How much is a normal meal size??

funkyspunky872

I was once told while in treatment for bulimia that my meals were too big despite being a good amount of calories. My dietician at the treatment center brought it up while the other patients and I were sitting at the table, eating dinner. She said my meal size was way too big and that I shouldn't eat it all. A typical meal for me would be an Amy's organic tv dinner and half a bag of frozen broccoli -- just steamed with salt and pepper. If I go out to eat at a Japanese restaurant for instance, I eat a small salad, a cup of miso soup, a California roll, and maybe 3/4 cups of unshelled edamame (and that's a bigger meal for me since it's a rare occasion and I divide my calories different for the day.) I love to go to Starbucks for lunch, where I get a sandwich and a latte of some type.

How much do you eat in one sitting? Not calorie-wise, but sheer amount of food...

skylark94

That depends entirely on how calorie dense the food is. I can eat a whole lot more broccoli than pizza.

An eating disorder can certainly change things though. Perhaps the dietitian was thinking that an over stuffed feeling would increase the desire to purge.

HeidiCooksSupper

It makes very little difference how much you eat at a sitting. There is some recent research that consuming most of your calories late in the day (after dark) messes with our circadian rhythms a bit but this is new developing information. For some folks, eating too much at one meal leads to eating to much at the next but how you spread your calories out during the day or even during the week is pretty much an individual choice. Do what works for you.

But, and this is a big BUT, treatment for bulimia may best respond to specific eating patterns. So, listen to folks qualified in treating bulimia.

jfrankic

It's nothing for me to eat 1/2 pizza or a stack of 7 pancakes or two cheeseburgers (homemade 1/3 lb each) or 8oz cooked chicken on six cups of lettuce (a whole bag mix) and I have room to spare. My meals are calorie dense and physically huge, especially my dinners. I love to eat and I love to eat alot!

No history of eating disorder though.

Deipneus

I avoid large volumes of low calorie density food. I don't like feeling stuffed.

Agate69

One cup of food, 5x a day

funkyspunky872

It makes very little difference how much you eat at a sitting. There is some recent research that consuming most of your calories late in the day (after dark) messes with our circadian rhythms a bit but this is new developing information. For some folks, eating too much at one meal leads to eating to much at the next but how you spread your calories out during the day or even during the week is pretty much an individual choice. Do what works for you.

But, and this is a big BUT, treatment for bulimia may best respond to specific eating patterns. So, listen to folks qualified in treating bulimia.

Oh I stopped going to treatment almost two years ago after that place. I have never been more depressed or triggered in my life than the time I spent there. I spent most every night trying to come up with the courage to commit suicide so I wouldn't have to go back the next day. After I left, things were still rough, but I've made more progress on my own than I did with their help. I don't binge, purge, or restrict nearly as much. I've even gone several months without falling back on my ED at all. Nothing anybody says will convince me to seek help from another bogus "professional" again.

nxd10

I typed in 'portion size plate' and got some nice visual examples:

https://www.google.com/search?q=portion+size+plate&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=waYrUuzZOcSEyAHz4IHACQ&ved=0CE0QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=713#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=B6X29JjT9nKe8M:;QqNJVF-2F_FCsM;http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chapterq8.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F04%2Fmeal.jpg;http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chapterq8.com%2F%3Fp%3D6117;493;335

You can also go to WebMD and get some nice pictures. But think a piece of meat the size of a playing card, a spoonful of starch (potato, yam, corn), and half a plate of greens (salad or veggies). That would be a good dinner and probably around 500 calories.

Achrya

Whatever size I make it.

bajoyba

I've been known to eat salads as big as my head. Or an entire bag of steamed broccoli. Personally, I like a lot of volume, so I can really go all out with the veggies. I think it's fine to eat a large volume of food in one meal as long as it agrees with you. If you don't find it triggering or uncomfortable, I don't think there's a reason to worry about it.

itsfruitcake

That's a good point actually, I used to eat really big meals, or have a small portion but then have seconds. It's difficult to describe the size, but it would be a fairly large plate or bowl full of food - and with some foods (mac and cheese OMG) I'd eat half an oven dish quite easily, when my bf had long given up. I've been trying to go down to smaller portions in order to avoid eating big portions of calorie dense food since I think that really was one of my main reasons (in addition to not exercising) for putting on loads of weight.

Thanks to the nxd10 ^ for pointing out the portion size dishes, I didn't think of that! I like this one: http://qchealthnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Enlarged-Adult-Plate.gif

Francl27

Totally depends on how you much you like/need to snack and how many of your calories you want to eat as meals.