How would you feel if you ate this in a day?

[Foolsgold74]

Breakfast - 4 slices white toast n butter
Snack - 16 mini brownie bites
Lunch - small portion of fish fingers n chips
Snack - cheese n mayo sandwich
Dinner - large bowl of pasta with tomato sauce n grated cheese
8 glasses of sparkling water with lime cordial

Would this be akin to an average day for you? Would it leave you feeling hungry or stuffed? Bloated? Absolutely fine?

If you're eating 16 brownie bites every day, the simple solution is to stop buying them. Honestly, you're doing yourself real damage by eating so much crap.
If you ate a big vegetable omelette for breakfast you wouldn't feel like eating 16 brownie bites as a snack. Just fry some mushrooms, tomatoes, Spinach (whatever else you want), throw in some eggs and cheese - delicious and satisfying.
A very easy way to get more veg is to buy a tub of vegetable soup (fresh not tinned).
Surely you feel awful if you're eating so much sugar and carbs?

As you get older,you need far less calories, I don't know if you are post menopausal, after the menopause, the majority of women have to reduce their intake. You say you don't eat eggs because you're vegetarian, but you eat cheese. I gave up eating meat about 50 years ago, but I eat eggs,if they're free range,used to have our own chicken, and love my cheese. Someone mentioned scurvy,it takes years. There is a big, unusual rise in tickets because of people not eating properly. Most of us have food noise, I live very near a shop, I see an advert for chocolate, and think oooh, I can go and get it. Then remind myself, I don't need it or to spend the time and money. You aren't much overweight,that is probably part of your downfall,2 stone in 2 years isn't much, and you are tall. If you had put on a stone in a month, and kept increasing,you would be more likely to have thought,hang on, this isn't good. You have been lucky so far, and we all know uncle Harry,smoked,ate rubbish his whole life and lived to 120, it's rare. The Paul McKenna books are helpful. Pay for a session with a hypnotherapist. Remember,my granny said "there's no such thing as can't".

Absolutely dreadful! It would send my acid reflux in to the stratosphere andmake me feel awful. I probably wouldn't sleep I work very hard to keep the reflux at bay and this would just undo all the good work. I did notice you replied to say you are getting reflux now, that will only get worse.

16 brownie bites is execessive, the rest is v refined carb heavy.

Currently I do eat a very healthy non-upf diet mainly due to my health issues (which I don't think were brought about by food, more likely having a bad bout of covid/ starting peri which coincided nicely).

I won't list what I eat on a daily basis now, but when I did eat 'normally', a day would've looked a bit like this:

Breakfast: Porridge w banana/blueberries,honey, semi skimmed milk, some nuts for protien. [Never liked a savoury breakfast, I still don't and generally I have pb on toast w banana and seseame seeds]
Morning snack: coffee and a biscuit or fruit.
Lunch (if at work): Protien sandwich on wholemeal bread ie, tuna/smoked salmon/egg mayo, cucumber, carrot, fruit, packet of crisps. At home more likely to have eggs/baked beans on toast w some cucumber on the side.
Afternoon snack: oat cakes w peanut butter or ryvita w butter and marmite
Dinner example: veggie chilli w brown rice and grated cheese or bolognese (containig veg) w brown pasta. Dessert: yoghurt or ice cream maybe.

Even before I was ill I always ate fruit/veggies/pulses and unrefined carbs as well as the snacks.

I am lucky as I've always loved fruit and veggies (not so much plain cooked vegetables, I've always preferred salad or veggies in dishes). You can change your palate though. Now I don't crave chocoalate at all where before I couldn't go a day without having some form of choc either in a biscuit or actual choc.

You could bulk out your tomato sauce with veggies as others have suggested. It's very easy to make as well - you can buy frozen sofrito which is the base - (chopped onion, carrot and celery) fry that up, add a tin of tomatoes, some garlic, grated courgette and you have some of your five a day. bring to boil, add some dried oregano and simmer for 20 mins. you can liquidise so you havent't got the texture of veggies - if you do a batch of this it can last for a couple of weeks.

If you're eating 16 brownie bites every day, the simple solution is to stop buying them.

I agree. Just give the confectionery and cakes and biscuit aisles in the supermarket a swerve.

As someone who has given up sweet stuff for lent, I no longer crave sweet things and am not tempted when someone offers me a cake or chocolate.

Going cold turkey really does work. It might be difficult for the first few days, but after that you really do lose the cravings. Honestly, it is worth a try, believe me.

@Nannyfannybanny - agree, eggs are a powerhouse of nutrients, I eat a lot of eggs and they are so easy to prepare.

I used to eat like that - except waaaayyyy more sugar in massive binges ‘between’ meals then often not eating the meals to lose weight 🤦‍♀️. I managed to put on 8.75 stone. I’d dieted successfully in the past but just couldn’t do it anymore and yup, like you I really struggled to sleep. Tiredness and negative emotions were major triggers for me. The only thing that helped me was joining Overeaters Anonymous https://www.oagb.org.uk/. It’s like AA but with food as the addiction. It has really helped me to take my mind off food and start being sensible and moderate (in other areas of life too). I think this is a disease and it doesn’t get better by itself. @Foolsgold74if you’d like to chat feel free to DM me (has that come back or is it still turned off?)

I’d have a rock hard bloated stomach and would be totally constipated. It’d take me up to 5 days to get over it… sad but true. But I just can’t eat for like that.

I'd possibly throw up - that's too much fat for me. I'm on an immune suppressant that doesn't metabolise that much fat so well.

I could eat fish and chips in the context of an otherwise healthy day.

I'd eat one brownie bar in a day.

I also only really like sourdough these days - very middle class I know but other breads give me diarrhoea. Again to do with the immune suppressant. Which points to importance of good gut health really - nothing very gut healthy in that days eating.

I ate a lot of white carbs like that as a student although I did eat fruit too and some veg. I did gain weight and I was basically ill and tired all the time.

If motivation is an issue for you can you get something like a ready made Pret or M&S salad for lunch with a tub of berries? And stick some precooked chicken and frozen peas in that dinner to increase the protein and fibre?

I'm not always perfect and could probably get through quite a number of brownie bites if they weren't sickly sweet - but that is just a whole day of crap.

I'd swap the white toast for wholemeal, have two slices and an egg instead of 4.
I'd have oven cooked frozen fish breaded/battered but have it with salad leaves, tomato and avocado and a few brownie bites after.
I wouldn't have the sandwich but would have a bowl of pasta with tomato sauce and some cheese on top - bit of chicken and some other vegies in there if it was a dinner rather than a lunch. I might have a few more brownie bites (which is why I wouldn't buy them very often!)

I wouldn't drink sparkling water all day as I think it's supposed to be bad for bone density.

It's not just all the junk, but the quantity. After 4 slices of toast for breakfast I just wouldn't feel hungry for a snack, nor would I need a sandwich mid afternoon after a cooked lunch.

That's a lot of food. Sounds like a mega binge to me.

You weigh less than me and are an inch taller.

I eat about half what you do, am careful about getting plenty of fruit and veg, and exercise like mad.

Count yourself lucky!

I really don't think it's lucky to be eating a load of crap every day. Can't believe OP feels great and she faces a future of poor health.

I'm just struggling to understand how anyone could eat 16 brownie bites a day - whilst you might be able to cope with it now, I'd bet on your blood sugars not being that healthy and you will likely see am impact on your health soon, and quote possibly your teeth.

I'd seek some help for your sugar addiction, weight loss Injections do seem to help with this for a lot of people, myself included. I had a sweet tooth but nothing like yours, maybe a cake every 2 - 3 days and a couple of biscuits. Overeating caused my weight to get to 15stone at 5 feet but my diet was still a shed load healthier than yours but portion sizes were an issue for me.

Op you need good sources of protein. That list is so carb heavy and all the bread, potatoes etc still just breaks down to sugar.
I would do away with the bread altogether at breakfast and go for eggs, avocado, natural full fat yoghurt and maybe some broccoli or asparagus on the side. Fill your body with good stuff and see how your day carries on from there.
Within a couple of days I'd reckon you have less hunger and cravings.

I would feel starving on that and constantly in search of food as while it is a lot of food it's not actually a lot of nutrients.

Fair enough. Still a bit galling from over here though. I’m over focused on the scales, always have been.

I'm just struggling to understand how anyone could eat 16 brownie bites a day

Jeez, I'd have zero problem with it tbh. Some people just have a sweet tooth - I don't get that 'sicky' feeling many people have with too much sugar. I've been known to clear two or three family size bars of chocolate of an evening without blinking.

That's how I became overweight and I don't eat like that now - but I absolutely could, without feeling unwell.

Even when I was eating far too much sugar however, it was always extra - and my general diet still contained plenty of protein, complex carbs, fruit, veg and salad to somewhat balance it out - so other than being a bit fat, I never felt unwell in myself. Eating just pure sugar all day like the op though, I'd imagine that takes a huge toll on how you feel.

I would like to see what a small portion looks like to someone who thinks 16 brownie bites is a snack.

I'm glad you posted, OP. I would say I have a history of disordered eating and have eaten exactly like this for periods of time in my life, although never continuously. It's very addictive, as you probably know. In later life, it has caused me a lot of digestive problems. I'm lucky because I do also love healthy food.

What do you hope to get from posting here? It sounds like you might be ready to look at making some changes. Could you say more about that?

Can't bear them, especially fruit. I can force down a bit of broccoli if push comes to shove!

Soup?
Really easy, whether that be in a pot, slow cooker or soup maker.

Potato, carrot or swede mash?

You're right. Sorry. Pescatarian. I default to saying veggie as I was veggie for many years and I say it so that no one tries to give me prawns or any weird fishy things!!

I need to ditch sparkling water too I know. My old bones don't need any further assistance in turning to dust!

Yes to soup. I keep thinking I should make some but it honestly comes down to laziness and lack of motivation. All that effort for a boring old bowl of soup vs open a plastic wrapper for a gorgeous hit of sugar!!

Is it detrimental to bones? I didn’t know that.