Does You Spouse Motivate Or Complicate Your Weight Loss?

My husband is a little of both! We started this thing together, and so some days I fall of the wagon and mess him up, and some days he messes me up. Most days though, we keep each other honest/sane. And he notices all the little changes in me and compliments them so that helps keep me motivated.

Both. On one hand he is complimentary of my progress and supportive. On the other hand he still comes home with all kinds of foods he knows I don't want around and find hard to resist. I'll keep him though.

Bless his heart, he never noticed that I put on weight! When I told him how much I weighed at my highest, he was shocked. So he's pretty neutral about it because he thinks I'm gorgeous at any weight. :-D That being said, he wants me to be happy and is supportive of me heading off to the gym and cooking healthy, loves how bouncy I get when I drop another pound, and he doesn't bring junk food into the house apart from his beloved carrot cake, which I'm not fond of anyway so that's not a problem.

both. he is supportive in the sense that he's sensitive to what i want to eat, encourages me to take walks with him and stuff...but then can eat like a giant bowl of spaghetti and not gain a pound. or, he'll want to make a cake or cupcakes or something, and i just can't have that stuff around!

Same here! He is always wanting to eat out on the weekends and I get sick of cooking so he is all for whatever we can find cheap whether it is healthy or not. He does encourage me, but he also will not do anything with me.

My ex was a master saboteur, but THIS husband, man, he roxors! He is super supportive, not only of the aesthetic aspect of losing weight, but also of the improvement in my health. He tells me he wants me around a really long time, and that motivates me even on days when I just don't feel like doing anything. It helps that he was a Navy medic, so he's fully aware of the health benefits of eating right and exercise, and he's a soldier in the U.S. Army now, so every day, he gets up at the crack of dawn for PT. It's nice having an active spouse who likes to get out and do things.

My wife never supports me. Infact she wants to know why I want to lose weight. Suspicious I guess. Yet she does slimming world. And I always give her motivation.

I could not do it without her.

My husband is pretty good about congratulating me and offering moral encouragement. But he insists that there be "husband food" (aka CRAP) around all of the time! There are cookies in our living room for him at all times!

The best I've been able to figure out so far is to just by the "husband food" I find disgusting, which is hard to find when you're talking about cookies.

My most successful strategy here and for any of the times you come into contact with all those would-be "forbidden" and 'trigger" foods is to remember this: If it is a food readily available in the grocery store, you can have that food anytime, so skipping it is not a big deal. Save your "splurge" for something you can't get everyday, like a seldom made but really awesome homemade baked good. (Yours or someone else's). Good luck!

My situation is different because my husand works away from home for 3 weeks & then is home for a week. When he is here, he really helps by preparing meals and checking the nutrition info for me. He is very supportive! HOWEVER, when he leaves for work (like he did this morning) I self-destruct.:sad: I'm an emotional eater. I need to overcome & control MY sadness & anxiety when he's gone so I dont set myself back with my goals! Its frustrating but at least I know where my struggles are, I just need to be able to re-route my emotions in a positive direction~Like at the gym

i hate to say it but my boyfriend is a bit of hindrance we are on the oppisate ends of the diet /weight scale he is 5'11 146 lbs and he has the metabolism that we would pretty much all kill for. He is supportive of my weight loss he will tell me good job, occasiaonaly i can drag him to the gym and he will lift weights while i do my cardio. the issue is when i ask him to help me by not eating bad food he says " youre the one trying to lose wight not me " and all he eats is burgerking, hot dogs, pizza , cake etc and he dosent gain an inch! its maddening his whole family is like that im the fat girl in a sea of people with perfect bodies. It gives my already six feet under self esteem another kick

Even though your boyfriend is not trying to lose weight, you could nudge him about the quality of the food he is eating. He will develop health issues if all he does is eat foods high in saturated fats and cholesterol, and he may be shorting himself on other nutrients. Vegetables and whole grains are just as important for him as for you. It's just that he can have larger portions and occasionally supplement with something extra.

My situation is different because my husand works away from home for 3 weeks & then is home for a week. When he is here, he really helps by preparing meals and checking the nutrition info for me. He is very supportive! HOWEVER, when he leaves for work (like he did this morning) I self-destruct.:sad: I'm an emotional eater. I need to overcome & control MY sadness & anxiety when he's gone so I dont set myself back with my goals! Its frustrating but at least I know where my struggles are, I just need to be able to re-route my emotions in a positive direction~Like at the gym

I'm in a similar situation as I have reconnected with the father of my children (my "X"), but he lives out of town. I'm actually quite good when with him, and he is VERY supportive (he also does NOT have a weight problem... grrr!), but lately I've been self-destructing as soon as I get back home and am by myself in the house. I'm working on this issue. It is definitely an emotional thing.

Motivating... but not in a good way.

We have had so many arguements in the past, over his eating habits and choices, and as i predicted/warned him, sure enough he developed type 2 diabetes a few years ago. Doing so should have finally gotten through to him that he needed to take control of his own food choices, (since he also has high blood pressure, bad knees, sore feet, kidney stones every 6 months, acid reflux, blocked arteries/stent put in, etc etc.. all the weight related issues you can think of).
Did it? nope... he still eats badly for the most part.. and yes, he influenced me to start eating badly again back when he and i first met 12 years ago, (at that time i was doing well eating healthy and losing weight).

So.. i simply got tired of the arguements about what he was eating *L*... and basically told him he could commit suicide with food if he wanted, but i was no longer going to let his choices influence mine anymore.. yes indeed, i finally took responsibiliy for myself again, despite him *L*

He has spent alot of time since then (this last year) complaining whenever i talk about my pleasure in eating healthy, or point out something interesting i've learned about possible food choices, or tried something new as a recipe.

I ignored his complaints *L*
I kept doing as i know i needed to for myself, and since i do all the grocery shopping and cooking, the bad choices he was making were totally his to control.

Thankfully, he eventually stopped complaining about my talking about my pleasure over food choices i was making, but he just buys himself big bags of junk food and hides them in his truck (thinking that means i don't know about them, not to prevent me from wanting them *L*).

In the last month he has seemed to be making one or two changes... taking veg in his lunches for work for example *L*. i dare not mention i have noticed this as if i do he will stop taking them. Yes, he is that difficult.

i think that once he saw how serious i was, how nothing he said or did changed the choices i made, or the pleasure i was getting out of my own improving health, and how many compliments i was getting from others (never him) he is finally, slowly, starting to 'almost' sound supportive.. at times *L*

Now he does not roll his eyes when i mention a new food i've tried and loved... in fact lately he has even been willing to taste it first before announcing he won't eat it *L* For him that is a major step forward *L*

The most recent accomplishment for him was giving in and actually tasting the no salt, no sugar added 'almond butter' i got. He surprised himself by liking it, and surprised me by actually admitting he did *LOL*

Old dogs (though he is 9 years younger than i am) can learn new tricks afterall! woohoo!

My husband has been very supportive. ALTHOUGH....I started running again this week and training for a half marathon. My husband started poo-pooing lastnight on my use of MFP. I think he is worried I am leaving him behind. I told him that I have loved the support he has given me and I would love for him to start training with me and get an account too, if he wanted. I think it really helped put it into perspective for him.

One thing about "The spouse" is that if they are anything but super healthy, marathon runners or powerlifters, they will tend to have some mixed emotions on your sucess. They dont want you to pass them up and leave them in the dust. If they are skinny and have a high metabolisim, they probably wish they could gain muscle better. If they are overweight or have a beer gut, though they may "act" complacent, they probably really do have some sort of complex problem. Men just are better at hiding it than us girls.

I have totally changed what we buy at the grocery store. I am really creative with seasoning so our healthier options actually tast really yummy. My husband hasn't complained at all....Well, except for the 269$ grocery bill last time....there is just two of us lol!!!
We buy his and hers Ice cream. His has 200 cal per serving and mine has 90. We buy Stacys' pita chips and ill have 6 or 10 while he eats the rest of the bag:) I also buy his cheese and my cheese. If I am making a meal I will seperate out stuff to only put on his. It makes it really easy for him to eat more of what he likes ( and can afforde to eat) but doesnt require me to make him a totally seperate meal.

I really can't complain.

He supports me in my weight loss goal. He even joined the gym with me because I really didn't want to go alone.

If he cooks a meal, which if often, he notes down exactly what he's cooked and how much so that I can log it all.

I weigh myself every Friday morning on the Wii board. If I'm feeling low, he coaxes me into weighing myself. If I end up gaining, he knows just what to say. If I lose weight, he congratulates me and says, "I knew you could do it."

More important than anything else, he has faith in me when I have none in myself

both. he is supportive in the sense that he's sensitive to what i want to eat, encourages me to take walks with him and stuff...but then can eat like a giant bowl of spaghetti and not gain a pound. or, he'll want to make a cake or cupcakes or something, and i just can't have that stuff around!

Mine is exactly the same. He is 6'4" and weighs less than me at 5'1.5". I secretly was pleased when he started gaining a few pounds the other month because of having to eat like crap all the time while on a trip for a class. I wanted to say ha ha that's what you get but I'm not that mean, lol.