Tammy,
Just change the meat and potatoes to boneless, skinless chicken breast or a turkey chop and a boiled sweet potato with cinnamon sprinkled on top and a little splenda if you want it sweeter. You'll still have your "meat and potatoes" and little or no fat and reduced calories. I think I've finally figured it out....it's all about making small changes in order to get big results. For example, a couple of years ago I decided to switch to the boneless, skinless chicken breasts rather than the legs and thighs with the skin. (Fat or no fat, the skin is good...at least it was back then.) I knew that the only way I could totally avoid the temptation of eating the fatty skin was to just buy the chicken without the skin already. Yeah, I know that sounds like a no brainer, but it has worked. Now the rare times I eat chicken with the skin on it -- such as fried chicken -- the skin tastes totally weird to me.
Does you and your family like spaghetti? Switch to whole wheat spaghetti. You have to cook it a few minutes longer than the regular white stuff. If you make your own sauce, switch to lean ground turkey and ground lean turkey sausage. By the time you add the onions, green peppers, spices, and the sauce, your family will not be able to taste the difference. Trust me. I've tried on my husband and a couple of his army buddies. They didn't know, and I didn't tell them. They raved about it! I finally told my husband, but by then he was already hooked.
Oh yeah, one other thing. Switch to egg whites. I don't buy egg beaters anymore because they are so expensive. My pastor's wife told me about an egg separator -- a plastic thing that looks like a ladle -- that costs about $1 to $2 at Walmart. Add a little shredded cheese for taste and color, and your family won't know the difference. Even when baking a cake, use eggs whites. I usually use one extra egg white than the recipes calls for in regular eggs.
And when you make the changes, don't tell your family until after they have ranted and raved about how good the meal is. You will instantly gain their support.
Finally, sometime next week I'm going to splurge and have cherry cheesecake. The cherry pie filling is fat free. The cream cheese if fat free. I'll use egg whites and splenda instead of sugar. I even bought a package of mini graham cracker pie shells to help me with portion control.
Sorry this was so long, but I hope it helped. Take care. Be encouraged. One pound lost is one pound less. As the Chinese proverb goes, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."