People's disbelief about necessary eating when you're big.

Hi there, I joined a fitness club last week and was told that I am eating too much, my complex carbs are too much. I eat between 1400 and 1800 calories a day, whatever I need to function. Rarely I go above 2000, rarely (once a month, if even). I am up at 5am and return for 10pm. In the morning I have 1 slice of brown bread and at lunch a handful of brown pasta, those are my complex carbs. I explained that I am a student nurse and nurse's aide and work long hours (13 hours) and was told to eat fruit. That won't work. I know my body, I've been through this so many times and for the first time ever I weigh less than I did the year before. That's huge for me (excuse the pun!) and I did it by myself.

Sorry for rambling, I'll get to the point now. Do you ever feel that people think that you should barely be eating at all? If I am to be healthy and "normal" surely I should be eating what my slim colleagues eat? And believe me, I eat better than most of them! I am so tired of the judgement and the restrictions that others seek to place, it's as if they can't believe I can be this size and eat well, I must control myself more more more. When I explain that if I drastically cut calories that in 20 years I'll be eating 900 a day just to maintain the weight they dismiss it.

I feel so annoyed with this woman and others like her, who had been talking of her birthday cake and eating a donor kebab. I feel tired of the hypocrisy, I make this continued effort and still I get those looks when I eat, even though I have a great diet. Just feeling really down about it today. :cry:

ah faustina don't feel down about it do your own thing and don't listen to others - apart from me that is ha ha. ah no i believe you when you say you probably eat healthier than them so try not to compare to them. i eat about 2000 calories a day and usually healthy stuff and i know i could eat less but when you think of it 600 for each meal is nothing as it is!! i'm a student nurse too funnily enough and know them killer long days all too well you need plenty of carbs for that sort of work and its not like you sitting behind a desk i know how they work the students

all the best for the weight loss and hope it goes down slowly and surely for you which is best i think anyway

Ta so much Breadbin, have had a whopper of a time since my post and ate way too much crap, just felt so down about the whole thing. Stepped on the scale this morning and nowt different, don't know what the craic is??? I appreciate your honesty with your calories, 2000 is a fair whack alright and you should be ashamed of yourself for eating full stop, never mind that much! Nobody doing 8-9s on their feet has any clue how much it can wreck you, "eat fruit all day" bwahahaha .

Anyway, just so relieved that my body has been kind and not held onto owt, must've felt sorry for me. Back to the shops to buy some good food, may even go mad and hit 1800 a day. I appreciate your post, ta so much.

I just love it when people think they know better than you know yourself.

You know what you need and it all sounds pretty healthy to me, keep up the good work, you are doing just great!

My mum is the prime example of this. We're both overweight, me much much more so than her and we're both dieting, but I'm eating a pack of ninety five calorie crisps that she bought and she says "you know there's calories in those".

...well, -yeah-, but I've only had 700 today, one pack of crisps isn't gonna hurt.

People can be quite intrusive can't they? I know it is advised to tell your family when you're changing how you eat so you can get support. I think that's bogus in practice, because people watch and then feel the need to comment. I'm sorry about your ma, the thing that comes to mind on that is, "there's something about you that I don't like about me."

I hope you're not letting it get you down, keep at it, don't worry about next week, just make a good decision today, now, this mealtime and all those healthy mealtimes will look after you. :happy036:

Hi Faustina.....ahhhh calories the bane of my life....hahaha!!! I generally try to have around 1500 to 1800 per day, depending on what exercise I have done that day and whether it's one of those days !!!! I have gone much lower before on other diets and yes I see weight drop off...but then flies back on !!!!!

Plus I 'm a fat Vegetarian so you can imagine the comments I get about healthy food choices etc etc !!!!!

This was the main reason I stopped counting calories really!! I've always lost weight doing it in past but felt guilty whenever I ate something that was outwith the 1000 or so calories I was eating a day. Plus I was lethargic, grumpy and found it difficult to concentrate. All these 'eat 800-1000 calories a day' diets rarely factor in your size and the energy it takes to keep a bigger person's body going.

When my boyfriend and I got together it was the first time I'd ever considered this. He's still overweight but lost a lot of weight in the past with WW. It wasn't til he asked me 'do you really think it takes the same energy to keep you going as a 100lb person' that I realised he was right. Plus, as you say, different people's bodies react differently to things. If you're doing a labour intensive job you absolutely need carbs, or you'd get to 2pm and fall off your feet!!

Please don't lose heart honey. It sounds like you're trying ever so hard.

Dont feel down about it At least you know what your doing is working! I really find it unfair how some people can eat way over their daily calories, and not put on weight! aaaaaah that would be the day!!