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.

Sounds strange but something like eggs on toast would be better. Even sugar free muesli will spike insulin- whilst it doesn’t have added sugar there will be an insulin response unless it’s just pure nuts and seeds. Fine to have it the rest of the day but it’s good to have a savoury breakfast - it’s the empty stomach that is the issue.

If you don’t fancy eggs the. Greek yoghurt and nuts/seeds/fruit is a good non insulin spiking breakfast

Honestly I’d try eating more - healthy stuff but more of it.

Really?

You can't work that out?

Bananas are great, but I have to take a fair bit of insulin to eat one because they release their sugars fairly fast (say, compared to a bacon butty on brown bread), but not as fast as a Mars Bar (Since thats now the standard banana comparison)...

So before hard exercise where you require stamina, a banana is a good option for fuel that won't fill you up with bulk.

Its also pretty good for a post hypo small meal (I have a banana on brown toast if its not immediately before a proper mealtime) as it bumps the sugars up fast but they don't immediately drop back down.

The 'banana/mars bar' comment was made to someone dieting, who said she was experiencing bg crashes but felt the banana was a healthy option - and it is, but if it is causing you to see bg spikes/crashes, it might not be the best option for that person and the fried breakfast she had rejected (And rightly so in the context of the thread) whilst not as healthy on paper probably would avoid the bg spike/crash.

Thats not to say everyone needs to low carb, but if you understand how YOUR bg reacts, it can make it easier to avoid getting hangry and making poor food choices.

But thats not as hilarious as misquoting things out of context and being faux baffled about the sugar content of bananas is it.

Posters on 600 calories a day, taking laxatives daily, doing several 5k runs and hours of exercise a day...

As someone who's lived with EDs all their life, this thread is abhorrent. It reads like something from a pro-ana site. Dangerous and irresponsible of MN to leave these sorts of posts stand.

Yes I’m horrified by what I’m reading. I didn’t think it was that bad.

Sometimes laxatives are needed. I suffered years of bad digestion and chronic constipation due to EDS, as soon as I had daily laxatives at the correct dosage I’ve lost the weight I needed to as my digestive system is working !

Very well said.

These posts could be influencing thousands of women to think 600 calories a day is normal and desirable.

Ok I went through the fridge and diligently did my calories for dinner.

I think I solved the mystery 🤣 It’s mayonnaise!!! Crazy at 725kcal for 100g 😱

Total kcal for Hotdogs Dinner with Potato Salad and Greek Salad: 2079kcal

Hotdogs:
494kcal - 2 Posh dogs from Sainsbury’s
276kcal - 2 White Finger Rolls
100kcal - Matchbox White Cheddar

Potato Salad
165kcal - 250g New Potatoes
725kcal - 100g Helmans Real Mayonnaise 😱

Greek Salad
32kcal - 2 Large Tomatoes
20kcal - Half a cucumber
60kcal - 125g Pomegranate seeds
207kcal - 75g feta
119kcal - Plus probably a table spoon of Olive Oil but I didn’t add to grand total as not 100% sure

It’s crazy. I went back and forth to the fridge 5 times in disbelief.

So that’s the mystery solved. They have mayonnaise on their chicken salad 😂

The thing is if you have never had to lose a lot of weight and really struggle to maintain it then it’s difficult to understand.
if I eat processed carbs and sugar, I don’t lose weight. It’s really as simple as that. Even accounting for calories. It just doesn’t work - because of blood sugar levels and the fact that a 100 cal biscuit fills me up for all of 5 mins where as a 100 cal piece of fish or tuna fills me up for a lot longer.
To lose weight I need a tiny amount of food and I’m 5ft6. Tried losing and gaining for over 25 years so I have plenty of experience and know my body.
And yes, eating a bananna isn’t great but at least it’s nutritious which is more than can be said for a Mars bar. However it’s still packed with sugars.

Daft question (and I haven’t seen your earlier post - will rtft eventually!) but is it sugar-free, or is it no added sugar? I only ask as a friend trying to control their blood sugar got caught out assuming the latter meant the former, and hadn’t allowed for the natural sugars in the fruit.

My weight really came in my 40s, peri menopause was the culprit

Ah mystery solved - we can stop the thread. Thank you so much for your effort and investigation

Thank you Delatron, I will take your advice.

I can only think it must be thyroid, steroids and hypothyroidism.

When I was in my early thirties I was underweight and eating more than I do now.

I’m in my mid 60s, and had to change my diet completely and permanently to treat diabetes. I eat much more in terms of bulk, flavour and nutritional value now than I did when I was obese.

Yesterday I had lime and chilli chicken breast with salad and a tablespoon of dressing for lunch, and supper was shakshuka made with onions, red pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach and two medium eggs (all measured/ weighed). Then a punnet of raspberries and a small tub of ice cream. Total calories around 900, 70g carbs. Because I was so short of calories, I had a piece of cheese at bedtime. I couldn’t have eaten any more - no hunger at all and felt full after meals. Because I had the raspberries with fatty ice-cream, they didn’t cause my post-meal blood glucose to spike. I drink black coffee without sugar or water, so no liquid calories. I occasionally have a gin and slim but otherwise, virtually no alcohol.

Previously, a sandwich and chocolate bar for lunch, pizza and a small trifle for supper had twice the calories, three times the carbs, and was nutritionally much less balanced. And I almost always added a glass of wine, a bottle of beer or a can of pop with a packet of crisps before supper as an ‘appetiser’, and sometimes a mid-morning cake as a treat.

I take a daily multivitamin/mineral tab to make sure I get all the trace nutrients I need. I have good skin, shiny hair, strong nails, and my recent bone density scan showed that I have no bone loss at all. I have a moderately physically active job, but I don’t do any formal exercise at all, just walking to and from work each day. I sleep well for about seven and a half hours a night.

So I have a low carb, low calorie, healthy diet. I suspect that those people who sling around accusations of eating disorders towards anyone who eats carefully are often just trying to validate their own poor food choices.

I’d say the physicality of your day to day lifestyle probably has a big influence on how many calories you burn, I know it does for me. Since becoming a parent even though I go to the gym for 3-4 intense workouts a week the nature of solo Parenting means my day to day lifestyle is pretty sedentary. All my walking is done at a toddlers pace. I gave up my physical job for the flexibility of computer based wfh but it means I no longer have a cycle commute to work, or six flights of stairs to go up and down each time I leave the building and my toilet is 5 steps across the landing as opposed to at the other end of the building. And with this new lifestyle, despite upping my gym activity, I have had to drastically reduce my calorie intake just to maintain a healthy weight which has been a terrible shock as I’ve always previously eaten whatever I wanted and not bothered about it too much. Loads of wfh/computer based people out there maybe struggling like me? Maybe you have a less sedentary lifestyle than a lot of other people?

I was being sarcastic about the banana comment. I'm not terrified of eating fruit.. thankfully.
OP do not be scared of the menopause. If you take HRT and exercise you will be fine.
And your bones will thank you for it. Keep up the strength training. That will keep your metabolism firing at an optimum level. Muscle is the key.

I eat about 2000 calories a day otherwise I'd be starving!!

@LittleLegsKeepGoing I believe you- I've eaten like a saint, low carb, gluten free- the full works and I'm still doing well to lose one pound a week - I'm 61 now and10 years ago lost 3 stone in 6 months on a similar regime- this time I've lost 2 stone in 8 and a half months .

In some ways it is calories in v calories out, but numerous things feed into the amount of deficit you need - gut biome, stress levels, hormones, sleep, metabolism etc it’s complicated some people are lucky others less so

Might I ask what laxative you found worked? This is something I need to talk to my doctor about, as a side effect of my Parkinsonsism appears to be slow gut movement and constipation- made worse by the iron pills I have to take for my anaemia. Ironically I am hoping it will then help me to eat more, as my condition means it’s hard to eat enough volume of food.

Wow so much pseudoscience and contradictions on this thread.

Dont worry op many of us eat normal balanced healthy diets too. It’s quite scary how mumsnet allows so much competitive under eating and nutrition ‘advice’ .

For a second I read that as you have black coffee with no sugar or water and imagined you knocking back coffee powder in a shot! Took me a minute to realise it was black coffee or water.

Which is exactly what you said and shows it must be my bed time!

Did you get a full thyroid panel, hormones and cortisol checked?

@Mumtothreegirlies we all carry weight differently. I'm 5'7 and weigh the same as you but need to wear a 12. To be a 10 I need to be 9 stone (unless I'm in Next with its bonkers vanity sizing 🤣)

I take movicol (4 sachets a day as a maintenance dose but I do have Ehlers danlos so others doses just to be regular could be less) , I also started taking probiotics (I got the fat free Activia drinks and optibac probiotics ) . It’s made such a difference as before I was bloated and sluggish and just feeling awful, I haven’t dropped my calories at all either and lost weight I feel so much healthier

I can't eat much. I have underactive thyroid and really have to restrict to lose any weight. At 1500 kcal, I can just about maintain my weight if I exercise regularly. To lose weight, I need to be at no more than 1000kcal.

It is hard. My husband can pretty much eat what he wants and not gain weight. He's had half a bottle of wine, 2 bags of crisps, about 8 biscuits, a mini babybel, and a kit kat after our roast chicken dinner tonight (his plate was piled high with all the trimmings, mine was measured out 60g chicken breast with 1 cup of Steamed broccoli and 50g sweet potato cooked in 2.5ml olive oil) and I've had a pint of fizzy water 😐 my body is meant to Reubenesque, but I prefer to look slim. It's a daily struggle.