Is this enough calories to keep a human alive?

[Glokkey]

is this enough calories to keep a human alive?

2 cheese and onion rolls (look Ike sausage rolls)
5 scotch eggs
bombay mix
magnum

one sausage in a roll
coleslaw
wedges

What about supplement drinks? They're easy to get down. Would she drink those?

Some days she will eat only one meal. So when she is more susceptible to eating I try to give her very calorie dense food.

she doesn’t like those protein shakes or even milkshakes like yahoo. She’s only ever drunk water for her liquids.

She’s definitely not eating this everyday. It’s just what I fed her today. So it probably wasn’t a representative post.

Yesterday she just ate a Kiev with beans

If it's mini ones, then she's maybe getting 1300 - 1400 calories a day? That's probably OK in the short term

Mini scotch eggs x 5 = about 175 calories
Cheese and onion rolls = about 250?
Bombay mix = another 75?
Magnum (full size?) = 230?
Sausage = 200?
Roll = 200?
Wedges = 200?
Coleslaw = 100?

But I'm guesstimating. You'd need to have a look at the packets and count up the calories to be a bit more accurate.

There are times in life when any food you can get in is a good thing.
This is one of them.

It's a common stress reaction for appetite to shut down at acute times like bereavement.

I think this might seem a bit rude of me to suggest, but if I was in your position, I'd approach it the same way as with a child who is going through the "Beige stage". Give the cheese and onion roll, put a small salad on the side. Give the scotch eggs, but add a little pot of hummus and Carrot/ celery sticks. Put a bowl of nuts between you to snack on whilst watching tv or chatting. Accept that there will be waste initially, but hope for improvement with encouragement.

It's around 1300 calories then depending on portion size which would mean weight loss for most women. Is she underweight do you think? You could take her to the GP if you're concerned.

At this point it really doesn't matter as long as she eats something. I would try to access her some grief counselling and try to get her outside as much as possible but other than that as long as she is eating it's not an issue at the moment. You could always see if she would take a multivitamin if you are really worried about it.

When my sister's husband died at 41 of a heart attack with no warning or previous known ill health she stopped eating for weeks. It was all we could do to get her to sip water.

I remember when I was recovering from anorexia, my psychiatrist’s priority was calories. He didn’t really care where those calories came from but was insistent that they were eaten if only to provide my body/brain with the basic amount of energy it needed to function. Given the rapid weight loss, I think it’s a similar situation for her and you’re doing exactly the right thing. Once she’s nourished - in terms of calories - she may have more desire to eat healthy foods but at the moment, her body is probably just starving.

Nuts to nibble on are a good call. And vitamins.

Peanut butter sandwiches
Scrambled eggs
Rice pudding
Bananas
Nuts
Fried foods

It's probably plenty of calories but barely any nutrition.

Bacon and eggs with mushroom and tomatoes?

I was the same after a close bereavement.

Can you take her for a good long walk over Easter before a roast dinner?

It is very hard with 3 kids, a husband and a dog. My brother comes every few days and sits with her in the room she has shut her in.

I feel like my life has become trying to get food into mouths.

Even the dog is fussy!

Yes… just get calories into her. She’s on what I call “the grief diet”. The important thing is calories and getting her something she will it during this period.

Maybe get her to take a multivitamin as well.

She’s still losing weight so I guess I know my answer

Yes

If they are four.

Thanks for the suggestions. It’s wonderful that strangers on the internet care enough to offer up advice

Of course it’s enough calories

your mum is grieving, it’s likely her appetite has gone. This is fine in the short to medium term, her mental health and well being is more important than hitting her RDA for nutrients.

Bless her, eating anything at that level of grief is a miracle. Buy the food she'll eat, don't comment on her diet and get her some multivitamins (even chewy kids ones are better than nothing) Make sure she's hydrated too, even if not water.

More than enough! Not very nutritious though

Another thing to try are those calorie shakes but to use them in different ways.

I think they’re pretty bad so would struggle with them so did my adopted dad… so when he was going through chemo he would use the vanilla ones as cream in his coffee or instead of milk on cereal.

Whatever works, right

The thing is I don’t think it is enough if she’s losing weight. Like I mentioned the meals I shared in my opening post was actually a day of her eating relatively well (today).

Most days it’s one meals. Not sure why i didn’t mention that. I think I might be ashamed