Why people can't lose even though they eat 'nothing'

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Francl27
Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So I was talking to my sister, who is quite a bit heavier than I am (not that much on the scale, but you can tell her body fat is probably 5% higher than mine at least), and tells me she really doesn't eat much at all. She actually only had a bowl of soup last night (maybe 75 calories worth?) because she wasn't hungry.

Then after spending two days with her this is what I found out...

- she drinks a glass of orange juice in the morning
- she eats half a baguette with jam for breakfast most mornings (likes sweet things for breakfast), or has a couple croissants
- she has a cappuccino drink every day
- she eats out most days at lunch (to be fair, I don't know what she eats at lunch)
- she has chocolate with coffee after lunch every day
- she had a cocktail or two a few times a week

So sure, she doesn't eat much in quantities, and might eat very light for dinner... but she packs up the calories without realizing it, especially with her drinks.

Needless to say... I'm very thankful for MFP! It's funny because in quantity I seem to eat more than she is, but I guess I just make better choices...
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Replies

  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,742 Member
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    Yeah, I know what you're saying. My mom's kind of like that. I am by no means a "clean eater" or anything. But my mom tends to go for easy frozen meals and similar things. She is puzzled by how I eat "so much" within my 1300-1400 calories. For example she likes a lot of frozen foods like Mrs Smith's pies or frozen lasagna...I think some of those portions are tiny and sad, but with a LOT of calories! So it does not seem like she eats much at all, and I eat a bigger volume of food most days. For example one of my favorite easy meals is French toast with fruit, and I'll have 3 slices of bread, 2 eggs, and sugar free syrup. To her that is an obscene amount of food and she would never eat that much at once.
  • obscuremusicreference
    obscuremusicreference Posts: 1,320 Member
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    My weight gain can be put down to drinks and grazing on foods that are calorie-dense. I've never eaten an entire pizza/sleeve/bag of anything in one sitting--I think coming to terms with why I'm fat and my medical tests are normal would have been much easier if that had been the case. I feel for your sister, because it's pretty sobering when you finally realize just how much you were eating.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    It's so easy to overlook some really calorie dense foods when you just casually glance at your day. Beverages are especially sneaky, an iced coffee can set you back 400+ calories, which many people would just ignore when assessing how much they ate during a day.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
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    Hard to convince someone that they are NOT eating nothing.
  • vicpoole188
    vicpoole188 Posts: 31
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    In one of my weight watchers meetings the leader listed a few foods eg. party sausage roll, a couple of chicken nuggets, small fries, I think iced coffee and a few other small items (hiding that it added up to a day's worth of calories). She asked us whether we would feel that we had overeaten that day. To a person we said that we would feel like we hadn't eaten anything much at all that day. She then revealed another list as long as your arm including low fat milk, cereal, salad, fruit, chicken, vegetables etc and asked the same question. We all said no way we would be able to eat all that in a day. You guessed it! The calorie content was the same. I've never forgotten that demonstration. :-)
  • nutty192
    nutty192 Posts: 50 Member
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    Just been reading these letters. Please, what is sugar free syrup? Nutty
  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
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    nutty192 wrote: »
    Just been reading these letters. Please, what is sugar free syrup? Nutty
    Syrup that has artificial sweeteners and waaaay less calories than regular syrup.

    A staple for me as well, when I make our weekly Sunday breakfast of French toast topped with fruit, whipped cream, and bacon. It tastes fine to me, and worth saving 200 cals for something else.

  • nutty192
    nutty192 Posts: 50 Member
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    I have not seen this. Is it available in the UK? Nutty
  • irenehb
    irenehb Posts: 236 Member
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    nutty192 wrote: »
    I have not seen this. Is it available in the UK? Nutty
    Sadly, not available in Australia either, though I am sure it can be ordered online for an arm and a leg.
  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
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    irenehb wrote: »
    nutty192 wrote: »
    I have not seen this. Is it available in the UK? Nutty
    Sadly, not available in Australia either, though I am sure it can be ordered online for an arm and a leg.
    Aww, sorry to hear that, guys.
  • tiptoethruthetulips
    tiptoethruthetulips Posts: 3,363 Member
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    You only spent two days with her and not full days at that. She probably eats more when she is by herself and probably eats more than she lets on. I was an expert at hiding how much I actually ate.
  • irenehb
    irenehb Posts: 236 Member
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    I spoke too soon, seems queens has a sugar free maple syrup in supermarket but I've never seen it on the shelf.
  • irenehb
    irenehb Posts: 236 Member
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    tiptoethruthetulips wrote: »
    You only spent two days with her and not full days at that. She probably eats more when she is by herself and probably eats more than she lets on. I was an expert at hiding how much I actually ate.
    True but I think the OP was saying many people don't realise how many calories they consume via drinks. On an epsiode of secret eaters, a guy lost weight because he was still eating his usual food intake but switched to diet soda during the recorded week.

  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    nutty192 wrote: »
    I have not seen this. Is it available in the UK? Nutty

    The Protein Works sell various flavours of low calorie syrups online: http://www.theproteinworks.com/zero-syrups-2195.html


  • nknjansen
    nknjansen Posts: 33 Member
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    It's a hard habit to break, but once someone is truly honest about how much they are eating, it's a lot easier to make healthy and satisfying choices that will let them maintain the calorie deficit in relative comfort and then make good decisions to maintain the loss.

    You need to be honest about everything entering your mouth (drinks, "just one" candy, etc) and probably need to try out a food scale to get a true idea of how much you're eating as well.

    I know it was a real eye opener for me.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    edited January 2015
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    My mother (who now lives with me) says the same thing. "I really don't eat that much."
    But after observing her... yeah.... she probably doesn't eat much in QUANTITY, but she eats alot CALORICALLY and she also drinks alot of calories.

    Typically she has a bagel thin with cream cheese (who knows how many tbsp of it, but it's at least 2 servings from what I see). OR she'll have a bacon sandwich (which ends up being like half a package of bacon) with like 2-3 servings of light mayo.
    She'll have 4-5 tall glasses of 2% milk with chocolate syrup
    Then she'll have another bagel thin with cream cheese
    Dinner is whatever I cook, and she probably eats like half of what I do.
    And then she'll finish the day off with 2-3 servings of ice cream.

    And then she complains that she can't lose weight. Well gee, it's no wonder.

    Also, my mother is like the epitome of broscience believing and fad/yoyo dieting doing. She keeps saying lately she wants to get into doing smoothies and juicing. All of this makes me :\ and I really wish I could help her... but she needs to figure it out herself or she'll never be successful. I can only help her so much. It sucks watching her though and not being able to do anything about it.


    So yeah... you may not 'eat much', but everything adds up in calories.
  • scupit
    scupit Posts: 32 Member
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    Yeah, I used to wonder why I wasn't losing weight too...until I started tracking! When you track, you pay attention to every single bite. I was really bad about snacking on my kid's snacks. Pour them Cheezits and I have a handful. I mean, it's just a handful. Or just a couple of beers. Before you know it, you're way over your calories for the day. I have a friend who is obese and she constantly says that she doesn't eat much. And she always eats way less than I do when we go out to eat. BUt she also makes different decisions that I do. She will order pasta whereas I will order a salad and barely use any dressing. Different choices, different outcome.
  • melimomTARDIS
    melimomTARDIS Posts: 1,941 Member
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    I have a friend who says similar. We hang out all the time, and I dont know if she eats differently when I am not around, but when we are together she drinks a 44oz pepsi every morning for breakfast, bits and bites throughout the day, and then a very large dinner, usually some sort of meaty-cheesy dish.

    Its her life! I dont talk calories with her, at all. But she insists she only "really" eats once a day.
  • snowflake930
    snowflake930 Posts: 2,188 Member
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    I agree with most of this. That is why MFP is such a valuable tool, and is why logging everything you eat and drink is so important to weight loss.
    I have definitely become a person that eats my calories, not drinks them. The chewing of food is much more satisfying to me than drinking calories. Just me and that is the way it is for me.
  • yourpalsoap
    yourpalsoap Posts: 88
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    nutty192 wrote: »
    I have not seen this. Is it available in the UK? Nutty

    you can get them on amazon!

    search for "walden farms" and "da vinci gourmet". walden farms do lots of syrups and sauces that are virtually calorie free, but I haven't tried those. I own like 6 different sugar-free, dairy free syrups from da vinci though! the ones I've tried are all lovely! I add them to protein shakes, porridge, coffee and hot chocolate, etc :----)

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