To think most family meals are low enough in caloroes and the diet industry is not necessary?

[ElderAve]

Obviously not if you're going to deep fry everything but we know that. A standard family menu at home.

A grab and go breakfast of cereal, porridge, toast, eggs or fruit and yogurt will be no more than 400 calories.

A sandwich lunch will be about 4/500 calories

A home cooked dinner based around lean protein, some carbs and veg will be about 500 provided you go easy on the oil and butter . Even an M&S beef lasagne is only 620

So, 3 meals a day = 1500 calories max. We don't need special products or cookery books.

We do need to stop with all the junk we eat and drink between meals. But we have to do that whether we foĺlow a diet book or buy diet products or not.

Does me, Des. I've lost 3 stone and 10 percent body fat over the last couple of years and taken up running. Gone from a size 14/16 to a 10/12 at 5 ft 7. I run everyday and love it. I am slimmer, fitter and stronger and I still enjoy my food.

Depends on the portion size. To state the obvious.

I have never owned a deep fat frier in my life OP and am overweight. Not every fatty out there lives on greasy fried food.

I agree you don't need special products. But I do think it helps having support etc that comes with diet clubs, personal trainers etc. Some people do need help, it doesn't come easy and at the end of the day it's there money they are spending to lose weight, not yours. So why do you care? Shouting at fat people, telling them it is so easy isn't helping anyone. Let the fat people spend their money on whatever they want to, to help them lose weight. At least they are fucking trying to do something about it.

I'm not sure this level of scrutiny/portion control is healthy

I had cancer treatment a couple of years ago. I didn't escape my knowledge that cancer is linked to excess body fat. I was overweight. I am not now. I was largely sedentary. I am not now.

Tbh if I had kept eating the way I was it would not be healthy for my physical or mental health. I do eat some carbs because I want the nutrition in them. I just eat less of the simple carbs. My Fitbit logs shows 92g carb for the meals I will be having today.

I hate all these 'I don't understand how people are fat' posts on here. I don't understand why so many people are thick, but I'm not public mocking them.

For a lot of adults 1500 calories would be too much though. The 2000 calorie marks is for people with normal activity levels and normal metabolisms.

Most family dinners don’t come in under 500 cals unless you’re actively watching the calories imo.

@veryvery surely you are on a constant huge calorie deficit? Don’t you just keep losing weight?

the problem with low carb high protein diets, is not being able to shit.

Also the utter joylessness.

Ive just tried a few days of Noom. Found it too american, and not enough british foods listed, but have now gone back to my fitness pal instead.
I think food tracking is the way to go. It is possible to have filling 500 calorie meals and to stay under 1500 but unless youre naturally a small eater, it does take a bit of dedication. Im naturally quite a glutton

Many people eat biscuits, crisps, chocolate etc every day and call it a treat when it's actually part of their diet.

Weight issues are often grounded in emotions and/or lack of nutritional knowledge. A glib you should know better is neither helpful nor productive. Most people need some sort of group support wether it be from a DB page, book, friends, family, gp, Slimming World or weight watchers it's the support and gentle education that combats obesity.

When I tried calorie counting I was shocked at how high 'normal' dinners were coming it at. I'm not sure if my food is really oily (it doesn't seem it) or if there is some sort of collective denial over this but as soon as I added in the olive oil it was already horrifying. Lentil Bolognese - surely quite a healthy dish?! - was 800 (though like most people I do stick a handful of cheese on top), homemade curry turned out to be pretty calorific, etc. Everything I eat is homecooked and most of it is plant based (though probably with a bit too much dairy) and there's no way that keeps me under 1500, even though I don't snack much.

@veryvery surely you are on a constant huge calorie deficit? Don’t you just keep losing weight?

I still want to lose weight because I want to lower my body fat percentage further ( it's currently 32%). I'm not actually on that big a calorie deficit because of my age and fat percentage. On a TDEE calculator my sedentary burn would only be 1547 to maintain. I exercise everyday (running and some resistance exercises) but that only takes my calorie burn up to 2000 or just over. So my deficit is about 1000. I'm losing weight but not at a ridiculous rate. My BMI is just over 21 so I still can afford to lose a little bit more. I've a small frame, I look slim enough but could be slimmer without looking bony. I do strength, toning and muscle building exercises too everyday and watch my protein intake too to make sure I get enough nutrition for this.

A calorie deficit of 1000 calories per day should have you losing around 2lb a week continuously.
If your BMI is 21 now you are about 6 weeks away from being underweight. So your suggested diet is not a long term normal sustainable approach (as the OP is discussing). It's a weight loss plan.

If some people find diet books or diet products helpful, then who are we to say they do not need them.
However, if losing weight is so easy to do, there would not be so many overweight people around desperate to lose weight.
A real problem is where people mix up different diets between a low calorie and low fat diet for example, and then wonder why they do not lose weight.
I am overweight, but I have my own method of losing weight, which worked for me last year, when I lost half a stone. Sadly, I put this back on when I went on holiday to an all-inclusive hotel, (obviously, I have no self-control).
So, I will be starting my own method of dieting, and will see how it goes.
One thing I can confirm is that based on MyFitnessPal, it is definitely portion control the main culprit (with me, anyway).

No Well, I'm not losing weight @2lb a week. If I was in 6 weeks I could afford to have a bit of a party, couldn't I? Don't know why I'm not as I've plenty of energy and I am active. I run for just under an hour everyday, walk between 30 minutes and 1hour and a half most days and do resistance exercises. I sleep well at night and am not tired during the day. Maybe I'm just very efficient! But yes, it is a weight loss diet. The Op was talking about the diet industry which inevitably is tied up with with weight loss so not off topic.

But I am losing weight and have 3 stone so far.

Lost 3 stone.

Clearly the obesity crisis is proving you wrong and thinking you know the contents and size of most family meals is fairly mind boggling,,.

I do think portion size is the thing that makes the most difference. I eat quite similar things to my overweight friend, I just eat less of them. I think if you get into the habit of weighing out things like cereal, rice or pasta, it can really help (so easy to underestimate calories when measuring by eye). And choosing individually wrapped servings of snack food; it’s much easier to just eat one bag of crisps than do stick to a few from a family bag.

Well, that's cleared up the whole obesity problem taking hold in the western world in one fell swoop OP. Well done you.

Who knew it was that simple?

I agree with the op. There's nothing magical about diet meals, it's just a limited portion size.

People underestimate how much they eat. It's very very easy to do - you forget that digestive biscuit you had with coffee, you forget the cheeky slice of toast you had before picking up the kids. Because they barely make an impression on your appetite, it's the easiest thing to do.

I bought a pack of cheese puffs yesterday. I've just looked at the calories, 125 per 1/6 of the pack. 1/6 of the pack and I wouldn't even remember I'd had any! And I would have eaten all the calories that I'd worked off in a mile of running. It's just so easy to grab a handful, and then another handful...

We only tend to think about it when we're trying to lose weight. But I agree with a pp, there should be far more pictures of ACTUAL portions on packaging.

Veryvery I think OP was saying normal meals are low calorie enough for most people to maintain a healthy weight.

Your posts, while not wholly off topic, are going a step further as you are talking about eating extremely reduced portions (A single wedge) in order to run a high calorie deficit and lose weight..

I agree with the op. There's nothing magical about diet meals, it's just a limited portion size.

But most people don't eat in the way the OP describes. I don't know many people who eat a lunch of less than 500 calories and whose evening meal regularly comes to such a small amount. 500 calories for an adult main meal is tiny!

It's easy to go over your recommended allowance by adding things like too much butter to toast, sugar in tea, mayonnaise or salad cream on sandwiches, olive oil in cooking etc.

I watched an episode of Secret Eaters once where a lady ate what would be described as nutritious and healthy meals, and she was putting on weight because of how much oil and butter was used in her cooking.