Are people really eating this little?

[ABugWife]

Thread after thread after thread I see on here of people posting tiny amounts of food that they eat, or fasting most of the day. 1200 calories, 800 calories, bananas are bad for you, don't eat any carbs, no sugar ever, it goes on and on.

I am short 5'2 and fairly light at the top end of 8 stone so by these threads I should be eating barley anything but I eat every two hours pretty much, I snack all the time, I eat cheese and crisps and sweeties and cakes, sometimes I gain weight, sometimes I lose weight but it's quite steady between 8st 10 and 8st 13

I really find it hard to believe that people are eating such tiny amounts of food and not losing weight.

Does everyone here have a massive drink problem they don't include in their calories or are people lying perfectly still in bed all day long.

Where are the people that eat a normal, mostly healthy but sometimes shit diet.

Don’t be so ridiculous.

You’ve taken issue with my comment which was about me and nothing to do with you or anyone else.

Oh, and there are plenty of people who aren’t parents on this site.

It’s ok, you’re just apparently totally tone deaf. Nothing serious 🙄

The level of insecurity and self-loathing on this site is astounding at times. Genuinely beggars belief.

It’s not all about you. 😂

Sadly not. You feel hungry and you feel the cold more than others too.

Exercise goes help but only so much and again, that increases appetite

Well tbh if I make all the right healthy choices my body would/ does feel sated. Satiated, (what's the word) on 1300.

And I don't feel cold or lethargic. 1300 isn't enough if you eat bread or white anything. I'm not keto, bit fairly low carb mostly. I do eat some carbs. I'd have a slice of brown soda bread. One slice.

I still don't really understand. Why does a slow metabolism mean that your body tells you to consume more calories than it needs (hunger)? Isn't that more indicative of a metabolic disorder i.e your hunger cues are not accurately matched to your body's needs.

My assumption would be because it takes longer to digest the food and have it enter the body, so the brain sends out hunger signals because while your stomach may have received the food, the rest of the body has not. Probably also other things happening and probably one or several underlying medical reasons that are largely ignored by modern medicine because "just eat less and move more."

Bingo.

This in a nutshell.

For example, I only have a bowel movement once or twice a week. Always have done. Everything is slow.

There are various theories out there, for example, it could be an adaptation to famine or severe cold but nobody is really investigating because nobody is dying from it.

@ABugWife a ventilated patient in ICU requires 25 to 30 kcal/kg per day.
Make what you will of that information.

https://rtmagazine.com/disorders-diseases/critical-care/ards/nutritional-management-of-ventilated-patients

I thought this was quite interesting.
They recruited 850 obese women (BMI > 35) and kept them in hospital for 3 weeks.

Calculated their expected resting calorie needs from age, weight, height, sex.
Measured their actual resting calorie needs with laboratory methods.
577/850 (68%) were within 10% of their expected (normal metabolism)
277/850 (24%) needed more calories than expected (hyper metabolism)
Just 68/850 (8%) had a 'slow metabolism', needing less calories than expected. They tended to be younger & fatter than the other groups, but only just a little different from the others in most respects.

Suggests that 'slow metabolism' isn't relevant for most obese people.

All these women were put on a similar diet & exercise routine and the typical weight loss in each group was very similar (4-5 kg average).

@Itisyourturntowashthebath that equation would mean I would need 3325 kcals a day ?
If I was at a desired BMI it would be 1725, just give me that and let me lose weight whilst I am sedated

I think fighting sepsis or similar would be akin to moderate/heavy exercise so you might possibly need that much.

Racehorses v Shetlands & pit ponies, the former have to go some in times of abundance to seriously gain, the latter, they expand, in grass….

Apply to people, the ‘sturdy’ can hold the roof of the Bothy together with one strong arm in a rain lashed, stormy winter…:)

I think fighting sepsis or similar would be akin to moderate/heavy exercise so you might possibly need that much.

That might be true in that specific situation, but I am not currently experiencing hypermetabolism due to acute illness. I am quite happy with my current nutritional intake, I have more energy, am sleeping better and the niggling pain from arthritis in a couple of my fingers has gone.

seriously deficient in lots of nutrients

Christ yes yes yes!!! 100% this!
Even on this very thread I’m shocked at how many posters think fresh fruit and veg are evil and insist they can’t eat them! The ignorance and misinformation is amazing, but it actually worries me that they really think they are protecting themselves from ill health by cutting out essential nutrients and fibre from their diet. Do they really believe the nutritional value of fruit is the same as a McDonald’s??? That fruit only contains (naturally occurring) sugar and nothing else whatsoever?? I tell you what I wouldn’t want to see inside their bowel!

Look up microbiomes, there’s a reason we are told to eat a rainbow.

I think this is so overlooked. I’m definitely a pit pony. My bone structure is broad I was size 6 )this was 1990s size 6) at uni but still weighted 8.5 stone. I build muscle quickly and I’m short. I give a carrot a sideways glance and pile on the pounds. I’m built for strength. I’m physically robust, rarely get ill. Can withstand quite hard knocks. Never broken anything despite serious accidents etc. in horse terms I’m a really “good doer”

Compare to a willowy racehorse who needs a diet of high energy oats just to get to the field. A bit of a “poor doer”, seems to injure easily.

it’s about knowing your own body, stick a Shetland on a diet of oats, your asking for trouble, even spring grass is likely to duck them up.

we should be taught to be more in touch with our own bodies, one person might do well on 2000 calories, if I go over 1200 I’d probably end up looking like an umpa lumper.

You need to submit yourself to a feeding study @OMG12 they are constantly on the lookout for anomalies like you.

meanwhile
https://datasciencecampus.ons.gov.uk/eclipse

I’d love to but doubt they could cope with my veganism, allergies and inability to digest certain foods.

But I suppose I could ask many of my friends )actually practically all of them) who fit one or other profile. - so I’m not sure how much of an anomaly they would be really. Maybe I just have a bunch of anomalous friends.

Mind you, I dare say they probably just realise themselves that everyone is different so “feeding studies” aren’t really very useful. As I said, much better to get to know your own body.

Have a smashing day😀

Were you effortlessly skinny with some curves as a teen? I sound similarly sturdy but with supermodel taste :)By 26 I ate less, with similar levels of activity & the fat came from
nowhere…

@OMG12 I think this is a factor too- some people are skinny and lean regardless of their eating habits even when older and some just aren't, even if they eat really really well and carefully. You can certainly 'keep it down' but probably never achieve that 22 year old figure again beyond 35.

Probably off tangent, but I have read that Tom Cruise, with his very active lifestyle, is copying David Beckham's 1200 calorie a day regime.

An interesting book some may like to read:

Mindless Eating: why we eat more than we think by Brian Wansink.

Probably off tangent, but I have read that Tom Cruise, with his very active lifestyle, is copying David Beckham's 1200 calorie a day regime
😂
😂.
Oh how the internet is on a mission to spread impossible lies.

In 2008 Tom Cruise had an unflattering photo taken which included small love handles. Cruise approached his neighbour David Beckham, whose sports nutritionist put him on a 1200 cal diet for six weeks. Then helped him set up a sensible food and exercise plan.

Tom Cruise was being interviewed about his latest movie now in 2023, not 2008: I listened to it and this is when he said he is on a 1200 calorie a day diet.

Oh to have a chef, NB: Beckhams & Tom C. I would be a picture of health.

At 16/17 I was whippet thin but with but & boobs, contemporaries often lumpen despite moving more & better diet.

Everyone now on similar place on curve, except me, who is disproportionally lumpen.

Morrissey from Smiths has also rather filled out, not everyone does, it seems…