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!

I'm 5'3" (so only slightly shorter than you) and 1600 is maintenance for me. On 1800 I would be gaining weight.

Personally I've found losing weight at my height quite hard because eating becomes SO restrictive if you want to lose at a decent pace. My best results to date were when I started using intermittent fasting. It allowed me to create a more significant deficit without feeling like all my meals had to be meticulously planned out and weighed. Which helped with sticking to it long term.

HTH x

As others have said, look up team RH. I'm 5'6 and 10.5 stone and losing weight on 2300 calories a day.
It doesn't matter about carbs or fat or protein or what time you eat. The only important thing is calories. If you're not losing weight then you're eating more than you need. Team RH will show you how to work out your calories, how much exercise you want to do and then you just fill in the foods you like. I've lost 2 stone so far (since my youngest) and eaten chocolate probably every single day.

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

Is that scientifically provable?

If you aren't burning more calories than that, you won't lose weight. You also have to weigh carefully rather than estimate.

FWIW, I'm 5'4 and 50 and maintain a weight just over 10 stone at just under 2000 calories.

That doesn’t look like much food at all to me (although obviously I can’t see actual portion sizes) so have you had your bloods checked etc? I’m 20 though so probably just have this to come

I am mid 40s and short 5 3. Lightly active (run once or twice a week, walk a lot, some hiit with weights and yoga).

I maintain on 1600 ish and need to come down to 1200 to lose. Which is very slow - lb a week if I make sustained effort.

I am just under 12 stone now so overweight but not obese (yay). I am working on losing about a stone to a stone and a half which will still leave me overweight but I can live with it. Put that stone on last year due to stress, age and all that jazz so need to keep my eye on the ball

Im 36, 5ft 10 eat similar to you (and similar exercise) and I am maintaining a constant healthy BMI weight (9st 10lb).

If I want to lose weight I go low carb, cut out sugar and increase protein I lost 10lb in 6 weeks for my wedding but it makes me miserable and hangry!

My TDEE (so the amount I need to eat to stay the same, not to lose weight) is a depressingly low 1399 calories, based on my gender, age, height and levels of activity. If I eat more than this I will gain weight.

Looks delicious, but you may be underestimating the calories. It's so easy to do, especially for home made meals.

I'm 69, 5'4" and I maintain at around 1500 calories on a sedentary lifestyle. I have to consume 1200 to lose weight, and then it's veeery slow.

I miss breakfast and eat (or try to!) in a window between 12pm and 8pm.

What do you eat at weekends? Any wine or takeaways?

I think your calorie intake is probably too high.

I am trying to shed a little fat and my calorie goal is 1760. However I am 5'9" and exercise at least 4 times per week (heavy weights and running)

The only time I can lose is when I am super strict and tracking everythin that goes in my mouth. I have to weigh all the food . To make that easier I cook in bulk and have portions ready to go.

Yeah until recently.... In fact I've eaten more than your claiming too. My Fitbit thinks I burn 1700 Cal's a day (on average). Just recently (late 40's) I've gained a bit of weight and recognised that the bags of Percy pigs and red wine may be having an impact.... This has been really hard (I've never dieted or denied my self anything) and I'm surprised how little I might need to be able to eat....

TDEE calculator

I put in your details and to maintain you would eat 1719.

So you need to cut it down to maybe 1500?

Previous posters mention the amount of carbs - well carbs aren't 'bad' but you might find that you can feel fuller if you eat more protein. Eggs are winners, and lean chicken, white fish. All of those are relatively low in calories but high in protein so keep you sated.

So I need to cut way back then, I'm going to be so hungery. I don't eat meat as I said so protein is tricky, I usually do a mix of grains and pulses i.e. rice and chickpeas or lentils to make up my protein but if I'm on too many carbs then I need to find another source. I don't like quorn and try to stay away from processed food as much as possible. Can I eat eggs every day? Can I just eat less rice? I usually have about 60 grams which is less than the recommened serving size.

I don't drink any alcohol, never have and we rarely get takeaway or eat out perhaps when its his or my birthday but thats it. At the weekend I usually do home made "healthy" currys. I do have a sweet tooth and love a bit of chocolate but restrict it a lot, I find that if I don't have a small treat to look forward to once a day I am at a much bigger risk of breaking down and scoffing buscuits etc so I try and stick to my few squares of chocolate.

I think its just going to be tough to cut back more but I will try.

I don’t know whether it’s accurate, but someone posted on here that to lose a pound a week, they needed to be 3,500 calories in deficit every week (so 3,500 lower than TDEE in total all week with additional allowance for exercise).

That seems like a lot of food to me. I'm surprised its only 1600 to 1800 calories.

oh hang on, I read it wrong. The / denoted an alternative meal,did it, rather than extra food in the same meal?

@allthiswasunseen yes its alternative meals not all of it on the same day!

Its really not a lot of food on the plate and I often feel quite deprived as it is :(

@welltidy by that calculation I should be losing a bit each week even just 0.5lbs but I really struggle to!

For me that doesn't seem a lot of food - 1800 calories a day would count as a diet for me and I am a healthy weight. However, we are all different. If the weight is creeping up I would up the exercise if possible and eat slightly less sugar/carbs. I don't believe in drastic action.

I eat what i want. probably more than you, but not obviously excessive. I dont count calories. I rarely go hungry for long. Don't exercise much. I'm 48, 5ft 4. 8.5-9st, size 10 and holding very steady. I put on about half a stone and a dress size slowly about 5-10 years ago after I switched jobs (very good meals provided and less stressful, was also running around after children less as grew up) but that seems to have stopped now.

That's probably not very helpful. But it is perfectly possible for a middle aged woman to maintain a healthy weight with little or no thought and very "normal" food. Whatever that is.

Yes, you can eat eggs every day. And cheese and yogurt. And cashews in a massive vegetable stir fry with noodles and soy sauce and hot peppers.

Do you eat fish?

I'd say you're either eating very large portions or snacking much more than you think you are. Staffroom biscuits, for example, are wicked!

That's a lot of carbs!!!! Bread. Potato. Lots of veg and fruit

Might be time to cut the carbs.