Mr. EN is an honorary DSer!

[Deleted]

So, a couple weeks ago Mr. EN came home highly distressed. He, the lifelong lean, long, distance runner soldier type, tipped the scales at 196 pounds, up 27 pounds from the weight on his Army retirement physical and within spitting distance of being Army-qualified as overweight for his height.

I'd been pointing out to him for years that he was losing muscle and gaining fat, and he didn't want to hear it. But this time it clicked.

I gave him a few demonstrations, using cooking oil, sugar and measuring spoons, of how much fat and carbs he was consuming with his favorite evening pigouts of a big handful of raisins and a very thick PBJ. This was a bit of a jolt for him .

So, we have made some changes and he is being nice and cooperative: No more evening pigout. He gets cheese and fruit or deli meat and pickles for a snack. The huge bowl of ice cream that sometimes replaced the raisins is now Greek yogurt with a bit of fruit. Other areas of his daily routine are getting rebalanced with fewer carbs and more protein, with only minimal attention to fat.

He about fainted when I required of him that he start making his morning oatmeal with whole milk instead of skim LOL. But he noticed the difference in satiety immediately. We've reduced his total oatmeal portion twice now and he just added a hardboiled egg to his breakfast routine.

The crockpotted frozen lunches are changing, too. No more rice in with his hunk-o-critter. Instead, I'm throwing in some soybeans, and he (weirdo that he is) LOVES it that way.

Today, two weeks in, he tipped the scales at 190.5, or a loss of just over 20% of his excess weight. He is SO EXCITED, but is still fretting about "all that fat." ROFLMAO. He saw me butter the tilapia before cooking it and sautee the spinach in olive oil this evening. I pointed out to him that the whole meal, which amply fed the two of us with a portion of spinach left over, awaiting scrambled eggs tomorrow, contained approximately as much fat as two of his PBJ's. You should have seen his wheels spinning!

[sherbearmama]

"Like"!

[Dudette]

Awesome! As soon as "Mr. Dudette" gets home I am making him read your post. Maybe he'll get the hint.

[Heather]

Good for him! He must be feeling pretty great right now.

[Band to DS]

Great post!

Shelli

[bugirll]

I bet he feels better too!

[Deleted]

excellent!

[INsupport]

When my wife was doing the research on her surgery, I was her sounding board. I too "got the hint" and made immediate changes to my eating habits. I was rewarded with the loss of all the body fat I had to lose. I didn't feel deprived at all and my triglyceride level dropped as well. I still eat some starches and crap carb stuff, but it is few and farther between. I also discovered that calories in-calories out hypothesis, as well as the healthiness of the FDA food pyramid was mostly hokum. We are going to continue to have an increasing obesity rate in this country as long as we have junk science teling us what is and is not nutrition.

[dlappin413]

Yay, Mr. EN! And, double yay for Ms. EN for finally being heard!

[crazyheifer]

That's awesome!

[Carol P.]

Good for Mr. EN. Glad he's seeing and acknowledging the results, too.

[imissthe80s]

EN- You're something else. You and your demonstrations, I love it.

[Deleted]

Jan 21, 2012 22:45:38 GMT -5 imissthe80s said:

EN- You're something else. You and your demonstrations, I love it.

You should have seen his face when I showed him what one of his PBJ's really was. It worked out to something like 1/4 cup-plus of oil, 3 oz. by weight of sugar and two and a half mozzarella sticks. (I'm not kidding about how he piles on the PB and J. It's really extreme.)

His mom has OCD about fat and sugar, well about food in general, but she is sooooo extreme in her demonization of fat and sugar. That's why I used those to demonstrate to him what he was eating.

Then there's his raisins and other dried fruit. His reasoning, of course, is that it's fruit, therefore it's good for you. One of his sisters always gives him a huge thing of it for Christmas. He was utterly stunned to discover that he could put away 80-90 grams of sugar (which, again, I weighed out to demonstrate) with one "snack."

THEN I put the PBJ and the dried fruit together.....And pointed out to him that the amount of sugar was enough for a whole batch of some of the German cookies I make for the holidays.

It was a tough couple of days for him, but he's sure psyched about seeing the scale going down .

[beth28]

My hubby is putting on weight too. His job at the nuclear power plant had him going up and down stairs, walking several miles all day long. Now he is in a licensing class, sitting listening to lectures all day, but not reducing his intake. (And believe me, he can intake!)

I've been trying to get him to reduce his intake, because after being in class all day long, he comes home and studies....or plays Skyrim. I told him he needs to put the treadmill in front of the TV and play Skyrim as he walks, but he says he is too klutzy. (He is accident-prone at times).

He has now bought some slim-fast to drink while "at school." Idk if that will work. I want him around for a long time, but he has no interest in portion control or wls.

[scoob]

Good for Mr EN and Mrs EN!! Working together! My DH has gained a few and is slowly getting back in shape. It's like, since I look and feel better he wants to. His arms are getting huge and muscular again. His gut is getting smaller! He's doing good!

Ruby

[lovy19]

That is awesome, two heads are always better than one .

[Deleted]

Jan 21, 2012 23:46:23 GMT -5 beth28 said:

My hubby is putting on weight too. His job at the nuclear power plant had him going up and down stairs, walking several miles all day long. Now he is in a licensing class, sitting listening to lectures all day, but not reducing his intake. (And believe me, he can intake!)

I've been trying to get him to reduce his intake, because after being in class all day long, he comes home and studies....or plays Skyrim. I told him he needs to put the treadmill in front of the TV and play Skyrim as he walks, but he says he is too klutzy. (He is accident-prone at times).

He has now bought some slim-fast to drink while "at school." Idk if that will work. I want him around for a long time, but he has no interest in portion control or wls.

How about talking to him about *shifting* his intake? More protein, more fat, fewer carbs? Munch on stuff like cheese and deli meat, olives and pickles for salty snacks and that kind of thing?

[Girlrocker]

Jan 21, 2012 20:14:32 GMT -5 sherbearmama said:

"Like"!

Ditto :-) I'm particularly taken with the demonstrations

[Avonlea]

Fantastic!

[justelizabeth]

Wait! Soybeans instead of rice? What a great idea!!! I will have to try that.

[charlee]

Mr. Practically No Body Fat has lowered his carb intake and upped his protein, especially when he lifts weights. Bless his heart, he thinks he came up with that plan all by himself. *kasnork*

[Deleted]

Amen, EN! The major problem with the American diet is CARBOHYDRATE OVERLOAD. Let him have his fat and protein. There's no reason why he can't eat more like a DSer. He just has to really monitor his carbohydrate intake.

Dr. Westman revamped Atkins' diet in his book, "A New Atkins for a New You". Many of the DSer's significant others in Lubbock follow this diet. That way they can eat the same foods. The major difference is the DSers can be more liberal with their carbs than their spouses. Rather than counting thousands of calories a day there is only one simple requirement: count your carbs. For some, they are limited to 20 grams of carbs daily. Others can take 75+ grams daily and do just fine.

It is still based on ketosis, but is very effective at weight loss and normalizing labs. There is a lot of research indicating dietary fat intake does not contribute to atherosclerosis (see references in his book). Dr. Westman's diet is much more structured than Atkins'. It's not a free-for-all buffet. There are daily limits on many things. Bottom line -- it works. It also can be a marriage-saver for DSers whose spouses suffer from insane jealousy at postop dietary habits.

[zoetrope]

Pretty funny!

[smscott7]

This is awesome! I wish I could do this with my husband but he has kidney disease and eats a low protein diet! Can you imagine?

[bronwend]

My Mr. likes to do the South Beach diet once or twice a year, which reduces carbs and favors lean proteins and healthy fats. I don't mind it, as it's become habit for me not to cook much in the way of carbs and gives me a chance to get more interesting vegetable recipes. Because I'm a nice wife (and because it's easy on Phase 1), I do the diet with him for the first 2 weeks, but once he's off Phase 1, then I'm done. Phase 2 adds back some carbs - oatmeal, fruit, whole-grain stuff - that I just don't like to begin with. He falls off the wagon about a month into Phase 3 and is fine for several months, until he feels chunky again.

[April M.]

Screw the "like" button, where's my "love" button?

This is the term I've been searching for for Hubbs. Honorary DSer. Love it!

I finally just put him on a modified Atkins diet, no choice, since he refused to choose for himself but wanted to complain about how he felt and looked and how his clothes fit. Harrumph. I got sick of that pretty quick. He lost 20% of his excess weight in a month, then stopped caring for the holidays, now he's starting to lose again.

The wonderful part is, I do all the cooking and pack his lunches, so he pretty much eats what I tell him to. The horrible part is, I do all the cooking and pack his lunches. Oh well, I'll put up with being responsible for his diet too if it means we get to have him around that much longer!

[smileyjamie]

Glad he is letting in some change, just to see how it will go & since it is going so well, that he is happy he made the decision & the scale is being positive!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YAY!!!

[bldeck]

I think I just need to part my mister from the Coke and he would be fine. The only thing is right now I am craving it so I don't want to get rid of it. Also the winter is always slower for him and come summer its back to moving more often.

Betty