Helping Others in the Family Lose Weight

[barbszy]

I want to help my husband to eat healthier. But I don't want to be a nag. He knows he needs to lose a good deal of weight. How can I help him?

On his own he will eat 2/3 of his daily food consumption after 6 PM. A lot of that is bread, meat & fats (butter, gravy...)

He does not eat breakfast.
If he carries lunch to work it is a healthy portion of meat, vegetable & starch that I have made & packed for him. If he buys lunch I have no idea what he gets. Some days he skips lunch.
After eating a full dinner he tops it off with a large buttered bagel. Often there is also a late night snack.

[ellenmelon]

Drink more water. Pack a water bottle.
Take nightly walks either before or after dinner or both. 20 minutes is worth 10 pounds a year.
Pack a breakfast, it's the only way I can get my dh to eat anything in the morning.
Bulk up on vegetables, maybe a crudite before dinner?
Will shock treatment work? Show him his blood cholesterol levels.
Oh yeah, make gravy from a powdered packet and not with the broth from the pan unless it is defatted first.

[barbszy]

Ellen, the killer here is he has amazingly low cholesterol. But the "good" cholesterol is too low too.

I sent him to work with a banana in his hand this morning so at least he'd have SOMETHING in the morning. He thinks that a chicken parm sub is a more virtuous lunch choice than a few pieces of (very thin crust, small slices) pizza.

Part of the breakfast problem is that he takes thyroid meds, which have to be in the morning on an empty stomach. That means he can't eat breakfast here.

Tonight before dinner I'm going to have the salad on the table, with some homemade balsamic dressing--with olive oil for "good" fat. He can have a big plate of salad while he waits for me to plate up the meals.

Unfortunately he has a bad family history of heart attacks (fatal ones) at his age. I think 3 of his 4 uncles were dead by 45 of heart attacks, and the other had a quintuple bypass by 50. He has 100 pounds to lose. It scares me!

[ellenmelon]

My sympathy is with both of you. With your dh because I know personally how easy it is to ignore weight gain and with you because as the family manager here I know how hard it is to get dhs to do the right things!

In your area there is a wonderful heart study program run out of I think U Penn. Contact them and see what programs might be of use to you. My family also has an atrocious history of heart disease and early sudden death. My brother is the first male to live past the age of 49. He is involved in this program and has been for 10-15 years now. He is now 55 years old.

good luck and God Bless your efforts!

[Peppergirl]

We are trying as a family to lose weight. Both my H and I need to shed 40lbs or more. So, starting at the beginning of the year we made a commitment to change.

Always a case of bottled water in the car. That was a ruff start. We still drank more soda than we needed to. Now, we have weened ourselves and only drink water.

Cut up veggies in the frig. and no-fat dressing
Our house rule is some fresh veggies before the sweets!

5 fruits and veggies a day. I have accomplished this probably because I'm a SAHM and have no outside temptations. DH has the temptations, boy does he! (he, He,)
So, he has fallen down on this.

The other goal was exercise everyday. I'm at 5 days of walking per week. He still plays BBall 3 days but, hasn't gotten any farther than that. This is an ongoing challenge for both of us.

All in all our diet is better by far than it was last year. We both feel better. I've lost some weight and working on more.

It's all baby steps.

Pepper

[gwtw-mom]

I recently started a serious weight loss program. In the process, I had my cholosterol checked and it was over 200 - a huge wake-up call since my family has a history of all those related problems - and I'm only 35!

Anyway, I've started buying everything I can either fat free or lowfat. Everything I cook has some ingredients in it that are fat free or lowfat. You have to experiment with what works for your tastebuds, but my family can't tell the difference.

I've also tried to cut out red meats as much as possible. You talk about an artery clogger - red meats are it. They are high in animal fat (obviously) which is the worst thing for you.

When you have a recipe that calls for hamburger, use ground turkey instead. Try to cook more chicken, preferably with the skin removed.

Also, I have started filling my family's plates. I know that sounds juvenile, but I control their portions that way. Usually I really pile on the veggies and give them enough of the other things so they can't tell they're veggie heavy on their plates. If they go back for seconds, at least maybe they'll be filled up enough from veggies that they won't eat a whole lot more.

I don't put the food for dinner on the table. Out of sight, out of mind. We have an eat-in kitchen so I leave everything on top of the stove or counter and our backs are to the food. My kids don't like to have to get up to get their food, so they stop at one portion.

I know you said that your husband's cholosterol is low, but the tricks I used regarding cooking only with lowfat/fat free ingredients and watching meat intake has helped me lose almost 15 pounds so far.

Good luck to you - and to your hubby. I can't remember if you said you have children, but maybe he would be a good eating example for them?

Tammy http://www.familycorner.com/forums/i...ons/icon1a.gif

[Lee]

Barb,
Yes I am late on the posting!

I would start with walking, I really beleive it can do wonders for the body! Have a "date" or family walk every night! Of course I know if Luke joins you it might be a slower walk, but maybe he could stay home for 15 minutes with big brother and sister!

I wish you luck!

Leighann