for dinner. Most recipes fit that amount okay IME.

    This is the type of stuff I eat:
    Breakfast- things like Greek yogurt, granola bars, cereal with milk, sandwich, dinner leftovers, fruit, cottage cheese (about 200-300 calories)
    Lunch-things like sandwich, salad, or dinner leftovers (about 300-500 calories)
    Dinner- something different every night of the month. (about 500-600 calories) I have soup once a week usually.
    Snacks- things like fruit, chips, popcorn, pretzels, chocolate, cookies, granola bar, carrots, celery, broccoli, trail mix, deviled eggs, pickles, cottage cheese (about 100-300 calories)

  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    It's just me and hubby. We talk about what we want to eat for our shared meal (he works 12 hours). I cook and he eats it or he makes his own thing. I grew up in a household of eat this or make your own, though Mom accommodated my food pickiness and would make food separate for me.
  • dutchandkiwi
    dutchandkiwi Posts: 1,389 Member
    One meal only in my household - take it or leave it - Portion control - husband can have more than I
  • courtneyfabulous
    courtneyfabulous Posts: 1,863 Member
    I cook mostly the same foods, I just cut down on added butter and oils (spray oils have been very helpful for this).
  • John1643
    John1643 Posts: 13 Member
    I cook ahead, usually Sunday, and I make extra of things so I can serve it multiple times or have it for lunch. For dinner we always have a protein than I stick to produce side dishes, maybe made that night, maybe reheated. My daughter swims competitively nearly year round so I usually serve some pasta or rice (she doesn't like any potato) for her, and my husband may or may not eat some of that as well. So we definitely do some customization. I'll do a big bag of zucchini noodles on Sunday. We may have a Bolognese on Monday, husband and I eat the zucchini, kid eats pasta. A stir fry on Tues, I'll toss it with zucchini they'll both eat rice. Sometimes they want something like chicken parm (which isn't worthy of MY extra calories IMO) I'll take a left over veggie dish and have it with eggs while they have parm. It just comes down to planning ahead - which is a pain but leads to success.
  • manther88
    manther88 Posts: 213 Member
    I'm the only one that is going to be dieting. Trying to encourage my husband to join because his health is important even if he can't see it yet. He eats so terrible. I usually cook two meals just because he doesn't eat everything I do. We eat the same protein meats and most veggies but he likes the more starchy veggies and I'm trying to get away from that.

    It's very hard to be the only one dieting. He likes some sweets that I like and he eats it in front of me on purpose to see if I'll eat it or not. Rude. I'll show him that I'm not weak anymore!
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
    dutchandkiwi wrote: »
    One meal only in my household - take it or leave it - Portion control - husband can have more than I

    Same one meal option only (I'm the cook of the house). 6 members, ages 7 to 76, all with different energy needs. They get the same foods, but in the appropriate portion. If they don't like what's served, they can go hungry, eat leftovers from the fridge or make a PB&J.
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