To be irritated when women play the 'birdlike appetite' shit?

[Proudnscary]

Went to wedding. Every course that came the woman next to my dh bellowed 'Oh my gosh, that's too much I'll never eat that, does anyone want mine' and shoved her food on to his and everyone else's plate - standing up to do so for maximum effect.
The starter was TWO king prawns, the main was TWO slices of roast beef for cripes sake - I inhaled them in seconds.
Why not just leave some on the plate instead of drawing attention to her 'tiny, feminine appetite'?

I must be greedy because I usually look at meals and think "is that it?" I'm usually half starved at people's houses too because they all eat next to nothing. I grew up with real foodies though and like food, picking over a celery stick and claiming it's all too much doesn't gel with me at all!

Ladybeagle - but do you draw attention to it, that's the key? And yes I'll have your left over chips especially if they are thrice cooked in lard!

Yes all an hour ish.
I cant diet, love food too much. I find if i eat well all week, then i really look forward to a splurge on saturday, which means i dont crave anything or deny myself anything which is the problem with diets.
I think if you exercise you can eat what you want, just not all the time/every day.

I shared a bus journey with two students shortly after starting university. I ate a Mars Bar. One twittered, "Ooh, a whole Mars Bar! I could never even eat half of one of those." The other said, "Only one Mars Bar? I could eat seven without spoiling my lunch".

Guess who i became lifelong friends with?

Yes-YANBU, I hate people who do this, too. My MIL and SIL say this all the time. "I can't think how I am overweight, as I barely eat a thing'-yet they both eat constantly, smear all their food in butter and stop for cake at every opportunity.

I am fine with all of the above-I love eating and that's why I am now a size 14 and not a 12, however, I will fully admit that my jeans now longer fit because I eat too much and don't do enough exercise. I just want to shout at them-"you, too, are overweight because you eat too much and don't exercise!'

Maybe she wasn't a fan of prawns and beef but felt it would be impolite to say so?

Curly - nah

OMG yes, the ordering a starter as a main thing. Or even worse only having a main claiming you could never eat a starter and / or dessert and then sitting there with a cats bum face while the other pie eaters members of the party eat theirs. Why go out for a meal if you don't really plan to eat?

Oh God, my mum and aunt both do the competitive non-eating thing - it drives me nuts! If we go for a meal with DM, the meal will come and before she's even tried it, I get "Oh, Cloudy, I'll never eat all this, you'll eat it, won't you. Can I give you half?' and then attempt to shovel her entire meal onto my plate. I always say no, just to leave what she doesn't want. Then she goes home and shovels away biscuits and cakes and chocolate like it's going out of fashion, because she's always hungry!

And when my aunt comes to stay it's like something out of Monty Python
DM: "I had a centimetre of ham and half a potato for lunch"
DA: "Oh, well done Grandma Cloud! I had no ham and a quarter of a potato, and I'm so full!" (collapses on chair)
DM: "Really? Well all I had for supper last night was a celery stick"
DA: "Why that's marvellous!. I myself chopped off the celery stalk and just nibbled the leaves, and I was absolutely stuffed..." etc etc.

Mind you, I know why they do it. My grandmother was really horribly mean to them and constantly telling them how fat they both were to their faces, and telling one how slim the other one was, behind their backs. Thus a lifetime of food issues was born...

It depends what issues the lady had. My grandmother (who was fairly slim but not skinny) didn't have a huge appetite, and certainly couldn't face lots of food at once. But she had also been brought up never to waste food or leave anything on the plate. She probably would have been really worried when faced with a plate of food she couldn't manage (even if it seemed small to other people) and would rather have offered it round to others than seen it go to waste. Similarly my parents (who grew up during the war) would have been horrified at leaving anything on their plate, and would have been quite worried about being given a plate of food more than they could eat.

Even now, I feel very guilty if I don't clear my plate, and often if I am eating out, eat more than I am comfortable with so that I don't "waste" the food. It's something that was so ingrained when I was growing up. I have tried not to pass this on to my ds, and have always allowed him to eat only what he wants in terms of quantity, while ensuring he eats a variety of foods.

Sorry Dr but I quite often have a starter and a dessert, or just a main course.
My ex used to get annoyed when we went for an Indian as I could only eat about half the portion and then was stuffed. He thought it was a waste of money but I still enjoyed it, I just couldn't finish it
We'd take it home in a doggy bag.

This whole thing about waste seems to be something a lot of people think of, my Gran is the same. She hates to waste anything, and she in her 80's and diabetic, so it is really not healthy for her to have that attitude because she will eat more than she should if we take her out for a meal.

I read somewhere (might have been on here) that food is wasted when it is turned to excess fat on your body just as much as it would be if it were in the bin. I think that makes sense!

I know that, slave, and have tried very hard (successfully I think) to give my ds that opinion. He has always known when he has eaten enough, and I haven't tried to force him to eat more, even if I have to throw some away. But it's very difficult when that idea is ingrained from your own childhood. When I was a child, even if I was ill I was told off by my Mum for not eating everything. I hated being sick, not just because it was unpleasant, but because I felt I had "wasted" the food I had eaten.

The thing that makes me laugh about some women (and probably some men too although I haven't known any that do this) is when they protest that they eat like a bird but actually eat more than they think.

I used to be the manager of a toning centre, which was basically a lazy gym, and quite a few (very overweight) women would go there once a week, and when they were having their reprogramme done and were weighed they'd find they'd put on a stone and say "Oh I don't know how that happened. I eat nothing"

Norman, it's good that you know that already, I do understand how ingrained to our heads these things can become, especially when it comes to food. It sounds like you are doing brilliantly with your ds, I just thought I'd share that little gem of wisdom because it was like a revelation when I first read it. I had a proper light bulb moment!

"Hummingbirds eat about every ten minutes, slurping down twice their body weight in nectar every day. Most birds eat one quarter to one half their body weight in food daily. " bird facts

Always makes me smile when someone says they eat like a bird.:)
I may have a strange sense of humour :o

I eat (and drink pints) like a pig, but then im a bit lardy. I look back on the times I was super slim and when i'd eat out and have a sandwich or something when others were having a huge steak and think what was the point, im a podgy get now anyway!

Went to wedding. Every course that came the woman next to my dh bellowed 'Oh my gosh, that's too much I'll never eat that, does anyone want mine' and shoved her food on to his and everyone else's plate - standing up to do so for maximum effect.

YANBU at all! I hate this sort of shit. if you don't have the capacity to eat tiny amounts of food, don't eat it but shut your f-ing mouth about it

As for shoving food onto other peoples plates. How bad mannered of her.

YANBU.

And I also hate it when I go with the girls to Pizza Express and they all order SALAD. WTF???

Thanks, slave, just wish I could feel less guilty when leaving food on the plate. Ds does fine - we went out for brunch today. He ordered full breakfast and could only eat half of it. I was fine with this, he left the rest. He was happy with what he ate. I ordered scrambled eggs on toast. Lovely, but I was quite full after eating about three quarters of it. But felt too embarrassed to leave the rest on the plate, so ate the rest even though I was really full. Wish I could have ds's confidence to leave what I don't need.

Although thinking about this, dh isn't keen on leaving food. If I had left some, he would have questioned me on "why didn't I order something smaller", although you don't always know the portion size before you order.

And I also hate it when I go with the girls to Pizza Express and they all order SALAD. WTF???

Banana87 if they have their salad with dressing, rest assured it contains more fat and calories than a pizza.

YANBU. I hate this. My appetite varies. Sometimes I can eat an enormous amount. Sometimes I can't. When I can't, I leave it, or give it to my DH if he is eyeing it up. I would never draw attention to the fact in the same way I would never say 'look at me, I've scoffed everything on that huge plate'.'

My grandma is always going on about how she can't eat much and has half a potato and one bean for lunch. Then she has 'sinking feelings'. I wonder why. I get them too - it's called hunger.

But the other thing I can't stand, and my PILs are guilty of this, is giving people an look if they suggest food is required, if they don't personally want any.

MIL isn't as bad since DS was born but she would say dinner would be ready at 1pm and it would finally hit the table about 3. Around 1.30, I would start to feel faint with hunger. The mere suggestion that something would be nice to keep us going would be met with a cats bum mouth that would sour milk.

To the people who would leave food on the plate - how do you get over your feelings of guilt about leaving perfectly good food (I'm not talking about bones/skin/tough bits etc) on the plate? I would much rather offer what I can't eat round, as it would assuage my feelings of guilt at not eating everything on the plate. (And someone else who might want to eat more than I do, might appreciate an extra bit).

Aunt of the bride at a recent wedding exclaimed at each course about the size of the portion, loudly so whole table could hear. It made me and the vicar sittiing next to me finish all our food and then ask for her left overs.

There were so many young men there who could have easily eaten the food twice over

Shame this is one of my strongest memories of an amazing wedding