Is this really not enough??

[GoldieGal]

Breakfast: 1/4 cup of porridge

Lunch: Piece of fruit or salad

Dinner: veggies and a bit of chicken

I never ate much to begin with, just the things I ate weren't particularly healthy. Obviously I don't eat the same exact things everyday but it's around the same amount of calories yet apparently this isn't enough?

Will the consequences of this be that bad? Please help!

People will be on to say that that's a snack for them but honestly I think these days we live such sedentary lives that that could be enough depending on what your lifestyle is like. Do you feel like it's enough?

No, that's not nearly enough. I'd assume someone eating that little was ill or had an eating disorder tbh.

I'd be starving!

It depends where you're starting from. Are you starting to build back up after not eating?

That isn't enough. Nowhere near.

That sounds like less than 1000 calories per day, which means it’s a VCLD (very low calorie diet). These are sometimes used in cases where people have a lot of weight to lose, and is sometimes a way of managing diabetes as a short term plan, but for the average human it’s nowhere near enough and it cannot be sustained in the long term.

If you’re absolutely tiny (as in short) and have a completely sedentary life (fewer than 2000 steps a day) your calorific needs will be less, but even then what you’ve posted looks too low for any adult.

I think you need to speak to a GP and ask for a referral to a dietician. You could be in serious danger of malnourishment otherwise.

How can anyone possibly know without more information?

It sounds extremely restricted and may suggest disordered eating, as does your post here asking for people to support it tbh.

Should add that I've been trying to eat healthier as before instead of porridge it would be cereal or toast. Lunch would probably be a biscuit. But still I ate the same amount of food.

The healthiness of the food isn’t really the issue, it’s that there is so little of it.

What exactly do you mean by veggies and a bit of chicken? Do you mean a plate loaded with sweet corn, roast peppers, stir fry, and a chicken breast?
If so I think your daily meals could be enough.

If you mean a little piece of shredded chicken and three baby carrots and a salad leaf then no.

Not enough information! Are you on a restricted diet to lose weight quickly? Before surgery or something? Are you underweight? Calculate your BMI and adjust your intake to lose weight, gain weight or maintain your weight.

Just weigh yourself weekly. If you're losing weight you don't need to, then up your intake, include a sandwich at lunch. Allow yourself a "treat" everyday (2 biscuits, a cake or something) it's possible to be healthy and less restrictive.

I'm assuming the 1/4 cup of porridge is measuring dried oats? That would make a decent sized bowl full when made up with milk.

@GoldfishParade like roast veggies or if I don't want to cook, frozen vegetables.

Should I just be having bigger meals? Adding a snack in?

That's an insanely small amount of food! I'm amazed anyone would consider it a healthy diet and it would leave me suspecting the person eating it had a very difficult relationship with food.

Is this even for real? Or just one of those competitive undereating threads that pops up?

@GoldieGal

So you're having a bowl of porridge for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and roast vegetables and chicken for tea.

Personally I think that sounds fine if you're not losing weight.

apparently this isn't enough who told you that? An HCP, dietician, a random online, your mother?

It does look a very unbalanced low-calorie diet that lacks a whole lot of nutrients. I’d imagine this was a crash diet for quick weight loss for a wedding etc, if I didn’t know what you’d told me. Have you ever been shown those pictures of how to divide a day’s food into veg / carbs / fats / proteins etc?

If you can engage and answer questions about your weight , people will be able to advise.

@SockQueen

Is this even for real? Or just one of those competitive undereating threads that pops up?

I suspect the latter, with faux wide-eyed “is it not enough?”

Not enough for what?

Do you feel hungry?
Are you putting on or losing weight?

A biscuit for lunch isn't great, but I'm pretty sure you know that.

What is the point of this thread?

@SmileyClare Yes, sorry! That's 1/4 of dried oats. I just have it with water, a bit of soya milk and cinnamon. Occasionally I have it with stewed Apple but not today. I'll calculate my BMI later on but last time I checked it was fine.

There is hardly any protein there (assuming "a bit of chicken" isn't even a chicken breast) and not much in the way of carbs either. Are you feeling tired?

You will lose muscle mass from eating such small amount of food and that muscle will be lost from places like your heart muscle. It isn't a healthy diet.

So you're having a bowl of porridge for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and roast vegetables and chicken for tea.

Oh come off it - a 1/4 cup of porridge is tiny. Salad or a piece of fruit - if the OP is eating the same calories every day, we have to assume the salad she sometimes eats for lunch is equivalent to the one piece of fruit she sometimes has for lunch. Some frozen veg and 'a bit of chicken' doesn't really sound like a whole meal either, especially after such a small breakfast and lunch.

Is this thread serious? Clearly nowhere near enough food. Are you very underweight? So you have a history of disordered eating? OP you don’t seem to be answering people’s questions. More information is needed for people to be able to help you