Advice for a Picky Eater....my wife

Good morning everyone. I was given some great advice on this forum yesterday for myself and I'm wondering if you all can do the same for my wife.

She asked me to find out what the picky eaters on here do in order to eat healthy and get there metabolism up and running.

My wife is about 5'10" and about 160 pounds. She wants to get down to about 140-145. Here's the problem. She eats practically nothing.

She hates steak, sea food of any type (including tuna), she doesn't care for chicken breast, or oatmeal, rice, cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, juice, eggs (any way), jerkey, sweet potatoes, squash, she doesn't care for bread (other than her hamburger bun) nada....

Her diet consists of: fosted mini wheats (dry no milk), hash browns, french fries, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, plain hamburgers, tacos (just meat and shell), Fried Chicken Fingers, and....hmmmm that's about it. She drinks lots of 1% Milk and water. Maybe a diet soda every now and again.

A typical meal for her:
Breakfast: 1 1/2 cup of dry Frosted Mini Wheats
Lunch: Caesar Salad and some crackers
Dinner: Instant Mashed Potatoes and a Tall Glass of Milk

She and I have been married for 2 years and together for 9 years. All that time I have never seen her eat anything other than, tacos (plain beef and taco shell), hamburgers, potatoes, and chicken fingers.

She's a cheap date, but I know she will never meet her goals with this diet.

Any advice for my wife would be much appreciated. Especially from those that are as picky as she is!

OMG, she's lucky to not be obese with that type of diet!!! Then again, she seems to eat such small quantities of everything!


Food is always better than protein/carb/healthy fats supplements, however, she's not getting much nutrients with her current diet. Can she handle protein shakes or meal replacements??

Whatever it is that she eats, she should have small portions 5-6 times /day.
Does she workout at all?? I dont know how many calories she taking in daily. It seems that she likes tacos, so Im assuming that the meat inside it isnt a problem. Why not ghave just the meat, drop the shell add lettuce, tomato, non fat sour cream, olives and turn it into a salad!

U said she doesnt eat bread, except for hamburger buns..Does she get the whole grain ones??

What kinda shape is she looking to get into??Does she just wanna loose flab or is she looking to get toned? She is definitely not feeding herself appropriately, even is she had no weight loos goals!

Well, she has a gym membership, but hasn't used it in awhile. She was on a good routine doing her pilates videos, but that has kind of stopped as well. Scheduling is somewhat of a problem as she works from 7:30 am to 5 pm and then she is finishing up college at night. She probably could workout Fri, Sat, Sun and Monday's for an hour and that is the schedule she is hoping to start.

In terms of goals, she is looking to lose fat but also tone up.
She can handle the protein shakes. As a matter of fact she was drinking one a day for the longest time but then she stopped making them. I'm guessing she just go bored of them.

How would this meal work for her:

7 am Protein Shake
9:30 am Protein Bar (I know she likes the Detour Bars) / Water
Noon 1/2 of a Micro'd Sweet Potatoe, Taco Meat / Water
3 pm 1/2 cup of unsalted peanuts / Water
6 pm Cut up Chicken Breast (strips) fried in a low fat oil, broccoli, 2 cups 1% Milk

That is a diet I think she would eat.

Let me know what you think.

I think its already lot better than cereal and mashed potatoes!!!lol

Did she gradually pack xtra pounds because of her eating habits or is this a weight that she has been at most of her adult life??? If thast the case, just cleaning up what she eats, spreading meals to 5-6/day, keeping up with her current pilates routine and adding strenght training, maybe 3 times week could do a shitload of difference in her overall shape...Her meals are like 8 hours apart and seem to be mostly carbs....her caloric intake also seems fairly low.Its like shes starving her body, thus slowing down her metabolism! She should take in a minimum of 1800 cals/day, especialy if she's active. Upping her metabolism and adding muscle should help her to tone up...adding lean mass through strenght training and good nutrition shoudl transform her body completely!

WHY would she be obese on a diet like that? A cup of instant mashed potatoes is like 80 calories, and a glass of 1% milk?? Plus her cereal in the morning is probably around 200-250 calories so w/ the salad and crackers she probably takes in under 1,000 calories. Why would she be obese?

because that meal plan would slow her metabolism to a crawl... this is really common in women. they eat nothing! maybe a meal or two. since their body eats so little calories in the day, all their body wants to do is store all the energy as fat. the end product? they feel like crap and have no energy all day, and every time they have a normal sized meal, their body just stores it as fat. ive seen a LOT of women with this problem.

then theyre afraid to eat more because theyre afraid theyll get fatter! with good reason too, logically most people think more food=more weight.

meals must be increased to at least 4 daily, even if theyre really small. gradually increase the portions, and continue exercise. this is just my theory on how they would get their metabolism back to normal, i admit i've never seen it actually done.

Obese no, but definately overweight. Eating that little kills your metabolism, it doesn't provide any nutrients and your body goes into starvation mode, therefore it holds onto every little morsel it gets and your body will not let go of anything. You will burn up all your muscle instead of burning fat, hence making you fatter.

She seems to dislike anything I would usually recommend. Is it maybe how it's been prepared in the past? If she doesn't give you any room to work with then there is no solution. If she only wants fast quick items like chicken fingers and tacos but will not work with ya on the diet issue, she will have to learn to put up with new nutrition patterns. Good luck

I myself am starting new diet and I have gotten her to agree to try the meals I am going to prepare. I plan on boiling some chicken, making some brown rice and getting a little creative with the protein shakes. I'm hoping she will come along. For me it is going to be a lifestyle change, not just a diet.

I know for a fact that as a little girl, her parents didn't force her to eat anything, so I'm not sure where her dislikes come from.

She could have just developed them...it's weird though. What do you guys do when you go for parties and stuff? Does she ever eat out? Doesn't it get intolerable that she doesn't eat normally?

Be as creative as possible with new flavours and spices until you find something that she doesn't turn her nose up at right away. It is really easy with condiments and other things to make things taste totally different. Try some quick and easy recipes that only take 15 minutes. Boiled chicken tastes like crap, but roll it in some bread crumbs and honey dijon mustard and it tastes really different.

If getting to her goals is a priority then these are changes that she needs to make. It sounds to me like she is pretty unreasonable about what she likes and doesn't because it's easy and tastes good. You can be a really positive example for her as well - once she sees you changing and has your support she will likely come around. Good luck!

squanto said:

because that meal plan would slow her metabolism to a crawl... this is really common in women. they eat nothing! maybe a meal or two. since their body eats so little calories in the day, all their body wants to do is store all the energy as fat. the end product? they feel like crap and have no energy all day, and every time they have a normal sized meal, their body just stores it as fat. ive seen a LOT of women with this problem.

then theyre afraid to eat more because theyre afraid theyll get fatter! with good reason too, logically most people think more food=more weight.

meals must be increased to at least 4 daily, even if theyre really small. gradually increase the portions, and continue exercise. this is just my theory on how they would get their metabolism back to normal, i admit i've never seen it actually done.

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I know I know. But a lifetime of eating very little wont make a woman obese.
she might have more fat than muslce, but come on, you gain the weight when you starve yourself then binge. If you just don't EVER eat alot in general, you generally take in low calories, that person is not going to be "fat"

Candy said:

WHY would she be obese on a diet like that? A cup of instant mashed potatoes is like 80 calories, and a glass of 1% milk?? Plus her cereal in the morning is probably around 200-250 calories so w/ the salad and crackers she probably takes in under 1,000 calories. Why would she be obese?

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My words were: "OMG, she's lucky to not be obese with that type of diet!!! Then again, she seems to eat such small quantities of everything!"

I do aknowledge the fact that her quantities are minimal....but the foods she gets into her system, with such a low caloric intake will/would put her body into starvation mode, thus storing most as bodyfat! A lifetime of eating very little "crap"(by crap I mean low nutrient foods) often makes older obese adults! Having lived through it,I now know Id much rather prevent than cure obesity later on!

Hmmmm protein sources are limited here....she eat turkey, how about lean ham, the only other thing I can think of would be combining several incomplete proteins such as lentils and beans.

Candy said:

you gain the weight when you starve yourself then binge.

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I wish I could get this one sentence through Sara's head

Jodi said:

I wish I could get this one sentence through Sara's head

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Im not starving myself
& no more binges I feel its out of my system

Even with the diet Im doing now, limiting my carbs and fats. Im still eating every 3 hours

What are your meals like? How many cals are you taking in?

The old saying...you can lead a horse to water, but you can't force it to drink...if your wife really doesn't want to change her habits, then nothing you do is going to make her change her mind and you can risk causing serious friction in your marriage.



Talk to her about your feelings and why you think it is beneficial for her to make some adjustments in what she is eating. But if she is not convinced, or doesn't buy in, drop it.