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Original poster

Can you eat three course meals anymore?

231 replies

Arlanymor · 17/04/2024 11:55

I used to be able to, but these days no way would I manage both a starter and a pudding and sometimes I can’t even finish my main. I don’t have any dietary issues and I’m not watching my weight (although probably should be!) but I just can’t manage it anymore.

I tend to eat tapas more and more because then I don’t run the risk of wasting anything. But even if I am really hungry, I just can’t manage much more than one course, unless the starter is a salad or something similarly light. I’m 45.

OP posts:
SallyWD · 17/04/2024 17:18

Comedycook · 17/04/2024 16:04

This thread is hilarious. All the teeny tinies desperately trying to outdo each other. I can barely even manage a cube of cheese I'm so tiny 😂

Why are those with small appetites mocked though? Everyone's different. I've always eaten like a horse and now at 49 my appetite and digestion have changed. I still think I eat a lot compared to some people but not like I used to. I feel bloated and ill if I really overindulge now. Just like I can't drink as much wine as I used to!
I have friends who've always had small appetites. I don't see what's funny about it.

Favouritefruits · 17/04/2024 17:18

I could easily manage a three course meal but that is the reason I’m on a diet 😅

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 17/04/2024 17:16

TheFlis · 17/04/2024 12:07

i often be have a starter, then another starter instead of a main so I can eat all 3 courses!

Me too! I often fancy the starters more anyway.

I’ve been the same for ages, and no, I’m not remotely skinny (size 14) nor do I have an ED.

Cofaki · 17/04/2024 17:12

Yes of course I can eat three courses! The replies on this thread are utterly batshit. Can't manage one potato and one slice of meat, for goodness sake. The eating disorders clinic is that way, y'all.

Teenytinycarlady · 17/04/2024 17:08

Oh heavens no! Absolutely not. I need to maintain my slim body so I can fit into my petite car.

louderthan · 17/04/2024 17:07

I can, but there has to be something I really like on the dessert menu, and nothing too sweet or heavy.

TunaCrunchy · 17/04/2024 17:03

I can eat three courses if I’m in the mood for a good blowout. Last week I went out and had a Korean sticky chicken starter, a vegan Buddha bowl followed by chocolate brownie and ice cream. The pudding was described as mini and came with a hot drink but it seemed a good size to me.

Auburngal · 17/04/2024 17:03

AnOpinionInTheHand · 17/04/2024 16:58

Your whole family shares a starter and a dessert? How do you share it out? Do you pass the plate and spoon round so you can each take a bite?

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Some restaurants are happy to give you an extra plate and relevant cutlery for diners to share a desert. When I have been out with colleagues and they are undecided between x and y - we order both and divide the starters or desserts so we get half each.

Auburngal · 17/04/2024 17:00

I don't bother with a dessert if I am going for something like Indian, Thai etc.

What I don't get with some people when I go to restaurants is ordering a mains and not eating it all. If they aren't hungry, why go out for a meal?

AnOpinionInTheHand · 17/04/2024 16:58

Arlanymor · 17/04/2024 16:21

Is it? I’ve said I’m overweight and this change in appetite isn’t leading to any weight loss? And I’m not the only one. It’s interesting to see how things have changed for people as they’ve got older. Lots of people seem to be in the same boat as me and none of them have talked about lettuce leaves…

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You don’t have to be underweight to have an eating disorder

WatermelonWaveclub · 17/04/2024 16:58

SnapdragonToadflax · 17/04/2024 14:18

I'm 42 and can happily eat three courses. I'd be stuffed at the end and a bit uncomfortable, but I love food and have always had a big appetite.

I think as we get older people's food sensitivities can start to play up more, which might cause problems? I get bloating from lentils and chick peas now so avoid them, which I never did when I was younger. I have loads of friends who avoid dairy or gluten because it doesn't agree with them.

I think because feeling stuffed is so uncomfortable I don't go there. I remember being younger and being able to eat til stuffed but I didn't really feel uncomfortable with it.

I have noticed most friends my age eat less than we used to. And also my parents in their 70s eat even less than I do.

AnOpinionInTheHand · 17/04/2024 16:58

elevens24 · 17/04/2024 16:01

No, but I've never been able to. If out with dh and dc we usually share starters and desert.

Your whole family shares a starter and a dessert? How do you share it out? Do you pass the plate and spoon round so you can each take a bite?

Ace56 · 17/04/2024 16:51

PoppyCherryDog · 17/04/2024 16:44

Agree! Entertaining to read though

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Was going to say the same 😂 Lol at the poster who said she’ll happily not eat at all for a day and a half 🙄

WatermelonWaveclub · 17/04/2024 16:46

CharlotteBog · 17/04/2024 15:12

South Italian wedding! About 15 courses, each one very small and the whole thing went on for hours and hours. You get to taste so many different things, have lots of time between and really, really enjoy the whole thing.

Some places these days - the dessert alone can be a meals worth of calories. I used to love the mini dessert in Prezzo where you got just enough to satisfy the desire for something sweet after dinner. I'm not sure why they haven't reinstated that after the pandemic.

I used to have a mini desert with coffee in Pizza Express. Not been in there for ages so can't confirm if they still have it.

PoppyCherryDog · 17/04/2024 16:44

Comedycook · 17/04/2024 16:04

This thread is hilarious. All the teeny tinies desperately trying to outdo each other. I can barely even manage a cube of cheese I'm so tiny 😂

Agree! Entertaining to read though

fieldsofbutterflies · 17/04/2024 16:43

My mum also asks for one roast potato and she’s 75. Sorry if it’s outside of your realm of experience!

75 and 45 is very different in terms of life stages, though. It's well documented that elderly people need less food and have smaller appetites, but I genuinely don't know anyone in their forties who would go for Sunday lunch and ask for one slice of pork and one roast potato.

That honestly sounds like incredibly disordered eating to me.

PoppyCherryDog · 17/04/2024 16:40

3 courses is pretty easy to eat I find. No issues.

Ive done a few seven course tasting menus too and never too stuffed from them either.

WatermelonWaveclub · 17/04/2024 16:39

badger2005 · 17/04/2024 12:39

I love having a series of courses!
I've even introduced weekly-ish '3 course dinners' into our home lives for e.g. a Saturday night at home. Starter might be some prawns fried with parsley, garlic and lemon, or some halloumi pieces with honey and chilli - something like that that we all eat probably with cocktail sticks like a shared starter. Then some nice normal main course, followed by puddings, and here I do not cook from scratch but we buy these from Aldi (liking the little glass pots that are like Gu, but even the Aldi ones are pretty pricey unfortunately, so often some other thing).
I am very keen to have plenty of eating going on in our house at mealtimes - I have teenage children, who seem healthy, but some of the other teens we know and love have eating disorders. I really do understand that often there is nothing you can do to stop eating disorders developing, but just to try to fly in the face of it all I like to try to make sure that mealtimes are relaxed with no rushing, plenty of tasty food, good convivial conversation, and no thought at all about whether something is 'too rich' or 'too big' etc.

Luckily I exercise hard so can keep up with their young metabolisms at the moment, but if I'm not that hungry I might just put a bit little less on my plate, but will certainly still have all three courses. Seems like a joyful way to live.

That sounds fab. I think at home you can plate up the amount you can eat. I just think when you go out the portion sizes are too big (for me now. Not when I was younger!)

CharlotteBog · 17/04/2024 16:36

Comedycook · 17/04/2024 16:30

I know elderly people's appetites often get smaller. I remember my grandma eating smaller amounts in her eighties. But I'm a bit skeptical that this happens routinely to younger women.

Less physical activity and a reduction in lean muscle mass.
I'd say after 50 a decrease in appetite is not unusual, but it doesn't fall off a cliff.

Dacadactyl · 17/04/2024 16:36

I'm 38 and have started to struggle with 3 course meals now.

I can still eat 3 courses but I'd have had to have had nothing for lunch to manage it.

AutumnCrow · 17/04/2024 16:35

Arlanymor · 17/04/2024 16:27

That’s the conclusion I have drawn too. I think others are jumping on this for no apparent reason.

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It's probably too much fun for a lot of the terribly modern posters to stereotype peri+ women into annoying categories. You know, that Mil, that DM, that person with an eating disorder, that attention seeker ...

I can't eat lettuce any more Smile

IClaudine · 17/04/2024 16:34

Comedycook · 17/04/2024 16:30

I know elderly people's appetites often get smaller. I remember my grandma eating smaller amounts in her eighties. But I'm a bit skeptical that this happens routinely to younger women.

I still have a good appetite, I just can't eat three courses any longer. One problem is that once you have finished your starter, the main is often brought 5 or ten minutes later. I think I need more time between courses now.

mitogoshi · 17/04/2024 16:34

@SmudgeButt

Well done on the restraint Grin. I admit I managed afternoon tea most days and but the late night buffet though in my defence I wasn't be sedentary, we were up dancing for hours each evening. Also I'm lighter on the breakfast front as I never make the sit down breakfast Blush

Comedycook · 17/04/2024 16:30

I know elderly people's appetites often get smaller. I remember my grandma eating smaller amounts in her eighties. But I'm a bit skeptical that this happens routinely to younger women.

IClaudine · 17/04/2024 16:29

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 17/04/2024 16:24

I’m 60. I’ve noticed no desire to eat less or scarf less cakes.

This thread is the salad thread by another name.

One roast potato😂

I'm the same age as you and my appetite has definitely decreased, honestly. I am not and never have been an under eater. I absolutely love food and eating out. The same has happened to my older sister. Maybe it is genetic in some people?