to think that no one has any idea of reasonable portion sizes?

[Mallorie]

The amount of food I see people eating at work is just mind-blowing. I batch cook most Sundays - nothing special or particularly healthy, just stuff like veggie pasta bake or sweet potato chili with rice, and I see people in the office microwaving similar food at lunch - but they're eating the amount I make for 5 meals over the week in one go! The guy sitting next to me will bring in 4 entire ham sandwiches and eat them at noon - AFTER having a sausage butty at 10am.
No one I've noticed ploughing through this food is obese, no more than I am, so maybe they don't eat much at home? If I ate those portions I'd be sick but if I got used to it I'd be the size of a house in no time.
Interestingly, I rarely see the people at work who ARE obese eating much of anything, which is odd.

Maybe bread man runs a marathon every weekend? IDK...

medal, why? What is it with the hostility?

Tis because you scoffed at the chips with your subtle mention of salad

have some freaking rice and baked potatoes with it too.

You clearly don't have enough carbs there... pasta. bread AND chips. Dear Lord

@Siameasy if you haven't had a lasagne sandwich, you haven't lived.

I love salad. 'Tis all. I also love pasta.

It is not a big thing to like salad surely?

Oh come on. You were being snide and judgemental and you know it. Don't do a wide-eyed 'who, me?' thing.

I always find these threads full of people competitively boasting about how little they eat superficially funny but actually quite depressing. There clearly are quite a lot of people who consider their weight their greatest achievement, and that's really very sad.

Add to that I’ve just seen an ad for a double stacked zinger.

So that is where I’m at tomorrow.

With chips and gravy.

And I’ll have dinner too.

I think it’s odd when people are so interested in what those around them are eating. I don’t typically notice what my colleagues have for lunch or how big it is - unless it looks really nice!

I'd have lasagne and a salad.

Would you like your medal in the post, or will you be collecting it in person?

Wendy - I also love salad. I always feel really fortunate that I do enjoy it, even without dressing if it's fresh. I also, unfortunately, love chocolate, and anything I can add salt and/or vinegar to. So, salad, but also chips. Some you win, some you lose, I suppose.

I used to work somewhere where I would get comments on the enormous size of my lunch every week. It wore thin pretty quickly. I wasn't even eating all that much - I just wasn't dieting, so just eating what I needed to be moderately physically active, without bouncing from one extreme to another.

Perceptions of "normal" portion size can be distorted in a number of ways: too big, too small, etc. Smaller is not automatically better. The right amount is better, and if you are maintaining a healthy weight and eating a reasonably varied diet, that is the right amount.

Nowadays I just get asked "ooh where did you get that" if I've bought takeaway

The problem is that human bodies aren’t made for correct portion sizes. If you eat the correct portion you’re still hungry!

"I always find these threads full of people competitively boasting about how little they eat superficially funny but actually quite depressing. There clearly are quite a lot of people who consider their weight their greatest achievement, and that's really very sad."

I love the competitive under eating threads.
"I had a lick of an ice cube for breakfast then for lunch I had a thimble of quinoa with a slice tomato. I know the tomato was just being greedy but you need to treat yourself sometimes!! Far too stuffed to eat anything else for the rest of the week though!!"

I think people realise what a reasonable portion size, they just don’t follow it, if they’re not overweight then does it really matter? Maybe that is a reasonable portion size for their body?

I love food. All types of food, carbs, proteins, fats, the lot. I’m trying to eat more balanced. My portion sizes for my meals are ideal, it’s all the snacking in between and the sneaky takeaways that give me my weight issue.

On a side note.... if anyone really loves McDonald’s chicken nuggets, Quorn crispy nuggets taste identical and are a healthier choice. Literally, you cannot tell the difference.

pmk

I KNOW what an average portion size is, whether I dish that amount out depends on how hungry I am, or how pissed off I am! You don’t know what a persons correct portion size is as you don’t live with them, my DH runs and eats at least twice the average portion size. It is just that AVERAGE and people who are not overweight are eating the correct portion size. Leave the 4 ham sandwich guy alone, he feels needs all that cholesterol to keep him going, maybe you could suggest he has a salad with avocado once a week, see what he says😂😂😂

Don’t get how slimming world has you losing weight on jacket potatoes and beans, because that makes me gain weight so fast!

Well, you have to also make sure your plate is at least 1 third full of salad or similar, you won’t lose weight just having jacket and beans. The theory is if you eat the salad alongside the tatty and beans you will feel fuller sooner and not finish the tatty or not go on to have a pudding. What slimming world don’t account for is greedy bastards like me who don’t actually stop when they are full up😂

Weight is such a loaded subject, it's something that needs the discussion (looking at the obesity epidemic in this country) but also needs to be discussed sensitively as mh plays a massive part in weight lose/gain. Seeing as we have a huge problem in both these areas I don't know what the answer is but surely one of the simplest things to do is try to be understanding and not judgemental?

When a dietician went through portions with staff st work, people were shocked. I'm aware of my portion and mostly eat small portions and enough to fill me. Sometimes I snack because I'm hungrier or sometimes I go out for food or overeat because it's a tasty meal. However I don't believe ins diets so mostly eat well or I'd easily put weight on.
Some people can just eat more and burn the calories off, some of these people could be exercising before/after work too.

Similarly, what was considered average size in the 70s/80s/90s would be considered v skinny today.

The thing I often wonder is when we talk about being on average larger than in the past is that actually a bad thing? I mean, on the whole we're living longer and we are often comparing weights with times where food was really scarce...people weren't necessarily healthier! Of course I'm not talking about obesity which is clearly a problem but the majority of people who are just a bit bigger than we used to be!?

Anyway, as pp have said it's all about calories in and out...if they eat a massive portion size but then walk or run home from work, or go to the gym or play football then it's probably because they need it! Exercise is the most important thing!

I don’t know Raspberry. Were we malnourished back then? Maybe life expectancy was lower due to smoking and car emissions etc? It’s interesting isn’t it.