To ask what you think of this typical food intake?

[ivyball]

This is what I’ve eaten over the last 7 days.
Does this seem like too much food to you or not a lot of food?
Female 5 foot 2.

Day 1

4 egg omelette with 2 pork chops and red pepper, sweet corn.
Snacks - half a 900g pack of cheddar cheese and half a 200g pack of mixed nuts spread out and picked on over the day.
5 cups decaf coffee.

Day 2

3 chicken thighs and 2 chicken legs with some veg.
Snacks - half a 900g pack of cheddar cheese and half a 200g pack of mixed nuts picked on throughout the day.
5 cups decaf coffee.

Day 3
4 egg omelette and pack of prawns, sweetcorn and spinach.
Snacks - half a 900g packet of cheddar cheese and half a 200g bag of Mixed nuts.
5 cups decaf coffee.

Day 4
Half a roast chicken picked at.
Snacks - half a packet of 900g cheese and half a packet of 200g nuts to pick throughout the day.
5 cups of decaf coffee.

Day 5
4 fried eggs, mushrooms, an avocado, tomatoes and bacon.
Snacks - half a pack of 900g cheddar cheese and half a packet of 200g mixed nuts.
5 cups decaf coffee.

Day 6
500g diced beef fried with red pepper and mushrooms.
Snacks - half a packet of 900g cheddar cheese and half a packet of 200g mixed nuts.
5 cups decaf coffee.

Day 7
1 Tin of tuna and salad.
Snacks - half a packet of 900g cheddar cheese and half packet of 200g mixed nuts.
1 bottle of white wine.

2 fillets of salmon with green beans, broccoli and red pepper.
Snacks - half a 900g packet of cheddar cheese and half a 200g packet of nuts.
5 cups of decaf coffee.
1 bottle of white wine.

I have used the term half a pack instead of (450g) cheese and 100g nuts because I thought people would be able to imagine a 900g block of cheese and 200g pack of nuts easier as that’s how they come.
Does this sound like too much food or not enough food please?
I typically eat one meal a day in the morning and pick on cheese and nuts sporadically for the rest of the day.
This is because I need to eat until I’m full or I will still feel hungry after so I eat a big main meal first thing as it works for me and I feel full.
The cheese and nuts are because of a craving for cheese. I love my cheese.

I think I’d check out the Zoe Nutrition podcast and learn about the importance of eating plants, leafy greens, seeds, fibre-intake etc.

I'm 5'3" and if I ate that much cheese I would literally be the size of a house. I like cheese but 450g/day is a LOT! We usually use a 350g block per week as a family of 4. When I looked at your diet I assumed you were on some kind of crazy protein drive but seems not. Maybe it's the salt in the cheese (and possibly the nuts - or are you eating completely plain , unsalted nuts ) that is making you want so much. Also surely this diet is crazily expensive? What kind of cheese do you buy? (For full disclosure we like extra mature cheddar from a nice brand at Sainsbury's which is quite expensive, I appreciate there are cheaper cheeses!)

I'd start with 3 balanced meals a day and cut out about 90% of the cheese and nuts. But depends on what your goals are.

Eating one meal plus snacks is unusual.

Eating 450g of cheese every day is insane.

at your height, eating 3500 calories and doing no exercise I’d expect you to weigh at least 14-15 stone. If you weigh any less I’d think you extremely fortunate

Unless you are a) very active or b) lying, I would expect a woman your height to be very overweight eating that every day. As others have said - you’re eating 1,800
calories in cheese alone.

Basically, you eat no carbs, virtually no fruit or veg, and a fuck-ton of saturated fat all day. It’s not a balanced diet, it’s probably fucking up your cholesterol levels on a grand scale, and the whole thing suggests very disordered eating. It sounds like you did Atkins in the 90s and now have some sort of carb phobia.

I’m kind of amazed that you weren’t aware of any of this.

Cheese aside (!), I’d be a bit concerned by your lack of fruit and veg intake. I genuinely don’t understand how you could consider any diet healthy without multiple/ideally at least 5 portions of fruit and veg daily.

Seriously, that is a lot of cheese. We are a family of four, three of whom eat cheese (although two of us do eat cheese other than Cheddar so this wouldn’t be the only cheese in the house). A 900g block of cheese would last us a few weeks (by which I mean at least 2, probably 3 or more), including for sandwiches and things like macaroni cheese. My idea of a portion of cheese for a snack would be two Babybels or the equivalent size triangle of Brie/Camembert. Not suggesting this is right, but adding as a point of comparison.

Its quite a fat laden diet and very unbalanced. You eat quite a narrow range - where's your fibre? Veg, salad, whole grains, pulses, root veg etc?

You eat 450g a cheese a day WITH A HEART CONDITION???

I think the cheese and nut issue would tell me you were a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

Why won’t you actually tell us if you’re overweight?

Surprised no bowel conditions

Well no probably not.
This thread has gone the opposite way that I was expecting, I thought my family were being ridiculous so I came to see what others thought.
I thought people were going to tell me I ate really healthy meals or that I should eat more because one meal a day isn’t enough.

Stop buying nuts and cheese?

I bloody love cheese but I think after a week of your diet I'd never want to eat it again! I hate to think what your colon looks like.

FWIW I'm a similar height and age to you and today I've eaten/plan to eat Greek yoghurt with fruit and seeds, toast with hummus and a side salad, tofu and veg stir fry with noodles, fruit for a snack, plus might have a slice of cheese mid afternoon but I'm talking less than 50 g, not half a block!

Sorry but that seems like a very limited diet. Do you not eat breakfast, fruit or carbohydrates? How is your overall health?
I would eat a lot more food than that but the calories would be much lower than what youre eating. Cheese is my weakness but I'd struggle to get down that amount. Could you maybe switch to a lower calorie cheese like cottage, ricotta, feta or mozzerella

OP that’s a crazy diet. I think if you’re under GP and on meds for heart concerns then you need to tell them about your diet asap.

do they not ask about diet when you see them??

hoping the thread has given you a shock but please start to cut down the cheese. Maybe slowly if you can to help the craving. And at the same time the nuts. Can you replace with some celery and hummus or something and cut up some veg to pic at? Maybe some pitta and a bean dip??

some oats would be good too and mix in some seeds and fruit.

@ivyball You say "I hadn’t realised there was a link between diet and blood pressure" ~ I find this extremely difficult to believe! Surely your GP and/or practice nurse (whoever checks your blood pressure) talked to you about the importance of a good diet?

Have you never read a magazine article about the link between diet and health. Or watched one of the many TV programmes which explain the importance of a good diet

Do you not talk to family & friends about what you eat? I'm sure if you mentioned to anyone what you are eating they would immediately express concern and warn you about the dangers of the amount of cheese & nuts and the lack of fibre, vitamins etc

There are SO many sources for this type of information ~ I can't believe you've missed them all . . . .

It’s way too many calories - around 3000 for the nuts and cheese alone. So once you add in the fried eggs / bacon etc it’s likely over double what would be about right. Also looks like not enough fruit or veg.

The question is DOES it cause weight loss or gain in YOU?
Doesn't matter what it might do hypothetically, does it? What have you personally noticed on this diet?

One main meal a day supplemented by one or two lighter meals isn’t unhealthy. One mail meal and that amount of cheese and nuts is unhealthy. It’s less about your weight and more about your heart, your cholesterol, your health!

It must be expensive to eat so much cheese? We use about 700g of cheese a week in sandwiches, macaroni cheese etc for a family of 4.

What stands out for me is the lack of fruit/veg and fibre. Do you want to change your diet? You can get lots of recommendations on here or via ChatGPT.

Some people are naturally one meal and day people
aome are natural snackers/ grazers

all that really matters is a good balance of food groups - fibre, protein, carbs, minerals and vitamins and small amount of fat - within a calorie level appropriate for your height ( and weight )

you don’t have that at all

it’s way too much protein and fat leaving little room for the other stuff. Cheaper stuff.

and id be surprised if you have a healthy BMI

That’s a bizarre eating plan tbh.

450g cheddar cheese is an insane amount of saturated fat (90g of Sat Fat - the recommendation is <10% of your energy, so <20g for the average woman on 2000cals). This is associated with increased risk of atherosclerosis and CVD.

To that then you added more fat with the nuts (unsaturated mostly which is better but 200g contains another 100+g of fat. So you’re having 190g of fat in each day just on those two items. Fat should be <35% of your diet so under 78g per day for 2000 calories).

Why are you eating so much meat and eggs too?

Why are you not having multiple meals through the day to keep you satiated?

You’re not eating enough fibre or vegetables and you are eating a massive proportion of fat in snacks.

DISCLAIMER: I don’t know your health context. If your doctor has advised you eat like this then listen to your doctor. I am not a dietician. This is not individualised advice merely on a population level.

I think you're trying to not have carbs and not be hungry but that diet plan isn't healthy in terms of fat, cholesterol and you're probably missing out on things too. As a disclaimer I am not a dietician! But off the top of my head, a more balanced meal plan:

Porridge in the morning, maybe with fruit like blueberries (to fill you up) glass of water first thing also if you can before all the coffee.

Chicken or tuna salad for lunch, with nuts sprinkled on top if you like, nice dressing, sweetcorn, red peppers... (the veg you seem to like)
You could also have a Greek style salad with feta some days if you like feta.

Omelette for dinner with a little bit of grated cheese, spinach, mushrooms (whatever you want) and a few potatoes on the side, or sliced in the omelette like a spanish omelette, to fill you up.

That's probably still not perfect, and like I said I'm not qualified, but that's an example of what a more "normal" day's worth of food could look like compared to what you're currently doing.

But you don't eat one meal a day. You eat one proper meal and a pound of cheese... Or do you think snacking doesn't count as eating?
You can't possibly be so unaware of the calories that you don't realise you could have five proper meals a day for the same amount of calories as your pound of cheese.

Well one meal isn’t enough. But the rest is so high in fat that I’m surprised you’ve not had a heart attack.

you should have three balanced meal per day across all the food groups.

your one meal has about protein for a few people as well and with very little movement/exercise that’s not going to do much good. You need carbs, fruit and veg.

and lots of water.

edited typos

You are eating around 2,400 calories per day on nuts and cheese alone.

Are you overweight? Extremely active? What is your question in regards to? Do you have concerns about health?

5'2" woman needs, on average, around 1600 calories/day assuming sedentary so it's hard to know how to answer your question.

I admire your cheese intake, though! Who doesn't love cheese and wine days?