Can you eat three course meals anymore?

I also don’t order stuff I know I can’t eat because I hate waste.

It doesn't need to be wasted - you can ask to take it home.

Thanks I appreciate that. I don’t know how - my appetite appears to have dismissed as I have got older, is it the same for you? Turned into this nonsense! I eat plenty and it’s nothing to do with competition in either direction. I also don’t order stuff I know I can’t eat because I hate waste.

Definitely less of an appetite, I do better with smaller meals throughout the day, I just can’t eat a lot in one sitting any more. I tend to order a couple of smaller plates/tapas type things now because I hate seeing waste when I’ve only eaten half a meal.

Can't eat anywhere near as much nowadays. It's just nature. Your stomach gets progressively smaller with age because it gets drier. But I'm not complaining it's like a free gastric band.

I definitely can’t eat as large a meal as I used to. I can do starter or dessert, but not both and only if the main course isn’t too big. I put it down to menopause and just not needing the same amount of food. I’m 52 and have noticed a change in the last year or so.

Those commenting on the “one slice of meat and one roaster”, did you not see all the other trimmings included in the OPs plate - hardly competitive under eating.

I think it is rude to make a big deal of not eating much if going out with friends for a meal. I tend to be guided by who I am with as regards having a pud or not. If with my diabetic friend I know she can’t so I wouldn’t either.
If with my other friends I would have a pud.
I have never bothered with starters but if a friend wanted to I would agree.
I do think mumsnet has a lot of competitive under eaters though as someone else has already mentioned.

It seems that the majority of the population don’t see a reduced appetite as they age. The majority are overweight or obese.

Yhis must be a MN thing.

Figures from last year.

My mother is 68 and the amount she can put away is impressive. We took her to a bbq place and she ordered the biggest meat combo, finished the lot. It was amazing. She is naturally petite, has a big breakfast, no lunch, big evening meal at 5pm. She doesn't snack either.
I am not naturally petite ha. I can do a starter and main easy but no dessert. Also, no bread. Bread finishes me off if I have it with a starter.
I have noticed my body doesn't like me eating later anymore though. 7pm is latest I can do without feeling uncomfortable.
I'm not a snacker but I eat 3 meals a day.

I give my extra potatoes to DH if they are on my plate. I get given any unforeseen mushrooms. Everyone is happy.

Portion sizes are often just much bigger now, esp. if it’s pub-grub type food. And more than once I’ve had a starter that was easily enough for a reasonable main.

OTOH I have been served a truly minute ‘main’ course in a fashionable and expensive restaurant. And I do mean minute!

So, if I could only manage one roast potato, how should I only eat only one without getting peoples backs up? What is the non performative response to 'is that all you're having?'

Just order a normal meal and leave the parts you don't want?

I'm using that! 😂

I doubt there's a right way to tell someone who wants to eat three courses themselves that you can only manage a starter and dessert that won't get their back up if they're that way inclined. Because for the most part, this is about women thenselves feeling they shouldn't eat much, and their own feeling that a small eater shows them up as being greedy. Very similar to the way people who like to drink feel about those who dont.
The response is to project on to the small eater all this business about being 'teeny tiny' and performative with a lot of bluster about how much they can eat and how joyless the person who doesn't eat is.
I dare say there are some women who make a point of how little they eat, but everyone refusing food they dont want isn't doing so for that reason. So, if I could only manage one roast potato, how should I only eat only one without getting peoples backs up? What is the non performative response to 'is that all you're having?'

On the one roast potato thing...

It could be my memory but I think many moons ago roasties were bigger - I know it's a bit uncouth to have them like boulders but often when eating out they're not much bigger than the size of baby new potatoes.

I do remember once when as a teen a posh lady hosting Sunday lunch asked if I wanted 'one roast potato or two' I said two please but in my head I was thinking well 4 would be OK with me!

Just depends on the place and how big the portions are. I normally just have two courses - main and pudding if it's somewhere with good puddings! If it's Chinese, Thai etc I have starter and main.

Places with 3-course set menus do tend to do smaller portions and I'd eat all that.

Same, also in my early 40s, and really struggle with three courses, never really order three these days (even when it's a posh restaurant with fairly small portions - I think the richness of the dishes probably means they're more calorie dense and that's why I'm still stuffed even though volume wise they look quite small). And I definitely don't have a MN teeny tiny appetite! (And definitely do need to eat less than I currently do anyway as am overweight).

I usually have just a main. If there’s a cheesecake for dessert, I might have some but I’m usually full really.

You don't need a lot less unless you move a lot less.

Health permitting, I hope to be doing the same amount of exercise or more in my mid fifties and beyond as I do in my late 40s. Looking at the TDEE calculator, there is very little difference in what my energy needs will be.

My mum still has a really good appetite and she's 84.

I'm not fond of puddings so never order one and find a starter and main fine, but that's been for years now and I haven't noticed a pattern of eating less now I'm nearly 70. Far from it.

I forgot to add that I have started getting some indigestion when I eat lots, but I am a fighter and plough through nonetheless 💪

Am 52 and can eat three courses and enjoy every mouthful. If I don’t order three courses it’s because I am trying to avoid perimenopausal weight gain. Not because I can’t eat it. I reckon I could eat four courses. I am slim but have a big appetite and eating out is a pleasure.

Yep, sadly, I can. I had goats cheese and ratatouille tart, grilled chicken, potato fondant and veg, and millionaire chocolate dessert and wine.
Were reasonably small portions but polished it all off.