How big would your meal be?

bikerjoe83 wrote: »

JB035 wrote: »

bikerjoe83 wrote: »

I know this sounds like it should be in Fun & Games but it's a serious question. Below is something I might have for dinner, with weights etc. What I'd like to do is find out if this meal size is 'normal' based on how much other people eat.

Chicken breast (plain - baked) - 150g
Baby potatoes (boiled/steamed) - 200g
Carrots (boiled/steamed) - 120g
Broccoli (boiled/steamed) - 120g

Could people please list the weight of each item they would have? Just these items, forget about calories, just go with what would be 'enough' for you. If you don't mind, please also share your weight to give me an idea of what different sized people feel is enough, compared to me.

I'm 210 lbs and this meal size doesn't leave me feeling satisfied, I want more.

That's close to what I would eat. Except you are missing fats. I'd add a good chunk of avocado or a few fist fulls of almonds.


I'm 5'8" 172

The thing with those choices though... you will be hungry again shortly.

A couple of people have said fats are missing. I may be wrong in presuming you're from the States, but in the UK, we don't tend to see fats as something to have with a meal, unless fats to you is something else to me - is this just something to add as a benefit to the diet or generally is adding fats a done thing in the US? Outside of my diet, I'd most likely add a heap of stuffing, some gravy, maybe a bit of bread sauce, probably a few onion rings (not fried).

How I would have fats with that meal:

I rarely eat just plain chicken breast, so I'd have fat with my bone-in, skin-on chicken (or my pork chop or salmon -- not a lot, but some). If I did have just skinless chicken breast I'd likely make it as part of a meal (a tagine, for example) that would have something with fat (like olives) in it.

I'd also cook my potatoes and veg with a little olive oil, not a lot.

With a different meal I'd add a bit of cheese or have pine nuts or avocado as part of it. I don't find fat hard to get and I think of it as an accent or something that comes with my protein (especially with something like eggs or dairy), and not something I need to add separately. (But I always cook with a bit of fat, just don't think of that as a separate course, that seems weird to me -- I didn't assume your things were fat-free.) I usually don't do a sauce that has much fat or add fat to a finished meal unless it's salad when I'd have dressing with some olive oil and vinegar, normally.

Just for your survey. ;-)

I'm in the US, specifically Chicago.

That is pretty much my exact dinner, except I would also have 10g of butter on my potatoes. I'm currently 182lb and aiming for 1570 calories per day and losing slowly. I have just cut out most of the rubbish that I used to eat and find that I can really eat decent portions of good food and stay within my calorie goal. If I really NEED that packet of crisps, I have to add exercise calories to have it!! But if I know that cutting my dinner portion dramatically isn't sustainable long term, so I still eat a decent dinner!