Is this too much food?

[Burgandybook]

My eating is so messed up, I'm no longer sure what's normal. Is this too much food for a day? Too many calories? This is yesterday's food.

Breakfast - medium sized bowl of sultana bran cereal with semi skimmed milk.

Went out to a cafe with a friend and had a milk hot choc with a small flake and 2 marshmallows. I was annoyed at myself for having this but did walk away from the tempting food. I hate to think how many calories this was.

Late lunch - medium sized jacket potato, 3/4 of a can of tuna with veg (peas, mange tout and leak).

Due to late lunch I didn't make a proper tea but had quite a few grapes and cherries. Maybe half a punnet of cherries and a quarter of a punnet of grapes.

Is this too much? Too many calories?

@Enthrallingstoryofstillness

no, it's not 'subjective'. Food at lunchtime is lunch. Possibly 'brunch'. She had fruit at dinner time.

if you eat at lunchtime then nothing after, that's lunch & skipping dinner.

anyway, that's really not the point of her thread.

Her eating has been disordered and it's still not quite sorted, but hopefully she's on her way with that 🌷

Its not a lot, but similar to what id eat. Im not a big eater.

I know you’re trying to lose weight but how about focusing on having a nutritious meal 2-3 times a day. This might help with disordered thinking about portion sizes plus ensuring the right combo of cars , proteins etc. After a few days/weeks you’ll remember ‘oh I eat that much and this sort of thing for lunch etc.’ and have a go to list mentally?

Good luck.

@Burgandybook the recommended calorie allowance is absolute BS. Here is one of many websites explaining why www.rachaelhartleynutrition.com/blog/where-2000-calories-on-food-labels-comes-from

I wonder if your metabolism has slowed due to eating so little which is why you are heavier than you’d like to be? I am 5’6, BMI 19.5 and I eat a minimum of 2500 calories per day. Any less than that and i have poor energy levels and I lose weight which comes with its problems - poor bone health, amenhorrea etc.

@JarByTheDoor thank you for speaking sense! You are right - it is 2500 calories which is actually a very normal amount. I mean look at some of the ready meals in the shops or calories on menus when you go out. An example would be a pollo pesto pasta dish at pizza express which is 1248 calories alone. Most people who choose to eat that will have had breakfast and lunch and maybe even a snack, not to mention possibly a glass of wine or garlic bread with their meal which would easily take them to 2500 calories. Similarly, some of the shop bought sandwiches are 600-700 calories. If someone has that with fruit and a cereal bar/packet of crisps/yogurt that would take them close to 1000 calories and they would still have breakfast and dinner. The misinformation about calorie guidelines and the resulting diet culture is so harmful.

That's not enough calories babe. One hot chocolate doesn't mean you should skip meals.

Calories for take out or restaurant food is irrelevant though isn't it? They just make things that taste nice to entice you to come back which often means they're calorie heavy. Doesn't mean we should be eating that amount of calories at all.

As a society we are far more sedentary than we were 40/50 years ago. Theres no way the averagely busy woman needs 2500 calories a day. Thats the amount I was eating a day which maintained an excess weight of 10 stone, didnt lose or gain on that.

@Burgandybook it's not irrelevant - it's an example to show you that it is normal to eat a decent amount. Many people don't even count calories and they maintain a healthy weight whilst going out for meals and enjoying food.

Lucky them

@Burgandybook there's no need to be passive aggressive or sarcastic, I am simply trying to give you some perspective. As I said, you may have slowed your metabolism by eating so little. It may be beneficial to increase your intake in order to speed up your metabolism. If the example of your food intake from the other day is normal for you then you are eating less than the daily recommended amount for a toddler.

I wasn't being passive aggressive or sarcastic. They are lucky if they don't need to think about what they eat.

I have messed up food entirely today 😥

What did you eat?

Breakfast - large bowl of porridge.
Lunch - Heinz tomato soup, grapes and cherries.
Tea - curly fries and beans.

About 500/600 calories in Easter chocolate 😢

Try adding more protein to your meals.

Yeah I'm not great at protein.

I agree, surely it depends so much on your age, activity etc. I probably consume 1500 calories a day at most, god knows I've never properly counted, but have managed to have children and be a fully functional adult into my 50's on that amount. 2500 would be unobtainable I think.

Yes, swap out the easter egg for I don't know, scrambled egg on rye toast maybe?