Is it harder to cook for your family, when your on a diet?

It can be, depending on the flexibility of your family.

Personally, my husband is really thin and has such a fast metabolism that he can consume countless calories and not gain a damn pound. I swear I smell food, and manage to gain weight. Currently, our god children are staying with us, so the generic meal plan has been to cook them dinner first, then after I finish the dishes, I embark on the "adult dinner".

Their ages are 22 months, 3 years, and 6 years old, so much of the food is either over their head, or not as appetizing.

I pack my husband high-calorie lunches, and make sure he has a high-calorie breakfast. So by dinner, the meal we share together (I'm a housewife) I make something healthy in between 200-500 calories.

This set up works for us, since while our food is cooking, I'm bathing the kids and getting them settled with a movie before bed, and have 2 of them down to sleep by the time hubby is home, and they're generally all down by the time dinner is ready.

For dinner they eat what I eat, but don't tell them the recipes are healthier than what I used to serve for dinner!

Nope - we eat what I cook, and if someone has a problem with it they are welcome to go cook their own food. (That, for the record, NEVER happens.) If they need more calories, they can eat larger portions - but likely, they don't need significantly more calories than what you're eating, either, unless you're eating way under your BMR.

I have found that the word "diet" is the best way for me to fall off that way of eating. I've made a life change and am eating healthier, not to lose weight specifically, but to be healthier for life. I cook the way we should all be eating, and as others have posted before me in reply to your question, I just eat smaller portions of what I make. I'm learning how to season vegetables with spices and not salt, making them quite delicious. You might find it easier to just make the same food for everyone in your family and if you find yourself REALLY wanting to enjoy a hotdog or burger or whatever it is you really miss, have a meal once a month that includes that food. You will likely find that the longer you spend eating healthier, the less your body craves the foods that aren't the best fuel for our bodies.


EXACTLY THIS!!!:happy:

No, my weightloss doesn't mean I need to cook different meals. My kids are small freaks of nature and love trying new foods, right now i've been tasked with cooking octopus, snails and soft shelled crab (not all at once). If they want to try it fine, but you won't see me eating a snail anytime soon, so i need to make something different for myself

Nope not at all. They eat what I eat.

Go to skinnytaste.com Lots and lots of yummy meals everyone can enjoy.

We usually all eat the same thing; I might just skip the noodles, rice etc. I also measure what I eat. My boys love fruit, so that's an easy one. They also like salad (lettuces, cucumbers, carrots). They have the ranch, I don't.

Tomorrow night we're having stuffed bell peppers--we all will eat it!

I'm lucky, if they want to eat, they'll eat what I cook!

No - I cook the same for everyone. Most of our problems were eating too much and snacking so still have some of the same food as before just smaller portions.

This. There really is no need to change your cooking. It's the portions that everyone eats that's the issue.

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We all eat the same. I'm not going to serve them crap while I eat healthy. I spent a long time trying new dishes that were good for us health-wise AND tasty. That's pretty much my rotation now. We don't keep sodas or junk food in the house either. Since I'm the shopper and the cook, it's my responsibility to provide for them and I take that very seriously.

My husband actually cooks and is trying to gain weight and build mass - but I can say that in the process we are trying to eat better so that sort of makes it easier. We are both trying to shoot for lean proteins and veggies - he just needs to eat more of them than I do.

Nope, those in my household eat the same as me or they can buy and cook their own meals. This is NOT a diet, it's a lifestyle change so this is how I will always eat. I make leaner versions of our favorites or just watch my portions (aka 1 portion of pasta with baked chicken parm instead of fried chicken parm with a plate full of pasta).

I eat a lot of lean cuisine meals for myself, because its just easier, to count how many calories i'm actually consuming.

I think you are doing yourself a disservice by not making yourself real food. a chicken breast with vegetables has the same amount of calories but isnt processed. My husband loves fatty foods but for the most part he has started eating what I do. Lean meats with vegetables,salad on the side. Every once in a while he will have something different than me, but not often.

do you find it harder to cook for your family, when you are on a diet.? i used to cook really good, fattening meals for my family before i started my diet. now its harder, cuz i sort of eat my own diet food, so i have to make different food for me and then cook something for my husband and kids. i wish we could all eat the same things. but they need more calories than i do. what about you.

As long as the focus is on the word "diet" it will be a lot harder than what it should be. Change doesn't happen overnight and, contrary to public opinion, people in general are reluctant to change.

Tips:
Using substitutes (whole or part) when possible for your current recipes/meals (sugar with honey, butter with margarine, eggs with egg substitutes, skim milk, sodas with water, etc).
Try the oven instead of frying.
Try using water and/or veg or chicken stock for searing instead of oil.
Try smaller portions.

Every now and then introduce a new recipe from the super healthy menu, see what feedback you get. Again, you'd be impressed that many foods/recipes you'd have thought "no way they'll go for that" are actually well received. Imagine the effect over a year of having just a couple of meals a week replaced by a super healthy/nutritious recipe.

Little changes are more likely to be sustainable in the long term, family is more likely to embrace them, and over time will become effortless to maintain. Fad diets are the exact opposite: beginning with the word "diet", hard to sell, hard to keep, and hard to convince others to join.

I still cook the same for everyone, I just try not to have more than 2 servings. Sometimes 1 serving is enough for me depending on what it is that I have cooked.