"What is normal eating?" 5'1 43F 274.4>234.4=40lb lost

@foxhound0123 Yeah lol I think I hit 100g of protein like... once in my whole life... and I was over calories that day lol

And thank you!

So... it sounds like you do simple standard breakfast/lunch and then mostly anything for dinner?

That's kind of how I've been eating while losing... same early meals a lot, then lots of variation at dinner. Maybe when I get my activity levels up it will be easier!!
 
@joyinyah Yeah definitely! It eliminates a lot of stress or planning around meals and since I started doing it this way, it’s the only time I’ve had at consistent progress. I might change it up slightly each week but knowing what I’m making really helps me to stick with packing my own food for the day.
 
@foxhound0123 That sounds super helpful lol... I keep wishing some like... ultimate nutrition authority would just tell me exactly what to eat, like, I'd stick to it... I just keep changing stuff up, cause I'm not sure what's correct lol
 
@joyinyah I think variety is good! Have you tracked your macros? If you do it via the Loseit app and make sure you are eating lots of veg and fibre you can’t go wrong! I try to aim for a good balance between all three macros, maybe a bit lower on the fats but when I first started tracking it was super helpful because I was eating like 50% fat lol!
 
@joyinyah I’m 5’1”, been maintaining at 120 lbs for 18 months without calorie counting or consistent exercise (I take my kids for stroller walks but that’s about it). My highest weight was 175, and I’ve been up and down a lot but I’ve finally found what works for me.

Firstly, I don’t eat breakfast. I eat two meals a day and a snack. When I eat in the morning, it just makes me hungry all day.

Secondly, I eat real food and I cook almost every meal myself. I also avoid added sugar. I do buy some packaged food but I always check the ingredients and make sure it’s made with things I recognize. I do my grocery shopping online for curbside pick up so I can be very deliberate about what I pick and not make spontaneous choices.

Thirdly, I listen to my body and eat intuitively. If I’m hungry, I take a minute to think about what would make me feel satisfied - and I usually lean toward protein, fat, and fruit/veggies.

A typical day for me:

11:30a: a bowl of plain whole milk Greek yogurt, cherries and grapes, cashews, chia seeds

2p: a slice of homemade sourdough bread with butter and everything bagel seasoning, an orange

6p: salad with oil and balsamic vinegar, grilled pork chop, homemade rice pilaf, roasted brussels sprouts

Eating this way is incredibly enjoyable to me. I never feel deprived or unsatisfied and I never feel too full. It also takes no effort mentally, and I don’t worry about calories. I will say, though, that I’m fortunate to have a good amount of free time as a stay at home mom to dedicate to shopping and cooking; for those with busier schedules, I imagine it would be difficult.
 
@joyinyah I’m on the higher end of a healthy BMI but quite active. Also do not count calories and love to snack. Here’s me today:

Breakfast: big bowl of steel cut oats, half a banana, chia seeds, oat milk and a spoonful of peanut butter. Coffee with half and half. About an hour after breakfast I had a square of dark chocolate.

Lunch: leftover southwest salad with chopped veggies, tofu, tortilla chips, and cheddar cheese. I was still hungry, so I heated up some leftover potatoes and half an egg. Topped with cheese and siracha.

Afternoon snacks: Later I had a handful of gluten-free pretzels and dark chocolate covered almonds. I also snacked on half an apple and a few slices of cheese. I still had a sweet tooth, but avoided ice cream while out and made myself a smoothie with banana, spinach and peach instead.

Dinner: two small veggie tamales and rice and beans with salsa, etc. Plus a hard seltzer. This is a go-to meal when I don’t have time to cook because it’s canned beans, rice cooker rice, and frozen tamales. Super easy.

That’s it! Obviously this isn’t a diet worthy day, but I shared in case it’s helpful to see a normal day of non-dieting eating that also isn’t a super obsessive amount of calories (I went on a run and bike commuted). I try to make sure each meal is balanced, in that it has a fat, a protein, a carb and at least one produce. And avoid too much processed food, but obviously I ate pretzels and chocolate today (which is def typical for me).
 
@romaious116
Obviously this isn’t a diet worthy day, but I shared in case it’s helpful to see a normal day of non-dieting eating that also isn’t a super obsessive amount of calories
Click to expand...

It is super helpful! Thank you!!

I was reading this one out loud and my daughter said "sounds like stuff you would eat!" 😂

Definitely writing all this down, thank you again! It really does help seeing the various ways people space their food!!
 
@joyinyah Of course! Personally I think jumping to a 1,500 calorie, low-carb diet may make you less likely to sustain lifestyle changes. I’m not a doctor or dietician, but my advice would be to focus on the non-food stuff (get more sleep if needed, drink more water) and then in terms of food focus on adding in good stuff and making some swaps rather than cutting out any food groups. So, add some arugula to your pasta. Or try to dilute your soda with seltzer.

I’m in the camp where I could lose 10-15 pounds for aesthetics, but don’t necessarily need to lose any for health so I don’t have a ton of motivation rn haha. It’s easy to think with groups like this that you need to eat perfect to be healthy… but just moving more and eating more veggies will have you feeling better physically without feeling deprived, which will help keep you motivated for years to come!
 
@joyinyah I eat between a low carb diet and strict keto. I am close to my weight goal, so these days I cheat a lot. When I was trying to lose the extra pandemic weight of 20 lbs, I ate only keto. I used a kitchen scale and weighted everything and used an app to calculate how many calories, proteins, carbs, fats what I was eating. One by one. Weighting food and seeing hoe much I should eat helped me understand what was normal eating for me.

My breakfast would be: A slice of cheese, 5-7 olives, 2 boiled eggs, plain coffee. Lunch could be 1-2 spoons of plain yogurt and burger meat without bread. Some meat without a side again. If I don't have time to cook I would change the meats with boiled eggs.

I had a team dinner yesterday, so couldn't stick to my dinner plans, and had a sweet cocktail. But managed to walk 14000 steps. Will be extra careful with what I am eating today.
 
@dawn16 Oh this is very helpful, thank you! It especially helps seeing the don't eats and the liquids too!

Also maybe I will go steal some hello fresh recipes too 😆
 
@joyinyah Hi lady! Congratulations on your 40lb loss! That's amazing :)

Yesterday I had some melon with greek yogurt and cinnamon for breakfast.

For lunch I made a rice noodle jar with garlic, ginger, chilli and veg (yellow bell pepper, red onion, grated carrot) I had some mussels defrosted so I threw a handful of them in too.

I had a pre training snack of a banana on wholemeal toast.

And then for dinner I made wholegrain pasta in a tomato sauce with prawns, mussels, spinach, garlic and chilli. I sprinkled a small handful of cheese on this.

I also drink 350ml of milk a day and I had 2 high fibre biscuit bars after dinner.

I don't count calories myseld so I don't know how much this is but it would be a typical enough training day for me. I hope this helps :)

Edit : spelling
 
@eternalbliss Thank you 😊

It does help!! I'm still counting calories right now, but I'm just trying to envision how a day would look at "normal" or "healthy"...

And typically we don't think of food in numbers, so hearing the meals described really helps me conceptualize!!

Also your meals sound fantastic! 😋 thank you again!!
 
@joyinyah For me, it was learning and accepting that my body was actually full even though my mind was not. I used to split with my boyfriend 50/50, and I'd be overly full after a meal and he'd be still hungry (because he's twice my size). We now split meals so that I get one third and he gets the rest.

Also note: I actually feel I could do with eating a bit more, especially in terms of having a snack here and there to tide me over until the next meal. I think it would give me more energy. I am just not good at finding easy nutritious snacks, and kind of like feeling hungry before a meal anyway. But I'll write a few days of food from last week.

Monday

Morning: Oatmeal with greek yoghurt, chocolate protein powder, nutella, peanut butter, chia seeds and half thawed strawberries (dunno why I like them to still be cold in the middle). This sounds like a lot, but I make a fairly small portion (use 30 grams of oats) and its EXTREMELY filling. This is my go-to weekday breakfast as it's like 5 min to make.

Lunch: Two fish cakes with root veggie mix and three small potatoes.

Dinner: One portion of chicken tandoori with half a naan, rice and salad.

Dessert: 4 ice cream mochi

Result: Very filling day - felt energized and good. This is a normal weekday in terms of amount and nutrition.

Wednesday

Morning: Not very hungry, so a yoghurt.

Lunch: Forgot to bring lunch, nothing looked good in the cafeteria at work. Sad small salad with cucumber, lettuce, egg and feta cheese with two slices of focaccia on the side.

Early Dinner: Starving when I got home so made leftover fried rice with sausages, egg, random assortment of frozen veggies, and soy sauce and spices. Ate one "big" portion (big being relative - probably 400 grams).

Actual Dinner: Hung out with friends and ordered a maki-roll. Not super hungry because of early dinner.

Snacks and dessert: A bit of chocolate and a handful of tortilla chips with guacamole.

Result: Not a great food day. The morning yoghurt would have been fine if I had a more substantial lunch. Lacked energy at work and at home - was supposed to do some chores and go to the gym before going to my friends but was too tired and hungry. Earlier in my journey I would have binged on the snacks, but now I waited until after I had sushi, was full, ate the snacks slowly and thus satisfied by less.

Saturday

Morning: Sourdough toast with avocado, egg and bacon. I am basic bitch, I am aware. But it's extremely tasty and filling! Go-to weekend breakfast.

Lunch: Had a second sourdough toast with avocado, egg and bacon, because I just wanted to eat it again!

Dinner: Boyfriend made homemade thin-crust pizza. I made a salad on the side to make the meal more nutritious and filling. Pizza on its own to me (especially thin-crust), never really fills me up. Also had two glasses of wine.

Dessert: Boyfriend made creme brulee. We had one each.

Result: Great food day. Had energy, everything was tasty and filling, was in a good mood, slept well, had a great gym session - all over pleased.
 
@leachim7 Oh wow, thank you so much for all the detail! It's especially helpful seeing how you felt on various days/times!

And I used to split 50/50 with my daughter, who's much taller and has a higher limit... maybe we will do the 1/3 thing too 😆

I also appreciate the clarification on "relatively big" for the fried rice... I'm still trying to learn what large/small/normal portions look like!!
 
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