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!

@Autumncrow, I don't eat fish but could do more eggs I suppose!

@irregularegular how is it possible, its probably true that we just all have different genetics, at least I'll survive a nuclear winter or something!

@cakemonger I don't really believe in drastic action either and I think if I want to lose weight I'll literally have to starve myself!

@Hoggleludo, but I don't have all that every day, yes to the veg bit thats all good for you, I don't eat meat so what else can I do?

I would cut as many carbs from that as possible. It's quite a lot of food

Also you need to cut down to about 1100-1200

You'll never lose weight with that amount of food. This like the leftover food on top of your lunch.

Use a smaller plate. The plates we use now are huge compared to 50 years ago. A small plate filled looks more appetising than a large plate empty.

Since turning 31 (weirdly not 30) I need to eat only 2 meals a day to avoid gaining weight, and that is eating healthy food.

Also, make 2/3 of every meal fruit and/or veg

I am 5’5” and 54kg. My weight had started creeping up and up.
Breakfast now is either a banana or a pack of mango chunks with coconut yoghurt, muesli and honey
Lunch is either soup and half a baguette sandwich (about 5 inches with chicken and salad), or a poke bowl, or a Lebanese falafel wrap
Dinner is fish or meat and lots of veg, followed by a couple of squares of dark chocolate. I have a glass of wine every night.

Is this about normal for a 5 foot 5 woman?

Depends. Work out your TDEE here then reduce your total by 20% to discover how many calories you should be eating to lose weight.

tdeecalculator.net

At 5ft 9 if I eat over 1600 cals I put on weight at my age. To loose I have to eat a couple of hundred less consistently

Been a size 10 all my life (except when losing baby weight two times).

I eat "normally" I think. I eat loads of chocolate!! And pizza, and biscuits, and ice cream etc. Actually I'm having Mcdonalds for tea tonight.

I don't drink much alcohol at all and I think my portions are smaller than most. I'm also quite active - walk ddog everyday etc.

I would cut carbs

The bread. Pasta. Potatoes. That needs to go.

I swear if you just cut those food groups out

The sugar too the yogurts etc

Eat good fats to fill you up. Avocado is good. I eat fat bombs too. That keeps me full. HOWEVER to eat those you MUST have a low carb diet. Otherwise you'll gain tons.

@Eldereve, I'm really not having large portions, my very slim DP who is only 5 foot 7 has twice as much as me and looks at my plate in horror some nights and tries to give me food off his plate! I don't work with anyone else so I have no staffroom buscuits only my designated, calorie counted snack.

I think I probably burn far less passive calories in that I'm not a fidget and a very calm placid sort, I have a friend who binges on cream cake and traybakes and she is skinny because she is all ways hopping about nervously or jiggling her leg.

I was a size 4. Till I was 30. Your metabolism changes as you get older. You don't need carbs at all. No one does. Apart from type 1 diabetics.

My yogurt is plain greek with no sugar .. no pasta ever?

I'd cut down to once a week. Pasta isn't great for you.

I don't want to be a size four or even a 10 a size 12 would be fab! I personally do need some carbs, I can cut back a bit more but not out completely!

I'm just going to become a fat shutin I think ... lol only joking, I think!

To be honest I'm not wanting to cut out anymore food groups as I already don't eat meat or fish but I will take what you have said onboard and see what I can do.

Would weight lifting be possible with your health issues?

I eat rather a lot, but maintain my weight because I lift heavy so my body composition is pretty high in muscle and I 'cost' a lot to run.

I'm really not having large portions, my very slim DP who is only 5 foot 7 has twice as much as me and looks at my plate in horror some nights and tries to give me food off his plate!

That's not really an indication of how much you eat.

Your DP having twice as much much as you, indicates he has a very large appetite.

And being horrified and trying to give you some his food, indicates a bit of a strange attitude to boot.

I don't know.

I usually have something like:

Banana, nuts
Bowl of soup
Couple of biscuits
Grapes
Dinner: whatever I fancy
Wine, coffee, water

Don't work out, quite active with two kids, do a bit of yoga.

Maintain low end of healthy according to BMI

I maintain a trim size 12 at 5'7" on not eating except in a 12-7pm window. I eat last night's leftover tea for my lunch, with some fruit and a yoghurt, sometimes a bit of malt loaf. Loads of cups of tea. My teas are normal things like stir fry, meatballs and pasta, sausages, soup, beans on toast, curry etc. I try to eat everything out of a bowl, not off a plate (smaller). I eat whatever crap I want at the weekend. I was a size 8-10 till I was 32/33 but I have Crohn's so I get what I get, appetite-wise. Rather be healthy than any slimmer.

I find it so difficult to eat a balanced diet particularly rushing around after the kids. I’m always snacking which makes it so hard for the weight to come off but soup is often my saviours. I like to make my own when I can but when I’m in a pinch my favourite is Soupologie. My DH is a bit of a foodie and takes them to work and the kids end up getting their 5 a day too that way, it helps me with the weight because soups are low cal and I’m semi on the keto diet

Intermittent fasting. A few days a week cut right back no breakfast and no snacks. Up the exercise to cardio. That will do it

Recently lost 2 stone doing the above. Now lower bmi a few months ago was overweight bmi. Change is obvious. Gone from size 14 to a 10

@Pavalacerny

tdeecalculator.net

Work out your maintenance calories the minus 20% to find out how many calories to eat to lose weight.
At 5ft 9 1500 is my maintenance amount. If I want to lose I have to eat less

Op really if I were you I'd be cautious of listening to things like "noone needs carbs". I think that is bad advice.

I find threads like this fascinating. We are all so different. I’m the same age as you and only an inch taller than you OP, yet I weigh about a stone less. And I definitely eat the same things as you, but for me, eating that way maintains my weight at a steady 9.5 ish stone.

I can still wear all my pre-children clothes and have been a size 10 all my life.

I have a smart Polar watch which has all my height/weight and exercise data, and when I bother to do MyFitnessPal, it syncs all that data too. The watch says that on average I burn between 2,100 and 2,500 calories a day, depending on how active I’ve been. According to MyFitnessPal I eat about 1,750 - 1,900 calories a day. So assuming some leeway either way, I reckon I roughly eat what I burn.

If I’ve had a bit of a greedy couple of weeks, I’ll drop my calories to 1,200 a day until I feel better.

I’m dreading the menopause. It seems like putting on weight is inevitable. I don’t carry extra weight well :(