nessa, my son is diabetic and was also 450 pounds, through diet and exercise (a LOT of exercise) he has lost 200 pounds. His doctor has taken him off his diabetes medication. Tell your husband it can be done and it is worth it. I can't tell you exactly what diet he was on because he is an adult and no longer lives with me.
Just another quick idea I had while reading: maybe it's a good idea to start small and, for a couple of weeks or so, just have him count the calories he's currently consuming - not trying to cut any yet.
Sometimes just the awareness of what is actually consumed helps to come to the realization that things have got to change. And once you have an overview/pattern of how and what he is eating now, you can suggest minor (ex)changes to gradually lower that calorie level to the fat loss range.
It seems important that he won't feel deprived or like his way of life is taken from him - so baby steps might be the way?
I would honestly say that 3000 calories a day would probably work. If you helped him to choose some foods at each meal that were high in volume (where he could feel full) he would probably feel okay.
Just make sure to break it down into 3 meals, and a couple of decent sized snacks, so that he would not feel deprived and could eat often.
Something like:
Breakfast: 600
Snack: 300
Lunch: 700
Dinner: 1000
Snack: 400
I know that the calculators are going more for the 3500 range, but since he is VERY sendentary, and needs some quick results to get him motivated...I would think that this would be okay. I also find that in my experience, the calculators often estimate a tad HIGH.
He can eat a good amount of food-for instance a 600 calorie breakfast could be 3 eggs (210), 2 cups of cantalaupe (120) a piece of whole grain toast (100) and light butter (50) and a glass of orange juice (120). That is a pretty good sized meal for 600 calories! If there is a good sized serving of fruit or veggies at each meal, it really adds to the size of the meal, and he can get the full feeling that he likes.
i wrote out a menu on sparks people yesterday and showed him... he's starting to realize it won't be so bad... that he can have his yummys
last night he had smart balance popcorn as his snack... then he poured smart balance melted all over it.. but we are making progress it was not an entire box of oreos.
i wrote out a menu on sparks people yesterday and showed him... he's starting to realize it won't be so bad... that he can have his yummys
last night he had smart balance popcorn as his snack... then he poured smart balance melted all over it.. but we are making progress it was not an entire box of oreos.
It's all about the small changes I'm so happy he's open to the change, and it is progress!
ETA: FWIW... we're all routing for him, here, too!
my husband had gastric by pass and after losing 120 pounds, has used this as a license to eat . After 5 years he has gained most of it back.
I don't think people realize its only a tool to get you straight on eating ,its not forever.If you eat a box of cookies with or without the surgery you'll gain.
But then again ,MEN ,they don't listen.
I lost 80 pnds while having one 200-250 calorie treat EVERY day. By treat I mean prepackaged Oreos, Starbucks, etc. I would plan that very morning what I would have for my treat and add it into the calories at the beginning of the day. So, if I was having 1600 calories, I'd subtract 200 (snack) and eat a healthy 1400 calories for the rest of the day.
This really worked for me.
Best wishes. Somehow, he has to be ready in his head.
I am a long time lurker on the boards, but I had an idea, so I wanted to speak up.
Does he like video games? There was an article on wired.com about how weight loss sites like Weight Watchers online really present weight loss as like an RPG. The "points" concept seems to trigger male minds. If he won't go to the meetings, would he do the online part of Weight Watchers?
I am a long time lurker on the boards, but I had an idea, so I wanted to speak up.
Does he like video games? There was an article on wired.com about how weight loss sites like Weight Watchers online really present weight loss as like an RPG. The "points" concept seems to trigger male minds. If he won't go to the meetings, would he do the online part of Weight Watchers?
i'm doing WW e-tools. it's not at all going to interest his WOW mind but he will take a look at sparkpeople where I set him up an account.
I swear if we could hook WOW up and make them have to walk on a treadmill in order to get that character to run that would be cool.
I so can relate, if my hubby had to lose a lb a week in order to keep his WOW account open, I'm sure he'd find a way to do it.
Hubby started at over 400 lb. He's lost about 50 lbs since we joined TOPS, without counting calories, just by cutting out his super fat/carb snacking (a pound of pistachios, a box of crackers or a large bag of Doritos in the evening). Now he's gotten to the point, where just cutting out the snacking isn't enough.
We've been preparing our meals seperately, and he relies on more prepackaged foods than I do, but I noticed Thursday how much his portions have changed. He passed on a piece of wedding cake at his mom's wedding reception (I didn't), and at lunch ate only about 2/3 of his burger. For us to bring home half the appetizer tray, for me to take home my burger, and he to not finish his - we're making progress, especially since we shared the appetizer tray with my husband's sister. In the past, we probably would have eaten the whole appetizer tray and our meals between just the two of us.
My DH has been doing this weight loss journey with myself but he struggled more than myself as he has a very sweet tooth. So initially we made small changes to our diet cut more of the junk out, had more white meat as opposed to red. Many recipes I tweeked and made them with white meat and a good serving of vegetables. Over the months I changed to wholemeal bread and pasta. Brown rice also was another change. It did the changes very slowly and so we got use to one change before jumping on to another. Losing weight was not a race so it did not matter that it took us longer just that we got to the finish line. once in a while(every 2- 3 months) we go out for a meal out where we eat what we want but meals leading up to the meal will always be healthy. Then after the meal we return to our healthy eating. These treats have helped me and dh keep going knowing we have extra special days to look forward.
Over the months I have collected different recipes to statisfy his sweet tooth so now has his weight is around 218 and he is 5ft 11" and lost around 60lbs. So each day I ensure that there is always room in the plan for a daily treat which keeps him on plan. If the treat is only 100 or there abouts he can have another later in the day. This way it has kept him more on the straight and narrow. I know it may mean looking on the internet for tasty things that you know dh will more than likely enjoy but in the long run I have found it worth it.
I hope you have found this a little useful. Good luck to you and your DH starting on your weight loss journey together and congratulations on how well you have done. If he is able to lose some weight people will compliment and that will help keep him motivated as it has my dh.
