How to keep control in a relationship

I make my own breakfast and lunch and my partner cooks dinner sometimes. I talked to him about adjusting recipes and cooking stuff that fitted in with my goals. He is supportive of me so it was easy ish.
I think it depends if your partner is supportive. If they aren’t, it’s perfectly reasonable to cook for yourself and leave them to it!

You just solved your issue.........................you stop counting calories. And any weight loss/gain/maintenance is based on CICO (calories in/calories out).

So you solve this one of two ways: You either reduce the amount of calories you take in or you increase the amount of physical activity to help to compensate and get into a calorie deficit. A combination of both will result in a little faster weight loss than just dieting alone.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 40 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I need to diet, my partner does not.

So I'm in the same position as you, I like counting calories, he says it's a load of rubbish because he can lose weight without doing that, he just cuts back on rubbish and eats healthier in general, but I told him I need to count to keep track and he respects that. However, he's not gonna count them for me.

So, I briefly went over my plans, what I wanted to change with MY diet. So for example, on the night we have Bolognese (he cooks that, mines awful 😂) I won't have spaghetti, I'll have kale instead.
So he will cook the Bolognese and pasta and 5 mins before the end I'll cook my kale and then weigh up and plate my own food whilst he plates up his and the kids.


So you won't have to take over cooking on a daily basis, but you will have to input for the things you want. But for me, him cooking the whole meal and me just having to do 5-10 mins of prep/weighing for myself is much easier than having to do the whole meal.

And then also I ask him what he's put in the meals, like ingredients. And like others I'll take my best guess.

There are ways round it, so deffo communicate with him and cooking together is great bonding anyway whether it's been 2 years or 12 like me

How are your estimating skills? You could treat dinner on nights your partner cooks kind of like eating out. Ask for sauce on the side, estimate the size of the protein or else take a peek and see how much is being cooked in total and estimate your serving from there. For example, if they use a 1 pound package of hamburger and you eat about a 1/3 of the dish, you can base your estimates on that amount. And potentially just "round up" from those estimates to get at least some kind of a calorie count.

I was lucky and my ex mainly made grilled meat and veg on the rare occasions that we shared a meal, so estimating was pretty easy. He usually worked 2nd or 3rd shift, so I mostly just cooked for myself and could control things. I did always have to watch the fat he'd add to things, but the good part is that you get used to how the other person generally tends to cook and can use that info to refine your estimates.