How do I feed my boyfriend?

I live with my boyfriend and I am at a loss as to how to get him to eat better. I try to eat pretty well, but when I am with him, it all goes out the window because he would rather exercise than eat well. He currently only eats Steakums, hot dogs, sandwiches, pizza, and fast food. He also eats chips, a lot of chips. He will go though a couple of bags of chips a week. He is also a very picky eater, he will not eat mushrooms or anything he decides is gross. Does anybody have ANY ideas on how I can get him to eat better, and as a consquence, I can eat better.

Change yourself first and let him do what he wants. Is he an adult? Either way, you're not his parent. He's not going to change unless he wants to, and he will probably only get annoyed if you try to change him.

If you're doing the cooking, or something like that, then you can try to cook things that he will like. However, it's YOUR decision. If he doesn't like it, uhm, sorry, tough. Maybe you can talk to him to figure out some meals that are compromises.

Tell him that you don't want to go to that pizza shop. Say that fine, he can get fast food but you aren't eating from that place. If he doesn't want to compromise with you when you are together, then you may just have to start doing things that don't involve eating so much. It isn't fair for you to have to just roll over and adopt his eating habits.

I know it will be tough..you will really have to have a lot of self control. Stop trying to change him, though, and just focus on how you can keep your eating in line no matter what he does.

Fussy eaters are a nightmare.  There's nothing worse than someone whose taste-buds are stunted at the toddler stage of development.  :-)  The only thing to do is to cook good food (that you like) and serve it.   Vegetables, mushrooms!, grains, meat.... go the whole hog.   He can either be a man about it and give it a taste.  Or he can be a child, pull a face and sulk.  But I wouldn't worry, they rarely starve. 

i know a lot of guys don't like the idea of eating soy or "fake" meat foods, but if you can get him to try them some of them really do imitate the taste of meat well (esp. when they're covered in other stuff) and they are lower in calories and almost or are fat free.  i dated my boyfriend for YEARS before he finally tried the stuff and viola! he loves it!  he won't touch a real hot dog at all now when he knows he can load up a soy one and get the same "fix" with much less fat.   same for sausage and ground meat.  he likes mexican so we'll make burritos and tacos but use the soy meat.

he also either eats my vegetarian chili or he buys turkey chili which is almost fat free too.  we like to make pizza ourself instead of ordering it because you can make it a little healthier... use whole wheat crusts, reduced fat cheeses, and veggies as toppings.  how bout pretzels instead of chips???  that one switch cuts out a lot of the fat.  instead of dip try salsas... i am hooked on making my own salsas now and i use a lot of beans so the protein fills me up.  there's also a bean dip i like to make where you layer refried beans, sour cream, salsa, lettuce and cheese and i just use everything fat free or reduced fat and it's not so bad!  will he eat raw veggies?  maybe dipped in hummus?  my bf likes the spicier the better and i know they make some spicier hummus (i get my own plain and mild as can be hummus lol)

also instead of grabbing the fast food try to make stuff at home more often.... i'd rather stay in and make a veggie burger with cheese on whole grain bread with a side of sweet potato fries (and maybe a light beer) then go out and get a burger with a huge side of fries and a buttered bun (and probably a full beer lol).

however if he really feels like his weight is fine and he's not having issues he might just not want to switch. hopefully for his own health and to make things easier for you you can find some healthier alternatives to how he eats now.  it really just took my bf finally trying some of the healthier foods that i ate to realize that they dont' all actually taste bad! lol  and he feels better now too... so give it a shot and see what you guys can work out. 

 

 

Take away his poontang pie. That'll learn him!

I'd have to agree with feanor and gi-jane.  You can't force someone else to change; all you can do is make stuff that you know is healthy.  If he doesn't like it, he can learn to cook his own meals.

"You can't teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of time and it annoys the pig."

If he has healthy stats (low blood pressure, cholesterol, etc) and he exercises then I don't see the problem.  I would eat like that too if I could so don't try to make him change his ways only to benefit you. 

In saying that, when I lived with my ex and was trying to lose a few pounds I would cook healthier and he loved it!  I would buy hoagy buns that only had 1.5 grams of fat and take 3-4 oz of ham, some onion, spray with pam (or whatever you use) and sprinkle some garlic salt, put in oven for 15 minutes (ham separate from bun) and also those steak fries.  You can have around 6 of those steak fries for 120 calories and 3 gm of fat so that's pretty good.  Taco salads was another of his favorites.  I used the baked tortilla chips (130 calories for around 7 chips) lean ground serloin, lettuce, tomato, 2% cheddar, onions, jalopenos...Also, someone else mentioned making pizza yourself, which is great. 

For fast food, try to choose places where he can get what he wants and you can too.  Subway, Wendys is also good, Applebees, Chilis all have a calorie friendly menu.  Even my favorite pizza place has a wheat, thin crust option and can do lite on the amount of cheese on your half of it.

I have a friend like that. She doesn't eat much, but all she'll eat is pasta, chocolate covered pretzles, ice cream, french fries, gummies, and doritos. But guess what? I brought a pb sandwhich on wheat bread to lunch one day, let her try some, and she LOVED the wheat bread! :O So now I'm gradually bringing in healthy stuff for her to try. Try gradually getting him to eat well. Bit by bit. You know? Don't ambush him with veggies!

my husband is this way-- but i cook ALL his food - even pack his lunch --

what I am slowly doing is changing his food & he doesn't know it-- i cook only with olive oil, use low fat choice meats, mix his rice w/brown rice- i use vegetable blends to thicken his soups/stew, and he hasn't noticed so far!

i cook a lot of Spanish food which is fried; I've changed to baking a lot of things like plantains, etc after a quick pan sear in olive or canola oil instead of corn oil, etc... i use less & less potatoes & more & more onions, peppers, fresh garlic, tomatoes, etc... i watch the spices like Adobe pre-packaged as they are very high in salt-

eh, i KNOW he still eats crap when i'm not around- i mean 8-12 8oz cokes a day is something he won't give up-- neither will he give up a coke or monster energy drink before the gym along with 2 little debbie cakes- his sugar intake is outrageous- more than 1/2 his calories a day are sugar!

try to make changes slowly in how you feed/cook - and he is an adult- he can eat better or not eat - or like my husband- go out & eat crap anyway--

bottom line- do what you can to improve the cooking you do for him- but he's gonna do what he does regardless & not until he sees how hot you are from eating/exercising will he get a wake up call!

like everyone else has said, you can't force him.  that being said, i cook a lot for my boyfriend who has pretty bad eating habits, so i have been making healthier versions of his favorites.  make simple switches like using whole wheat pasta, whole grain bread, leaner cuts of meat, and mixing half ground turkey with ground beef for burgers and things like that, you will still get the same taste with less fat...and he'll never know!  hehe.  also, try cooking light magazine, they have great recipes that are basically healthier versions of classic dishes.  and don't worry if he doesn't like it right away... the more he is exposed to it, the more it will grow on him!!

Have you tried sitting him down and seriously asking him if he wants to be dating a wide load?  Threaten him with your weight gain.

Seriously, though, when I found my boyfriend, he was living on a diet of convenience store candy, cigarettes, and mountain dew.  He was willing to try new things, which helped, but getting rid of the old things wasn't so easy.  Four years (almost) later, and he's a non-smoker who exercises all the time and rarely eats meat.  We eat a ton of veggies and grains and bean/soy protein (we try to limit the fake meat stuff, as it's processed and really high in bizarro lab ingredients).  One side of me wants to tell you to ignore him and focus on your own food, but I also love to feed people and hate eating alone.  Maybe take baby steps away from what he's used to, or try eating out at ethnic restaurants to immerse him in some new flavors.  If he continues to crybaby and eat crap, maybe you should be worried about the long haul.  One day, that speedy metabolism is going to slow down.

I am having a similar problem!!! my boyfriend loves his excercise and is quite muscular...but often has a horrable diet!!! he is so fussy, but according to his mum this only started to happen when he reached puberty! he doesnt like most vegetables...but hates onion, garlic, cheese, olives, and mushrooms just to name a few!

 

hint: feed him like a fussy child! try hamburger patties filled with blended vegies...it makes the meat go further (better for the budget!), they are freezable, easy to make and contain protein and iron!!!!

My problem is my boyfriend does not cook and eats out all the time. So if I don't cook, he will want us to go out--ich is a diet killer. LUckily he eats what I cook him, but he will not eat leftovers. So if I want leftovers or a day off from cooking, he will bug me to go out with him. I finally just told him outright I will go out with him one night a week, but I can't eat all that restwhaurant food! And I told him I needed his help for me to lose weight and that actually worked b.c. he bugs me a lot less now--I guess the direct appeal for his help--and telling him i "needed" his help worked in that regard. .

I have discovered cookinglight.com which is excellent. The top-rated recipes are usually very tasty and my b/f requests some of them now. This from a guy who has a very refined palate from not only eating out, but eating out at REALLY nice places.

P.S. my b/f and I have a deal--I cook, he cleans. And he does a very good job cleaning. So this makes me more excited to cook :)

 

i live with my fiance.  he can eat like a garbage truck & stay svelte so he's not in need of the dietary changes i'm making for myself.  that said...  i do all the cooking and his motto is "you make food, i'll make poop".  he's capable of cooking (he didn't starve during college) but would rahter not so he's tickeld pink that i'm more than happy to do all the work involved in putting yummy foods on the table.  if it's something he doesn't like he has two options: douse it with enough hot sauce to make it eatable while politely informing me what he doesn't like about OR put his fully developed brain and opposable thumbs to use by making himself a sandwich. 

you can't make you BF eat better.  he's a grown man who can eat crap if he wants.  but you also shouldn't let your BF's eating habits hold you hostage.  if you want to eat healthy, eat healthy.  he can either eat what you make or fend for himself. 

My boyfriend practically lives off smoothies. Each morning is like a science project.