Where does he put it all?!?

londonsurrey

Don't buy packets of ham - get proper joints (stock up on them when they're on sale), and pound for pound, they're cheaper and hold more proper meat than the weird meat they put in the plastic packets. I just got a 900g joint for £5.50 on sale at Waitrose.

Make lots of extra cuts into the joint, rub salt into it, roast it. If you do one or two over the weekend, it can be sliced and refridgerated for the first part of the week.

If you're not too bothered about the health aspect, then boil up some potatoes until they're fairly soft. Put some of the fat and dripping in a frying pan, fry roughly chopped up potatoes with that.

The fried potato mash can be eaten with the roast, or put in a sandwich with the roast.

It's not healthy, but it ought to satisfy a salt and carbs craver, and for not that much money.

If he goes for it, start adding things like green beans, split peas and carrots to the potato mix.

eamon

We all know people that can easily eat enormous amounts and never put on an ounce of weight equally we all know people that only have to think about a choc bar and gain a pound. I think its to do with the kind of food we eat, lifestyle and metabolism. I don't think that there is much doubt about the ticking time bomb that is processed food. Thus for the OP go slowly in changing the food that you buy. Weaning your body away from rubbish food is challenging. Food manufacturers know that we are weak and feeble creatures. Be brave and strong!

VestanPance

I'm one of those stuff my face all day and rarely put on weight type people, which really annoys my sister. :rotfl:Although my diet is far healthier than the OP's other half.

What I would say is that your husband will be hungry in part due to what he is eating. All that junk food of crisps, biscuits and sweets is going to leave him hungry, as he'll be getting constant blood sugar spikes and lows which means his body will be telling him to eat.

I'd also query why he's taking protein shakes and sports drinks. Protein shakes should either be used to build/repair muscle after working out, or some diets use them as a meal replacement. That's an expensive thing to take that serves no purpose if he's not working out. Sports drinks should be avoided unless you're a marathon runner. The body has more than enough electrolytes to cover cardiovascular workouts for at least a couple of hours, and even us marathon runners don't need much of it to power our way around 26.2 miles. Those drinks are also going to be causing blood sugar spikes when you're not doing cardio work to use up what you are ingesting.

Primrose

Try making big pans of home made soup which is filling, and always have a good bowl of porridge for breakfast. Beans and pulses cooked in various ways are more filling and healthy than all this sugary and salty snack food. And as for all your little treAts being eaten by mid week, put some aside as soon as you've done your weekly shop and store them separately in your own car!

SuzieSue

Primrose wrote: »

Try making big pans of home made soup which is filling, and always have a good bowl of porridge for breakfast. Beans and pulses cooked in various ways are more filling and healthy than all this sugary and salty snack food. And as for all your little treAts being eaten by mid week, put some aside as soon as you've done your weekly shop and store them separately in your own car!

Agreed. Soups are very filling and adding a can of red kidney beans makes them even more filling and tasty.

Baked beans on their own can be boring but mixing 2 or 3 cans with a can of red kidney beans makes them much more tasty. If he doesn't eat it all, you can keep it in the fridge for a few days and have it later in the week.

Lilith1980

I haven't read all of the replies so apologies if any of this has already been said.

It looks like your OH is eating a lot of processed carp, and stuff which would spike his energy levels straight away, only for them to fall just as quickly which might explain why he needs to eat so much.

If he ate more protein and good fats that would keep him full for longer

I have porridge for breakfast most days, but try on some days to have scrambled eggs and fish (e.g. mackeral).

For lunch I avoid bread and have some meat and vegetables, and again, a similar thing for dinner.

The more sugar you have, the more your cravings for them so it just becomes a vicious circle of never-ending sugar/carbs, which never really satisfy you.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Increase the ratio of protein and fat in his diet. That should decrease his hunger levels. Cottage cheese in sauces, more lean meat, pulses in curries.

Carbs get dealt with by the body and are gone - pouffffff - leaving a blood sugar slump, which is probably where his next sugary snack craving comes from.

ETA: Is he using a decent protein shake mix, or some cheap crap from the supermarket? Has he tried the proper gaining mixtures?


And when is a packet kiev, wagon wheels and crisps ever 'lovely food'?


He needs to eat more like a bodybuilder instead of a greedy toddler. And you need to focus on eating healthily, not buying tons of crap, moaning he is eating the crap you really aren't going to benefit from eating yourself.


It's really not going to help either of you to keep buying all this junk.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

It would be useful to work out his TDEE - total daily energy requirements and BMR - basal metabolic rate (and yours too). Google or look on my fitness pal - the post there is called 'in place of a roadmap'.

Then work out how much protein, fat and carbs is a healthy amount in relation to his TDEE.


You could be surprised how easy it would be for him to eat less but reach that level. And to reduce body fat, 10 - 20% below TDEE but never below BMR for you can be a lot easier than you might think.

onlyroz

You should just stop buying the biscuits and crisps. Next time you go shopping just "forget" to buy them - and instead buy a ton of fruit (bananas are filling) and veg. Healthy filling snacks could be things like raw carrot and hummus (which can be made easily yourself - it's just chickpeas, olive oil and lemon juice).

For filling meals he should be eating things like eggs and chicken (proper chicken - not the cr*p like kievs), or wholewheat pasta, or oily fish like mackeral.

For his lunch a larger stack of sandwiches, or a hearty soup (with veg, beans etc) would be better than crisps and wagon wheels.

coinxoperated

Thanks for all the lovely and helpful replies!

I have avoided assisting him with his meals, as I personally feel at the age of 27 he should take responsibility for whta he puts into his body himself. I'm his partner, not his mother.

We take turns to cook dependant on our work shifts and I generally don't eat much of what he cooks. I've brought him cook books, given him a bigger budget for meals etc but it's still all just carp.

I'm going to try to make a meal plan for us both for each week, as it feels at the moment it's just 'grab whats there' rather than 'this is what we are having' for him.

This is my weeks plan (baring in mind my calorie intake needs to be about 1400-1600 as I'm trying to lose weight and his around 3500-4500 due to the amount of physical work hes doing) will be something like this:

Me:

Morning - Porridge with fruit in the morning - I'm going to grab those pots you can just put water into as I never have enough time!
Lunch - Salad with a small amount of cheese, lots of ham and a small bit of light mayo if I fancy it.
Dinner: one chicken breast with a big yummy pile of veg.

Snack: nuts / fruit with the OCCASIONAL choccy bar. I won't buy these in the weekly shop, which will probably deter me from making it a daily habit. I'm unlikely to make the effort to go out in the rain and cold to buy chocolate :rotfl:

Him:

Breakfast: double the amount of porridge I have, with mixed in bananas and nuts.

Mid-morning snack: Sausage roll or pasty and some more nuts.

Lunch: two well filled sandwiches and I'll by some big joints and cook them at the weekend for him to use. (he HATES brown bread so it'll have to be white.. ) They will include lots and lots of salad too, with a varying bit of mustard or mayo on it to help him feel he's getting variety.

Mid -afternoon snack: nuts and two pieces of fruit of his choice!

Dinner: meat or fish, big pile of veg with either a baked potato, mash or some pasta he likes.

More nibbles: pasties, fruit and some biscuits.

I've given up all fizzy drinks, but hes obsessed with energy drinks (which ironically fits in with his 'quick energy' diet... !) He drinks easily a litre of water a day mixed with cordial but then drinks 1 or 2 large can of relentless or rockstar. I'll cut these out all together and he'll need to wean off them!

I'll up the weekly budget for food to 100 :eek:, even though it shall pain me greatly!

I've asked him to book a doctors appointment but hes struggling with work and I think he doesnt like going, so I shall leave that to him. I don't want to be a carer for somebody, but maybe by me enforcing the new eating plan he'll feel better and realise how much it benefits him.

Thanks all!