How do you handle it when your partner isn’t supportive of your diet?

[Anonymous]

I’m weighing and measuring my food and DH thinks it’s silly. I am legitimately overweight so it’s not like I’m DCUM fat and trying to less weight I don’t need to lose. I wish he would be more supportive.

Similarly, if you weigh/measure your food—how do you handle doing it in front of your kids? I’m not sure how to explain it to my 6yo son. I think he’d be interested in the scale and want me to weigh his food. I barely have time to weigh my own—I don’t have time to weigh his for fun. He has made a few comments about “Mommy’s big belly”—he’s not saying it to be mean, just observing the difference between mine and his. If I say I’m trying to be healthier and make my belly smaller is that sending him a bad message in any way?

[Anonymous]

Why do you need to weigh your food?? Just eat real food. Eat clean and go for one main protein, complex carbs and vegetables preferably for lunch and eat light for dinner. By the way, do you also exercise?

[Anonymous]

Nowadays it's hard. I was diagnosed with a thyroid condition and losing weight when everyone around you is scarfing their head off is difficult.

Before it used to be so easy, whatever other people ate in front of me!

Regarding disclosure, I just explain that I need to lose weight and have to control my food intake. One of my children has been underweight for a long time, and we have always talked about how nutrition has to be tailored to the individual - how he needs more healthy fats, for example, than his sister. So they understand.

[Anonymous]

Is your husband overweight? He might be scoffing because he doesn't want admit he also should be on a diet.

[Anonymous]

Please don't talk about fat, diet or scales in front of your 6 year old you will give him an eating disorder You do not need to weigh food but their are many websites that show you how to guesstimate portion sizes.I have an eating disorder and I would hate anybody to be put in that prison. My kids eat like normal healthy teenagers i don't limit candy or fast food and its not an obsession they have a normal relationship with food .Please I understand I know where you are coming from but you have to protect your child and yourself you do not want it to become an obsession It is a very fine line I wish you lots of luck OP

[Anonymous]

I would NOT tell him you're trying to make your belly smaller, or that you are doing it to eat healthier ( you don't want him to think you need to measure his food in order to be healthy). I would say "I'm just trying to get the exact right amount of food for my body. So, I'm experimenting." If he asks why you're not measuring his food, tell him kids don't have to measure their food. I have a 6yo son, and he would totally accept these answers .

I have an old kitchen scale that ds plays with. Let your kid play with the scale, weigh his own food. Or, weigh canned good towers, experiment with weighing liquids, whatever.

[Anonymous]

I only weighed my food in the very beginning so that I could finally learn what the portions were supposed to be. I paid close attention to what a single serving of chicken, beans, whatever LOOKED like so in the future I didn't have to weigh anything. Now I'm able to reasonably guestimate without having to bust out the scale. Basically, I used it for a month or so to reset my understanding of how much I should be eating. I don't view it as a diet, I needed to rebaseline what my meals should look like permanently.

DH and I never, ever talk about weighing food, dieting, or counting calories in front of DD (who is only a toddler but we want to set the precedent early for this so we're used to it being verboten by the time she's old enough to understand).

[Anonymous]

Op, I've been tracking calories, and my dh thinks it's silly, too. Just eat real food, like pp says, right?! Ugh. I told my dh the truth: eating better foods and exercising hasn't helped. So, I'm getting a much better handle on what I'm truly eating so that I can make adjustments. It's not silly to know what you're eating so you can learn how it affects you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would NOT tell him you're trying to make your belly smaller, or that you are doing it to eat healthier ( you don't want him to think you need to measure his food in order to be healthy). I would say "I'm just trying to get the exact right amount of food for my body. So, I'm experimenting." If he asks why you're not measuring his food, tell him kids don't have to measure their food. I have a 6yo son, and he would totally accept these answers .

I have an old kitchen scale that ds plays with. Let your kid play with the scale, weigh his own food. Or, weigh canned good towers, experiment with weighing liquids, whatever.

This is a really good idea, treating it as an experiment. Kids that age are naturally curious so get your son involved in weighing lots of things, not just food. What do you think weighs more, a cup of this or a cup of that? Let's see how much this thing weighs. What do you think 8 ounces of this would look like. Etc.

[Anonymous]

Just ignore.

If you can, do it ahead of time when the house is quiet, like when DH is out and your child is having quiet time/watching a show. Do it after your kid is in bed and while DH is on the computer or something.

Don't talk about it or make much of it. Just do it. Make sure you're not being one of those people who yaps about their plan.

[Anonymous]

I premade/measured stuff out of sight of the family. Breakfast was easy because I had a pack of oatmeal and a protein shake. Lunch I could make the night before and take to work with me, so I’d weigh out everything after DC went to bed. Dinner was the only challenge, so I decided to only weigh the carbs, not protein and vegetables.

[Anonymous]

I comfort myself by eating more.

[Anonymous]

Yep, ignore. And as for your kid, why can’t you just tell him you’re measuring out a nice size portion? You don’t have to make this complicated or even make it sound like it’s about weight loss. Tell him you’re measuring it so everyone gets a fair share or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you need to weigh your food?? Just eat real food. Eat clean and go for one main protein, complex carbs and vegetables preferably for lunch and eat light for dinner. By the way, do you also exercise?

This is a bunch of buzzword nothingness.

[Anonymous]

I have to eat a healthy diet because of Hashimotos. If DH wasn’t supportive, I think I would contemplate divorce.