To think my portion was too large (photo)?

[Ribrabrob]

I’m living a bit ‘on the road’ at the moment (essential) and relying on eating out - trying to be as healthy as I can as I’m trying (!) to lose weight.

I have attached a photo of tonight’s evening meal, my only meal of the day plus a few snacks. My photo isn’t the best unfortunately but it was a bowl of spicy rice and a bowl of bean stew/soup (I’m vegetarian).

Aibu to think I had too much? Would you have eaten all of it? Unfortunately through years of dieting and binge eating I have lost sight of what a normal portion of food is and how ‘normal’ people eat.

Ps i appreciate it doesn’t look very nice but it was actually quite tasty!

@Toomuchtrouble4me

I wouldn’t eat that much - I’d eat 1 bowl but not two - however, it looks healthy so eat until you’re sated.

No worries. Thank you. Good luck!

I am so sorry, I quoted wrong post😂

[quote Foodiefoodieyemek]@SchrodingersImmigrant sorry didn't see your message! Yes we are open. Everything is 1 metre apart and hand sanitisers everywhere. Application for hands free ordering and paying. Regular cleaning etc[/quote]
Good luck!

How is a size 8 underweight? Even a size 6 is often a perfectly healthy weight, albeit at the lower end of healthy. I cant beleive we are pretending a BMI of 20/21 is somehow massive and couldnt possibly fit into a size 8?!

I think that portion is fine if it was what filled OP up, I hate rigid portion sizes as its completely natural to have days when your protions are larger than others. Sticking to exactly the same amount of food per portion regardless of what else youve eaten/excercise is hardly a healthy way to eat.

@Thisismytimetoshine the only one being ridiculous is you. An easy mistake to make these days though. If you're accustomed to seeing inactive people with little muscle, your idea of what 9st and 5'7 looks like is going to be very different to the reality of someone that size with a healthy amount of muscle.

I have colleagues around the same weight and height as me that are several clothes sizes bigger and insistent I must weigh less than I do. (And they aren't just trying to be polite, we were discussing why I'm not currently riding one of the horses) By the same token when I'm 2 sizes smaller than I currently am, I'm only about 10lbs lighter, because at that point I'm solid muscle. I imagine if I dropped the exercise and sat around shrieking about the evils of carbs and eating tiny portions of the rabbit food so many seem to think is the ideal, I could be 10lbs lighter, several sizes bigger and a hell of a lot fatter.

@PurpleDaisies I’m very similar to you , 5ft 6in and 9st 3lbs.

I generally wear 8/10 but I have been just under 9st before and could fit in an 8, youre also slightly taller so I can totally believe what you’re saying. I find it strange that some posters think 9st is WAYYYY too big to possible be a size 8

I’m not sure what I find more depressing about this thread. Is it the ridiculous ‘Oh my goodness! How could you possibly eat so much food?!’ comments? Or the fact that, even though the OP said in her opening post that she’s currently relying on restaurants, and later specified the meal was indeed from a restaurant, people are STILL queuing up to say ‘Why did you cook so much?’ ‘Where are the fresh crunchy greens to go with it?’ ‘Why didn’t you save it for lunch?’

God forbid people should actually read.

Hands up if this thread gave you an eating disorder

@WhatOnEarth67

Hands up if this thread gave you an eating disorder

No. Plenty on it, though.

If it is your only meal of the day, then it looks perfectly fine to me. Glad you enjoyed it.

I’d eat around 1/3rd of that I think but find rice really really filling. As a one off it’s no big deal either

Maybe a bit too much rice, other than that it's fine I think. If trying to lose weight watch the carbs in rice, but it looks like Brown rice so not so bad.

Thisismytimetoshine
I call them "stick insects."

I wouldn’t manage on one meal a day. I’m active and find my body works better for me if I fuel it throughout the day, (I also get grumpy when hungry) but I appreciate that might not suit you.

It seems like a reasonably healthy option given your limitations. I’d be trying to grab some fruit/veg for your snacks just to ensure some variety in the nutrients that you’re having.

Portion wise, I have no idea, depends on your size and activity level. If it’s your one meal and you don’t know when the next will be, then I would suggest just eating what you can. Or eat until full and ask to take the rest with you for later.

The dress size comments were mean and uncalled for. Why try to shame someone for having a healthy BMI?

As someone who had an eating disorder & now no longer diets -

You want to get off the dieting treadmill then don’t worry about a bowl of vegetables & brown rice. Were you hungry? Did it satisfy you? Was it mostly unprocessed ? That’s as far as I would think that dish over.

If that’s a normal size dinner plate with the rice on, then yes, it looks considerably too much for one person to me, and I’m not a mini-eater.

Do you weigh your portions of e.g. rice before cooking? In this house about 100 g dry weight per person is a really good helping for the one hot dinner of the day. Ditto for pasta. If we’re not very hungry (e.g. if we had a big lunch out earlier (rare here) 80g would be plenty.

What I find sad about the thread is if you think those are large portions there is a bunch of folks making sneery bitchy comments about Competitive under eating and egging each other on.

I think the op saying cereal bowl threw everyone, but the cutlery indicates they are large plates and what food place serves meals in cutlery bowls?

The kind of place which gets its china labelled "soup/cereal" bowls, aka just about every china supplier these days. Or possibly its the local custom since the OP states they are not in the UK.

I can't judge the size of the soup bowl from that picture - can't see the length of the cutlery, just the top part but the bowl looks similar to my soup/cereal bowls from this angle which fits with the OP comments.

OP: If you really want advice on portions/diet which suit you its worth following proper registered dieticians who give advice on blogs/other sources (as opposed to "nutritionists", an utterly meaningless title).

Every thread asking about portion size on here get the usual orthorectics telling you either that they eat one grain of rice for the week or that they eat two, large deep pan pizzas for a light snack.

Tell them you are a vegetarian and you get lectures on that as well .

No wonder we've got so many kids with eating disorders these days, if this thread is indicative of mothers!!!

Yes indeed, and disordered eating is also still on the rise in men.

What I find sad about the thread is if you think those are large portions there is a bunch of folks making sneery bitchy comments about Competitive under eating and egging each other on.

Not saying that everyone who has commented along those lines has disordered eating, but competitiveness is a huge, huge issue in ED recovery.

I had a friend as a kid who's mum used to weigh out 100g for each serving, to stop her daughter "getting fat and ugly". Unsurprisingly this friend developed a serious eating disorder and used to call us all day if we had so much as a rice cake as a snack.

She now does the same with her kids.

Competitive under eaters should realise they also have eating disorders. Just because you eat less than someone else you are not a better and more disciplined person. You're actually a bit fucked up.

How is a size 8 underweight? Even a size 6 is often a perfectly healthy weight, albeit at the lower end of healthy. I cant beleive we are pretending a BMI of 20/21 is somehow massive and couldnt possibly fit into a size 8?!

Well it depends how tall you are doesn't it? If you are average height then probably that's right. BMI 20/21 makes me a large 10/ small 12 at 5'10.

OP It's fine. No one got fat eating brown rice and pulses. Just eat till you've had enough. MN is mad on competitive undereating - you won't sort out your weight issues by being hungry all of the time.

@Teateaandmoretea

How is a size 8 underweight? Even a size 6 is often a perfectly healthy weight, albeit at the lower end of healthy. I cant beleive we are pretending a BMI of 20/21 is somehow massive and couldnt possibly fit into a size 8?!

Well it depends how tall you are doesn't it? If you are average height then probably that's right. BMI 20/21 makes me a large 10/ small 12 at 5'10.

I'm 5'3 and BMI 24.3 and can be anything from an 8 to a 12 depending on the shop. Clothes sizes are meaningless.

Clothes sizes are as good as meaningless as pp have said. I think my BMI is about 24 right now, I'm 5'4" and I'd say I was a large 12- but I have some 10s that are loose on me and some 14s that are tight and I don't for a moment think I'd get into a 12 from 10 years ago...

Well yes, there is that as well ....