Telling Mom not to cook for me?

Hi all! Yes, it's me, back on CC after, oh, four months of ridiculous life happenings. More in the ol' journal about that.

I had to move home due to my financial/employment situation, which partly stopped me from counting calories as religiously has I had been when I lived on my own. Now I want to get serious again and know that the only way counting calories works for me is if I measure portion sizes and log every single bite. Now that I live with Mom and Dad they cook dinner and make enough for all three of us. I want to go back to making most of my own meals (so I know exactly what and how much goes into every meal) - any suggestions on how to break it to Mom and Dad?

Seems like a silly question, but I know Mom is going to want to be "involved" with "helping" me lose weight but I just want her to let me do it my way.

I think firstly you gotta stress how much you love her cooking too let her know that the reason you dont want her cooking for you anymore is that, its not that her food is not good but your trying to eat healthier. Then you just gotta explain to her the importance of making your own food and you gotta do this on your own.

Tell them you have to do certain things to stay healthy, and offer to cook for them too.  They might like the break, and the benefit from some really healthy meals.

If she wants to be involved she could weigh and portion your daily fruit & veggie servings, etc.  You could also determine the amount of calories & portions of some favorite recipes and ask her to cook them for you.

Original Post by wannabepixie:

the only way counting calories works for me is if I measure portion sizes and log every single bite.

 Realistically, that isn't going to happen when you're eating with a group of other people and you're not 100% managing what goes on the plate.  Yes, you could offer to cook meals for everyone from time to time.  But you're going to come up against this more often than you might think  - eating out, holidays,  dining with friends - so maybe it's worth finding other ways around it, without having to commandeer the kitchen?

Breakfasts and lunches I assume you're more in charge of the menu?... You can weigh out your own cereal or make a sandwich.  That just leaves the one main meal of the day. 

The only thing you need to ask mum to do is cook and serve lots of vegetables and/or salads at each meal.   Then what you do is make sure you have half your plate full of those before you add anything else. 1/4 plate is the meat/fish/beans ... 1/4 plate is the carbohydrate.  You should be able to judge a portion of meat or rice reasonably well by now if you're a seasoned dieter.  That comes back to a neat 500 cal meal on average and no-one will know you're 'dieting' ... if you don't like interference.

Flip side to all this is regular exercise.  If you increase your exercise it means you've got much more wiggle-room on the calories.   Good luck

The way to go around this all depends on how much your Mum knows about your cooking skills and habits. If she knows NOTHING, then you can completely blag the old...

"Oh I wish I could cook this, can you show me mum....?"

...leading to the...

"Mum, can I try to cook that dish you showed me last time?"

...eventually to the...

"It's okay, Mum, I'll organise my own dinner..."

Difficult for me to say, as I've never really been i this situation. It was the opposite for me, I was left cooking the family meals and was trying to get someone else to do the cooking. But it's all down to the flattery and manipulation. Mwuhahahahah.

Good luck!
Nxxx

gi_jane, I get what you're saying about coming up against the portion issue when going out and all that, but for some reason, I have the mental "willpower" to not over-indulge when I'm out. At home it's a whole different story, haha. Thanks for the tip about the 1/4 etc of the plate - I don't believe I've heard that one before! And, ugh, the dreaded "excercise" word... Except I've got this weird way of thinking about exercise now; instead of the hard work and sweat part, I think about how much it's going to add to my calorie deficit and how much I'm going to love the shower afterwards. ;)

nscott87, I like the flattery approach. Mom has mentioned a few times that I could cook a meal for the three of us "anytime I wanted," so I think she's hinting at getting a night off, anyway! I think I'll spend some time today looking up a few low-cal receipies to get us going.

Thanks, all!

I recently had to deal with this. I just came home from school for spring break for the week. My parents were very impressed with how much weight I lost while away. And even more so, how much more energy I have! They don't want me to give up or do anything to sabatoge myself.

So one of the first things they did was let me pick up a few staples of my life right now (some apple cinnamon rice cakes, sugar free jello, yogurt, and sugar free pudding) to have some low cal snacks on hand.

Dinner time is another "issue". However, its been going very well so far. As they are making dinner, I just hand around the kitchen, help out and what not. Take for example Saturday's dinner. Sweet and sour chicken. Before they deep fried the chicken, I pulled 1/2 a cup of chicken out for myself and cooked it plain. Before she mixed the sauce in, I measured out exactly 1/8 cup and a cup of peppers. I measured out pineapple. Once I was done that, I didn't care what she did with the rest because I had all that I was going to eat.I still ate the same dinner, I just knew what I was eating.

Actually, I found it kept me from continuing to eat. If I had kept eating after my own portions were gone, I wouldn't be sure how much I was eating and wouldn't know the calories. That annoys me when I can't log everything properly.

I hope this helps!

Original Post by sfhsclarinet:

Actually, I found it kept me from continuing to eat. If I had kept eating after my own portions were gone, I wouldn't be sure how much I was eating and wouldn't know the calories. That annoys me when I can't log everything properly.

 

It totally annoys me when I can't log things properly, too! Must be the slight OCD-ness that everyone has. Thanks for the tips - I will be hanging out in the kitchen more often! My dad has a thing for sauce, so I've got to watch him like a hawk, haha. :)