Hubby Meal Plan

SToast
SToast Posts: 255 Member
edited November 2024 in Food and Nutrition
Hubby wants to lose weight so I'm all in to help him. I am the cook in the house so I realize that I play a huge role in the success or failure. Hubby is 6'2" tall and weighs about 265# currently. He is built with really broad shoulders and a big barrel shaped chest so he's never going to have a runners build. He likes being active but his job is hit or miss with the activity levels during 4 days a week. It's not the working out and activities I need help with. I'm trying to figure out food. How many calories to lose weight without losing muscle. How much protein vs carbs vs fat.... Anyone who can help crunch numbers or point me in the right direction would really help. We do a health assessment through our insurance every year so I can get BMI and all those numbers from his body scan results. Thanks.

Replies

  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    Set up a MFP account for him. Put his height, weight, age, and his daily activity level without exercise and get a calorie goal.
    If he is 50+ lbs overweight he might choose to lose up to 2 lb a week.
    If he is 20-50lbs overweight then choosing 1 lb a week is probably better.
    He should log everything he consumes as accurately as he can.
    MFP will also recommend an amount of protein, carbs, fats, etc for his goal. You don't have to crunch numbers unless he is an athlete or has been ordered to limit something due to health reasons.
    If he exercises he should log it and eat a portion of the exercise calories. A lot of people only eat half because there can be errors.
    When you cook just note what you put in the food or figure out the calories of your recipe so he can log it easier. Use the recipe builder on the MFP site.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    BMI is just Bodyweight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. You can calculate it manually, or MFP does it for you.

    Plot in his stats in MFP's setup (or even better, he does it himself), and MFP says how many calories, and grams of fat, protein and carbs he should eat.

    He is really lucky to have you on his team. But be aware that he is the one who has to do the weight loss thing. You can figure out what and how much he should eat, but he has to eat it (and not eat other things in addition to it; I'm not suggesting you are a bad cook :p ). If he's not on board, nothing will happen.
  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
    edited December 2016
    It's great to support him with his meals and cooking. But he still has to learn to manage his own food choices, and to learn to weigh and measure his food for this to work when you're not there. :)
  • H_Ock12
    H_Ock12 Posts: 1,152 Member
    I set my husband up with a MFP account and pre-enter the foods I cook for the week or pack for his lunch. Anything else he eats is up to him to log.
  • SToast
    SToast Posts: 255 Member
    Sounds like getting him going on here is the unanimous answer to start out. I do understand that I can't do it for him and it's going to take him sticking to his goals of his own accord but since I do the shopping and cooking I can help or hinder his progress. I'm kind of a hit and miss cook so that hasn't helped because when he searches for food on his own the easy thing is to grab a "convenience food" and that's never good. I had great success on MFP about 3 years ago losing some extra weight and have managed to keep it off so I know that this system works. I think he will be able to stick too it if he starts seeing results.

    I think the hardest thing for him is going to be cutting back on the fountain sodas...
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    SToast wrote: »
    Sounds like getting him going on here is the unanimous answer to start out. I do understand that I can't do it for him and it's going to take him sticking to his goals of his own accord but since I do the shopping and cooking I can help or hinder his progress. I'm kind of a hit and miss cook so that hasn't helped because when he searches for food on his own the easy thing is to grab a "convenience food" and that's never good. I had great success on MFP about 3 years ago losing some extra weight and have managed to keep it off so I know that this system works. I think he will be able to stick too it if he starts seeing results.

    I think the hardest thing for him is going to be cutting back on the fountain sodas...

    At least you know what you are up against.

    Managing food intake is like managing any other budget. The physical aspect of weight loss is so simple - calories in has to be fewer than calories out - but that doesn't mean it's easy. If you locked your husband in the garage and just gave him the right amounts of food every day, he'd lose weight, but you mustn't do that :p He has access to any food almost at any time. If there is something he wants, he'll take it, you can be sure about that. So he has to not want to eat too much. To achieve this, his normal food has to be tasty and easy enough so that he isn't too tempted to eat anything else, but not so tasty and easy that he'll eat too much. It's a balancing act, and he is the one standing there on the edge. This is why it's usually recommended that adults take charge of their own weigh loss program.

    Losing weight isn't enough motivation for most people; if it were, everybody would be thin. You are an exception.
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