trying to lose in a family that gains!

lolliflute

I'm 193 lbs and have always carried it well, my family is....well huge. i want to look my best on my wedding date (March 4, 2012) but nothing seems to be working. everytime i make some headway my mom stuffs the freezer with four half gallons of ice-cream and all my hard work goes away. i really need some support. Please help! what's everyone else going to lose the weight and stop the cravings?!

MyWedding13

Can you buy yourself some healthy snacks so that way you have something to eat when everyone is eating ice cream? Did you tell your family about your weight loss goals? What did they say? Maybe they just don't understand!

amsweet25

I completely understand your dilemma! I have the same problem at my parent's home...I am on a diet and everyone else is eating pizza and cheese sticks!

-I started doing my own shopping. I got healthy things to eat and made myself a separate dinner...if my family was eating pizza, I would make a lean cuisine pizza and eat it with them. I would by Ben and Jerry's low fat frozen yogurt and eat that instead of the ice cream.

-I keep healthy snacks in my room and by the TV. That way when I am tempted to go get something unhealthy, it is a lot easier to grab one of the healthy snacks.

-You do need to be clear with your family about your goals, they may not understand what you are doing---my mom gets upset when I won't eat her food I just simply tell her " I am sorry, I can't eat that on my diet." and she is usually ok! The payoff is worth it!

feinicstine

My mom is one of those people who can eat an entire bag of potato chips in a day and she still only weighs in the 120s.  I blame her hyperactive thyroid and I'm not listening to her lies about good genetics... because I certainly didn't get them.

When I was still living with my parents, the only way I could lose weight (freshman 20 anyone?) was to clearly explain to her that I was changing my eating and give her specific details on what I would no longer be eating.  The nice thing is, I was on the Curves diet at the time, which is basically a meal plan.  She saw that it was working and got kind of in to it.  Once there were meals and recipes all planned out, she was more than willing to make the food and serve it to the entire family.  However, it probably helped that my twin sister was doing the same thing.

Maybe the trick is getting whoever makes the food involved and trying to get a majority of the people in the family on the boat with you.  It can't hurt them any, right?

Seriously though, I like the idea of the lean cuisine and low fat alternatives to whatever they're having.

NOLAbridealmost

It's so hard to diet when the family is not on board. 

I lost about 40 pounds when I lived at home with my parents and it was CRUCIAL that I did my own shopping.  I also explained to my parents that my younger siblings couldn't just gobble down my "guilt free snacks" because if they were gone I'd have nothing to eat (they were really into my sugar free fudgecicles---40 calories each! I highly recommend, btw). 

I like to have "substitutes" on hand that are similar enough to what everyone else is eating that I don't feel totally deprived.  For example, I like to keep low calorie cheese, hamburger buns, and veggie patties on hand to eat when my family eats cheeseburgers.  That way I feel like I am eating the same thing but I get a much healthier version.  

I also recommend www.hungrygirl.com if you want some clever swaps to satisfy the urge to eat what your family is eating, but be guilt-free.