Does anyone have any tips about dieting when your partner or oh is obsessed with food and cooking and is forever buying and serving up delicious food/meals?

[Slowcommotion]

I am preparing for my diet/healthy eating plan (starting properly in Lent) and have a real problem with this issue.

My dh loves food. He loves buying it, loves cooking it and loves preparing delicious things to eat. All wonderful you might say, but not when we are both overweight and not when I have the willpower of a recalcitrant slug.

I know that I am solely responsible for what I put in my own mouth. But dieting is so much harder when someone is continually buying and preparing (sometimes) calorific foods.

We actually eat fairly healthily, but about twice as much as we should. The added complication is that we have a dd who needs to put on weight.

How would you/do you handle it?

(a) tell no one you are dieting. Eat normally but cut down dramatically on portion size.

(b) buy and prepare food for yourself separately from that of your oh

We have tried in the past to work together on a joint dieting venture but we are very different and it hasn't worked. (He is in the right frame of mind to diet, I am not or vice versa. He likes high fat foods and I don't. I like sugary foods, he doesn't etc etc. He finds it difficult to give up alcohol, I don't etc) But when I start my own diet separately, and buy my own foods, he will still bring fattening cakes and biscuits home etc.

Any other ideas/tips/advice? Thank you!

Good thread
Thanks everyone , good ideas
Thinking of trying 5:2 anyone else?
Also 10,000 steps a day
Find portion control quite hard too and also have quite a foodie dh who often likes a starter and a main course.

I have a dh like yours he cooks really well BUT (and this is where he listens to me ) I'm a demi veggie so he cooks and buys meat for himself and cooks the vegetables for me. Or he buys salmon or cod etc. and sometimes makes sushi which I love.

You could try some sort of intermittent fasting - either 5:2 (limit to 500 cals for you, 600 for him two days a week, eat normally - not overeat - the other days), or 16:8 where you only eat within an 8 hour window - for most people that means don't have breakfast and don't snack in the evening.

(someone may have already suggested this, apologies if so but that's the approach I'd try if I was you)

Thank you again for loads more useful tips and suggestions

Ppeat and Timeforabiscuit Thanks. I did try green tea for a while but found it gave me a queasy/acid stomach. Live near Middle Eastern shop so will try and keep up fresh mint supplies and make mint tea or just drink hot water (which is not as bad as it sounds once you get used to it and if cups do not have dw tab residue!!).

Bin85 yes, must get my pedometer back on and work those steps!!

Errol thank you, think I am going to do a sort of modified fasting as rookie and amothersplace have suggested, and not snacking in the evening is something I must stick to.

What on earth are tea pigs Timeforabiscuit?

Mameulah thanks for tip, have just joined WeightWatchers online but will check out Slimming World recipes.

Made one positive step toward's start of Lent/start of weight loss plan yesterday. Put a load of new extra bright light bulbs in the play/telly room. Idea is that I can now sew in there straight after supper and not be tempted to snack or eat biscuits (lovely fabric and food do not mix!!). (Lighting was low before and it was too dark to do patchwork!). Hwr, family are complaining that is now uncomfortably bright for relaxing so may have to re-think and buy a spot light lamp or some such!

Teapigs are a range of herbal teas, they are pricey, but you can get them online or through large tesco stores.

I don't like berry fruit teas but love ginger, mint and fennel type flavours and the teapigs taste more fresh.www.teapigs.co.uk

Thanks Timeforabiscuit will definitely check them out as I loathe berry teas too!!

Get the Hairy Dieters cookbooks. Really good recipes for foodies, but very well-balanced. Also, when cooking conventional meat/fish + potatoes/rice/pasta + veg meals, organise it so your DH can cook one portion of carbs for himself and eat them on the side while you can skip the carbs completely and just have some green veg.

Thank you LadyIsabella I do have the book. I know I ought to skip the carbs and leave them to dh, but that is the part I find very difficult.

I don't like fruit teas either Timefor and like the teapigs, but if they're too much for your budget Slowcommotion then 2 mint or fennel etc. tbags are tastier than one.

Warm water and freshly squeezed lemon juice is good first thing because it alkalises your system.

I also do mending etc. when watching the telly it saves me feeling I'm wasting my time!

Will try the 2 tea bag trick if I can't get hold of teapigs over here, thanks Ppeat!

I really would log some meals on Mfp and show him the results

Will do Stealthpolarbear

You won't believe this, but dh mentioned cheerily in passing today that he has lost 1kg since Christmas! I knew he had given up alcohol but he hadn't mentioned the fact that he was cutting back on food too!! The sly dog!!!!!

I've put on weight since Christmas of course

DH also loses weight at Lent when he gives up alcohol, not food! It is one of the worst things for holding onto water, like daily coffees

"a) tell no one you are dieting. Eat normally but cut down dramatically on portion size."

Why is this not the solution? And let him entertain lots other people when he has the urge to binge-cater.

he will still bring fattening cakes and biscuits home etc.

You are an adult & no one makes you eat these things, right?

Absolutely Lljkk (as stated in my op, I am solely responsible for what I put in my own mouth)

Having said that, when he is away, I eat about half as much!

Will go with telling no-one (diet talk is very boring anyway!)

Noted about the alcohol Ppeat!!

The thing is with the Paul Mckenna is it's quite possible to bend the rules e.g. if you're hungry before the meal then have a big glass of water and or a herbal tea.

I now know how long I go between meals or snax. So can organise my day around 'proper' meals IFYSWIM.

I don't eat after 7.30. and if I feel hungry I might have an apple or something light. I find that's a great way to lose weight got to sleep on an empty stomach (you get used to it) I also feel LESS hungry in the morning if I haven't eaten late .

thank you again Ppeat much appreciated!

Good to know that Paul McK is adaptable and also good tip about feeling less hungry when haven't eaten late. Will try it out!!

I have no excuse really, as I don't feel hungry when I am active. It's when I am sitting at a desk feeling bored that I get ravenous and shaky for some reason!

You're welcome Slow [grin ] It sounds like you might have a wheat intolerance, do you get exhausted or bad tempered for no reason? Also have a sort of bleary feeling all the time?

One good thing about dh is that we have both stopped eating wheat (not easy but can be done of course!). He is like a different person off wheat much calmer and nicer. We eat whole rye bread from Waitrose and Kamut\spelt bread from our local health food shop.

MMmmm, might well be worth investigating Ppeat (have been thinking about it a while in fact) and giving up wheat for a while won't hurt the diet at all, thks again.

Dh loves his bread but swears he only buys it for me!! Might be time to take him to task over that ....!!

It's an idea to go easy on yr dh if he's anything like mine' he just goes into "Not listening la la la la mode" I just let him discover how bad stuff is for him like pork which gives him terrible arthritis or gout. He can walk now he doesn't touch it.

Yes Ppeat my dh does that too (la la mode I mean). Just as well you don't live where we are (Belgium) where they are intensely fond of their pork products ... .

It's cheese that does strange things to dh's digestive tract but he loves it unfortunately ... .

OMG we live in Fr. for 50% of the time!!! Yes so you can imagine how hard it is to give up wheat and pork products!!! Mine loves cheese too!!! Of course he shouldn't!!

We love Belgium Our dh's would get on very well !!

Yes, they would have a feast !!!

How do you manage to alternate between countries on a six-monthly basis, if you don't mind me asking? [Extreme nosiness emoticon.] It sounds idyllic!!