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.

He’d likely expand if he didn’t do this, look at the average middle aged Dad in 50s. Unless an athlete many eat way too much & expand. He’s what 5ft 6’? Below average. Most middle aged run to fat.

Humans didn’t used to live through the menopause, we died before … Men and women are very different. If women must fast then there’s a book called ‘fast like a girl’. Explaining how fasting is affected by your monthly cycle as you really shouldn’t fast on certain days (it will have the opposite effect). Only problem is you need to know your cycle very well. Tricky if you’re on hormonal contraceptives or going through peri.

Look you all keep on with your faddy diets and fasting which are working so well as we can see on this thread.

I’ll keep fuelling my body, keep eating a healthy diet. I’ll keep lifting heavy weights and running. Sadly I can’t run fasted as that causes huge spikes in cortisol so for me fasting is off the table- as it is for many active women. I don’t actually need to lose weight because my weight has always been stable (listening to hunger cues, stopping eating when I’m full - our bodies are miraculous). Yes I can’t get away with eating anything like I could before. I have to be careful with sugar. But I don’t calorie count or restrict. If you are sedentary and have a lot of weight to lose then I can see why fasting would appeal. Hopefully you can stick to it long term as it will affect your metabolism.

Good luck with your bowls of vegetables, a fantastic long term, healthy solution.

Surely eating well and being active is a better long term solution than restriction and obsession over calories.

Eating bowls of vegetables and that little about of calories does constitute a ‘faddy diet’ as obviously it’s not a long term solution. The poster will also buy all the weight back on (and more) when she inevitably starts eating normally again.

Put all the weight back on.

Depends on how far back you look, but it’s a myth we generally died pre menopause in earlier times. Average death ages were skewed by childhood disease.

Fasting, ideally in a controlled environment, is good for you, once or twice a year for 3 weeks, period. The preparation & reintroduction of food groups being most important.

Talk to me about ‘screwing up your metabolism’.

Once or twice a year is not what people are talking about on this thread. It’s not for me. I’ve read the research and I know what works for me as an active perimenopausal woman who does not need to lose weight. I’d never hit my protein requirements if I fasted and that is far more important to me than calorie counting.

Its a very individual thing. My DH does it - it’s good for him. It doesn’t work for me (I have low blood sugar and am very active).

And just because we did something in prehistoric times doesn’t mean that’s the optimal way to live now.

@Delatron like you, intermittent fasting, not for me.

Fasting once a year, however, ideally at a health retreat run/staffed by trained doctors, absolutely does have proven, huge health benefits & you generally feel amazing too.

And that’s fine. That was not what I was talking about.

But you said

Now I need to get back onto it. Have let things slip and must start taking packed lunches to work and properly meal planning again as I'm fatter and feel a lot worse

So, as soon as you let things slip, you put weight back on. A "new way of eating" usually means a faddy diet! So many new ways of eating have come and gone.

It wasn't fat though - don't you understand what you actually lost?

Sadly I can’t run fasted as that causes huge spikes in cortisol so for me fasting is off the table

To be fair most humans fast for a period of time every day, very few people eat until the minute they sleep and start as soon as they wake up, newborns being the exception.

Cortisol levels normally go up and down during the day for most people, and exercise is a well known factor for increasing them, how are you measuring your cortisol levels @Delatron ?

I’m not, I’m going on the advice of a trained clinical nutritionist and many studies in this area. Look you do you. I’m much better fuelling my body and eating enough. It doesn’t work for me to run fasted. I get far better results when I fuel first.

It’s the very specific differences between men and women and particularly perimenopausal woman. Like I said up thread DR Stacy Sims is very knowledgeable in this area - with everything linked back to evidence and studies.

Now I need to get back onto it. Have let things slip and must start taking packed lunches to work and properly meal planning again as I'm fatter and feel a lot worse

I think what she means is 'I swapped eating healthy food for a carb heavy diet' this would result in her feeling rubbish and gaining weight. If I eat a carb heavy lunch, and when I say carb heavy, I really mean carb heavy, so sandwich, 2 or 3 packets of crisps, biscuits/cake x lots and I am struggling to keep my eyes open at 3.30pm. Some protein, a little good fat and lots of veg or salad and I am fine.

Only on this bloody site can someone claim that healthier eating and overhauling your way of eating is a 'faddy diet'!!!

I’m pretty sure people were saying eating 2 bowls of vegetables a day was a faddy diet..

I’m not, I’m going on the advice of a trained clinical nutritionist and many studies in this area. Look you do you. I’m much better fuelling my body and eating enough. It doesn’t work for me to run fasted. I get far better results when I fuel first.

Fairy snuff I am not getting at you by the way, you and I are just completely different beasts at the moment, you are doing lots of exercise and hazarding a guess, do not have a BMI of 47. I am a wonky oblong of lard, my main goal at the moment is becoming less oblongy/lardy and more normal shaped for purely health reasons. If I reach the point I want to, and if I start being able to do more exercise as I hope, my exercise goal is to be able to run 5k, then I will make changes to my diet to reflect that.
Basically I was putting diesel in an unleaded car with my previous diet, not putting any air in the tyres whilst expecting it to run fine, fully laden, now I am putting the right fuel in and taking some of the load off !

And just because we did something in prehistoric times doesn’t mean that’s the optimal way to live now

We also used to have a two sleeps regime, so went to bed for a short while, got up did stuff, ate etc and then went to bed for another sleep. Not that long ago in evolutionary terms, think medieval period/pre industrial.

Yeah I keep telling myself that when I lie awake for hours at night! Another gift from the perimenopause!

Yes I do think an individual approach works for diet and nutrition. That’s why I hate men and women getting lumped together as were so different. Fasting is great to sedentary people who are maybe looking to
lose significant amounts but it wouldn’t work for me.

I just wanted to point out for many women just cutting calories and exercising more when you hit a certain age won’t necessarily work.

We’re so different

I'd like to add, I tried exercising with food on board - definite improvement in power. I didn't eat much - a small bit of chicken every hour. Maybe 100 calories over 3 hours.

I’ve been running for 26 years and only even heard about running ‘fasted’ recently. Wouldn’t even occur to me. Your body is going to work, give it a fighting chance.

The ‘power nap’ is v beneficial.

We also used to have a two sleeps regime, so went to bed for a short while, got up did stuff, ate etc and then went to bed for another sleep. Not that long ago in evolutionary terms, think medieval period/pre industrial

My 16 year old ds thinks this is normal. She crashes out, wakes at 2 or 3. Has a shower then goes back to bed!

@Delatron as someone who is in recovery from anorexia and trying to get my period back after 20 years of nothing thanks to the way starvation messed up my hormones (I'm now a healthy weight but still no period) I'd like to thank you for being one of the few sensible posters on here giving good and evidence based advice