I'm not in the same boat, but I've seen men respond to the Atkins diet that way. I think the solution is to prepare the vegetables for himcook the veggies and make the saladsÂso that all he has to do is grab it and/or put it in the microwave.

Susan

Wow - I'm *almost* in that exact same boat, though it's my fiance, and we don't live together, but he eats dinner at my house almost every night of the week (I cook for both of us, because he just doesn't *eat* or eats junk food all the time if he doesn't eat with me LOL), so it's basically the same thing as far as the meal goes. He's decided to do Atkins for a month next month, and I am not going to (I believe moderation/portion control is way more healthy), so I'm facing cooking meals that we can both enjoy and eat parts of without cooking two separate meals. *My* main thing is watching my portion sizes - palm-sized protein, fist sized carb, and salad or veggies...as long as I keep a calorie deficit going and we stick to our workouts, I loose, so I'm happy (have lost 3lbs in the last 3 weeks just watching portion sizes, eating healthy and working out - even a few big dinners out in there).

I'm wondering why cooking the same meal didn't work for both of you though? :-) I mean, if you look on the cooking forum, I asked about salad dressing, but I'm not that worried about it otherwise. I normally cook a balanced meal (meat, carbs, and veggies), and as long as I don't cook the meat in sauces (sauces will now be served on the side for me, so he doesn't have to eat them), or the veggies in anything, I don't really see where the problem will be. I always use real butter or olive oil to cook with, so that's not even a change for me.

So a sample dinner for us one night might be steak - he'll get a whole one with pepper and probably half of mine, I'll eat half (or a palm-sized piece) of a steak (I'll trim the fat off on my plate) with herbs, he'll get the 2 cups of salad with carb free dressing he's allowed, and I'll get a fist sized baked potato and salad. The steaks are cooked together, the potato bakes at the same time...same meal, we just eat different portions and parts. I might skip the cheese on my salad - his salad will have hard boiled eggs and cheese in it...but those will be pre-cut up and kept in dishes in the fridge to just pull out as needed.

Chicken - same thing. I'll cook a whole one in the crockpot (with olive oil & herbs), and he can have as much of that as he wants with the skin, I'll pull the skin off mine and eat a smaller portion with some pasta. We'll both share the salad, he can doctor his as necessary, and I'll cook a veggie from his "acceptable list" that we can both eat. My pasta will have sauce to spread over my chicken too if I feel like it.

Or a roast in the crockpot - again, just cooked plain, I'll make a sauce to go over for myself, a baked potato, and then we'll both eat veggies/salad off his list (it's healthy for me to eat more veggies anyways).

Spaghetti - Atkins can have spaghetti squash, so a simple spaghetti sauce with meatballs prepared on the side and served over the squash will make a great meal for both of us - he can just watch how much sauce he uses, and I'll "doctor" mine at the table if needed (I have a copy of his list, so I'll just use what's on the list to make the main sauce).

If I'm not mistaken, on WW, you can have whatever you want, as long as it stays within the point range, right? So you should be able to eat the same thing you cook for him, in smaller portions, and with carbs added for you, and stay within your points, don't you think? I've never done WW, so I don't know for sure, but DF did for awhile, and that's what I understood about it...

In any case, that's my "plan"...if it doesn't work, I guess he'll end up figuring out his own meals (which won't work - he'll give up if that happens, I know from experience). LOL

Let me know if you want some more ideas...I'm still thinking of good ways to make meals that go both ways, so I'm always open to suggestions! :-)

Wow, I didn't even think of some of those things. I think you right, and on top of it, pre-planning is going to be the key here. Sit down and look at my list and his side by side, see what matches...thanks for the thoughts.

You're more than welcome - let me know if you'd like to compare menus next week or anything... ;-)

Yep pretty much works Jamies way here too..My husband doesn't cook period and I consider it my part of the deal so we make it work...there is no way that I could do Atkins but he loves it and it is working for him...I more or less do WW's but its more like I know what works and its about portion control....but Jamies plan is more or less what I do too..I stay away from the really bad carbs like rice and potato as much as possible but do cave once in awhile..