The truth about slim people

[Bunnyfluffy]

Anyone watch? Just watching on catch up while I have lunch
I’m exactly the same height and weight as the lady, Anne-Marie, so finding it interesting.

[Annabelle4]

Never heard of it, sounds interesting.
What channel is it on?

[Bunnyfluffy]

Channnel 4

It’s studying people who are slim but don’t consciously diet / exercise

[Plumpcious]

www.channel4.com/programmes/the-truth-about-slim-people

I saw the last 20 minutes and thought it was very interesting. Is it a series or a one-off episode?

Basically they filmed two slim people for a week and looked at what they ate and how active they were (a bit like Secret Eaters). In the part I saw it pretty much came down to not snacking between meals (and, it appeared, not WANTING to snack or overindulge regularly).

I thought one of the expert's explanations at the end was a bit lame: that it was 'learned behaviour' and because it had a positive outcome (ie staying slim) they just carried on doing it.

I think there's more to it than that. Speaking of myself, I think a lot of my overeating is a desire for instant gratification (want something nice - easily available - eat. And repeat. And gradually gain weight.)

I think the psychology of eating is a big factor. So often these programmes focus on people who over-eat so it was interesting to see people who don't, and who don't seem to have an issue with food.

[Bunnyfluffy]

Yes it wasn't exactly groundbreaking.

Reasons they were slim is that although on first appearances they ate some fairly unhealthy foods, the total calories they ate over the 5 days balanced out, they didn't really snack between meals, neither of them were big drinkers and they both got enough exercise from their daily lives. Also they both cooked from scratch and didn't eat out much.

[blueskyinmarch]

I thought it was one of the dullest programmes i have ever seen. It told me nothing new about why some people are slim whatsoever.

[Gromance02]

What a shock, there is no such thing as naturally slim! Who knew?!

[Whataboutmeee]

I watched 3/4 of it but there were no conclusions and I couldn't wait till the end as agree it was very dull and the two people featured were obviously doing nothing special. They showed the woman eating pasties but she would often miss breakfast and went more than 16 hours without eating on one day.

[BarbaraofSevillle]

Maybe it was dull and obvious because 'the secret' it is dull and obvious.

The interesting thing would be if they could say why some people manage to not over-eat while others can't, especially in the 'unhealthy food at every turn' environment that most of us inhabit.

[sweetbitter]

I thought it was a pretty dull conclusion too, especially after the trailer had made me think it would be something more intriguing.

It also didn't leave me convinced that biology and genes didn't play a role. They touched on it with metabolic rate measurement and gut bacteria stuff, but I wanted them to go further here. It would have been interesting to compare to people who DO diet and exercise or have similar calorie intake/excercise output but aren't as slim as these guys. I'm the same height as the woman and share a lot of her habits but don't think I'd ever have her slim figure, especially impressively flat belly and sleek waistline even if I did adopt her lifestyle and habits completely (and I don't think I'm that far off, plus get more excercise).

[wheresmymojo]

I was hoping they'd get more into the psychology...without this it didn't really tell you anything you didn't already know.

[Plumpcious]

So it was just me that was enthused by it?! Or at least the 20 minutes that I saw.

I know 'not snacking' is often the answer but seeing people actually do it (or rather not do it) gave me a mental boost, to try to model their behaviour rather than just 'know' the theory, iyswim. So today I managed not to eat any sweets or biscuits (so far...) and only ate an orange between meals. Probably won't keep it up but it's been the first time in ages that I've managed that.

I'd like to know how often slim people think about food throughout the day and whether they have to resist the desire to eat sweets or whatever. If you put a bowl of crisps or chocolate in front of them, do they just think, meh, not bothered, and easily ignore it?

Which got me thinking about which foods I can easily turn down. Despite having a sweet tooth I don't particularly like ice cream, so easily choose not to eat it and there's no struggle involved. Alcohol too - 2 glasses at the most and then I stop, no inner struggle.

Perhaps naturally slim people don't have a strong desire to consume beyond sating their hunger, and so don't face the struggle of wanting to eat something but knowing they shouldn't? Resisting food can be like having an itch and trying not to scratch it - but perhaps they don't feel the itch in the first place.

[dingdongdigeridoo]

Yes the psychological side would be much more interesting. Perhaps it would help us encourage kids to have a healthier relationship with food.

[BatteredBreadedOrSouthernFried]

I thought it was one of the dullest programmes i have ever seen. It told me nothing new about why some people are slim whatsoever.

Same!

I am a slim person who eats proper crap. My diet is not good. And I don’t do any exercise. I’m very sedentary. I was expecting to find out something that would explain it but didn’t. I’ll just carry on assuming i have a fast metabolism.

[theredjellybean]

You can change from itch to no itch.
I did... Just decided about 6 yrs ago that I was fat because I ate too much.. And saw food as reward /punishment instead of just fuel.
The analogy is you don't fill your car with petrol until it's full and then keep going... Letting petrol run into a gutter?

I lost 4.5st in 9 months.
Kept it off... Don't snack, only eat when hungry, and I mean really hungry, I don't even notice or think about slight pangs of hunger anymore. I don't reward myself with food.
And I don't listen to any 'rules' about eating.. Like 'you must eat breakfast'

I often don't eat more than once a day, often go 16-18hrs between eating.
I eat what I want when I am hungry... So sometimes so called healthy food sometimes Dominos pizza...
Overall I eat on average about 900-1000 calories a day.
I run 10km x three a week. Never felt fitter, healthier or happier.

But... I have been so slated on mn about my eating and my advice to people struggling to lose weight.. That now I won't contribute to those threads

[swampytiggaa]

I am naturally fairly slim. I don’t diet. I eat because I have to - I’m as happy with a fishfinger sandwich as with a three course meal tbh. I don’t tend to snack and I am not a regular drinker although I do overindulge when I do 🙂

[bunerison]

I haven't seen it but I'm naturally slim and my weight hasn't varied by more than half a stone either way since I was about 16 other than when I was pregnant.

I adore food but I don't have a sweet tooth, I can go months without eating a biscuit, cake or chocolate. I had a chocolate digestive yesterday and I can't remember the last time I ate a piece of cake or a chocolate bar.

I do snack but rarely and usually on raw vegetables and I barely eat fruit, I don't like it much, maybe because it's sweet?

I can easily get through a big bag of kettle chips, crisps are my favourite food in the world but I do tend to save them for Friday and Saturday nights.

I love carbs and when I've tried to low carb I struggle with hunger as I don't love meat or eggs although do love cheese. My portion control isn't great.

I drink alcohol but pretty much only white wine and then rarely more than a couple of glasses at a time but do drink several times a week. I drink tea and coffee and a Diet Coke once a week or so therefore no heavy sugar drinks.

I have to say that the way I eat is completely instinctive and not controlled I suspect that I don't really like refined sugar does help significantly and balances out my carb excess which I know is sugar in a different way

[sweetbitter]

True about the psychology aspect. It was fairly obvious that the guy in the program could easily have resisted the chocolate cupcake and shortbread except that they were practically forced upon them, and even then he waited and had them with his lunch. Snacking is definitely my weakness, there's no way I could turn down a chocolate cupcake and not eat it immediately, unless I was already extraordinarily full from a big meal. OTOH I'm not overweight, just not as slim as the woman in the program so maybe if I didn't have the snack problem I'd be like her!

My DP however never snacks ever, could easily resist the chocolate cupcake if offered, doesn't drink much and doesn't eat much in the way of dessert...yet is overweight. I think that although he does sport once a week he is too sedentary the rest of the time, plus portion control is maybe an issue. I'd love to see him followed for a week like these guys and have someone put their finger on what the issue is for him, because it doesn't seem fair to me that he is overweight. It's the typical man thing of belly weight which started to go on in his late 30s.

[MissWilmottsGhost]

I'm slim plumplicious but if you put a bowl of crisps in front of me I'd probably scoff the lot.

I think the programme's right in that slim people don't generally snack. I don't snack because I don't often have snack food like crisps/biscuits/chocolate in the house. When we do buy them, for a party for example, any leftovers don't last long once the guests leave. But then we don't buy more.

It's not about not enjoying them or will power, it's about avoiding temptation. If I had a packet of fags in the house I'd still be tempted to smoke one, despite quitting 20 years ago, then before I knew it the whole packet would be smoked and I'd be down the shop to get another.

IME high fat/salt/sugar foods are just as addictive as nicotine. If you don't have them you just don't want them, but if you do have a little you just want more and more and more. And it takes an incredible amount of will power to ignore a packet in the house, far more willpower than I have.

[Sensimilla]

I over eat as a form of self-harm

[BananaPie]

Interesting thread. I'm naturally slim. I do enjoy food, but when eating a big meal, I find I quickly become uncomfortably full and will often leave some of it. If I order a curry for example, I'll really enjoy it and want to keep eating more, but know I can't fit it in.

I do snack, but only if I'm hungry. I don't find it at all difficult to resist picking at crisps / biscuits if I'm not hungry.

I think it's partly luck that I don't have a big appetite, and partly a conscious decision to think about how full / hungry I feel when deciding how much to eat / whether to snack.

[donajimena]

I thought it was a good programme. The woman ate pretty much the same way as I do. My friends often ask how can I eat 'crap' and stay so slim but what they don't see is that I may not eat again for ten hours.
I don't pick either and I don't follow mealtimes. I eat when I am hungry so like the woman in the programme if I have a fry up at 10am I might not eat until the evening

[BunnyFluffy]

I'm roughly the same height and weight as the woman (approx. 5 foot 7 and 60kgs, dress size 8).

I eat "crap" every day - for example at work I'll often buy a pack of jaffa cakes when I go out to grab my lunch and scoff the lot.

I used to think I ate loads, but recently I went for a weekend away to a hotel with a couple of friends who are both bigger than me (both around size 14ish) and noticed that they both managed to finish the three course dinner easily whereas I was struggling to finish it, and one of them had extra chips on the side too. So maybe I don't actually eat as much as I think I do.

I very rarely drink alcohol, and when I do it is just one drink (except for on very rare occasions).

I also exercise each day (or at least I did when I was not pregnant and suffering from severe sickness). On an average day I would cycle 15 miles to and from the station as part of my commute.

Even on days when I drive to the station I would still walk 20 minutes from the station in London to my workplace, then I would probably walk another 20 minutes at lunch time to get lunch/run errands, then another 20 minutes back to the station at the end of the day. Plus sometimes walking to meetings etc. So 60 or more minutes walking per day without even thinking about it.

Plus at weekends I would do longer bike rides, run etc.

I am also a fidget like the woman in the programme, so when I am at work I am constantly getting up to walk to the kitchen, loo etc

[BowlingShoes]

A sample of two people doesn't sound like it would throw up much in the way of conclusions. I am a naturally slim person. I would say most of it is genetic. I put the rest of it down to the fact that I do snack a lot! I am a grazer and eat little but often. I would rarely eat a large portion of food. I'm sure I remember reading somewhere that this was healthier?

[Passthecake30]

Another one who didn't think it was groundbreaking. I'm 6ft and a size 10-12, always have been. I graze throughout the entire day, so it looks like I eat loads and people do comment. But it's probably about the same as people who have 3 meals a day as I don't have capacity for massive meals. I also can't cope with sitting on my backside night after night (dp I'm looking at you- 4 straight hours every night), so I'm up and down fidgeting/clearing up/going gym/shops etc.

[goingonabearhunt1]

It's interesting people's perception of how much others eat.

Like the posters above I graze and people at work always comment that I'm always eating but half the time I'm eating fruit/veg sticks etc so hardly high calorie foods and I don't eat massive meals so I reckon it balances out over the day.

I do use MFP as well to see where my calories are coming from and to make sure I don't go too overboard.