[gracie83]

I am starting to do better with my food intake but my biggest worry now is my OH. He is also obese. Basically either of us will cook a dinner which will be all i eat. However he will also help himself to around 5/6 slices of margarine covered bread and two packet of crisps to supplement his dinner. The worst thing is that he will some times ignore the majority of his dinner in favour of the bread and crisps - a massive insult if you have spent time cooking it. I can understand using a single piece of bread to mop up any left over gravy not the amounts he eats and he sees nothing wrong with it.

The bread problem started as his mother encourages this since he was a boy. when we go to her house for dinner she still leaves a loaf of bread and butter on the table for him to use. The excuse is as he does not eat potatoes he needs some stodge to fill him up - I thought he had the massive amount of yorkshire puddings as a potato supplement.

Any ideas how I can help him break this habit? (unfortunately I cannot get rid of bread as we need it for sandwiches for work.)

[Casandra]

Carbs are not a filler food. They're basically like empty calories once you've had your daily intake. Once the muscles have had their fill of the energy from the carbs, the body will start storing the leftovers as fat. Protein, fibre, and good fats are key.

Try greenbeans with ham as a side dish. Or a GreenBean Casserole (basically, low fat/sodium cream of mushroom soup over loads of greenbeans and onion, with crunchy onion ring snacks crushed up and sprinkled on top)

Any sneaky way to get more fruits and vegetables into your OH might help! Or, try switching his bread of choice to a healthier option, and start using a fat free butter substitute :P

Sometimes, I'll surf around www.allrecipes.com for ideas on how to get my OH to eat a bit more healthily. He currently only has vegetables once a week! And that's a helping of Cauliflower or Broccoli with sunday lunch! :P

[Heather]

I think it can be very difficult to make someone change who doesn't want to. When I started eating healthier etc, my husband wanted nothing to do with it. In fact, any attempts I made to encourage him to eat better were met not only with resistance, but reactance -- he'd be worse!

So, I guess my question is, is he receptive to change or resistant to it? If he's open (or at least not resistant) providing information and alternatives can be helpful. If he's resistant... you can't force him to change.

[veggielover]

I think if you told him to drink some water after each bite of carb-filled delight that it will fill him up faster. I notice that when I eat simple sugars, I can eat more of them without feeling full, but when I drink water after, my belly feels like exploding. So now i take sips of water in between! Good luck with it.

[JayEll]

If he doesn't want to change, nothing you can do or say will make him! It probably also won't work to try to control his foods, etc.--he'll just get his crisps elsewhere.

Concentrate on losing weight yourself, staying on your own weight loss plan, and changing how you eat. Perhaps as he sees you change he might become more interested--but remember, you are doing this for you.

Jay

[mandalinn82]

There is nothing...NOTHING...you can do if a person isn't ready to change. HOWEVER - you can be an excellent example for him.

The limit that you can do? Buy healthier bread for your sandwiches (have you tried whole wheat? It is harder to eat slice after slice of it because it is very hearty), and don't put it out on the table for dinner. If he wants it, he can get it. Hopefully, those changes plus some good role modeling from you will encourage him to make changes. If not, focus only on changing yourself - that is the only decision you can really make.