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

[miller123]

@joyinyah 5'0 22F 165 lbs Without counting calories and maintaining, my normal days looked like this:

Breakfast: coffee with cream, scrambled eggs, babybel cheese or a slice of another cheese, and some fruit (normally strawberry or banana if I was extra hungry). A lazy breakfast was a toasted bagel with cream cheese and fruit

Lunch: Breaded chicken breast, half cup of rice, some cooked vegestable (I honestly like spinach and broccoli...if I'm in the mood I put cheese on top lol)

Dinner: My dinners and lunches are really similar..I could honestly eat the same thing for days. Anyways a different preparation of chicken breast like chicken marsala or sesame chicken or chicken caprese etc. The rest is the same half cup rice, cooked veggies, sometimes salad instead but I don't like salad lol

Dessert: I don't eat much dessert or sweets. Probably only once a week and I think that's important for me to make sure I don't gain weight

Snacks: I also don't snack. I only eat three meals a day or two meals a day if I woke up late/not that hungry. I've always eaten this way so it might be hard to get used to. If I'm really hungry I eat a banana or yogurt as a snack.

Tips: The biggest tip I can say is to not drink your calories and limit sugar. For some people this might be really difficult. It means no soda, no juice. I never liked soda that much so I was able to get rid of it years ago (especially because I hate corn syrup in American drinks). I mainly drink tea, water, and coffee. I don't add real sugar, only sweetener (my favorite is liquid stevia). I also use a low calorie creamer in my coffee. Try to find low calorie options of things you like and eat less processed foods with fewer ingredients.

I don't eat like this right now since I'm on a 500 calorie deficit to lose weight but I ate like that for years (and will return to it) when I need to maintain. Also don't eat out too much or order takeout because that's what caused me to gain weight. You never know how many calories are in restaurant food. Another problem is stress eating. I normally gained weight during finals weeks eating ice cream because I was stressed lol

Anyways good luck! As petites it's hard and slow to lose weight, but when it comes to maintaining we can definitely eat enough to be satisfied. American portion sizes have taught us that we need to eat more than we actually do to be full. Life and eating doesn't have to be miserable just because we're short lol

 

[joyinyah]

@miller123 Thank you! I'm actually thinking of doing a longer maintenance at around 165, so this is especially useful! And sounds sustainable!

Definitely going to play around with these suggestions in my longer-term plan!

I'm the same way with eating really similar each day, so maybe I could get by with just a whole ton of chicken breasts

Thanks again!!

 

[miller123]

@joyinyah Glad I was helpful! I think the most important thing is finding healthy, whole foods you enjoy in the longterm. I also forgot to mention but oil and butter is another thing to be careful about calorie wise. That and sauces/salad dressing. If you were to measure/look at calories for only a few things, I'd recommend those. Also whichever carb is your favorite, I'd check the calories and decide on a reasonable portion size (which for me is half cup of rice).

 

[tmac77]

@joyinyah A great way to support satiety is protein and fat. When I get hungry in between meals I like to boil an egg or two and eat those, that always does the trick. Also kettle and fire bone broth has 20g of protien and that will satiate you too. A non-animal based alternative would be some avocado and salt. anyways, here's what I eat in a day. 5foot3, 148lb or so.

Morning

Bone broth. I've been having bone broth instead of coffee or tea in the morning, it's great. I add some salt and some Apple Cider Vinegar to mine. I get it mailed to me in bulk from Kettle and Fire, its cheaper that way.

I like to have a late breakfast and a big breakfast. I also had a slice of sourdough toasted, with goat cheese, some smoked salmon on it, and capers. I'm about to also have some plain whole fat greek yogurt (don't buy low fat dairy- it is lower saitety, more processed and tricks your body into utilizing sugar in properly) with pinneapple, honey, unsweetened coconut flakes, and maybe some chia.

Other common breakfasts that I have:

2 eggs

small portion of brisket or 2 slices bacon or small leftover steak or some sort of meat

half an avocado or a smoothie made of grass-fed whole milk, a fruit, collegen and a little honey

Mid day

I tend to not have a proper lunch most days and just do some small snacks instead (which is why I go for a big, filling breakfast) but I might have my leftover chicken tenders today

alternatively I might do something like

Open face avocado toast on sourdough, add over easy egg and pickled red onions

or

liver crisps or beef jerkey and some hard cheese like cheddar or parmigiano with olives

or

Some fruit and a piece of cheese

or

100% beef sausage bunless with some sour kraut and mustard

etc.

Dinner:

I like to do a protein (eg chicken, salmon, steak, scallops, , whatever) with a veggie (asparagus baked with lemon,butter & parmigiana, lime and pepper green beans,) for a simple dinner or other go to's include:

homemade burgers without the bun - burger tomato, onion, cheddar, avocado oil based mayo, etc,

I'll occasionally have a starch with dinner too, such as boiled yucca with homemade mojo, some Japaneese sweet potato, white rice, etc. I eat this all more sparsely- probably less than once a week. I don't really crave it either.

Yesterday for dinner I had a filet of mahi mahi cooked with pepper with salt, lime, and cilantro and then some sweet herbal tea warm with milk and honey - it was great.

Don't deprive yourself of tasty foods, of fat, or butter, or salt. You can eat these things and cut out excess carbs (you don't have to go carb free, just reduce your macronutrient ratio of how much energy you get from carbs, cut out processed foods (shop the edges of the grocery store and avoid the middle aisles, cut out sugars, excess sugars, and fake sugars, and lean into whole, tasty, protein and healthy fat rich foods (coconut, eggs, avocado, etc.)

Oh, and just go on short walks around the block after you eat, before the post meal sleepiness sets in. You'll do great.

 

[joyinyah]

@tmac77 Thank you! I'm trying to up my step count, so I can do the walking thing lol

And thanks for the shopping tips! I genuinely suck at adulting I don't kn9w how to shop at all lol

 

[onelovejenn]

@joyinyah Hear me out: if you're plateauing- YOU NEED TO TAKE A BREAK. If you don't back off when you need to, your plan is way too strict, insustainable, and you'll gain all that weight back. Slowly increase your calories by 100 a week until your weight stops moving. Don't just "eat whatever you want" like McDonalds every day, but eat at maitnence for at least 2 months. It sounds boring, but your body needs to latch on to that new set point so you can re-cut again and not bounce back to the high set point you started at. It's ok to take a break and do a refeed/maitnence period. It's a part of long term weight loss!

 

[joyinyah]

@onelovejenn Oh, I'm bad at wording lol...

I'm not plateauing! I'm actually still losing rather quickly (though slower than at the start, obviously)

When I said flagging I meant... mentally/emotionally I guess? Like... starting to get frustrated because it feels so interminably loooong. And scary!

But I will definitely do a maintenance break soon, just to like... reassess, I guess! Thank you for caring enough to be concerned!! The tips for maintenance breaks are a big help too, as that's coming pretty soon.

 

[onelovejenn]

@joyinyah Oh good! Yes! It really is good to take breaks and I'm glad you have a balanced outlook it is long.....and very annoying. Lol!

 

[joyinyah]

@onelovejenn Well, I'm trying to balance lol... glad it's working so far! It'll probably be q few years for me to get to q moderately healthy weight, and I keep conflating this time with when I tried losing ~5 years ago and regained a ton and then some... so... yeah... just begging people to help me stay sane, yknow... the way ya do. Totally normal, right?

 

[exp9382]

@joyinyah I’m 5’3” at 137lbs and eating at 1500 calories a day for a slow loss, aiming for 130lbs but might keep going to 125lbs.

I don’t eat breakfast, just have two or three cups of black tea.

I eat an early lunch around 11-11:30. Yesterday was an everything bagel with cream cheese, capers and lox with a whole grapefruit and Diet Coke.

Dinner was 3 pieces of homemade bbq chicken pizza and sparkling water. And a handful of my toddlers’ strawberries.

Today lunch: pretzels, Brie, yogurt, grapefruit ehh whatever else needs to be eaten in the fridge

Dinner: chicken breast with caesar salad, maybe a glass of wine

Tomorrow lunch: ham and Swiss sandwich with lettuce, tomato light mayo and mustard. Veggies and dip (sour cream French onion dip- no ranch)

Dinner: burger with caramelized onion, mustard, mayo, lettuce, tomato and some sort of salad on the side maybe a beer

Skipping breakfast means my lunch and dinner feel like real meals to me, it’s not hard to make them fit into my calorie budget.

 

[lmaturin2013]

@joyinyah I've always eaten pretty healthy with the occasional junk here and there. I've never had much processed and junk food in the house as a child so that helped with my weight control but I still managed to gained 40 lbs when I went through bouts of depression or sweet tooth cravings but I would say my diet was 75 percent healthy.....I hate to say this but we dont have much a calorie surplus ...they add up and just turn into fat....well at least for me cause I was quite sedentary. My main advice is to do cico, you really don't realize how much calories there are in certain foods. Find healthy delicous food that you love and forsee yourself eating longterm. For instance, I loved fresh spring rolls ( not the fried ones) they run me like 150 calories for 2 not including the sauce I eat this regularly. I also eat sweet potatos, rice crackers, salads. Low calorie chicken wraps, soups and etc... I just try to be mindful of the intake. Hope that helps!

 

[joyinyah]

@lmaturin2013 It does, actually help... I sometimes feel like it's easy for people who always stay in a healthier range... learning it's a struggle for everyone else is actually kinda comforting lol...

I think I really need to think about what foods I cant live without and what the calories look like around that lol

 

[bubble5]

@joyinyah There are lots of great answers here! If I were you, I would also be asking myself why I haven't eaten normally in my life to get to a bigger size. This could be very helpful info to adapting to a healthier new approach! I am in my mid-50's and was always slim and fit until my late 40's. Since I have figured out why and how I gained some weight (for me it's been habitual daily eating over my caloric limit just a bit to cope with buried early trauma + stress from various life circumstances)- it's been useful in crafting a successful approach to re-sizing myself.

 

[joyinyah]

@bubble5 Yeah... without going into too much gory detail, among other abuses, my parents implemented chronic starvation/force-feeding cycles, and I've definitely never recovered lol. Working on the therapeutic side of things, don't worry, but still need to get physically healthier in the meantime if possible...

Idk how well I'll stick to that or for how long, lol, but at least it will be better than if I hadn't tried... I hope...

Thank you for making sure that was pointed out, though... sometimes people gloss over the mental health side of things :/

 

[bubble5]

@joyinyah I've had disordered eating since I was a teen as a reaction to parental abuse & low tolerance to life stress from it. It's taken MANY forms-from anorexia to orthorexia to compulsive over-eating, etc. over the various decades!

Every effort you make will help somehow, and you sound very grounded & practical in your approach to all of this!

 

[joyinyah]

@bubble5 Thank you, that's reassuring! I was pretty uh... not grounded and very impractical when I tried losing weight the first time and it didn't stick. Hoping I've learned to do better over the last five years!

 

[dosanebi]

@joyinyah Big congratulations on your weight loss so far - you are doing amazing!

So I haven’t had any other meals except for breakfast yet but here is what I am planning on eating throughout the day (Side note: I calorie count so I am big on portion control and making my own meals most of the time):

• Breakfast: Two slices of wholewheat bread with egg mayo salad + tea with fat free milk
• Snack: One double choc chip cookie (Simple Truth brand: 66 kcal)
• Lunch: Mince and Broccoli wholewheat pasta that I cooked (1 serving: 351 kcals)
• Dinner: Low GI burger bun, beef burger, sweet potato fries/wedges
• Snack: Depending on the amount of calories I have left I will have a vegan brownie (141 kcals), or three mini donuts (150 kcals) or another cookie! I have a huge sweet tooth. And usually I will have some more tea during the day, and some fruits here and there.

 

[philipito]

@joyinyah I think something that makes it all feel a bit more sustainable for me is that I aim to eat a different amount of calories across a week, so if I’m hungrier or there’s an event or w/e I can eat more, or if I wake up late, or am not very active that day or just plain not as hungry, I’ll then eat less. I struggle with bingeing though so often if I go over my calories one day that feels like a free pass to just keep going a lot over several days in a row. So yeah my goal is to acknowledge that some days I will want to eat more food and to reach a point where I’m ok with that happening so it doesn’t lead to bingeing/weight gain long term