Hey all. Since getting married my wife has gained 10kilos (This is because of medication and our lifestyle).
She has been very sad and wants to eat healthy and lose weight. But she doesn't know what to eat.
So what are your healthy meal plans. We don't make much so cheap is best. I usually just buy random bentos I see for her since she is a picky eater. I tried using Chat GPT to help but I feel it doesn't understand what is available at the supermarkets like Tobu Store or Yaoko.
by pyroguy174
46 comments
[deleted]
Eat only eggs for breakfast. Black coffee or coffee with just a splash of milk
For lunch, buy frozen veggies from gyomu super and a bunch of chicken. Cook your chicken with your preferred seasonings. No sauces. Just season probably.
For lunch, have the chicken and the veggies only. Maybe a yogurt for dessert.
For dinner, have some pan fried tofu and miso soup with a salad and very very little dressing.
Do that everyday.
It doesn’t work for everyone but for me intermittent fasting (basically just skipping breakfast, black coffee only) was a great way to manage my weight.
Healthy items will be the least processed items. Meat, fish, vegetables. Season and prepare them yourselves to get rid of hidden added sugars etc. Speaking of sugar, stop it (aside from natural sugars from fruit). Alcohol, also stop or limit as much as possible.
This is a good place to start. Don’t need to fret about exactly how many grams of protein / carbs / whatever unless you have a specific goal in mind in my opinion.
She needs to count calories. You can eat healthy meals but if you’re still eating too much she’s going to keep gaining weight.
The truth is she’s eating more calories than before. Look at what she’s been eating during that time and then realize that if she eats around 1,500-1,800 calories a day she will slowly start to drop that fat. For me, I cut back on calories dramatically.
But you can still eat like a big girl and lose weight. More high protein meals, less snacks and fast foods. I sometimes make my own pizza for 700 calories and 100g of protein (whole pizza) this means it could last you for 2 more unless you’re … I won’t say it but you know. You could even add more fiber into your diet to curb craving.
The biggest part of stopping eating out, eating like a f__t person. I had to stop 56 donuts weekly. Then I had to stop sugar drinks. Then I had to count my calories and buy snacks only for a like 1 cookie a day and if that cookie fit into my calorie budget. Only buy snacks for when you want 1 or two chips. I still eat meat daily and add tons of cheese and other stuff to it. I still eat sweets weekly and lose weight. Why?
I’m eating around 1,800-2,000 calories daily. Count the calories instead of viewing meals as unhealthy. Life gets easier when you see it as calories versus (pizza is unhealthy) because what’s making you gain weight is the medication yes but also calories. It’s gonna be hard with the medication but she can do if you do it right.
I’ve cut all carbs for dinner. Tofu with Kikuchi, tuna, or corn as substitute. Mainly eat chicken or fish for lunch and dinner. Can’t run so much but instead I walk a lot and workout 10-30minutes before dinner on weeknights and 30minutes in before lunch on weekends.
Lost about 8kg (fat loss, muscle gain) in about 2 and a half months.
I mean, has she tried to eat less first thing first? Sound like the obvious thing, but when you say you are buying bentos which have the nutritional value written and it still doesn’t work, it makes me wonder.
Also mentioning price when less food mean less money got me confused
Stop buying bentos and eat home cooked.
Tofu,nattou,chicken breast or fish.lots of veggies.
Eat less,move more.
Count calories.
Drink more water.
Fibre, fibre, fibre.
Want to eat something sweet? Eat fruit.
Want something hearty? Eat vegetables.
Halve rice portions. Still hungry? You guessed it: add vegetables.
Reduce the amount of bread. Still hungry? Add tomato, cucumber, lettuce.
Want a snack? Mixed nuts (Edit: plain!) or fruit.
Throw out *all* soda and *all* fruit juices. They contain far too little fibre per calorie. Yes, that includes juices.
Fibre, together with traditional probiotics (pickles, miso, etc) will ensure a healthy gut microbiome, very likely stopping the weight gain, even without reducing meat intake.
> I usually just buy random bentos
Don’t. Even Japanese bentos, like nearly all take-away, are not healthy.
As others said, count calories
No matter how healthy or unhealthy a food is, it boils down to calories imo (but please correct me if I am wrong).
For example, the melon break you buy at convenience store, usually they are around 300+ to 400+ calories which is also the same as basic proper meal.
If possible, include exercise. It doesn’t have to be weight lifting or running, you can just start slow and easier like walking. It is important to build disciple first and making it a routine.
I have started counting calories when I started also muscle training. I am not huge or anything but at least in my family, I am the fittest.
Hope you guys will be able to achieve what you are hoping for!
Don’t eat out, prepare all you food at home. eat proper portion sizes, no snacks, very little desserts.
Cook instead of buying bentos and prepackaged meals. Most of those bentos you see are like 800+ calories so if you’re eating 2-3 of those a day that’s already like 1600-2400 calories. Plus any drinks, snacks, other meals, and dessert you’re eating and she’s probably way over the maintenance calories needed for the average woman. ESPECIALLY if she’s sedentary.
I know you often hear “2-2.5k calories a day” for an adult but that’s generally for somebody at least moderately active, or men. If you’re getting less than a few thousand steps a day and are sitting down for work all day and not moving much and are a woman, especially a shorter woman, then it’s probably realistically closer to 1.4-1.8k.
What you eat doesn’t even matter as much as how much you eat, and how much you move.
Cut portion sizes way down to less than you’re eating currently. Try not to drink like ANY calories as much as possible. It’s hard at first if you’re used to drinking juice and soda and lattes and stuff daily but once you’re used to it it will be SO natural you won’t even think about drinking soda/juice/etc. anymore. I only drink water or green tea (cold). And sometimes black coffee. Getting a nice stainless steel insulated cup and loading it with ice helps make it more enjoyable. Especially in the summer. I only drink a soda or special drink like a Frappuccino or something as a treat like maybe a couple of times a month or so.
Personally I eat basically whatever I want but I eat smaller portions. I don’t restrict the types of food that I eat. If you’re eating until you’re uncomfortably or even painfully full you’ve eaten too much. You should just slightly start to feel full, and then you stop eating. Learn to eat slowly as well so your body has time to realize it’s full. I assume you have a fridge so if you have food left but feel full, just toss it in the fridge and you have leftovers. Boom, free next meal.
And activity level is huge. For my work I walk and lift A LOT. On a work day I easily achieve 15,000-20,000 steps a day without trying. So that allows me to be a little bit more free with how much I eat compared to somebody sitting in a chair all day for their job.
If you have a job like that and you can’t do anything to change that then you need to spend more of your time outside of work being active. You don’t even necessarily have to run or go to the gym, but at least walk. Go just take a long walk every day. Even if you’re just wandering through random neighborhoods or whatever. Put on some music or a podcast and make it entertaining. Or walk together and talk.
“Diets” typically fail because nobody wants to be eating cabbage and boiled eggs and boiled chicken *every day for the rest of their life*. It’s much better to train yourself to get used to moving and exercising more, to be satisfied with smaller portions of WHATEVER you’re eating, even if it’s pasta or hamburger, if you’re eating a reasonable portion of only a few hundred calories then that’s fine, and your weight will not balloon up, and to get used to only drinking water or tea the majority of the time. If it’s a lifestyle change and you get used to eating more reasonable portions, not eating or drinking sweet stuff as much, and moving your body more then it’ll be much easier and more enjoyable to maintain for your whole life
Random bento aren’t going to help, there’s too much rice. Eat a few less carbs (don’t cut them entirely, just manage the portions), and go with lower calorie options that will keep you full. Protein helps with that. Veggies, lean meats, tofu, egg, etc. Try to avoid fried foods.
Start by eating less, then cut down carbs and sugar.
Personally if you need the easy af route:
Zaru soba and a chicken salad for dinner
Basically I switched to eating a zaru soba and a chicken salad or plain salad from the supermarket and it really helped me lose weight with absolutely zero effort.
Just lay off the sesame dressing, switch to a low cal dressing that isn’t mayo based.
My husband found that using one those electronic memo pads to track everything he ate in the day and making a rough calorie estimate for each item REALLY helped
Not only made him realise how much he was eating, but also helped him plan out how to use his calories throughout the day efficiently (ie. Don’t blow 1000 on breakfast and only leave 600 for the rear of the day lol)
Physically writing things out helped him a lot👍
Municipal offices in Japan give free classes by nutritionists. I think twice a month, check with the Himawari telephone line (it’s free).
Also, gaining weight because of medication is a completely different thing, she should speak to her doctor. Not follow random Reddit advice. That’s how people end up with EDs.
WFPB diet(really hard in Japan) or a Mediterranean diet.
You can get 2 heads of cabbage for the price of 1 bento.
Cut 1/2 head into 4 pieces along the stem. Put on baking paper on a baking sheet, drizzle lightly or spray with olive oil, then season however you’d like. S&P, paprika, garlic powder, Cajun spice, whatever – get inventive.
Bake for 20 minutes in a 350° oven.
You can do the same with Chinese cabbage, broccoli (fresh or frozen), cauliflower, slices of eggplant or zucchini (on a rack works better for these), even carrots.
Low colories and high protein food would be a good start. Also, avoiding eating outside, sugars, and doing some light exercises a few times in a week.
Konnyaku, natto, sweet potato, pumpkin, fish, leafy vegetables (mizuna is a personal fav). Like others said, the amount of calories is the main factor. But these are very nutritious and generally lower calorie foods.
It’s all calorie deficit, switch rice with vegetables, stop snacking. Drink more water.
I’ve been counting calories. I highly recommend it. Bottled teas etc are loaded with calories!! It also keeps you accountable.
Additionally, protein! I found myself snacking more on carbs but still feeling hungry. So, I ensure to have protein to make me feel fuller for longer. I’m veggie so I get my protein from beans/soy meat/ protein shakes/bars, but, obviously she can get it from her protein source of choice.
Also, I’ve been volume eating – adding lots of salad/veg to smaller portions of food in order to feel satisfied.
I also agree with another poster who suggested using the Lose It (free version) app to count calories. It has lots of Japanese products on there and it’s also easy to add products.
Chat GPT does poor job with recipe generation etc. at this moment. I can not tell for others but the book I bought at amazon helped me find a balanced diet, It is called Intuitive Eating. But there are many other books, too. The difference is that, IE is anti-diet.
Cut carbs. It works shockingly well. It can be difficult to adjust – no rice, no bread, but personally I find it super duper effective, especially paired with a run or two every week. I eat a lot of yogurt, bananas, meat, cheese, tomatoes, cabbage and kimchi to keep it up. It’s quite cheap! I also find eating a little at 11 and again a few hours later helps me feel full all day and I seem to be a lot more alert and less likely to feel tired, though by 5pm I’m very hungry and ready to go home and make dinner.
Very few people lose weight permanently long term so curbing the weight gain is going to be the biggest factor. Be careful of sudden drastic changes and be wary of making changes from a place of self-hate.
Limiting food has been one of the worst things for me. Replacing is amazing as well as making things questions. I’m craving chocolate cookies, but can I replace that with a banana and dark chocolate? Can I eat more of vegetable XYZ so that even if I have that cookie or snack later I will feel fuller sooner and can easily eat less of that (because I am eating more of something else)?
Counting calories alone will help without any other planned changes. Awareness is step one.
This is not a diet. This changing how you eat for life. One meal at a time. One dish at a time. One day at a time. Find things you enjoy. Also, hormone cycles are crazy assuming she is still ovulating some ideas are below:
Once her period ends it’s the best time to experiment with new foods and see if she is interested in new flavors and try to find new things, start new exercise plans, whatever sounds fun for her.
As soon as she stops ovulating, cravings will hit. Allow for a slight increase of calories so she isn’t restricting herself overmuch and make sure she includes carbs for the next two weeks. Eat regularly to prevent hunger crankies and more cravings. take naps as needed and go for walks to avoid the snack blues.
Another option is to buy the less delicious but still satisfying snackfood.
I will eat a whole bag of kit-kats in one sitting so I buy those about once or twice a year only. Instead I now buy the little stick pack cookies. (roughly 300cal for one pack vs the 800+ calories of all those kitkats).
Don’t bring junk food home or only buy one serving at a time. replace chips with popcorn. If you cook it at home it’s quite good and you can spice it yourself with rosemary and my favorite: nutritional yeast.
My taste buds have actually changed over time doing this bit by bit. I can’t give you meal plans and budgets that work for your family. I can say to focus on reading calories. If you know you’re going for the easy junk option can look nearby and see if you can find the lazy junk food option that has slightly more vitamins and minerals? baby steps are best steps. Excited for your health journey! Feel free to share if you find any fantastic foods or recipes that work for you!
ffs, reach out to a certified dietician (not just any hack “nutritionist”) and medical doctor familiar with the medicine she had to take, and do NOT follow half the “advice” on Reddit unless you’re keen on her developing an eating disorder.
i’ve been eating shredded cabbage with furikake instead of rice
Lots of women don’t like exercise. They want to diet – but that’s a fad. Need to go walking in the evening on top of all these great meal suggestions.
Is your wife Japanese? It’s the rice bro, my wife forced herself to stop jamming on the rice so much. Rice a raw egg and Natto for breakfast everyday is only good if your wife is weight training 4 times a week, cut the carbs, no sugar, no alcohol run 10K in a week, every week.
You don’t need to go right into counting calories, but you can if it helps. My wife is 34yo, 46kg can bench 40kg can squat 70 and can dead 70. She doesn’t count calories and will eat fairly healthy, but not excessively to the point where meals and social meals are no fun.
Go super hard out straight away and her motivation will drop. So a fairly clean diet, cut the rice consumption. And work on muscle development. She won’t drop so much weight but her muscles will replace the weight, so don’t count the scales too much either. Lift weights 3 times a week, have one burn day ( high repetition, light weight, heeeeeaaaps of sweat).
She will start to look like a short Amazonian in 12-16 weeks.
She WILL be a short Amazonian in one year.
And don’t get me started on the mental benefit, good lord, your wife will be switched on all the time, alert, sharp, best version of herself. Confident n all.
Buying obento or prepackaged dinners are just terrible, processed foods. Instant pot noodles. Stop buying them.
Eat a high protein foods will fill you up with vegetables, even frozen vegetables are still great.
Up to you if you want to count calories and use MyFitnessPal app.
I actually enjoyed counting calories and u can truly see how much you’re actually eating.
Also I’d stop drinking soda they are so full of sugars and hidden calories, even the diet soda though it says 0 calories tge sweeteners will make u crave for something sweet.
Drink plenty of water, green tea or oolong tea through out the day.
Exercise is also key, walking in the morning, early to avoid the summer heat or late in the evening a few days a week to get you started.
If you’re on a budget then the city gym and lift weights would be great too. Building muscle burns more calories in the long run.
Bodywork exercises also might help.
Going all out will eventually get you burnout and u will rebound. Start slow, then it’s about discipline.
I lost a lot of weight recently. You know what I did? Eat less than usual, drink a lot of water, and exercise slightly more than usual. That’s all you gotta do.
r/nutrition
Bentos are not the healthiest meal around.. far from it.
You need whole food without an ingredient list. Things that go through a factory.
Most of us have lived in abundance most of our lives and never actually felt hunger. When we feel hungry, it’s usually our internal clock that rings or sugar craving.
Cutting all sugar is step one.
I don’t know if it’s a healthy idea or not, but it’s showing me results you replace one your meal with smoothies.
Here what I put in.
– Frozen fruits from gyomu supa
– one big spoon of peanut butter
– 30g whey protein
– 40g of oats
– 75g yogurt
– mixed nuts 5-6
Blend it
Then after blending put some roasted seeds and give it a shake.
I sometimes put coffee in it, if I am taking it in the morning.
Count calories its a simple plus minus game.
Find out ur basic metabolic rate. Then create a deficit example my basic metabolic rate from hiking and rock climbing is like 3500 if i want to lose a pound i est only 3000 i have to keep the same activity level and eat only 3000 calories in one week I should drop .9 kilos. Hardest part is keeping it up.
Natural Hygiene Diet. Raw produce only (no limitations, eat ‘til full. Fruit for breakfast and a huge salad for lunch and/or dinner, with some nuts and seeds. 4 liters water daily. Guaranteed weight loss, and guaranteed ceasing of medications as this is the species appropriate diet. For further info, please read the files on Facebook’s “Terrain Model Refutes Germ Theory” group.
I’m in Japan and been eating this way for 2 years. Not so costly to do either.
its not what you eat – its how much do you eat and how often do you eat.
The meals aren’t it.
Find out her BMR.
Then reduce 5-10% from that and hit that amount of calories.
If it’s difficult to hit those numbers with three meals then skip one. e.g., eat lunch and dinner only.
Just randomly eating “healthy” meals and “healthy” snacks won’t do anything.
Intermittent fasting, dieting, exercise, healthy eating — all of these can and will work as long as you pay attention to CICO: Calories In, Calories Out.
Get a cheap smartwatch for her to wear so she can keep track of her calorie usage in a day. Download an app to count her calories in (such as MyFitnessPal), and start a calorie deficit. The higher the deficit, the faster you lose weight, and the harder it is to do. Every single day counts. It is a lifestyle change, not a diet.
Never eat less than 1000~1200 calories a day, it leaves you too tired to do anything else.
Avoid drinking your calories, drink lots of water/plain tea, and incorporate vegetables and fruits to your diet. No need to cut a certain food group (no sugar, no flour, no fat etc), that mainly mainly makes you grumpy and it is hard to maintain. It’s all about moderation!
She can weight herself weekly just once to track her progress. Losing weight is hard, and it takes as long as you gained it (minimum). Perseverance is key! It can be done. As her husband, you being supportive of the journey will be great help! I wish you two the best!
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OP I will give you a complete comprehensive strategy and ideas below, but a forewarning; This process requires a lifestyle change, and it is permanent. If your wife is not prepared to change her decisions and lifestyle, she will stay fat (Not sure about your own shape but if it applies to you too then so be it).
-Conbini food is the enemy. Literally everything in there, in some way is going to contribute to poor health. The copious amounts of cheap alcohol, the sugary snacks and chocolate, the baked good filled with carbs, the bento’s, a combination of everything terrible about junk food in a cheap package. For this to work, you need to stay away from the conbini at all costs, unless it’s to buy a single small snack, a coffee, a tea or a small juice.
-If you’re not already exercising, start. You need to do it too. If she starts exercising to lose weight on her own, I can only imagine the issues that will cause later down the line. You don’t need to be doing 5 hours of resistance training a week, just 30 minutes to an hour on the treadmill every few days. I find an hour at 4 KMPH with a 12 incline is enough for me.
-Find some staple meals and stick to them. This is the core of your inquiry so I’ll give you what works for me and my partner.
– A main protein, either tuna, salmon or chicken. Season it well with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder and butter for a good taste. Red meat isn’t bad but it’s easy to overeat calorie wise and nutritionally it’s not the best. It’s also been linked to health detriments. I personally LOVE baked salmon and chicken. Tastes much better, it’s easier to cook and it’s harder to overcook (Nothing worse than spending 30 minutes preparing chicken only for it to be the consistency of rubber.
-A salad. Any or all of the following: Tomatos, lettuce, kale, cucumber, avocado, spinach. Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a biohacking super food for the body, so sprinkle a generous amount and mix well. EVOO has research showing it promotes weight loss as part of a healthy diet.
-A carb source. Either a small portion of rice (Preferably brown rice) or some potatoes. You can’t really live without some carbs, but they’re best avoided as much as possible for weight loss, especially in the form of white bread and rice.
-A SINGLE GLASS OF RED WINE. Studies show it’s linked to a lot of health benefits. I’ve done a deep dive and it’s hard to get a solid answer on why this is, but it makes me feel good and sleep better so why not?
-Dessert. Dark chocolate or fruit such as watermelon, pineapple or apples.
I would count the calories by using apps such as Myfitnesspal (free). Doing exercises helps a lot in the process and also brings other benefits.
Most of my foreign friends gained weight due to the diet change. Our metabolisms are different. Many meals here have high levels of carbs (rice, noodles), sodium and low amounts of protein. Then many fried meats, like karage and tonkatsu.
I have been trying to cook more. More veggies (the cheap ones haha) and beans, less rice/pasta. The meat is prepared in a healthier way (chicken breasts, steaks, etc.). I see many meats with discount sometimes.
I bought on kasumi today a healthy bento for 300 yen and payed 400 yen for 400 grams of seasoned chicken with the label saying “half price”. One meal for 700 yen with leftovers.
If you need more support, feel free to DM me. I am a personal trainer in Ibaraki, near Tokyo.
I’m not a dietician but I would say drink plenty of water throughout the day and some water before a meal to cut back on how much you can eat before getting full.
Make most of the meal vegetables and cut how much rice per meal down by 25% or more. Eat lower calorie meats such as fish or chicken.
Nuts and fruits are okay to eat in small amounts since they have a lot of calories.
Avoid deep fried items such as tempura or katsu. Avoid snacking on high calorie items such as chips or donuts. Avoid beverages and drink water.
Remember that calories from sauces add up so reduce how much sauce is consumed. Reach out to a registered dietician for proper advice though
my gf was in canda for a year and gained 10kg. came back and had primarily natto on rice (1/2 cup), frozen gyoza (those supermarket ones) and wakame miso-soup.
occasionally, if she feels hungry, she will take a piece of meat I have.
mornings are a cup of coffee, wheat based biscuits, fresh salad and a sunny side up.
she lost 15kg since coming back. doesn’t do sports other than once a week hula-dance lessons.
If counting calories makes someone unreasonably hangry, go for food type exclusion. Avoid food with additional sugars (even the artificial ones), go for protein than carbs, all that jazz. Ask a dietician.
Yes ultimately it’s a debit-credit situation (calories go in via food, calories go out via work) but we can also influence that by choosing the kind of calories that go in since not all calories are equal, especially in terms of nutritional content (eg I’d rather eat fresh fruit than a pastry if I want a fruit hit) and filling capability (eg a banana will fill you up better than say, bread). Going with the accounting/banking analogy, we loan our bodies with food so it has capital to do work, and we shouldn’t go for bad and non-performing loans like sugar-based ones
Avocados chicken breast and eggs