Or is this okay for a typical days food?

[CleanOnMe]

Breakfast: 2 slices of Seeded toast with sunflower spread and a tiny bit of marmite. A glass of fresh orange juice (fresh).

Or

Wheatabix (2) with a little skimmed milk and low calorie sweetener sprinkled

Lunch: Usually don't eat it, but if I do, two scrambled eggs or 1 avocado, sometimes on a Davina McCall cracker

Dinner: Vegetable rice with Linda McCartney pulled chicken (not real chicken), or pasta with Quorn mince and a light sauce

Snacks options: Banana, handful of fresh berries, a passion fruit

Does this sound okay? Anything I need to add/cut back on?

If eating out, I will usually order a kid's meal chicken nuggets with chips and a blue WKD or lemonade. Maybe a chocolate brownie and ice cream for desert, or sorbet. But I don't eat out very often at all.

I'm a very fussy eater and struggle to add more variety to what I eat

Sprinklesinmyelbow i asked you what your post meant because i didnt understand what you meant by the wording of your post

I couldn't possibly eat two eggs at a sitting

Yeah right.

I'm breastfeeding and have eaten today:
2 weetabix with full fat milk and some sugar sprinkled on for breakfast.
Ham, cheese sticks, cucumber slices, grapes and lentil crisps for lunch.
Fajitas but with lettuce leaves instead of wraps for tea (if anyone hasn't tried it please do it's amazing!! )

I have a huge sweet tooth and have also eaten some chocolate orange, mini eggs, half an Easter egg and a piece of chocolate cake and double cream today too... I am attempting to get rid of these snacks though, but Easter is killing me before Easter and once all the crap has gone I won't be snacking though haha (I also do a HIIT session every day too though)

I think you definitely need to be eating a lot more though!
I've been buying joe wickes the body coach recipe books and I've tried loads out of there that I didn't think I'd like and I love so much of it, my meals on an evening are always packed full of veg and super healthy so I would recommend checking out his books if you're stuck for inspiration for meals that are healthy but you'll also enjoy!

This is a very small amount, especially if you are breastfeeding.

Are you intentionally calorie controlling?

Fruitcorner123 I can’t explain it any other way. Sorry you can’t understand it

Well I could easily eat 2 eggs and 3 Weetabix and probably even a Davina shaped cracker in one sitting and I'm not even breastfeeding

Here’s a TDEE calculator . You put in your age, height, weight and activity level and it will tell you what you need to maintain not breastfeeding. Others will know for sure but I assume you then add 500 cals a day for breastfeeding . It shows you the different levels of activity.

As others have said your appetite can be suppressed and the problem is you don’t see the effects of too high a calorie deficit at the start, it takes some time as in quite a number of weeks to show up. Which when you are bf you really really don’t want to happen.

The TDER app says I should be eating around 1,696 calories a day, similar to what I'm eating now!

you're not eating anything like that and you know it. neither is this a new thing

I haven’t worked it out but what you listed in your first post does not look like about 1700 cals, are you sure?

If you are eating that a day then you’re creating a 500 cal a day deficit from breastfeeding so equivalent of a pound a week loss . Personally I thunk given your BMI is 25 and you are breastfeeding that a pound a week is too much at this point.

Just looking at Nutracheck which has been relatively accurate for me,

2 seeded bread (medium slice of large loaf) are 122 each so 244
10g Sunflower spread 2 tsp 50 cals
2 thin scrapings marmite 3 each so 6
Large glass of fresh orange (250ml 83 cals

Total 383 cals so not as much as the 500 extra you should be having for breastfeeding unless you’re having larger slices of bread, more marg and more orange .

The weetabix option will be less as they’re around 137 cals for 2 , 250ml skim milk is 85, sweetener not a lot so that’s around 225 cals in total. Given your bf maintenance is about 2200 cals and you often don’t eat lunch, you are way under.

You asked if your diet was ok. The general consensus is no, it's not enough calories or nutrients.

You have had some good advice further up but you need to move away from processed foods and focus more on 'whole' foods and things which are more nutrient dense.

Jeez. This is a depressing thread.

It just seems such a tiny amount! I'm breastfeeding a 5 month old too and would pass out on what you're having. BF really burns a lot of calories for me, I lose weight through it and that's eating normally plus a lot of cake! I feel bad for you OP.

What kind of exercise do you do? Maybe that will help, but prob not advisable on so little food?

Oh and to the PP who couldn't possibly eat two eggs in one sitting I can...i had Easter egg for breakfast yesterday plus my usual breakfast

Also. Bugger the apps and the BMI telling you what you should be doing. Listen to your body. You know what feels right, you know when you feel like you've overdone it or if you're carrying more weight than you feel ok with.

At my thinnest, when friends were expressing concern over how gaunt I looked, I was still at the upper end of my BMI healthy range. No way I could get any lower than that without feeling unhealthy.

I think we have become overly reliant on apps and that's not always healthy.

Definitely not enough calories. I've put in your days food, and including "lunch" it's coming out as less than 1000 calories.

What's more important? Losing a few pounds from an already healthy weight, or ensuring you have a full and nutritious milk supply for your child?

The Weetabix days and no lunch days are obviously even less.

The general recommendation is that no one should be eating less than 1200 calories a day without medical supervision.

Sprinklesinmyelbow
Then I'll take it how I read it. I was trying to give you the benefit if the doubt. Clearly from your reply I was being too generous.

Well it doesn't look like enough especially if you are breastfeeding. I am a bit shorter than You, and weighed around that when I had just had my baby and I was only slightly overweight so I can't see you being overweight at all.
You need more veg definitely and iron post partum while breastfeeding.
But I think you know it's not a lot of food and want people to tell you it's not much for some reason.
If you really are worried try having a breakfast with more protein and calories to make up for the days you have no lunch.

I think we have become overly reliant on apps and that's not always healthy. you may have a point but for some people (and I include myself} they are incredibly useful tool as listening to your body approach hasn’t worked. The OP may say she is listening to her body but looking at the figures does show she is clearly not eating enough to sustain her and bf.

Most recent advice from Public Health England is 2000 calories per day for a Woman (who is not breastfeeding) and should be eaten 400 breakfast, 400 lunch, 600 dinner and the remainder in snacks. Sounds like you're way below OP

yikes, way too little. I'd be adding more cheese and eggs and preferably meat too. Nothing in here is going to fuel you for any amount of time - I used to eat like this and my body went into starvation/survival mode. I lasted a few years like it but eventually health issues forced me to sort my diet out. Now I'm caning full fat dairy and meat every day to make sure I eat the right amount of calories and I've lost weight and feel healthy!!

I am short, bmi of 25, breastfeeding and trying to lose 7lbs.
My typical day is:
2 weetabix, a little semi skimmed milk, sweetener and a banana
Or
40g oats, a fat free activia and some berries
Lunch is a salad with a boiled egg and half a tin of tuna
Dinner is something like spag bol or roast chicken (no skin) with lots of veg.
Tea, coffee and diet drinks during the day, fruit for snacks, I usually have a plain biscuit too.

I think I usually have about 1200 calories a day.

The TDER app says I should be eating around 1,696 calories a day, similar to what I'm eating now! I think the only thing I need to consider is maybe some extras for breastfeeding?

And also, I don't think another 500 calories on top is necessarily what I or a lot of mums need since some of us don't use that many at all

You are not eating anywhere near 1600 calories a day from the food you have listed.

What you've posted in your opening post is definitely not about 1700 calories. Probably more like 1000 calories, so you are about 700 calories short without even taking account of the fact you are breast-feeding.

If you really want to lose weight safely whilst breast-feeding (and I've been here, done that) I'd aim for about 1700-1800 calories a day and try to go for two walks a day with the pushchair.

But really I don't think you're listening to what others are telling you anyway, so why ask?