Size 8s - what do you eat in a day?

[user7637296]

Lost close to 1.5st and now a size eight. Feeling fantastic! I can wear whatever I want, and quite frankly after birthing 2 children, I feel damn proud of myself and feel sexy again.

Anyway, now for maintenance...

If you're a size 8, what do you eat in a day to maintain your size?

Yes, many of us do have a history of EDs, which is how we can recognise it in others.

A few on this thread have said they have shakes instead of meals. And a few have said they skip meals, including one poster who views eating as a 'distraction'. Some of the typical daily intakes are very low calorie indeed.

Nobody has suggested that 'slim people have disordered eating'. But it's evident that some people on this thread do. Not the same thing at all.

I have shakes for breakfast if I want to run after. Can't run on poached eggs or porridge. Maybe others can.

Can I kindly suggest you don’t get involved with these threads if you have a history of ED?

The vast, vast majority of the posts on this thread don’t suggest disordered eating at all. Hardly any have said they skip meals and I haven’t seen anything about replacing meals with shakes apart from some who have a smoothie for breakfast, which is fine.

Sure, some of these diets could be healthier, but this isn’t a thread that smacks of eating disorders. I wonder whether your own relationship with food has made you read things into it? Are you envious of people who stay slim despite eating normally?

As I said, I would stay away if I were you.

No.

But lots of people with disordered eating try to deflect. I don’t know if that’s the case here.

I haven't said slim people have disordered eating. I’m talking about eating habits, not weight. Many people that say eating is a distraction or are skipping meals but eating a few sweets, having shakes etc, do have eating disorders. As a said, at least one poster has presented their eating as normal and it’s not. And others get attracted to conversations like this to spur them on or to reassure themselves there’s not an issue. Their family, friends and doctors are always wrong because they find others like them on social media. Mumsnet needs to address this as these threads are popping up more often and they’re really fucking harmful.

I really don’t think it’s that deep.

OP has taken steps to make herself healthy and is asking people who maintain a slim weight what they generally eat. The thread has then been hijacked by posters with food issues who will jump on anyone with eating habits different to their own and call it ‘disordered’.

Would you care to share what non-disordered eating looks like?

Perhaps those who post fake answers contribute to the issue you describe above.

And I’m a slim size 10/12 at 5’7” before I also get accused of being envious. 🙄 I eat 3 meals a day and a couple of snacks. I run, swim and play a team sport. But I’ve seen the damage that eating disorders do and SOME posts on this thread scream eating disorder. I have enough experience to find threads like this concerning, especially when they are getting more common and would like mumsnet to address it.

Are you envious of people who stay slim despite eating normally?

This is one of the most disgusting, smug, ignorant things I've ever read on MN.

People who skip meals because eating is a distraction, or subsist on under a thousand calories a day permanently, have disordered eating.

And no. I won't 'stay away' from threads like these, but thank you for your pass agg 'kind' suggestion.

Friend had a regular habit of fruit+protein shakes for breakfast.
She's like 5 stone overweight.
I associate protein shakes with being very overweight.

No. Engaging in conversations about food with people that are potentially quite poorly is extremely irresponsible. I can only hope that posters get the help they need and that @MNHQ take action.

Granola with Greek yoghurt and three types of fruit for breakfast.

Crackers with avocado and tuna for lunch or eggs, avocado and bagel.

Dinners tend to be gousto/hello fresh meals that are veggie or pescatarian.

Try not to snack too much but main snack is dark chocolate.

Drink 2L of water minimum a day and the only hot drinks I have are herbal teas or hot choc.

Why is this being attacked as a 'disordered eating' thread by some people? Are the millions of threads about people eating half a ton of junk and who weigh 20 plus stone not considered 'disordered eating'? Are people not allowed to be a normal weight incase it 'triggers' someone?

I struggle with putting weight ON. I do not have an eating disorder. I eat whatever I fancy when I'm hungry. I'm 'underweight' on height/weight but I've always been like that. It really annoys me that the 'default' is 'overweight' and anyone who's not on a diet and is normal weight or underweight gets slighted as having an ED. Being unhealthily overweight is also an ED but there are constant threads about losing weight that don't get attacked by people who are a normal weight.

Why is this being attacked as a 'disordered eating' thread by some people? Are the millions of threads about people eating half a ton of junk and who weigh 20 plus stone not considered 'disordered eating'? Are people not allowed to be a normal weight incase it 'triggers' someone?

This is what I was thinking. So often slim people are accused of undereating (some do, some don't) but the same 'concerned' posters rarely show up on all the overeating threads with their 'concerns'.

I'm not suggesting for a second that all slim people undereat/have EDs. But there are definitely some posters on this thread who have disordered eating, and their behaviours are being passed off as normal and healthy. It's the same on every thread like this.

Most posters on 'overeating' threads accept their eating is disordered. Very few people become morbidly obese because they like cake. EDs are incredibly complex - which is why being told that those who live with them are simply jealous of slim people is so ludicrous.

There’s a thread at the moment about a 16 year old eating a ridiculous amount of food in a day. There’s quite a few posters saying it’s ridiculous, unhealthy etc. Others stating their sons eat just as much are being told the same amongst others trying to pretend it’s normal.

No one is accusing anyone of of underrating or disordered eating because they’re slim, you’re just making that up. They are commenting that it’s underrating/disordered if you are skipping meals and living on low calorie diets, often eating a few hundred calories of rubbish and not much else and saying that eating is a distraction. It’s not weight people are basing it on, it’s what’s being eaten or often not eaten.

Maybe I'll just jump on all the 'I've eaten a whole packet of biscuits and six bags of crisps' threads and tell them all they should stop posting because it's affecting me.

Most posters on 'overeating' threads accept their eating is disordered.

No they really don't. Surely you must've seen all the back slapping 'you go girl' type posts on threads about 'How many slices of pizza can you eat', or 'How many sausages do you eat in one sitting' threads?

The competitive overeating gets ridiculous and yes some people do point it out, but mostly people are applauded if they can eat massive amounts of food in one sitting.

I grew up in a perfectly average family in the 1970's where money was tight and treats were exactly that, treats. We are what we were given but only ate what we fancied, knowing there was nothing else. Our plates were probably the size of what is now considered a sandwich plate. Portions, by todays standards, were very small - but perfectly adequate. None of my family were anywhere near overweight but nor were any of our friends. Overweight children stood out, rather than being the norm. By today's standard we were all 'skinny', taking around the woods, playing in the streets and riding our bikes. I know life is different now and people are more sedentary but people do eat too much. It is a fact. But it's ok to discuss, constantly, how to lose weight how to eat less but it's considered 'wrong' to discuss normal weight among people who don't have an issue with being overweight. Why? It's absolutely got nothing to do with 'pro Ana' and to imply that it does is very disordered.

And you only need to read the first couple of pages to see that there is no way some posters are getting all the nutrients a human needs.

Oh for fuck sake! 98% of the world's population don't get the nutrients they 'need'. What on earth does that have to do with the OP's question?

Read my posts. 🤦🏻‍♀️

There we are then.

I don't know how a protein shake can be considered disordered eating tbh. Many shakes have far more nutrients than something like toast or cereal for breakfast.

If we go by the general population, roughly two thirds of the people posting here will be overweight, and a thread like this is triggering for some because it shines a light on their own eating habits and they don't align with those of someone who is a size 8. All the rationalising that goes on in their heads (and believe me, I've done it) - hormones, genetics, slow metabolism, are all discredited and people only have one defence left: calling perfectly normal eating habits "disordered".

Big portions are "normal" (actually the word should be commonplace) now. So are regular takeaways/eating out. When I was dating and eating out 3 times a week I put on two stone! Being overweight is commonplace, and what should be viewed as a "normal" weight is referred to as "skinny". Just because the majority eat too much for what their body needs, that doesn't mean that those of us who dont have "disordered eating".

And picking out one or two posters out of dozens purely to support your argument and dismissing the rest is completely unhelpful tbh.

Very plain to see you have zero concept of understanding of eating disorders and how they present themselves.

Thought the NHS was trialling a soup and shake 'diet' for controlling diabetes anyway. Perhaps some of these posters need to tell the NHS they have it wrong.

Its also perfectly possible to have a protein shake and not have an eating disorder.