Smaller meal portions for women

[mynamefor2025]

Currently watching good morning Britain and they are discussing If smaller portions should be offered to women to help with obesity rates as women need fewer calories.

Er is there no obese men on the planet? I feel like given a few years, we will all be micro chipped and have every thing controlled for us by the government including our portion sizes.

I’d have thought a likely outcome of the combination of food and wage cost rises plus obesity/jabs issues is that the default portion sizes will shrinkflate to be about right for people with smaller appetites and bigger/greedier folk will pay more for ‘hearty portions’ and/or extra sides. TBH that makes more sense to me than meals being ‘default male’ size.

It’s quite common in Switzerland to get a “half portion”. It’s not half price because the overheads are the same, but it’s a lower price. I think it’s totally sensible. What I also like there is the concept of Fitnessteller, which is basically protein plus a range of salads. Just because you’re eating out doesn’t mean you want a blow-out.
The whole notion of women’s portions is, I reckon, just to get the debate going. But it’s a wholly sensible idea. The waste and overconsumption in restaurants (particularly chain pubs) is a bit grim really.

Agree - when we eat out I hate that I my choices are either to order a regular main which I won't get through or have a starter for my main. I look at the older kids portions and they are closer to what I eat.

Seems another way the world is built with men as the default sex tbh.

Another solution would be for all portions to be smaller, and then people can add on extras if they need/want

There was some discussion about smaller men requiring less calories and therefore require smaller portions.

Just have different portion sizes with different pricing.
I quite like the kids portions sometimes but get told no as I am way over 12 years old.
Other days I can happily out-eat DH.

No need to call them women's portions - just a half plate will be fine. Or coffee style -small , medium , large

Yes exactly!

I’m a bit peeved that women are being targeted here when, as has been pointed out more men are obese than women.

i do think that some portion sizes in restaurants can be excessive. Perhaps they should allow half portions to be requested by everyone.

Well offering smaller portions ( at reduced cost ) would not be awful

although I just tend to shove and spare food over the DH - neither of us have weight problems

This is a nonsense. Men do not need more food than women. It's pure sexism 'ladies' portions'. That said, I think half portions might be useful for people with smaller appetites.

I'd be up for smaller portion sizes - but based on preference rather than sex. The size of some restaurant servings are ridiculously big, which means food waste or unneccessary calories consumed.

When I've been abroad you can often get the same dish in a small or large plate - or one of the restaurants we go to has lunch and dinner sized portions.

When my friend had just had her gastric band surgery, most places here were fine to sell her a child's portion too - so I think that actually, it's not a bad idea, as long as it's a set thing and charged appropriately - not just arbitrarily giving someone the 'women's portion' because they're female.

Smaller people need smaller portions (given the same activity level). Which means on average women need smaller portions. I serve myself a smaller portion than my husband. It's an obvious thing to do and nothing to get worked up about. If I didnt then I would gradually put on weight.

I love it when restaurants offer mini dessert with a hot drink option.

Actually it’s in the thought stage already. I went to a conference for those in the hospitality industry and they were saying that there are so many people on weight loss jabs nowadays who just order starters or tiny meals that they think restaurants are going to have to think about that and cater for it (ie healthy, smaller, high protein type meals on the menu).

It would be pretty off putting for diners if they had to do a genital check in a restaurant for you to be able to order the larger portions....

I was listening to the Today show yesterday and they had the guy on who had written the report. Apparently they are not suggesting 'small portions for women' but rather promoting the idea of offering smaller portions given that it's unlikely we all need the same amount of calories. Usually women need fewer calories than men but anyone for any reason might like the flexibility of choosing a smaller meal. It's about giving choice, from what I understand, not rationing women.

Larger people with more muscle mass burn more calories. So on average, men do need more food than women.

I would really appreciate the option for a choice of portion sizes in pubs and restaurants. I have a small appetite and usually end up wasting food I can't eat, which I hate doing.

Making this about men and women is crass and clumsy, even if it's true that women need fewer daily calories, just offer a 'normal' portion and a smaller one and let people make up their own minds.

It’s a biological fact that women need less calories than men.

It always does when it suits them to scold women who step out of line by not conforming to the patriarchy’s rigid “beauty” standards. How very dare a woman enjoy food and eat more than a tiny morsel? Why isn’t she worried about her “waistline” and not following a diet?

There’s huge money to be made in reminding women all the time to stay insecure about themselves and therefore in line. It’s toxic and it follows us everywhere.

The optoon of portion sizes all round would be great. It would be good for children too, instead of them having shitty food options on a separate kids' menu!

I'm slim and consciously eat well most of of the time; if I'm going out for a meal, I want to bloody well enjoy it, not be patronised!

This is horse shit. We have an obesity epidemic

I’m pretty sure that the fact that women do the cooking and thus are in the kitchen makes them more likely to be overweight

I think there’s less obesity already thanks to weight loss drugs and the end of the ‘embrace your size’ bollox

In Finland there's a burger chain that has a Papa burger, Mama burger, and Baby burger. You can guess which is biggest and which is smallest.

I would like an option for smaller portions for lower prices for sure, I usually can't finish a restaurant meal, but only if its optional for everyone and not automatically given to women.