Family Dinners on DDs?

[LeahGraceG]

Hi!

I'm considering switching to JUDDD for postpartum weight loss, once my milk supply is well-established. I love to eat out, and want to enjoy my times at restaurants!

But now that I have two kids, I have to get really serious about feeding my family well! Cooking dinner has always been tough for me, not because I don't love to cook but because I personally am a grazer, so eating a big meal at night just doesn't appeal to me. But this problem will be especially significant on DDs, since I really won't have the calories to spare!

Any thoughts or tips? What do you family-feeders or partner-feeders do when you have to create structured dinners on DDs?

Thanks!

[Beeb]

Originally Posted by LeahGraceG

Hi!

I'm considering switching to JUDDD for postpartum weight loss, once my milk supply is well-established. I love to eat out, and want to enjoy my times at restaurants!

But now that I have two kids, I have to get really serious about feeding my family well! Cooking dinner has always been tough for me, not because I don't love to cook but because I personally am a grazer, so eating a big meal at night just doesn't appeal to me. But this problem will be especially significant on DDs, since I really won't have the calories to spare!

Any thoughts or tips? What do you family-feeders or partner-feeders do when you have to create structured dinners on DDs?

Thanks!

Actually it's a fairly easy thing. Make yourself lots of veggie and some protein and feed the rest of the family as you normally would. The only problem I could see would be if you wanted to eat what they were eating that was higher in cals. I make dinners for my and DBF on my DDs all the time, actually prefer it to eating out because I can get more bang for my calories by using lots of veggies and lower fats when I cook myself. I just give him a starchy side if he wants it and we are good to go!

Hope to be able to give you a BIG to JUDDD soon!

[SoHappy]

I cook just for DH and myself, but do my DDs one of two ways. Sometimes I just make a normal meal for him, and something separate for myself.. like if he would like some brats in big buns, BBQ baked beans and potato salad, I'll give him that and just fix a quick pumpkin shake for myself while I'm getting the other stuff going.

One of the easiest is to fix him a chicken dinner, for example, and then plenty of extra salad to go with the meal. So then I just make my supper of a huge bowl of the salad, and a good chunk of the roasted chicken meat on the top. I skip the mashed potatoes or whatever the rest of his meal is.

My DH is 77 years old, good weight and strong, works out at his gym 3 times a week, etc. He likes his carbs!!! So breakfast this morning (a DD for me) was 3 waffles and a sausage patty for him, with his coffee & cream, and I scrambled 2 egg whites & 1/4 cup Eggbeaters for me (64 calories) with black coffee. We enjoyed a happy breakfast together, and I'm staying to my DD easily this Sunday morning.

It's a bit more bother, and it does sometimes entail more cooking and food prep than you'd otherwise have to do, but it's very much worth the extra effort to keep to your DDs tightly while providing nicely for your kids.

[Joedi]

On my DD's, I love a HUGE salad for dinner...my 2 DS's would not be happy to have salad as part of their dinner...so on DD's I make my DH and them one of their fav meals...ie battered fish, potatoes and mushy peas, or lasagne...stuff that is too high carb for me...and that I dont like much anyway.

On UD's, I make us all a delish low carb meal. They are all happy, as my cooking repetoire has doubled...so they get lots more variety!

Hugs
Jo
x

[paulabob]

I'm a little slow on this thread, but thought I'd chime in!

I generally make a protein that I can either rinse (ground burger for "taco" salad) or an already lean meat. We have lots of tacos, which I eat the meat with salsa on a salad. Or burgers - which I cook mine on the george foreman, theirs on the skillet.

However for me I'm only doing 3 down days a week, and they are 12 and 15. So about half the time I warn them, you're on your own tonight! They're generally happy to cook themselves some kid friendly food which I don't normally serve them (hot dogs, canned ravioli, pb&j, etc). Or there might be leftovers in the fridge for them and/or DH. If I have the energy I try to make sure they also get a fresh fruit or veg with their meal, but I can't say I always have that energy. I try to make cooking short and sweet on my down days to avoid temptations.

[synger]

My husband usually cooks dinner on days I work in the city, so I come home to food already prepared. THis is a real change for him. Some of his staples, like Steak-umm sandwiches, just can't be part of my DDs. But two Steak-umms fried up with peppers and onions works just fine. I'm trying to give him options for my dinners. Turkey burgers, poached fish, chicken breasts, and two eggs are four things he can cook for me on DDs. I just know to keep at least 300 calories for dinner, because I never quite know what he's going to cook.

On nights when I cook, like last night, I made a main dish that both of us can eat (curried chicken and cauliflower), then give me extra veg and him a side of carbs (rice). That's a pattern we got into when I was cooking every night, and eating Pritikin, or vegetarian or any other diet where he needed more food than I ate. For vegetarian, it was reversed... I made a dish that could be my main dish and his side, then grilled him a piece of meat to go with it. Now we eat the same main dish of lean protein, and he gets additional sides.

[sophiethecat]

I will often still go ahead and cook a meal for them, and for myself just have some of the low calorie sides, like salad, green beans, etc. Or have whatever low calorie food I was going to eat anyway.

I don't get too tempted to eat the high calorie stuff I made them, but what I will sometimes do is put some of it in a bag or container and put it in the fridge for my UD the next day.

Or like someone said, it might be a "fend for yourselves" kind of night, or a night for them to have leftovers or something easy like frozen pizza.

HTH.