Is this too much to eat in a day?

[SENSummer]

I’ve lost all perspective. So many hormone triggered gastro issues since having my kids and my daily diet has gone out of the window. I feel nauseas a lot but regardless of what I do/don’t eat. I wake up early (5am) and finish eating for the day at 4/5pm.

Today I’ve had:

Small porridge with banana and oat milk

slice of toast

a small plain chocolate cupcake (homemade) & a Kit Kat chunky

a salmon fishcakes with a couple of new potatoes and garden peas

a digestive biscuit AND about 3/4 of a bag of twirl bites!

I’m done for the day now but honestly feel awful (and a bit sick at how much sweet stuff I’ve had)

I will caveat this by saying I’m rather slim and definitely in the ‘a few extra pounds wouldn’t hurt’ category and I’m pretty physically active.

Too much rubbish. Yes, far too much. One of the cupcake/ kitkat/ biscuit/ twirl bites would be enough.

Too much food? No! Not nearly enough and that’s why you’re eating so much rubbish. Why did you only have one fishcake and two new potatoes? I would have two fishcakes and quite a few potatoes and add another veg. And that’s just lunch. Where is your dinner? Where are your five+ a day?

It's an awful lot of carbohydrates with very little protein and fruit/veg.

It's not too much in quantity, but definitely too much if you factor in quality. I think you already know that. You seem to be craving sweet things - why not try to make some sweet things that have protein and fibre benefits as well? Flapjacks, for instance. Yes - they are FULL of sugar, but you can reduce the sugar and add in some dried fruit and nuts or seeds and they will still taste delicious! I make some with sultanas, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. They're not 'diet' flapjacks, they still contain fat and sugar, but I reduce the fat and sugar down by 1/3 each and sometimes use honey instead of golden syrup, for the flavour as much as anything else. The oats contain soluble and insoluble fibre, the sultanas contain fibre and vitamin C (plus minerals) and the seeds contain protein as well as other stuff. Cut them into small pieces rather than big chunks and you should eat fewer of them. If you are dairy free (I note you are using oat milk on your porridge) you can use margarine rather than butter - they won't taste quite the same but you will be used to that if you don't eat butter anyway. If it's chocolate you want... Sometimes I will make flapjacks with chocolate chips and hazelnuts. Not often, as I actually prefer them with fruit and seeds.

Have some protein with your lunch. It will help to fill you up so you won't experience the sugar highs/loss that drive you to snacking. And keep some fruit around so that if you do feel hungry you can pick up an apple or something rather than buying yourself a sugar-laden snack when you're out.

Try to have lower carbohydrate vegetables with your evening meal. I'm not sure how you make your fishcakes, but they usually contain potato or another starch (carbs). Then the new potatoes are carbs, and the peas also.

I eat too much, definitely, and it shows..... but I do try to ensure that what I do eat is (mostly) doing me good rather than just empty calories/carbs.

I'm a carb junkie, but try to balance it out. I limit myself on processed things like biscuits and crisps but do enjoy porridge, jacket potatoes and new potatoes. Bread - stoneground wholemeal. I love veg, so no problem, there. I struggle to eat a lot of protein so try to eat that portion first in meals - which fills me up more quickly. We are all different. I would be constantly hungry on what you eat every day. I am only 5' and the heaviest I've ever been is 8st 10lb in the winter ( and that's only an once). It depends entirely on your own metabolism and level of activity (clerical worker for over 4O years).

I think people need to stop focusing on the sugar. It doesn’t matter. OP clearly has an eating disorder. She basically ate a bowl of porridge and a sandwich all day. And thinks that’s better.

OP you probably feel sick from hunger. I would advise getting help. And not from here.

I’d say go low carb and zero sugar, higher fat. Eat more protein and veg. Low carb is the thing that really helps my stomach particularly everything that is easy to grab.
I like apple and goats or cheddar cheese as a snack. Nuts instead of chocolate.
Full fat Greek yogurt and raspberries.
Nice fatty bit of steak with salad in a good healthy fats dressing.
Spend a couple of weeks thinking high protein, high healthy fats, lots of nice veg and an absolute minimum of carbs. See how that makes you feel. Prepare lots of stuff in advance so that it’s easier to be healthy. Boiled eggs keep for days for example. Homemade tuna cakes (not breadcrumb based ones).

Indeed. But you and I are the only ones.

It sounds to me like your nervous system is out of whack. I expect you're feeling very stressed, probably find it hard to wind down? No wonder it sounds like you have a lot to manage. Our gut is like a second brain and when we are tipped into hyperarousal often appetite goes, and or sugar cravings appear. I'd be looking at your support structures, how you support yourself (yes nourishing food) and ways to soothe yourself.

I agree. If it’s as it appears and this is how the OP eats regularly, she will be seriously undernourished and is showing serious signs of disordered eating. It is quite literally making her ill.
I hope you reach out to some more suitable help than the (usually bonkers) mumsnet diet zealots on here OP and get some proper help soonn

Eating chocolate is not "disgusting " and that sort of thinking will put you on the road to an eating disorder. You probably just need more fresh fruit and veg in your diet.

Edited to add, I've read your posts now. I wonder if you're obsessively controlling your eating because so many other aspects of your life are uncontrollable. It must be very tricky with a child with that level of need. I wish you well but you would feel much better if you ate better.

Eating chocolate is not "disgusting "

Eating chocolate is brilliant! Last night I had a little snacking plate of strawberries, mango and dark chocolate squares. Delicious!

To me it reads you're not eating nearly enough at all especially being constantly on the go with children..can you have a proper dinner at 6/7 or have it at lunchtime and then lunch in the evening?
When I was sick during pregnancy the nausea always ramped up when I needed food/coming up to a meal.
I just don't think you're eating substantial meals for all the going you're doing

I've read this again and there's just no way you're eating enough, I know we're all different but typically in a day I would porridge/cereal with juice, fruit with something snacky like rice cakes mid morning, more fruit at lunch with bread and filling, possibly a yoghurt, a full dinner in the evening and then some chocolate/fruit again before bed, you've really only had porridge and a sandwich all day, it's no wonder you're feeling nauseous, it sounds like your stomach is craving food

To be fair, the OP wrote this in the afternoon after breakfast and lunch only.

Hi OP. You must feel awful reading all these posts, I hope you are OK.

I have a ND child which changed all our earing habits.
We don't eat as a family except on a blue moon.
It's totally fine to use sweets as a reward too.

I know a few people have skirted it but I think you are so intensely anxious about your child and your own digestive issues, you are too sick to eat.

I felt the same after an operation last year and only managed 1000 cals a day for many weeks. Not only did I lose weight, but I lost strength which I needed to recover and be healthy. I also ended up using laxatives because I completely screwed up my digestive system. I started my day with dark chocolate and coffee and painkillers and had one large salad around early afternnon, then coffee about 5 and that was it.

The more the behaviour continued, the more nauseous I felt.

There are lots of ideas above with merit and would be brilliant if you can start to involved some of them.

Just keep reminding yourself that your child with needs requires a strong mother and you will need more strength the older he gets. (niece is very disabled and approaching teen years and parents have to be strong physically).

I hope you are OK.

Yes but she doesn't eat past afternoon so sounded like that was the day's food

You are not disgusting OP. You are being too hard on yourself. I would feel sick with eating the sweet stuff but sometimes we just need to get it out of our system. I do need to loose some weight so just eat 1 milkyway a day and the rest of my food has lots of what is considered 'good for you' food this has stopped my craving and I don't get heartburn like I did when eating more sugar. Be kind to yourself. 💕