Hi
I have a question. How does everyone cope with integrating their healthy eating alongside their family meals. We don t have time to cook two meals every night and to make things harder my son is a very fussy eater so we already have to make allowances. Does anyone have any examples of meals which are easy to make small changes to to suit me and my family. Can t see wood for trees at moment, only on day 2 and struggling...
J
Not sure if this will help but I tend to have the same as husband but replace the carbs with extra veg or smaller portions. So for instance instead of rice with curry ill have cauliflower rice, and instead of potatoes ill have extra veg etc.
I'm the same, we have a pressure cooker, so I can just add loads of extra veg to fill me up. Most of the time, my dinner plate looks loaded, sometimes more than everyone else...BUT they will usually be having other snacks afterwards which I can't have, so I tend to pile on the veg at mealtimes. Also, swapping in normal potatoes for sweet potato lowers calories. if I'm doing roast potatoes for "the boys" I can put normal spuds at one end of the roasting tray and just put my portion of sweet potato at the other end of the tray. I find sweet potato (very roughly) cuts the calories in half for the same weight of potato, but don't quote me on that, double check it yourself. I think I would struggle if we were eating dishes which are all made in the one pan and served to all, like maybe curries, or spaghetti bolognaise, but thankfully my boys are fussy and they don't eat those things! If they have a "sausage and chips" day, I will cook myself a veg stir or a veggie omelette, something like that, because they don't eat it. It's hard having fussy eaters while trying to lose weight, but not impossible, just needs a wee bit of forward planning. 
Hi, the beauty of this plan is you don't have to cut anything out, just have smaller portions, so the family can just have bigger portions than you. However, if you want to eat more healthily cut down on the carbs and processed foods and have extra veg on your plate. There's a recipe section on here that might help.
Lots of excellent ideas there, 😊
if you cook from scratch you can add extra veg in at the start, a good tip is to mince a mushroom, half a carrott and small piece if cauliflower stalk and cook this with mince, it disappears into the mince but lowers the overall calorie count. Also great way of getting veggies into fussy children. 😊
I try to do a couple of vegetarian meals through the week too, pasta or curries work really well without best. 😊
I have three children (grown up
now) who all had different tastes so I understand!
The main thing as Caz28 says is portion control. Good luck 😊
Hi Jennifred68,
I would like to give you a link to our Recipe Collation post, as it has some nice ideas for meals and recipes to try - it's quite extensive, and is made up of recipes that forum members have contributed. As you can see, meals can be for all members of the family, they don't have to be cooked separately - you can adjust portion sizes according to your needs, and there's no need to avoid any foods, unless you want to of course!
healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh....
Lowcal
Thanks for all your replies. It's all really helpful stuff. I m hoping that after a few days I will get a better handle on it all. Takes time I guess!
Hi Jennifred68. I didn't want to have to cook 2 meals either so managed to cook things that we would all eat but I just weighed out my portions. Still had fish fingers and chips but just counted the calories. Roast chicken dinner is popular in our house and easy to fit into a calorie allowance. If I was struggling for calories at the end of the day then I would cut out the carbs. I also think that if you can all eat the same then it is easier for you to continue to do that longterm. If you cook separate foods then it is not a lifestyle change that is sustainable I think. Great advice from other replies too. Sure you will find your own way after a few weeks. Best of luck
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