My boyfriend is fat.

sandiep

I would recommend lots of soups for lunch. Homemade soup is dead easy to make, full of nutritous stuff, and very very cheap, partic if its a veggie based one.

It also fills you right up, so you can get through to tea time without the urges for snacks.

I didn't discover this till a couple of years ago, and I am so cross with myself!!

Savvy_Sue

Rather than moving this entire thread, I'm going to leave it here for suggestions about how to communicate the GIGO message (Garbage In, Garbage Out) and suggest that brokeinwales posts on Old Style for specific help with recipes.

If it's any help, I think DH was astonished about rapidly he lost the beer belly when he stopped filling it with beer. That is a slight exaggeration: he's never been a big drinker, but did find that by refusing the seconds he'd always been renowned for the weight did come down.

I've never been a beer drinker, and I have a sweet tooth, and there's always cake on offer at work, so my cake belly is still very definitely here.

One wonderful form of free exercise is walking. See the Walking the Way to Health website. Counting steps may appeal to his geeky side, and there are all kinds of gadgets you CAN buy if you're that way inclined: step counters (try finding one which WORKS!) with all manner of attachments, heart monitors, SatNavs for walkers, walking poles etc. But you can just start with a pair of comfy shoes. You may find there are local walking groups, either aimed at improving health or sociability (although the latter can cover a fair bit of ground!)

DS2 used to walk 4 miles to and from school most days, from choice (I may be wicked, but I'm not THAT wicked!) He saved his bus fare money, and felt it set him up for the day. I make no claims for weight loss, he is built like a bean pole and eats like a horse. I've thought about walking to work, but we live at the bottom of a hill, so I'd have to build up steam. :rotfl:

gar123

would he be interested in volunteering at a local dog shelter, walking the dogs?

MrsTinks

Dog walking is a great form for exercise and even better - it doesn't feel like it! I have a very high energy dog (so much so she has a dog walker 4 days a week as we both work and a morning and evening walk isn't enough to keep her sane (or me!)) and walking her is definitely good - ok right now I walk slowly as I'm "up the duff" but it is so much better than walking on your own
I have tried WW and SW and to be honest... SW was better It's more about teaching you the principles of healthier eating than weighing food and counting points (which drove me nuts!). DH has a much higher metabolish than I do so it's interesting to see the differences in our portions - mine is normally about 2/3rds of his - now down to 1/2 as less space to stick it in! And I found havign fresh fruit IN REACH made it easier to snack on that instead of walking to the kitchen for a marsbar Especially things like satsumas, bananas, grapes and apples for me

shykins

brokeinwales there is a lowcarb thread on the health and beauty board, do pop in there for lots of info and avice on how to follow this way of eating while still being MSE... i have to say i dont find it anymore expensive than any other

and whilst i dont intend getting into a debate about atkins i have to say as for puttin it all back on again, well i have lost 8stone and have maintained for over 3 yrs and not regained ... with any diet if u go back to eating how u ate before then u will gain it back after all your 'normal' way of eating is what u got big in the first place

hth

brokeinwales

Whoa - there's loads of really great suggestions here, I might get him to have aread himself (hopefully he won't be too upset that I called him fat LOL!)

I actually mentioned the slimming world idea to him last night and he seemed quite interested in the idea of "coloured" days (I can imagine him colouring in the calender with felt tips....) I know there is definetly a group just around the corner from us as well - so we will look into that. Anyone know anything about costs and that kind of thing?

The dog walking is inspired! (His childhood pet dog passed away a few months ago and he was quite sad about that, and we can't have our own dog as we live in a first floor flat, so I think it would be a great idea). Thing with exercise is that he's not really lazy as such, but he's not very into high impact training (whereas I quite enjoy "going for the burn"!) Do you have to pay anything to do it, or is just a case of volunteering?

DH was astonished about rapidly he lost the beer belly when he stopped filling it with beer

That's exactly what happened to my Dad a few years back - he didn't go on a diet or anything, but gave up drinking for a while and lost half a stone without trying!

I do love soup - speshly in winter, so that's definetly something to go for...

with any diet if u go back to eating how u ate before then u will gain it back after all your 'normal' way of eating is what u got big in the first place

definetly a lot of truth in that. I saw a programme about diets once, and the "expert" verdict was that people lost roughly the same whichever they did - the main varying factor was whether they stuck to the plan or cheated!
Anyway - I will link this to the OS board and see if I can get some more recipe ideas. Do keep suggestions coming though, as the more ideas I can give him I think the better chance we can work something out. (One day I may even get him to quit smoking too...)

Stephb1986_2

Slimming World is £10 to join and then £4.50 each week you get books and stuff too and the magazine is £1.75 perhaps buy him that i know this month has a food plan for a week see if he can follow that and then maybe join? the magazine is available in the shops too

HTH

Good luck

Steph xx

brokeinwales

Well - hope you all had a good Christmas.
Just wanted to add that I checked out the Slimming World website and was pleased to see there's a free sample seven day meal plan on there with a couple of recipes - mostly stuff we both like, so we'll be giving that a go to see how it works out (I already made myself some of the "free chips" actually and quite enjoyed them - normally find chips a bit fatty but those were nice!).
He's also decided to start getting up a little earlier so he has time to walk to work (very moneysaving that one too I felt - should save nearly £10 a week.).

We are going to have to get rid of all the Christmas booze that's still lying around the kitchen somehow though...