Help Needed: How do we Change our Eating Habits?

I'm probably not writing the answer you want to hear and this is not mean tot be sarcastic and rude. How about just start by saying "Maybe we shouldn't eat a whole pizza to ourselves tonight...Lets make salad and chicken!" Throwing a salad together is really quite easy. You can even buy a whole chicken already roasted from the grocery store. Baby steps. Its all about choices. Even at fast food restaurants today you can make healthier choices. Instead of a cheeseburger and fries get a grilled chicken burger with yogurt parfait or apple slices. My point being change one unhealthy food a day into one healthy food and you are on your way.
One book I highly recommended that helped me to eat well and drop 0 lbs was "The Abs Diet" and "The Abs Diet for Women." They have recipes that are so easy to make. They have recommended grocery lists. Eating plans. Most importantly it teaches you what to eat, and when to eat it to lost the most body fat. It also has a section on exercise.

"I can't cook" is a pretty lame excuse. LEARN! You don't mention about your schedule.

I work 3 jobs, and my husband and I sit down to a healthy home cooked dinner every single night. I do a lot of prep midday between jobs, but I have also been known to prep dinner for the next day while cooking the previous night's dinner. A crockpot is your best friend. You also need a stash of quick and easy and fast recipes..that's what Google is for. Then start making changes to the food you eat. Pasta with red sauce isn't bad...switch to whole wheat pasta, choose a sauce with no salt or sugar added, and chop up a zucchini, onion, red pepper and throw them in while it heats up. Ground meat for protein.

As for committing to healthy habits, pick 1-3 small things you'd like to change and work on those things, and those things ONLY for a month. Then add more habits. Read stuff online. Educate yourself.

Ask a wealthy person what is the secret of their success, the usual answer is sacrifice and hard work. These words couldn't be more true when applying it to a healthier lifestyle change. I say lifestyle change instead of the dreaded "diet" because more often than not, we choose to go on a diet, achieve the set goal, then we go back to our "normal" eating habbits.

"He drives for a living and has no access to a fridge or microwave.He has a cup of coffee in the morning and I try to pack him a sandwich for lunch most days. Others, he eats drive thru food...At dinner, we eat something quick and easy usually, like bertolli pasta or burgers or pizza etc."
Packing a sandwich (provided it is a healthy sandwich) is definitely the way to go, not just for your husband, also for yourself. This ensures you take away the temptation for that "quick" fast food fix that your husband can get, as well as for yourself as well. If infact this is a huge bother to do everyday, there ARE healthy alternatives. Hate to endorse any one franchise, but subway has proven success for me. Like all things that are a form of change in our lives, we need to adjust slowly. Example: A person quitting smoking and drinking cold turkey in one day IMO is a recipe for a ticking time bomb. You could get a 12" sub that won't have cheese, or other fatty additions... and from there get to a 6" sub.
Then do away with the quick pizza fix... I don't know about you, but cooking is fun... Why not spend $10 and get a healthy recipe book that you could experiment with that you could both have fun with, if not everyday, every other day...
I like to live by this mentality:
Have a kings breakfast,
A Jesters Lunch,
And a poor mans dinner
If there is one thing I'd like to leave you with, try not to eat more than 4-5 hours before you go to bed, if you must satisy the munchies, have a small low fat meal, and dont be afraid to include fruit.
Regards...

I hear you - this is a tough issue. I think you have to take small steps every week to change your habits. For example, if you only cook 2 nights a week - step it up to 3. A great cookbook is "How to Cook Everything" - simple healthy delicious recipes.
I know how it is - we stopped eating out because of money - and I lost 10 pounds - but I spend alot more time cooking and cleaning then I used to (chores, ugh).

Lisa

I think the most important thing is to find healthy foods that you like and try to add them into your diet wherever possible. If you fill up on these foods, you won't have room for as much junk. For instance, I love apples and have at least one a day - no need for a refrigerator, and you can buy a giant bag of them, wash them as soon as you come home from the store, and they won't go bad right away. There's nothing faster than tossing an apple in your purse for a snack later. Your husband could also bring granola bars or some peanut butter and healthy crackers as a non-fridge snack for the day. To get more exercise, try going for a walk after dinner with your husband. If you feel up to it, mix it by sprinting to the end of the block occasionally or doing some squats, lunges, or jumping jacks at the end of each block. Even short bursts of activity add up.

Changing your dietary or exercise habits is difficult. One way to make it easier is through group support. Use online social networks like Holosfitness.com, which focuses on health and fitness, to find group support and motivation. On the site you can find other individuals going through the same challenges you are facing.

For the time crunch, try spending part of a weekend healthy cooking bulk and freezing it in portions that you can take with you. One of these can be some homemade soup. Defrost and heat up and put into a thermos for your husband to go with a healthy sandwich. Right now in my freezer, I have muffins (2 kinds), soup, casseroles (2 kinds), brown rice, and frozen meals (consists of casserole, veggie and brown rice). All of these are portioned to take for lunch or heat up for dinner with a few additions. Also, try to think of take out pizza and the like as a treat, but in moderation. Try not to deny yourself goodies, but just reduce the frequency and amount.

I like that you recognize what some of the specific challenges are (i.e. wanting convenience, lifestyle issues). I would focus on adding good habits first that little by little start to crowd out some of the bad habits. It won't be a quick fix though, so you'd have to be willing to accept slow changes in your weight and how you feel. For instance, you could overhaul your convenience foods. Buy lots (and actually eat) lots of fruit including dried fruits, frozen (for smoothies), nutrition bars, low fat yogurt, soups & eat those before you get to the higher calorie foods. Canned soups are convenient for those exhausted nights, and if you make soups yourself you can make big quantities and store the extra. Also (for your husband), I think all nutritionists will tell you you must have a decent breakfast that will help keep lunch from heading down the wrong road. Good luck!

I keep a similar schedule to what you describe and I've had to make changes in my lifestyle. I had bariatric surgery. Suddenly the excuses you named were kind of invalidated...I *had* to make changes, and every time someone has a "reason" why they can't possibly do something more often than not it's because they don't really want to do it.

I pack my lunch and breakfast to take with me. Fast food is not a necessity.

Can't cook...not hard to make simple things. There's plenty of recipes and ideas on the Internet, cooler bags are plentiful at the local Target for lunches. There are even special containers with built-in compartments, soup containers with mini-sporks, and other special containers from companies with brands like Fit & Fresh.

Exercise...similar schedule to yours (leave at 7:00, home around 6:00) and I still have to pack in an hour of biking or gym time most nights. Once I knocked TV down a notch in priority and bumped up what my doctor told me I needed to do post-op, I suddenly *found* the time.

Spend a few days monitoring your calorie intake and expenditure with a food diary. Start looking at what you're buying while out. You might be surprised. And I am betting that there are plenty of "uber" burgers and fried foods frequently purchased instead of the (*slightly*) healthier plain old cheeseburger at 300 calories from McD's? Switching to water and tea instead of sodas? Anything to shave calories?

You've given lots of excuses why you can't do it. Start looking for reasons *to* do it. It sounds more like exercise and diet aren't enough of a priority for you to make a change. I was the same way. Then my wife and I had a baby and I was having health complications from morbid obesity. I'm still losing weight but so far I'm down 193 pounds, so I'm only obese instead of "super obese". Why? I wanted to see my son grow up. I didn't want him to see Daddy rot away from diabetes, having to have his foot amputated or stroke from the high blood pressure. I found my reason to try to stick around a little longer.

People ask how I am losing weight. Surgery? Yes, but that can be cheated (rather easily, too). It is a tool to try forcing you to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Before surgery I lost 70 pounds in four months (required, believe it or not...had to lose weight to have weight loss surgery). The answer is simple in theory. Eat less. Use more calories, eat reasonable portions. Food diary helped illustrate this imbalance for me. It was surprising. Very surprising. I figured my basal metabolic rate and saw just how depressing my calorie intake was.

Weight loss is simple. Calories in. Calories out. Surplus = weight gain.

In practice, not so simple. Maybe you have psychological issues. Most obesity seems to be a combination of compensation for something else lacking in our lives...depression...habit...defense mechanism...some combination thereof. And too many people see dieting as a simple short term fix. It's a lifestyle change. Not a thing you do once in awhile.

You have every excuse in the book it seems for why nothing will work. You need to focus on finding your incentives to change. If necessary see a psychologist that specializes in behavior modification, because maybe there's more to it than just plain eating too much.

Good luck.

were are the meal plans what are your suggestions for dieting

Everyone here makes all the points I would have made. I have only one thing to add...

No access to a refridgerator is no excuse for going for the unhealthy fast food. First you can order healhty at fast food if you know how. Second insulated lunch bags will keep any lunch cool enough until lunch time.

I used to have the problem of not being able to feel full, I switched to a plant based diet with whole grains and lean meats and found the abilty to feel full. He changes his diet to whole foods and drinks water and that will change.

Why were the meal plans I posted removed? They weren't spam.... It took me a while to copy and paste them from my bookmarks...They're free to use from scribbd.....

Here's a good article on what to eat when you have to eat late.
http://CommonSenseLiving.com/healthy-eating/what-to-eat-when-you-have-to-eat-late

There are a lot of helpful articles on that blog.

A book that has helped me so far with my battle with food is "The end of overeating." It takes you inside to the foods you are consuming and how it keeps us coming back for me. I agree with taking baby steps. Having a healthy omelet or oatmeal for breakfast is a good way to keep you sustained in energy for the rest of the morning. Having snacks like almonds, apples, banana, or yogurt (Greek is the best) help as well for that in between snack. I aim to eating 5 small meals a day. It seems hard to be constantly eating, but if you have fruit or nuts like i mentioned it keeps your energy levels steady through out the day and keeps you from wanting something FAST and EASY b/c your famished.

For lunch, aim for a high protein salad by including grilled fish or chicken. Avoid high calorie dressings and aim for EVO and vinegar for dressing. Be creative and add fruit to your salad, or almond slivers. Avoid fried foods, because all your consuming is sugar, fat, and salt.

Dinner can be easy too. Try eating whole grain like brown rice and vegetables with some protein - like fish, chicken, turkey. Aim for white meat and grilled, broiled, baked varieties without a lot of oil/butter.

Either way, its baby steps and time shouldn't be an excuse. I wake up at 5:30 am to hit the gym and work 9-6, then go to school afterwards, or go to the gym to do weights. It's about pushing yourself to work hard for something great. Nothing is going to be easy, but that's the challenge you should be willing to take. :)

I feel your pain. It really is alot easier if you dont think about food as a villian. You "can" eat semi healthy in the drive thru window but you must plan ahead. Put a card between your dollar bills that has lunch/diner for the day written on one side and what to order written on the other. Burger king for example A whopper jr with extra lettuce and pickle a side salad and large iced tea or large coffee. Then when you pull out your money you will be reminded what to eat for the day. This works for almost any drive thru. Its not expensive and you will see the pounds drop off in weeks not years. Over time you will build a nice assortment of lunch/diner choices. Try to avoid the so called healthy bottled and canned drinks also the so called healthy protien/snack bars, most taste yuck and really don't help enough for the cost. You can do this for any meal anywhere dine-in or drive thru. Good eating and when you stop feeling guilty when you eat you will start enjoying food as it should be. To help feel full try dinking a 12 ounce glass of whole milk not low fat before or while eating, the amount of fat is what will make him feel full at the end of a meal not the amount of food. Some people require more fat in thier diet than others. Want to see if im right wait till he is starving then allow him to a eat a bacon and egg breakfast with a glass of milk. Its the obsession with removing fat from your diet is what may be keeping him over weight.

You should motivate your husband to have an exercise atleast 3x a week. And always pack some fruits or have him vegetables to eat during lunch.

I've had a lot of success wth the Zone. I lost 100 pounds, and I've kept it off for almost 15 years. It's easy to do and has a lot of flexibility built in, a perk for your husband's schedule and work circumstances. It's also something you can manage to do anywhere, even on the road. It would give you a great place to start and a way to keep on going. By eating things like lean proteins, veggies, fruit, nuts and olive oil according to a few basic Zone principles, you achieve better hormonal control and you lower inflammation in the body. The result is the loss of stored fat, appetite control, and you feel great with tons of energy. It really works! To see what some of my favorite Zone meals look like, take a look at my photobucket album, here: http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/dd352/SueK24/?action=view¤t=IMG_0863-2.jpg

Good luck!