Does anyone eat normally and stay a healthy weight.

[Pavalacerny]

A normal diet to me would be say:

Breakfast: Scrambled Egg On 1 slice Toast /Fruit & Greek Yogurt/ 2 Slice of whole meal toast and smashed avocado

Lunch: Bowl of Soup with Salad whole meal bread Sandwich/ Small Portion of left overs from previous nights dinner / baked potato with half a tin of beans

Dinner: Vegetable and tofu stir fry/ Chickpea stew with wholemeal couscous / small slice of home made vegetable quiche with green veg and home made oven chips.

Snacks: A few nuts and a bit of fruit x 1 herbal teas, two black teas with milk and a small cookie or square of chocolate x 1

Water: 6 - 8 glasses of water a day.

Is this about normal for a 5 foot 5 woman? I have been using my fitness pal to log my food and I seem to be eating 1600 to 1800 calories a day but I’m not losing weight at all, it just creeps up. I am wondering if I’m deluding myself about how much I can eat? What I am eating doesn’t seem unreasonable and I’m often hungry so I can’t see eating any less.

Note: I don’t eat meat and I exercise by walking, doing yoga and some light weights a few times a week.

What is normal food like for you if you are a normal weight and maintain that with out suffering. I don’t mean being skinny just a normal healthy weight.

Thanks!

[workshy44]

I think personally you need to eat no more than 1200 a day to lose weight and probably 1400 a day to maintain
I have a v v high metabolism so can generally eat what I want but if I want to actually lose weight I need to cut to 1200 or else do no carbs for a week

[JustInCaseCakeHappens]

There's no "normal" as such, and you will have posters coming to tell you that you are either starving yourself, or stuffing yourself.

You just need to eat less calories than you use. If the weight is creeping up, you are eating too much.

You seem to be eating A LOT of carb though, you could reduce carbs (and sugar) and up your proteins a bit. Of course you can eat less, and you could eat veg and protein instead of so much bread, potatoes, chips. Just sounds like a lot on a normal day.

[Oddgirlout]

I would assume that's a healthy (in terms of content) maintenance diet. I'd cut the snacks and the carbs to actually loose weight.

[littlejalapeno]

You need more protein to lose weight. See if you can increase protein and decrease your carbs a bit. Maybe mix up your exercise to do something a bit more strenuous.

[Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow]

I don’t count calories and try to eat intuitively.

If I ate that many carbs I wouldn’t lose weight.

[FollowingNow]

I eat way more than that and I'm 9st, a perfect weight for my height.

I generally don't eat breakfast but if I do feel like it I have either toast with marmite and butter or fruit, yoghurt and honey.

Lunch would be a massive salad, always with an oil dressing, usually with either cheese or meat. My fave salad at the moment is avocado, jalapenos, sweetcorn, lettuce, tomato, feta and coriander dressed with lime juice, olive oil and salt.

Dinner always carb based. Pasta, risotto, potatoes. Tonight I'm having fish tacos - roast salmon, little tortilla wraps, salsa, cheese, bit of garlic sauce (home made).

Always have something sweet after dinner. Few squares of chocolate or similar.

Drink copious amounts of tea throught the day. Might have an apple or a bit of mango or other fruit between meals, sometimes a biscuit if I fancy one. At the weekends I often have a slice of cake or a pudding.

I always have full fat dairy. Whole milk, full fat yoghurt.

[JustInCaseCakeHappens]

I eat way more than that
unless you have seen a photo of the actual portion sizes, how on earth can you possibly know?

[merryhouse]

On one occasion my husband was away and I think the children had a school disco or something that meant they weren't eating home dinner, I just ate a few bits as I went along.

About 7 o clock I was feeling Really Hungry so worked out what I'd eaten and did a rough calorie estimation. It came out at around 1700 so I decided I was being quite reasonable to be hungry and had something substantial!

A couple of years ago my husband spent a few weeks logging everything he ate and worked out the calories (among other things). I think he said it came to about 3000 a day. I was eating rather less than him, but not so much as to take it under two-thirds of that.

I've noticed lots of people saying they gain weight on more than 1200, and I can't help thinking that either MyFitnessPal is using a completely different set of data, or many people have totally fucked their metabolism by years of starvation diets...

[CuckooCuckooClock]

If you’re not loosing weight then you need to eat less carbs.
Or just smaller portions.
I could eat similar to you but with very small carb portions. So for eg quiche and chips would be too much for me.
I’m a healthy weight but would like to be a bit slimmer for For summer.

[FollowingNow]

If you’re not loosing weight then you need to eat less carbs.

No, you need to reduce calories.

Unless you're in a calorie deficit, reducing carbs will do literally nothing. Low carb diets work because of calorie deficit, that's literally it.

I would hazard a guess, OP, that your portion sizes are too big and you are simply taking in too many calories to lose weight.

[BarbaraofSeville]

How much do you weigh? If you're gaining on that amount of food, either you're underestimating portion size or forgetting things like snacks and drinks, so are actually eating more than 1600 to 1800 calories per day, or you're already very slim and therefore don't have much, if any weight to lose.

Have you calculated your total daily energy expenditure? If you work that out, deduct 500 calories per day you should get a daily calorie target to lose a pound a week.

[ExplodingCarrots]

It's all about calories in vs calories out. Unless you're verrryyy slim anybody would struggle with under 1200 long term. Find team RH on Facebook. They're doing it right. All about getting the right amount of calories for you and not completely leaving out a vital food group. Carbs aren't the devil. Your body needs them! I was losing weight at 1800 ~ 2000 calories when I was around 13 stone.

[LuckyLickitung]

You've got decent variety of nutrition there, and 1600-1800 sounds reasonable.

The problem that many women have is that the 2000 target is just too high for many women with light activity levels, so your 1600-1800 is closer to a maintainence level or even a slight gain. Yoga and walking are great for strength and health but don't burn a lot of calories.

For weight loss, 5:2 is good for introducing a deficit when your regular intake is about right and it's hard to cut much more without interfering with a balanced diet.

The other option is using additional exercise (e.g. weights or running) to increase your calorie burn, but relying on that means you have to be very consistent and regular or you slip back to a surplus.

As a 5'2 woman, the amount I need to sustain my weight without regular exercise sounds disappointingly like most people's low calorie plans and food is too good to be permanently draconian about!

[MasterMargarita]

If walking, yoga and light weights is all you do then eating 1600 - 1800 calories per day won't make you lose weight. It's maintenance at best.

Have you tried TDEE calculator?

[PlugUgly1980]

I eat a large bowl of cereal, usually cornflakes which is probably about 3 times the recommended portion size on the packet. Lunch is a bread roll with ham or cream cheese, packet of crisps, soreen, apple and banana. Always have a sweet treat mid afternoon eg 4 finger Kit Kat. Maybe another apple. Dinner is usually potatoes, carrots and a green veg along with chicken in sauce/pie/casserole or something like cottage pie, pasta bake with garlic bread, etc. Pudding is a yoghurt or mousse, depending what's on offer. Drink lots of decaf coffee, squash and water all day. I don't calorie count at all, I'm at the lower end of a healthy BMI but I run a lot (on average 40+ miles a week), and Garmin tells me my calories burnt average 2300 per day.

[Mintjulia]

I eat normally, generally fruit & coffee for b’fast, sandwich/crisps/fruit for lunch, meat, veg, pasta, stir fry, pizza etc for supper. Occasional glass of wine or cake/biscuits.

I held steady at 10st until about 45, then started to gain weight gradually. I took up Parkrun once a week and that’s held me at 10st for the last 10 years. I’m 5’8”

[tempnamechange98765]

I think I need to stick to 1400 religiously to lose weight. I'm lucky that I must have a decent metabolism as I tend to maintain by eating relatively healthily during the week and still having treats on the weekend, but to properly lose weight I would definitely need to go lower than 1600 calories. I'm 5"6 and 32, with a decent metabolism as I said. I exercise (gym class) 3 x per week.

[Pavalacerny]

I am at about 12 and a half stone and I'm 40. I've always struggled to lose weight, I'd like to be about 10 st 7lbs.

Very depressing reading about having to eat even less. I have two to three portions of bread / bread / pasta a day depending on size but perhaps need to cut down more? I'm prone to headaches if I cut down on carbs too much or skip meals but I can take another look at that. I do measure what I eat with scales so I am minding my portion sizes.

I stick to low impact exercise due to another health issue so running is out for me but I could do more, I love swimming but hate busy pools, I'll see if the pool will let me know when I good time to visit would be.

Funnily both my mum and grandmother were overweight until the menopause then they became thin overnight, perhaps that will happen to me!

[Pavalacerny]

My metabolisim but still be in asleep, I will look at adding more protein but I worry about too much cheese and eggs and I don't eat meat. Perhaps supplementing with grim grainy protein shake might help?

[Bluntness100]

How much do you weigh op? How much weight do you have to loose. And do you follow this diet every day or do you have days off Ie weekends, where you eat differently or drink? How long have you been eating like this?

The simple answer is that you’re eating enough to maintain your current weight, and to drop weight you need a calorie deficit, so either need to eat less or move more.

[GrumpyHoonMain]

Are you weighing your food? Also metabolism depends on activity - if you have more fat than muscle and don’t exercise daily then you might gain even on 1200 cals per day

[doodleygirl]

I eat what I consider normally and manage to maintain my dress size. I dont have any idea what I weigh. Generally have cottage cheese, fruit and rice cakes or fruit and greek yoghurt for breakfast, salad or roast vet and a protein for lunch, sometimes add a packet of crisps. Stir fry or griddled fish, rice and veg for dinner. I often eat a piece of chocolate and drink wine at the weekends although I drink lots of water during the day.

I am 56, 5ft .5 and wear a size 10, have done for most of my life. I exercise about 5 times a week, cardio and weights, walk the dog most days, have a stand up desk at work and am generally a move about kind of person.

[Howmanysleepsnow]

I used to be able to eat that at 30 and weigh 9.5 stone (I’m 5’6”). At 38 I started gaining weight on similar (got to 11.5 stone). Now i’d Maintain if I ate your breakfast and dinner, but gain if I added snacks or lunch. To lose weight I need under 1000 a day, 1200 maintains it. I think my metabolism just ground to a halt with age. I’m currently trying to lose weight and it’s not easy! (10 stone 8lb and counting...)

[Howmanysleepsnow]

Oh, and I’m pretty active too at work.

[Stefoscope]

Caloriewise seems good, but agree with cutting back on the carbs and sugar and upping protein. I was massively skeptical that this would work and that I'd still be able to function eating less carbs but it's really worked for me personally. That's not to say that I don't enjoy a dominos or a pub meal out occassionally at least once a week . Calorie count is probably around the 1600 mark most days. A typical day for me would look like: Breakfast - small handful of fruit with 3 dessert spoons of full fat yogurt. Lunch: omelette made with a knob of real butter and sprinkling of full fat cheese. Lots of lower carb veggies like green beans, spinach. Or an egg mayo or cheese sandwich made with wholemeal high protein bread. Tea: bare naked noodles in a stir fry (again made with predominately low carb veggies). Or a curry served with cauliflower rice.