Do I eat BADLY??!

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OP might have high metabolism then, more carbs is the way forward.. Basically just eat eat eat

No, she doesn't.

The less you weigh the less calories you body needs, if you're a female you need less calories than your male counterparts and if you're shorter you need less calories than your taller counterparts. OP is all of those things (female, weights very little and not particularly tall)

OPs current metabolic calorific needs (to maintain weight, though she should be gaining as underweight) are only 1461 calories a day if she does little to no exercise. Calculated using a TDEE calculator:

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

Reply 21

Anonymous #2

Original post by SophieSmall

Not sure if you're telling her to eat that much because she needs to be gaining weight (as underweight) or if you're throwing that number out because of the "average daily calories a woman needs" figure?

The latter (and also from personal experience). Why, what would you recommend?

Reply 22

SophieSmall

Original post by Anonymous

The latter (and also from personal experience). Why, what would you recommend?

Damn, really hoping it was the first.

In future please refrain from telling people how many calories they should eat in a day unless you know: their age, height, gender, weight, activity level and their goal (lose, maintain or gain) and use a TDEE calculator to find out what they as an individual actually need in terms of calories per day.

The "averages" can be wildly off, especially since they were created back in the 50s when people were a lot more active than they are now (which lowers their calorific needs)

Telling people the wrong calorie amounts can be harmful if someone doesn't understand this and doesn't know what they are doing and follow you blindly.

For example my TDEE (amount of calories I can eat in a day to maintain weight) is only 1600 calories. So if I ate at your recommended level I'd be gaining 1lb approximately every 8.75 days.

Reply 23

Anonymous #2

Original post by SophieSmall

Ah okay I didn't know that! I just calculated my TDEE to be 2012 calories but I've been eating 2500-3000 for the past 3 years and I have not gained any weight (my BMI is 19.6). Possible explanation for this?

Reply 24

SophieSmall

Original post by Anonymous

inaccurate calorie counting or not putting in the correct stats in your TDEE.

Scientific studies have shown that people within the same categories (same height, weight, age, gender and activity levels) do not have metabolisms differing more than 100-300 calories with over 100 being extremely rare.

Fact is you don't have a magical metabolism, it's just not how the body or physics works.

Reply 25

Anonymous #2

Original post by SophieSmall

You're probably right tbh, I chose the 'sedentary' category when that's not really true and I probably exercise more too. You seem to know a lot about this stuff, where/how did you learn?

Reply 26

SophieSmall

Original post by Anonymous

You're probably right tbh, I chose the 'sedentary' category when that's not really true and I probably exercise more too. You seem to know a lot about this stuff, where/how did you learn?

I study biomedical science and have a general interest in this topic :smile:

I also am quite passionate on people being informed on this subject because of the obesity epidemic. I feel like a lot would change for people trying to lose weight if they just understood this and stopped believing the ridiculous amount of misinformation out there on how to lose weight. I find it incredibly frustrating.

Reply 27

Anonymous #2

Original post by SophieSmall

I study biomedical science and have a general interest in this topic :smile:

ah sweet, I should hopefully be starting biomedical science in September too! & Good on you for trying to get the right info out there! In your opinion, what would be the best way to tackle this obesity epidemic (should nutrition be taught in schools? ban unhealthy foods? leave it up to the parents?) and what sort of diet/foods would you recommend for people who wanna lose weight?

Reply 28

RedSquirrels

The important thing with healthy eating is a VARIED and BALANCED diet. It's good that you're not eating that much junk and crisps etc although a little is fine. Try to keep to 'real' food in general - food that has been naturally produced, not processed. Also try to exercise - it releases endorphins into the bloodstream and is therefore a great antidepressant and as it becomes a part of your life, you'll become much fitter and happier. Tbh tho, at 6 st I think you should try to eat more - I have about 5 weetabix for breakfast and eggs etc but that's because I'm growing and I have a really high metabolism (oh hey, because of exercise 😄) and probably a bit bigger (9 st 9lbs)

Reply 29

SophieSmall

Original post by Anonymous

Good luck with your results, and I hope you enjoy your course. I'm about to go into my final year.Thanks. You'd be surprised how many people hate being corrected and get defensive and angry if you point out the mistake in their arguments or advice. Never understood why people take it so personally, surely they'd want to know how it actually works? But nope.

Honestly it's a tough thing to tackle.

I definitely think nutrition, weight (which is different to nutrition) and calories work should be taught in school yes. The problem is making sure it is taught properly. Often times the facts get skewed and confused, confusing the people learning if the person teaching doesn't fully understand the topic themselves. I have seen this happen so many times with so many topics and it causing so many misinformation myths. I don't think banning unhealthy foods will do any good. People should eat a balanced diet because it's healthier for them. But in terms of weight you can still be obese and not eat junk food, it's all about the calories. I think blaming particular foods helps no one. Blaming particular foods and food types I think has created more of a problem. It has caused fad weight loss diets like high carb or low carb, high fat or low fat ect, which completely disregarding calories. So people still often don't end up losing weight because they are not counting calories and so cannot know if they are at a calorie deficit. Of course you can reduce portion size which reduces calories, but for some people the amount they need to eat to lose and maintain weight (particular women, very short people and sedenetary people) is quite low and so you need to be accurate.

With the amount of overweight and obese people in the UK I don't think it should be left up to parents. Especially since parents often pass on their bad eating habits to children and children with obese parents are much more likely to be obese themselves.

I think the biggest problem is people not understanding calories though. They have no idea how much they as individuals need, they generally speaking are terrible at estimating calories and so eat much more calories than they think (usually though it can be the other way round).

I'd recommend a balanced diet that is sustainable (food they like and doesn't make them miserable or leave them feeling hungry) at a calorie deficit. That simple.

Reply 30

Moura

i'm not sure this is healthy... 6 stone 10 is VERY light, how tall are you?

i mean it's not overly fatty but that obviously doesn't mean healthy. you need to make sure your diet is balanced. you're eating A LOT of carbs and not much else.

aside from that this seems a very bland diet :s-smilie:

what do you eat on other days?

do you not like curries or pasta sauces or anything? with lots of veg in them? just white rice and then with 1 or 2 other things doesn't sound good...
i would incorporate a wider variety of vegetables and some more fat (unsaturated e,g fish) and protein e.g. eggs for breakfast
ALSO try and make the change from white rice to wholegrain as high intake of starchy foods like processed grains (eg white rice AND make sure your oats are whole too!) and potatoes can cause high blood sugar levels (which can lead to diabetes) and both of these things seem to feature in your diet a lot.

also for the person who said but out dairy and meat... if you are choosing to do this then please make sure you are taking B12 supplements. I would only recommend this diet change if you are doing it for ethical reasons tbh (so therefore i do recommend but not for your health).

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 31

RickmanAlways

Original post by Anonymous

So this is what I ate today.... For breakfast I ate oats soaked in warm milk, drank a glass of water. I had an Apple as a midday snack. Whole meal bread with chicken for lunch. I had a Handful of black grapes as a snack. I had a Bowl of cut up watermelon as well. Sensations Crisps as a snack. For dinner I had a bowl of white rice with potatoes and cooked aubergine. Also had 3 chicken wings. As a dinner snack I ate a handful of strawberries. For my midnight snack I had a glass of milk and 3 chocolate biscuits. In total I drank 8 glasses of water today. Btw I weight 6 stone 10 lbs at 20 years old, so am I undereating?

Im 15 and only 10 stone!
If your happy with yourself and eating till your full id say no

Reply 32

math42

Original post by SophieSmall

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

According to this I burn 1961 calories in a day. But I sure as hell don't eat that many, and still seem to maintain healthy weight. :s-smilie:

I don't understand how you're meant to have so many calories. I don't eat breakfast, but even if I did I don't think it would make up the numbers. Today was not a particularly nonstandard day, and going through everything I ate, including any snacks, I don't think I even broke 1100. I tend to feel I could eat another large meal but never too hungry. Thought it maybe because I am absurdly sedentary at the mo but even at uni I wasn't eating much more than this when I had to walk around a lot. So I wonder what assumptions this program is making
edit: In fact, I am close to the top end of healthy (5'5" at around or just over 10 stone)

Reply 33

SophieSmall

Original post by 1 8 13 20 42

According to this I burn 1961 calories in a day. But I sure as hell don't eat that many, and still seem to maintain healthy weight. :s-smilie:

inaccurate calorie counting (people usually massively underestimate as it's obviously not innate knowledge to know how many calories are in things) or incorrect stats put into the TDEE.

You also have to take into account averages of how much you eat per day, even if you only ate 1100 today if you ate 2000 on another day and 2500 ect it kind of evens out.

Because trust me if your TDEE was truly 1900 and you were eating 1100 and not losing a scientist would very much like to meet you and study you.

Reply 34

math42

Original post by SophieSmall

Yeah I suppose there must be inaccuracy (Though my personal stats I am basically sure on). But the thing is innately I would be more inclined to overestimate relative to the stats I seem to be finding online. They all seem really low...maybe it is just a matter of not finding credible enough sources.

Reply 35

doodle_333

Original post by Anonymous

it's impossible to tell, I have porridge often but I have a big bowl which is probably 4-600 cals, but with the oats, rice, potatoes etc we have no idea on portions
at a middle ground guess in terms of portions I'd say 1700-1800cals which isn't a lot for a 20 y.o. girl really, you could easily be eating 2000-2500 and maintaining a normal weight
if you weigh 6st10 and this is a normal day my guess is you are definitely undereating, you're also eating virtually no vegetables soyou might want to increase that too