How to do I eat healthy with my husband's HUGE appetite

[ksNell]

Since I met my husband I've put on 35 lbs mainly because it seemed easier to take on his eating habits than keep both of us eating healthy (He has a HUGE appetite). That means we eat a LOT of food, fast food, and eat out more (I only ate out on special occasions before I met him), etc.

The one thing he's doing right and I'm not is that he eats very slowly, so even though he eats a lot it's only as much as his body needs. He's very in tune to his brain's signals, so he basically never overeats. I, on the other hand, grew up in a culture of fast eating, so by the time my brain gets the "I'm full" signal, I've way overeaten and feel ready to explode. How do I reverse that ingrained habit of devouring my food at a fast pace? Lately I've been trying to divide up the dinner so I give myself about a third of what I give my husband, and that seems to help.

The biggest problem is when we go out to eat. All my healthy goals just get thrown out the window and I instinctively order unhealthy stuff and usually end up eating most of it.

Any words of wisdom or even a little bit of motivation would help a lot!
Thanks!

 

[maleficent]

slowing down eating is oneo the toughest habits to break... it's something i still struggle with..

ask yourself what are you racing for?

Put your fork down between bites.
Take a sip of water between bites.
Talk (not with your mouth full- that's disgusting) but talk durig dinner -- puttiing your fork down...
Make dinner an event -- use linens, light candles... ambiance...

I posted this more than a year ago but some of the tipsin it might help you

http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weight-loss-programs/4013-french-women-dont-get-fat.html

 

[maleficent]

something else try is eating with chopsticks

i thik the magic number is 20 - minutes that is for the brain to register that the tummy is full... so slowing down is essential

Myother trick that i've used over the past 18 months is smaller plates -my dinner plates haven't left the cupboard in forever -I have my dinner on salad plates - my brain sees tehplate as full - so my brain thinks it's enough food

 

[Blancita]

Since I met my husband I've put on 35 lbs mainly because it seemed easier to take on his eating habits than keep both of us eating healthy (He has a HUGE appetite). That means we eat a LOT of food, fast food, and eat out more (I only ate out on special occasions before I met him), etc.

The one thing he's doing right and I'm not is that he eats very slowly, so even though he eats a lot it's only as much as his body needs. He's very in tune to his brain's signals, so he basically never overeats. I, on the other hand, grew up in a culture of fast eating, so by the time my brain gets the "I'm full" signal, I've way overeaten and feel ready to explode. How do I reverse that ingrained habit of devouring my food at a fast pace? Lately I've been trying to divide up the dinner so I give myself about a third of what I give my husband, and that seems to help.

The biggest problem is when we go out to eat. All my healthy goals just get thrown out the window and I instinctively order unhealthy stuff and usually end up eating most of it.

Any words of wisdom or even a little bit of motivation would help a lot!
Thanks!

So its cool that H never overeats because he's full after that first Big Mac and large fries and large coke? To give an extreme example, what if you were eating a salad without dressing, or practically calorie free veggies like lettuce, but you ate and ate and ate without regard to whether you're feeling full or not. Who would lose more weight? I'd suspect the person who ate the salad to their hearts content rather than the one who eats fast food, but pays attention to when the fries and burgers have filled them up so they dont eat more than their hunger allows. I'd focus more on the quality of the food and the total calories rather than how fast I was eating high calorie unhealthy foods.

 

[momma4alex]

I'm guessing the biggest part of it is the fact that its so hard to make healthy choices when you go out to eat more then when its at home and your doing the cooking. I have had that problem too in the past. Before i started losing weight my dh didn't even want to really lose weight but now that i have he is starting to want to too. plus he's getting out of the army so no structured routine must do phyiscal training stuff once he gets home he said is making him more determined to keep up with my new healthy habits so he doesn't gain a ton of weight. anyways the best thing i would do is order a small salad before ordering anything else to eat and eat that first. by the time you order the rest of the food your stomach will already be half full so you won't eat as much. Also what i do is ask for a to go box before i even take a bite and put half of my food it that for the next day so that way i only eat half of whatever the serving size is.

Good luck with your goals and welcome to wlf.

heather

 

[maleficent]

first Big Mac and large fries and large coke? To give an extreme example, what if you were eating a salad without dressing, or practically calorie free veggies like lettuce, but you ate and ate and ate without regard to whether you're feeling full or not. Who would lose more weight?

I personally find big macs and fries revolting but - given the choice between a good burger and a mountain of salad wihout dressing I'll take the burger any day of the week...

Satisfaction has to play a factor - a big ole dumptruck full of salad isn't going to satisfy a lot of people... A reasonable portion of burger and fries - (not the crap at mcdonalds ) will satisfy and not break the calorie bank...

 

[pennybear09]

My friends and I eat out a lot, at least once a week. If I know where we're going I'll look up the nutritional value of the things on the menu, which is usually available for chain restaurants, and chose what I want beforehand. Actually knowing how many calories I'm eating helps me stay on course. Many restaurants also give more than one serving on each plate so that lets me know I should stop halfway through and can have some lunch tomorrow. There's also booklets that include all the major chains that are made so you can keep them in your glove compartment. I found one floating around my parents house once but didn't have the good sense to take it.

 

[allyphoe]

something else try is eating with chopsticks

"I eat my peas with honey on / I've done it all my life / Not because I like the taste / But to keep them on the knife."

The biggest problem is when we go out to eat. All my healthy goals just get thrown out the window and I instinctively order unhealthy stuff and usually end up eating most of it.

Lots of restaurants have nutritional information online (much of which is also available at ). When I know I'm going out, I'll do my research beforehand and decide what I'm going to eat.

 

[Blancita]

I personally find big macs and fries revolting but - given the choice between a good burger and a mountain of salad wihout dressing I'll take the burger any day of the week...

Satisfaction has to play a factor - a big ole dumptruck full of salad isn't going to satisfy a lot of people... A reasonable portion of burger and fries - (not the crap at mcdonalds ) will satisfy and not break the calorie bank...

I also prefer a good burger to a mountain of salad, as do I dislike McDs burgers. But KS told us she eats fast food so that's why I used a Big Mac as an example. So we can substitute the McDs special for Pizza Hut, KFC, Wendy's, Burger King or even Taco Bell. Did I miss any? My point was that the focus should not necessarily be on trying to just eat until full from fast food (rather than eating fast food til way past full), as that probably will still not get KS to where she wants to be (weight and health wise).

Eating a salad without dressing is also not necessary, as I said, I wanted to give an extreme example to make my point. Actually today I had a salad from a delivery restaurant that was made of romaine lettuce, grilled chicken, avocado, and tomato. I sprinkled a bit of viniagrette on it but it was really delicious and filling, and I would guess is a better way to go than constant fast food.

I would think anything is OK in moderation but KS may want to find some better options for day in day out rather than just changing her portion sizes but sticking with tons of fast food.

 

[ExercisePhysio]

I absolutely love McDonalds.

LOVE it.

Michael

 

[maleficent]

I also prefer a good burger to a mountain of salad, as do I dislike McDs burgers. But KS told us she eats fast food so that's why I used a Big Mac as an example. So we can substitute the McDs special for Pizza Hut, KFC, Wendy's, Burger King or even Taco Bell. Did I miss any? My point was that the focus should not necessarily be on trying to just eat until full from fast food (rather than eating fast food til way past full), as that probably will still not get KS to where she wants to be (weight and health wise).

Eating a salad without dressing is also not necessary, as I said, I wanted to give an extreme example to make my point. Actually today I had a salad from a delivery restaurant that was made of romaine lettuce, grilled chicken, avocado, and tomato. I sprinkled a bit of viniagrette on it but it was really delicious and filling, and I would guess is a better way to go than constant fast food.

I would think anything is OK in moderation but KS may want to find some better options for day in day out rather than just changing her portion sizes but sticking with tons of fast food.

I dont disagree with any of that at all - and Iwasnt tryiing to give you a hard time either...

the point I was trying, unsuccessfully, to make -is to eat what you enjoy - and fast food is probably not the best options, but eat what you enjoy but really focus on slowing down your eating habits... it's her speed eating that is what the major problem seems to be -and there are tricks to slowing down the eating... and recognizing the body's signals that it is full..

 

[maleficent]

I absolutely love McDonalds.

LOVE it.

Michael

that's the last name of the last girl you dated right? or is it a boy crush you have on Lyle?

 

[Blancita]

I dont disagree with any of that at all - and Iwasnt tryiing to give you a hard time either...

the point I was trying, unsuccessfully, to make -is to eat what you enjoy - and fast food is probably not the best options, but eat what you enjoy but really focus on slowing down your eating habits... it's her speed eating that is what the major problem seems to be -and there are tricks to slowing down the eating... and recognizing the body's signals that it is full..

I dont mean to give you a hard time either mal (I swear ), but I sort of disagree with your premise. On the one hand you are absolutely correct. People who eat reasonable portions of fast food can manage to stay slim and even downright thin. H being a good example of that, he loves junk food and hates most "healthy" things and he stays very thin because when you tally up his calories for the whole day for a 6'3" tall man, you see he's eating less calories than me on a supposed diet. Ha ha .

But on the other hand, most of us are chubbettes because we love us some food and we get addicted when we eat yummy tasting food (and in the moment this stuff can taste decent) and often overeat because of our love for food, and we also have larger appetites than the average thinny who can "eat what they want and not gain" (uh, yeah, that's cuz they really have small appetites to begin with if you really look into it).

So I say for people like us (who tend to pack on the pounds) we're usually a lot better off just getting away from the really high calorie food on a regular basis and switching it up for something more low cal and healthy (and still yummy if you're a great cook like mal!).

Leave the fast food for very infrequent treats if you must. I sure get my treats in (2 paks of Junior Mints last night) so its no wonder I'm "plateauing" with about 14 pounds to go to my goal weight in my avi pic .

 

[ksNell]

Thank you for all the responses and great tips! I tried using some of your ideas over the past week and have lost 2 lbs!!! Here's what I've been doing (and charting my food intake and progress):

I force myself to drink 8 glasses of water a day (and I do mean force, I don't like the way water tastes but I found that putting a tablespoon of berry syrup/32 oz bottle helps a ton).
I eat a serving of fruit/veggies every couple hours, then for dinner I have a handful of carbs like noodles.
Haven't had any junk food!!! That's probably gonna get harder as time goes by, but I'm thinking some reward system might help, like if I don't eat sweets all week, I get to eat a candybar on Saturday.

My dh does love Quiznos, and Subway, and Arby's and Burger King, and Taco John's, etc etc. Ever since he met me HE hasn't been eating out as much because I cook at home a lot, so that's good. We're trying to compromise. He goes to drill (national guard) once a month so I know he buys his favorite junk food then, which is fine with me. Personally, I get upset stomach from McD and Burger King, but I do like Taco John's and Arby's.

We went out for lunch to a local diner a few days ago with my parents, and they all ordered very savory dishes. Boy was I drooling!!! BUT, I ordered a healthy salad platter with eggs and cottage cheese and applesauce on the side. I nearly started crying watching them eat bbq ribs, ravioli, and roasted chicken. MMMM... I drank 2 glasses of water before we got our food so by the time I got my salad I could only eat a quarter of it.

I know it just takes time for the brain to readjust but hopefully I'll get used to this new routine very very soon.