What are your hardest challenges eating with your family and how do you cope?

Although I don't have a husband or children, I do live with my family still and I shop for myself.  I have a seperate cabinet in the kitchen and my own little space in the fridge that I keep my things and I shop and cook for myself.  It works.

1.  How do you cope for yourself?  My DH is a 600 pound man trapped in a 200 man body.  He has been very skinny most of his life, but when he turned 55, he began gaining.  He is in shock! He has NEVER ever had to cool his ways. From age 25 til age 55, he averaged about 170-185 range at 6 feet 2 inches.  Now he is pushing 235; he looks slender but with a beer gut.  He is holding there, but he drags home the mondo size potato chips, big boxes of crackers...there's only TWO of us in this house, but he buys for the Brady Bunch. I had to get a hold of myself and just keep myself walking on the line.  With chips, I get a small bowl and get out one serving, then put that bag away before I sit down with it.  Also, I rarely snack on only chips...I eat some cottage cheese, or have some kind of veggies.  I put my foot down on making sure with all our suppers we have a non-adorned veggie (no cheese sauce or butter). I focus on eating more veggies at suppers.  I also go out to exercise and ignore his pouty face. i eat some version of what he does for our used to be big weekend breakfasts - he has a cheese omelet with two bagels, I have egg beaters and one half bagel (if any bagel).  It sucks, but in my case, i can't say I did any better when i was alone...i think i eat less because he can see how many chips are gone, etc. 2.And how do you cope with challenging children with thier eating habits?  This is hard. I have two daughters, both grown. All i can say is don't bring home snacks like potato chips...we could nto afford food like that.  I bought healthier cereals, like cheerios and almost never lucky charms. Make sure to do fun things outside that are active and low to no cost, like biking and hiking. I sincerely htink that boredom is one reason kids overeat. more later from me...gotta go right now.

I don't have kids but my husband and I are sharing a house with my folks right now and everyone eats different kinds of things.  My husband and dad love Burger King, my mom loves to stock up on things that are on sale buy on get one free like Publix premium ice cream, Klondike Bars, etc.   I actually had a pretty severe addiction to fast food and have a history of binging and starving.  There's always tempting food in the house of all kinds.  It usually doesn't bother me all that much to have the stuff around although this week has been a little challenging b/c my husband brought home Tollhouse cookies ( a weakness)  Right now my results are having affecting my strength when it comes to food choices, but I think my mindset is the biggest change with me this time.  Basically, when I decided to no longer pursue WLS it was about the fact that I wanted to establish some control on my life in my mind without the surgery.  Even if I couldn't lose all the weight and turned to the surgery later.  I thought about the fact that I may never be able to eat things like birthday cake on my birthday or have a Thanksgiving dinner and not be able to drink any type of beverage while eating and have to take supplements daily and worry if I had eaten enough protein.  All those things have given me the strength to be around the temptation on a daily basis and I think it has been empowering to me so far.  If I have something I don't make myself feel guilty-I know how many calories are in things and that I have to work off those calories if I eat it. I do need to confess though that I did start with a program, I started with Jenny Craig b/c I needed the structure and accountability in the beginning.  It really helped me tone down my portions to normal size and trained me to get in more fruits, vegetables, healthy proteins and fates.  It also got me to stop focusing on food so much b/c the thought was taken out for a little while at first.  I started making better choices when I got munchies:  100 calorie bags of popcorn, jello with fruit and cool whip free, ice water, apples and grapefruits instead of cookies, ice cream or chips.  If I really feel the "need" for ice cream I buy a Skinny Cow dessert b/c they are portioned.  Even though they are expensive I eat so much less of it that I still spend less money. It's really tough with kids b/c once they are used to having the stuff around they want it and once they're in school they have all of the outside influence.  There are so many things that taste better than junk food, you've got to try creative ways to get them to eat the good stuff like real fruit salad.  Men are even tougher though, from my experience, they tend to be very set in the ways, generally speaking.  My husband has gotten better but is still fond of the fast food.  LOL In the end the results have gotten me less focused on what everyone else is eating.  My mom was eating a Reese's peanut butter cup and a Take Five (snack size for Halloween) and I frowned but I really didn't want any.  It was more the idea of it than anything else.  I just sat here drinking my ice cold water, flushing the fat out of my body.  It is hard, but I think it gets easier.

I hear ya on the fast food, that is my biggest weakness.  My mom just even told me that I am one of the healthiest eaters she knows BUT when I'm out I tend to stop at fast foods at least twice a week if not more.  My house consists of all whole wheat, not many prepared foods at all if none, and all organic stuff pretty much.  I also LOVE icecream which is another weakness.  So it will be interesting to see how much I lose just staying away from these things.  I did it once before ( one of my yoyo dieting) and lost 40 pounds in a few months.

Fast food was a big trigger for me and I had gotten to the point where I would eat it daily.  It is embarrassing to admit but I had lost all motivation and I had stopped trying.  My husband and I got married lost our jobs, etc. which started the downward spiral and I just added to it by gaining weight. I started giving myself challenges when I started this time.  Just to see how long I could do something whether it be not have something or make sure I did something.  With fast food I started on Aug 23 and decided to see how long I could go without eating fast food.  I didn't give myself a time limit or anything, just wanted to see how long I could go.  I figured one day is better than nothing when you're eating it every day!  I made it over 40 days and have had it twice since but I planned it and ate accordingly so it was counted. I've also done challenges with exercise, salads, milk, etc.  I have a pedometer so I will periodically challenge myself to see an increase in my steps for the day.  The number on the scale moves so slowly that this really helps me feel like I am accomplishing something tangible. The challenges make me think about what is important about each thing.  When I had fast food again it wasn't a big deal and it didn't taste as great as I remembered.  I found with me that any restriction eventually has to be released or else there could be an implosion, LOL.  So I don't restrict anything any more (except for a challenge).  Restriction is what got me to this weight.  If I want something that I don't think is a wise choice, I plan for it and that get back on track right away.  I realize that some people work well with restriction but ever time I've done anything restrictive I've lost 30-50lbs and eventually slid back to my old ways.  I'm hoping that this works for me long term and really sticks.

To tell you the gods honest truth, I am brutally honest with my children when it comes to my obesity and their health.  I limit sweets to the weekends...  I make them exercise...my son plays football, my daughter is in gymnastics... I ask them to HELP me eat better... Last night, my son and I sat at the table and counted my points for the day ( i do WW)...  My hubby... he eats what he wants during the day, but on the weekends hes on my boat!!! 

I will echo what everyone else said.

For me this journey has been over 2 years.  I lost all of my weight in the first 12 months and since then it has been maintenance.

My family supports me 100%.  Like others have said, I do the shopping and the cooking so it's my way or the highway.  If they go out and get other food, more power to them.  Nobody is going to get fat in my house again, at least in my eyes.  We have a healthy house and I aim to keep it that way. I cannot make people change their eating habits or force them to lose weight.  I can however set the stage for them to be able to do so. I am more important than all of their cravings or needs or likes.  And they believe that as well and support me 100%.  They don't get angry if there is no "junk" in the house.  My son will make do, and my SO will satisfy himself however he wants.  I want everyone in my life to realize that food does not equal entertainment, just nourishment. Good luck in this area, for some it is the hardest.