A wife's struggle... Damn My husband lol

I've been stationed in florida for about 3 years now and while my husband was completing his tour in Italy i managed to go from 155 to 141... by excercising cutting out junkfood etc... his tour ended in December and since them i have seen my weight go up... from the snack in the house to the stops at fast food restaurants or just eating out period... I still run about 10-12 miles a week  3 miles on tuesday and friday and a 4 miler on sat or sun, however, i come home to cakes and cookies and doritos and soda and start snacking.. this is so frustrating...  has anyone had similar experiences? What did you do?

I took control of the grocery shopping, and I took control of what goes into my body. Through being more involved in the shopping, there are less tempting junk foods in the house, and by being more conscious of what I eat, if there is something junky that my husband likes to eat, I just don't touch it. We also rarely eat out, never eat fastfood, and try to cook at home as much as possible - this saves us money and helps us be healthier. We're vegetarians, and at a lot of restaurants the vegetarian options can be healthier than the non-veg options. You don't have to be a vegetarian to replace some of your meals with meatless choices. We also have a restaurant here called Roly Poly's that has great healthy wraps. The last thing that helps me is logging my calories and making sure there are healthy things I can snack on. If my option is to waste 200 calories on a handful of doritos or to eat a really healthy and filling snack of carrots, wasa crackers, and hummus, I'd rather have the healthy option. Hope this helps!

Plan, plan, plan... Make it easy on yourself.  You have to plan out your meals to avoid this trap of eating whatever is quick and easy.

I grocery shop every Sunday - stocking up on healthy foods that I will cook during the week.  Then I will plan 2 nights per week to cook, and I will cook enough for to last several more meals.  That way there is always something healthy in the fridge for when you're in a hurry.  Make it easy on yourself - you know you tend to grab things on the go - so make healthy things available for yourself to grab and go, so that you can avoid the fast food trap.    DON'T buy the cookies, candy, chips and crap that aren't healthy.  If they aren't there you can't eat them.  Instead stock up on fresh and dried fruits, nuts, popcorn, etc. that make great snacks if you find that you like to snack a lot.  I found that I would buy fruits but they would sit in the fridge and go bad because I never "had time" to prepare them... so I made it easy on myself.  After I went to the store and bought all this fruit, I would cut it up and place it into several pyrex containers.  They last several days that way (you've seen these in the grocery store, but they are a LOT more expensive), and there is always "ready to eat" fresh fruit in the fridge - so no more excuses about not having time! 

I agree w/ the other responses. Planning is huge! I try to plan for the week what we will have for dinner every night.  It's hard to do sometimes, but it definitely keeps me on track more often than when I don't do it.  I recently got married, and my husband is in the army.  He can pretty much eat whatever he wants and in whatever quantity he wants, and he's in awesome shape! It really stinks!  I learned not long into marriage that I am responsible for my own body.  I can't fool myself into thinking I can eat like him or snack as often and on the same things. 

Also, recording what I'm eating really helps me too.  My daily calorie breakdown goes a little like this:

300 cal breakfast, 400 cal lunch, 500 cal dinner and two 150 cal snacks

I have lots of meals and snacks in mind that fit this calorie quota so if I'm starving or in a pinch, I know what to grab. 

Finally its ok to have a little treat once in a while! Just make sure you're realistic about how much you have and plan accordingly for it in your "calorie budget." 

One more thing: drink a full glass of water when you wake up and before each meal! I'm pretty sure we're all dehydrated!

Good luck! Awesome job with the running! :)

Planning is good, but some of us just aren't able to control everything that enters the house. 

In this situation the real key is self-control.  You just have to stop yourself.  Easy to say.  Hard to do.  It takes practice and other distractions.

Instead of eating junk, grab a healthy snack instead like fruits and veggies.  Instead of eating, read a book, clean something, call a friend, play a game...  If you can find something that'll keep your hands busy, that helps.  If you can't pick up the cake, you can't shove it in your mouth!

Good luck.

Original Post by jenningermany:

Planning is good, but some of us just aren't able to control everything that enters the house. 

In this situation the real key is self-control.  You just have to stop yourself.  Easy to say.  Hard to do.  It takes practice and other distractions.

Instead of eating junk, grab a healthy snack instead like fruits and veggies.  Instead of eating, read a book, clean something, call a friend, play a game...  If you can find something that'll keep your hands busy, that helps.  If you can't pick up the cake, you can't shove it in your mouth!

Good luck.

 I disagree here.  It is true you can not control everything that comes into the house.  But if you PLAN - you control your plan.  Who cares what the other guy does?  My husband and kid eat pizza all the time.  I don't have to worry about huge does of self control - I just eat what is on my plan.  My plan is my safety net. I have already made decisions so I do not have to make them twice. 

Tell him if he likes what he came home to, then he better help you stay at your present weight.  If he really needs to eat out, he can take you to a nice restaurant once a week.  Also remind him that when you have more energy because you weigh less, it means he'll have a lot more fun now that he's home again.

Of course self-control is the key here, but maybe you should sit down and talk to your husband about not wanting to have all that snack in the house. I agree, it is always better to eat home-made food as you know the exact calories etc, but it is impossible for all of us to cook every day. Try persuading your husband to chose a healthy place to eat at not a fast food joint. Go shopping together and offer him healthy choices when he wants to buy crisps or biscuits.

Eating out is getting easier for me. We've always tended to go to certain favorite restaurants and I counted out various meals at those favorite places so I know what to order when I have either plenty of calories left for the day or hardly any. I know to only eat half of the pita bread in my favorite chicken kabob sandwich. I know to ask for the whole wheat pasta and divide my portion in half before I start eating. No big deal. Hardly different from before but I feel so much better. But, yeah, you have to find places where he can get his burgers and fries and you can get something else. Just say you want someplace to sit down that's a little bit nicer then go to the local gyros/grilled sandwiches/salad joint. Most neighborhoods have one.

And I'm no good at passing up a snack- if someone else is eating a snack, I WILL have me a snack too- but, as the others said, it doesn't have to be the same thing. I'll crunch on an apple instead of the chips, maybe have me some peanut butter with it if I just  have to have something to dip it in. I'm no good at getting things ready ahead of time either- jeez, fruit usually comes in individual serving sizes. Except melon. Like, watermelon is not naturally packaged in individual servings...