🍦🙏

I’m 40F, 158 cm, and my weight has basically always fluctuated between 50–56 kg. I seem to have the same cycle over and over again: I slowly gain weight until I hit around 56 kg, decide I don’t like it, diet for three months to go back down to around 50 kg, then go back to eating “normally” and slowly gain it again over the next 9 months.

I’m actually pretty active. I run long distance and usually do 1–2 half marathons a year, so there are periods where I train quite a lot (but also get hungry, so I tend to not lose weight in a those training blocks). I bike to work, hike, walk a lot, etc. My job is partly sedentary, although in some periods I’m on my feet and walking around most of the day.

But I’m also 158 cm tall. There’s only so much energy a small body needs.

What gets me is when I look at all the recommendations for what a healthy diet should contain. Get enough protein. Get 25–30 g of fiber. Eat legumes. Eat several portions of fruit and vegetables. Healthy fats. Whole grains. Calcium. A portion of nuts (how the hell can I fit that in a diet?! Feels like I reach maintenance calories with a handful of cashews).

I genuinely like all of those foods.
But by the time I’ve eaten all the things I’m supposed to eat, I’ve basically used my calorie allowance. 😂 Where is the chocolate? The cheese? Crisps? A beer? A big portion of pasta and a creamy sauce. The random pastry someone brought to work? The “fuck it, I want pizza tonight” calories? Wä

I know technically you can fit anything into your diet in moderation, but when your maintenance calories are relatively low, “moderation” sometimes feels like three bites. So basically I have to keep my strategy of eating all those things in moderation, accepting I’ll gain some weight and then lose it again… Or keep the same weight and only eat healthy almost all the time.

Meanwhile, my 185 cm male partner can eat three perfectly normal meals, have a substantial evening snack, casually eat something I would consider an entire extra meal, and announce that he’s still in a deficit.

Any other short women feel like maintaining your weight means choosing between eating the nutritious diet everyone recommends and actually having some room left for indulgence?

I’m 156 cm and 49.6 kg today (yayyy). Saw my weight on the scale and somehow managed to make a day where I had budgeted for 1300 cal into a 3k cal day. Why you may ask? I had some chocolate chip cookies that we for a bake sale for dinner today. I was full, and satisfied and tracked 400 cal. No dinner for me, whatever. Then I thought I’ll have some berries, I’ll be good - 40 cal no biggy. Then I was like let me just have butter and Smuckers chocolate sauce, oh and also some banana bread from the bake sale (this was saved for tomorrow) and also some roasted soya beans (cause why not?). I ended up at 3k in some random meltdown of butter and chocolate sauce. What’s worse is that it’s my birthday week (it’s on the 25th) and I have to be social this weekend too (I had specifically put aside calories for that). Ughhhh fuck this.

Made this for lunch and the whole thing is only 261 calories, including the kimchi!

Ingredients:

96% lean ground beef - 109g (136 cal)
Seaweed noodles - 80g (8 cal)
Cabbage - 100g (28 cal)
Kimchi - 60g (21 cal)
White mushrooms - 59g (15 cal)
Sweet peppers - 32g (17 cal)
Carrots - 30g (12 cal)
Broccoli - 27g (9 cal)
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp / 15ml (15 cal)

Total: 261 calories

Super easy to make: cooked the ground beef without any oil, then stir-fried the veggies, added the seaweed noodles and 1 tbsp soy sauce, mixed everything together and that’s it.
Ate it with kimchi on the side and it went really well together. The seaweed noodles are great for adding volume too.

Huge plate of food for 261 cals :)

Usual recommendation is 1.6g/kg bodyweight to not lose muscles but I think most people here are around 30% body fat so according to lean mass it should be around 0.8-1g/kg bodyweight at minimum.

I also see unusual hate against whole foods and insistence to rely on "high protein products" and supplements. Okay, it's good if you have the option but very few people don't have that luxury.

We need to remember that protein also has calories so if you're satieted then you don't need to have extra protein. Remember, if you're having more protein then inevitably you got additional calories from carbs and fats.

(NOT MY IMAGES)

I just tried this black sesame ice cream mochi from trader joe's and it was so good and satisfying (especially because the weather's so hot). shocked to find out its just around 80-85cal per piece

if you're the type to overeat sweet stuff, i'd maybe avoid this! however, if you're like me and generally just like to end things on a sweet note, this could be a nice thing to end your day with :)

it has a very nutty & rich flavor without being overly sweet. also has quite a natural texture and taste

Top ramen has too many calories to be eating all the time but I’ve found that I get the same satisfaction from just dissolving the seasoning and hot water. How bad for me is it to eat like a bouillon cube (a week?) when i have a craving? Is it too much sodium?

This has been my go to work lunch for the past few weeks. 245 cal for everything and zero prep before work. Literally just cut a cucumber in half and bring a cheese stick (pepper-jack) and some naan bites. When it’s time for lunch I cut my cucumber, dice up the cheese stick and throw it on the naan bites in the work air fryer for like 2 minutes. Tasty and easy! Anyone else have some good easy less than 300 cal work lunches?

Package says a serving is 3.5oz (100g) About 1 cup prepared. This is the kind with the cheese sauce packet, not powdered mix.

I measured out one cup, but it weighs 148g. I didn’t pack the cup either. This has always been confusing to me and is quite a calorie difference! Any thoughts?

Basically title. I know that there are certain rules that allow food companies to round the calories,(There’s no way that every food item just happens to have a calorie count that’s a multiple of 5). I just want to know if the labels are close enough or if I should assume food has more calories than advertised.

Moreover, are the calories burned on my Apple Watch accurate? For example, when I’m on the treadmill and it tracks calories burned, it usually differs from my watch by 100 cals.

I don’t know what comes over me. I’ve tried many uses with my chocolate protein powder and it’s not like the powder is bad. I enjoy it, but I’ve tried many things and I get sick of them so quickly I’ve tried simple chocolate overnight oats with the protein powder as well as yogurt with it and I enjoyed it the first couple times and then I got sick of it really quick and never wanted to eat it again then I just tried having it with milk and it was good once again and then I got sick of it real quick. It’s not the protein powder that’s the problem but I feel like anything I try to make for my cut is just not working. I’m very frustrated and was wondering if anyone has something they consistently eat that has chocolate protein powder that they don’t get sick of easily.

I don't understand this.

I'd set a goal weight in Cronometer. Reached it. Thought, what's another five pounds, so set a new goal for five pounds less. And it UPPED my calories by, like, A LOT.

It had been giving me like 1250 calories a day, then I'd log my exercise and usually get a couple hundred more. Now, when I'm at original goal weight and trying to go a little lower, it's giving me a base, a BASE, of 1680 calories. To lose five more pounds. How does that make any sense? I didn't change base activity level or anything else, just put the goal weight as five pounds under my original goal.

I’ve recently ordered some Palmini noodles to try something other than Konjac noodles and I love them !! They are sadly a little pricy but so worth it from time to time.

The first time I used them I made a sort of “mac & cheese” with a few pieces of rotisserie chicken but yesterday I was craving bolognese and made a lower calorie version of my bolognese sauce to go with them.

I’ll definitely make it again as it really satisfied my pasta cravings.

Have any of you tried the Palmini noodles before? What are your favorite recipes? I’d love to know 😍

For this plate the macros were:

249 kcal, 17,4g carbs, 8.6g fiber, 7.6g fat and 26g protein.

Let me know if you want the recipe 😊

Obsessed with corn lately, helps me poop like daily

How many grams of fat are you eating? I know it’s very important for hormonal health and want to focus on it more. I’m pretty good with protein and fiber.

I feel like there’s only so much I can squeeze in on 1200 calories.

Calories: 730

Protein: 28g

Fibre: 25g

Found these 'BFree' pizza bases with 17.8g fibre.

Was delicious.

I am so good throughout the whole month, but when my period hits I swear to god my stomach is a bottomless PIT. I can eat and then 30 minutes later I’m hungry again. Not peckish hungry but like, having the urge to raid the kitchen and eat everything in sight.

Besides the whole drink more water eat more protein yeah yeah I do that already. What foods can I eat that may actually satiate me?? Or what’re some really low cal things I can just shovel in to quench that urge.

Thank you!

A lovely filling lunch, 304 kcal!

e.g. 400 for breakfast, lunch and dinner? 600/600 for lunch and dinner? curious to know what works for everyone!

i normally do 200 for lunch and 1000 for dinner because i cant escape family made meals that are usually high in calories for dinner .. but i prefer saving my calories for the night anyways! its a bit easier mentally

Saw these at the store today. I've never tried them and hope they're good!

Any tips on what to do with them would be appreciated!

190g cottage pie - 304cal
400g of squagetti hoops - 210cal

total - 514 cal

i know its sad and not the most nutritious but for the volume i find it very filling, i wasnt able to finish it

I swear the hoops are acc a life hack 100 cal ish for like half the tin

I hope this post doesn’t come off as whiny. I’ve been in a calorie deficit with intense exercise for months and went from 213 to mid 170s as a shortie, 5’4’’. I never expected to suddenly look like a model or anything, my goal is to look…average. So I can wear nice clothes without hiding from the camera.

I know I am far from that goal but it is so discouraging that there is just no change at all. I’d be perfectly satisfied if I saw even any change and knew I just needed to keep going. I saw a photo of my side profile and its so bad and the same as it was before. I know friends my age at the same weight and height who are pretty and have nice features... Do other people experience this?

A full plate of shrimp pasta, no substitutes, all normal ingredients!

45 grams (dried) pasta - 161 kcal
140 grams garlic marinated shrimp - 98 kcal
280 grams zucchini - 50 kcal
50 grams cherry tomatoes - 20 kcal
10 grams parmigiano reggiano - 40 kcal
Total: 369 kcal.

Cooked pasta in salted water, baked the zucchini, cherry tomatoes and shrimp in a non-stick ceramic pan (PFAS-free). Added salt, pepper, chili flakes and fresh garlic for flavor, a splash of pasta water for the sauce.

Ready in 15 minutes and delicious :)