Is this enough food - tall women?

[Perspectivepleaseplease]

I suffered with EDs (very, very bad ones for my teens and 20s). Now in my 30s and after DC I feel like I eat 'normally' but I do have some symptoms of undereating (feeling weak, anaemia, tired, no sex drive, thinking about food a lot, brain fog). I feel like I eat pretty well by most people's standards but perhaps this is not enough food for ME. I do have some days where I feel preoccupied about when/what I'm next going to eat, other days where I don't. I've started to wonder whether I am just fundamentally hungry!

I am pretty active but not excessively so (workout but gently, lots of walking). My BMI is 18.5 and I'm very tall (5'11). I have normal periods but have miscarried recently. My husband thinks my portions are small for a woman of my height. All the diet advice online is tailored towards people who need to lose weight...

Please could I ask for your perspectives?

Breakfast - overnight oats (about 40-50grams) with raspberries, greek yog, chia seeds, scoop of peanut butter

Lunch - usually a 2 egg omelette and large slice of sourdough toast (real butter). Maybe soup and toast. Biscuit/small something sweet afterwards.

Snack - some homemade cake or some crisps or a flapjack.

Maybe handful of crisps before the bath/bedtime drama.

Dinner - healthy homemade dinner with plenty of veg. (Spag bol, fish and veg, pasta dish, fishcake, risotto etc). Small glass of wine sometimes. Always dark chocolate in evening (2 squares of lindt).

I never really 'splurge' on any food or overeat but I don't eat low fat/diet anything. Drinks are only coffee, tea, water.

It sounds like a brilliant diet, but your portions could be tiny. If your husband thinks they are and you’re at the low end of BMI, I’m inclined to think that must be the case?

I mean unless you eat a tiny bowl, sounds good to me.

That sounds great but what are your portion sizes? Would you have, say, 75g dry weight pasta as a portion? More, less?

Are you hungry after meals, or satisfied?

Your BMI is just within the healthy range. I’m wonder if this is a conscious decision?

It's really going to depend on your portion sizes and how your body deals with it. We eat similarly: I constantly gain weight and my husband is hopelessly underweight eating exactly the same thing. He only seems to have a tiny stomach though so is full up and leaves part of maybe 1 in 6 meals. Because he's so skinny already, missing those few 10s of calories doesn't help. (Me finishing his portion like a labrador might explain some of my gain ) Do you eat all your portion?

See I think it's normal, DH's point is that I am 5ft 11 tall which is the height of an average man and I'm pretty active. I'm starting to realise I have symptoms of undereating too (I don't want an ED again and I'm conscious that I am absolutely excellent at depriving myself!).

Portions - probably standard packet recommended portions I would say. Probably a recommended serving of pasta with homemade bolognese.

I usually cook from scratch though so accurately calorie counting is very difficult (and not something I really want to enter into).

Perhaps the difference is that this is my diet day in, day out. There are rarely any times when I would eat more (most people splurge sometimes?)

Soup portion = half to 3/4 of one of those fridge soups (in the tub, not tin). One slice of the long Aldi sourdough type bread (not one slice of toaster size bread)

I’m similar in height to you and as a younger woman put away much more food than you - it sounds quite low though pretty good quality food .. I’m older now and can’t eat as much ( well I shouldn’t anyway) . my BMI used to be similar .

I would consider a GP appointment though for a check up and blood tests rather than assume you aren’t eating enough

This reminds me of those horrible celeb "what I eat in a day" articles from womens mags that made everyone else feel awful

@toastedcat well that's the point. Maybe it's not normal so please tell me how?! I'm totally in agreement that I may be deluded about my food choices and if it's enough, that's why I'm asking!

@40andfit my weight stays the same if I eat in this way so it's not really conscious. I'd be happy to try to gain some weight if it would make me feel better and healthier. But I'd have to really make the conscious choice to do that (eat more). I don't crave unhealthy food, either, so I'm not restricting the types of food I eat.

Try eating a little more and see if you feel different?

As you don’t feel good with all the symptoms you are experiencing then maybe try increasing your bmi and see how you feel.

Impossible to tell without the calories really. You could be having tiny portions. Lunch and breakfast combined don't sound like much. Are you getting enough healthy fats.

If I ate that I'd be very hungry but I am overweight and trying to lose weight.

This is such a loaded subject, I feel for you. I would encourage you get an objective measure of your body composition.

There may be a gym or chemist somewhere around which has the Tanita or InBody system or something similar that will provide you with a snapshot of your body broken down by water & bones/muscles and fat. It will also calculate the calories required for you to maintain that structure.

Then you calculate the calorific value of your food intake for a couple of representative days. Quite the effort but would give you a reasonable measure of what you need versus what you are getting. Once you know whether you are eating enough, you could adjust or know you need to look around for other causes of your symptoms such as low iron etc.

One simple point to check is whether you are sufficiently hydrated.

Hope you find the answer.

Thanks. I probably should have said I had presumed that my symptoms were due to low iron but just started wondering whether they are due to undereating.... so difficult to find advice not tailored towards weight loss. DH is tall and slim but eats LOADS so not sure he is reliable ha!

If I really had to guess, I would say I eat

• 400 cals breakfast
• 400 cals lunch
• 600 cals dinner
• 150 cals desert
• Then probably up to 400/500 cals of snacks but too hard to tell as most things are homemade (just ate large slice of homemade banana bread and had a handful of chocolate chips after lunch)

It sounds okay but I’m not as tall as you. And impossible to tell the portion sizes.

I was also about to suggest low iron - I’d definitely get check if I were you.

I’m the same height as you and have a very similar sort of diet, and my BMI is a fair bit higher. I weigh 11 stone 5 lbs and am a size 12.

Are you naturally very slight/small boned? Your BMI is quite low.

@ElviraDePonte I'm not especially small boned (difficult to tell since almost everyone is smaller than me!). I wear a size 8-10. I have very skinny legs and always have. Also no boobs to speak of.....

Hi OP,

I think with your history of ED it's probably slightly too complex a situation for you to get valuable advice in an anonymous forum

I would encourage you to contact a registered dietitian (check on the HCPC website that they are registered) who specialises in supporting recovered ED sufferers

They will be able to help you determine whether your diet covers your health needs, while helping you avoid triggering behaviours like calorie counting

18.5 is at the very low end of heathly and it may not be healthy for you (healthy BMIs are slightly higher for tall people). It sounds like upping your portions to gain a few pounds might make you fell healthier. Worth a try anyway!

How do you feel about the idea?

Thanks @AntennaReborn . To be clear - I did have extensive, professional help for my ED. This is just coming up now due to my symptoms, comments from my DH and probably some generalised anxiety after miscarriage.

@BlueHexagon yes maybe true. I guess I think I probably should do that but then if I look online/for dietary advice, the advice is always that my diet is great, I would be exceeding recommended portion sizes etc. It's so confusing and anxiety inducing! I felt that I had been doing so well - I regularly eat chocolate, cake, wine etc. I don't deny myself anything or get nervous about eating outside of the house etc. And now I feel its STILL maybe not right!

Hello, I’m a similar height and size to you. And my BMI was around 18.5 for a long time, but is slightly higher now post baby (am about a size 10 now). I should caveat this and say I have never had an ED. I am naturally slim and for years found it really hard to put on weight, despite efforts. My diet would be similar to yours - porridge, eggs, healthy dinner. And too much chocolate. My husband is slightly taller but we eat similar sized portions (or I eat more). So I would probably increase portion size if you do want to put on weight. I also often have some Greek yogurt, fruit and granola as an evening snack. But mostly go to the doctor and check your iron levels etc. and then reassess if necessary.