To ask what you eat in a day if you are a size 10 or less

What’s your extreme sport… just being nosy. I climb so like to keep my weight low

You were 7 stone? That's a BMI of less than 15. I hope you are a healthier weight now. I don't really understand what you're saying about big bones.

I’m 56kg, 5 foot 6 and think I’m probably the skinniest I’ve been. Basically it’s taken me 40 years to figure out that if I don’t eat breakfast I’m skinny (size 8/10), if I do I’m curvier (12) - not saying a 12 is in any way big btw.

A pp said they do intermittent fasting which I guess is what I’ve accidentally ended up doing (don’t eat until midday and don’t eat after 8pm as I’m in bed). I go to the gym including weights.

This is true. I’ve got very thin bones and looked thin all my life. I could put on a stone and people barely notice.

I have osteoporosis now on my 50s so there are downsides to a thin frame!

I am naturally a size 14 or 16 but prefer to be an 8.

I have found the best way is to only eat on 4 or 5 days a week. I don't have the time or inclination to faff about with diets.

It works for me, it might not work for everyone.

I am slim and active. Occasionally slightly underweight as I'm late 50s and weight drops off as you get older.

I eat whatever I want but in small portions. Sometimes just a couple of bites of something I fancy just to get the taste.

I eat healthy foods, never drink alcohol and only have one main meal a day. I always eat breakfast and if I have a hearty breakfast I have a light lunch and supper rather than an evening meal.

I don't eat late in the evening and I'm very active every day.

I have a Complan or other milkshake when I'm trying to put weight on.

I'm a vegetarian.

My failure in dietary habits is a love of fizzy drinks although I do buy sugar free but of course they are very unhealthy.

I don't drink tea or coffee although I will have an iced coffee occasionally.

Please do push for one now. It’s such a sneaky disease and you lose more density in the first 5-10 years after meno than at any time.

It’s so harmful of these GPs not to check. What happens if your GP is wrong? Definitely been known to happen. They are always trying to save money which I understand but still.

1 in 2 women will have an osteoporotic fracture.

They should really be monitoring everyone.

Then they put you in bisphosphonates which is also very wrong. So much can be done through diet and exercise.

Might that be because your eating is very restricted, which leads to a blowout?

On a good day..

Breakfast is poached egg on sourdough with avocado and prosciutto ham. Coffee with collagen.

Coffee when I get to work, maybe with protein powder in it.

Lunch either homemade soup or a protein bagel, maybe some carrot sticks and houmous.

Snack is something proteiny like plain chicken or beef jerky.

Dinner something like spaghetti bolognese.

Drinks is usually one can of coke zero and water, wine if I have the calories.

On a bad day...

It all goes out of the window. Nothing gets weighed, I cut off chunks of cheese to eat, drink too much wine or have a bacon sandwich for lunch.

It's been a bad couple of weeks, I don't know if I've gained, I don't dare check. I'm hoping the insane amount of running I'm doing at the minute makes up for it and will tackle the overeating when I've done my half marathon race and the running can calm down and I can pick the gym back up too for weights.

For me it's not easy to stay the size I am because I have a tendency to be all or nothing.

Because of bones.

My hips/shoulders at 7 stone and 5 foot 8 where a size 12 but my waist was a 6 you could clearly see all my bones etc... You have to dress for your widest point and bones do not change no matter how fat or skinny you are.

Being big boned is literally a thing (but has nothing to do with how much 'fat' you have). Look at how people can be wildly different hat sizes (hats often range from xs to 4xl) but people carry very little fat on their skull.

Yep- so so many variables in metabolic rate, hormones, lifestyle, health etc.

I have been watching ‘outlast’ on Netflix recently- one of those daft survival programmes where they have to fend for themselves in Alaska for 2-3 months (basically living of tiny crabs and seaweed)

very interesting to see that some of them became skeletal, while others (45-55 year old men especially) were still clearly overweight at the end, and some of the slim women had barely seemed to change at all.

I always find posts like this fascinating for the breadth of responses.

OP you cannot compare what you eat to another person. You don't know what the other person weighs, height, muscle mass or activity levels. All of these will impact how much food a person needs.

Also unless someone gives you portion size you have no idea how many calories they are consuming, especially with higher calorie food like nuts etc.

I think your diet sounds decent enough. I personally prefer to eat a higher protein diet as that is what works for me. I am short, size 8, fairly active and have a decent muscle mass. Judging by a lot of the posts I have read I eat a lot more (especially carbs!) than most people (at least on Mumsnet.)

I don't find 'skinny' derogatory at all and have been called it my whole life.

My Nana was deeply offended by the word 'skinny' and thought it was the worst possible thing a woman could be called but she was also born 100 years ago in a different time where rationing was a huge issue in her youth and her mam died young from a disability that has wasting as a symptom so maybe that was linked to it.

She also hilariously found words like 'bloody' or 'hell' (together or separate) to be horrifically offensive swear words that should never be said. No one else I have met has ever had the same sensitivities (not even my other similar aged grandparents who grew up under strict Irish Catholicism).

Small bowl…small portion…huge salad…no breakfast…tap water for 16 hours…small handful of…a single square…teaspoon of…

There’s definitely a script to these threads.

It must be muscle ☺️

I eat loads more than that (and nowhere near as healthy) and I'm a size 10.

What I have gathered from these posts is that is surely must be down to metabolism mostly? No?

I'm a size 10 and not once in my life have I had 2 boiled eggs for dinner - I'd be bloody starving😂I do occasionally have 2 boiled eggs as a snack during the day though.

I'm baffled by the fact I'm a size 10 and weigh about 11st yet there are people saying they are a size 10 and weight 7-8st!!! I know I'm slightly taller than average (5ft7") but how does that work?! Not doubting them at all but it's so strange how your weight can vary so much in one dress size!

Size 10
Yesterday I ate:
Home made granola with 1tbsp cream, oat milk, full fat Greek yoghurt & stewed berries
3 dark rye Ryvitas buttered with egg mayonnaise (3 md eggs, 2tbsp mayonnaise) & a large mixed salad
Fish fillet in breadcrumbs with a few chips, baked beans & peas.
I also drank tea, red bush tea & a mug of cocoa.
I avoid sugar & eat low carb where possible.

I am aware that I have some risk factors for poor bone health. I had a bone scan about 10 years ago due to repeated stress fractures. They advised having another one when I reached menopause. I went to the GP at this point and she looked at my history/factors and didn't think my risk was high enough to warrant a further scan.

I haven't had a symptom free menopause, but they are manageable w/o HRT at the moment. I am keeping my mind open though.

Indeed. If we learn anything from these threads is that every single person is different. But we don't and they pop up regularly.

I'm between a size 8 - 10. I avoid carbs and im veggie with little to zero alcohol. I don't count calories and avoid fake meats, sounds boring and restrictive but for me it isn't. I went through adult life on a diet of junk and this is the best I've looked and felt in years. I have a crap food day every so often but due to the above my taste buds have changed and it doesn't taste great these days. I cook with either butter or olive oil. I took it slow when making changes as I wanted them to be permanent and I refuse to weigh myself. I still eat cake and biscuits but they're not part of my daily diet. I piled on the weight in my 40s, I'm 53 and a lot more comfortable with how I look now.

Which is why just asking what skinny people eat is pretty pointless.

See that’s very similar to me, except I don’t eat a pudding every day or snack other than fruit sometimes… and I’m a size 14-16 🤷‍♀️.

I’ve done the Zoe program too. It’s great.

my BMI is 19. My middle ring is non-existent to most people. I’ve always been thin.

but it was partly why I did Zoe. However Zoe wasn’t perfect for me. I struggle with anaemia and need to eat red meat and organ meat for iron and b12, I can’t seem to absorb non heme iron as well as heme sources. My ferritin dropped. Similarly my thyroid didn’t do so well on Zoe diet.

It’s very individual and genes account for a lot which aren’t accounted for on the Zoe program, especially if you have something like the mother mutation which I’m pretty sure I do.

I still use a lot of Zoe but I’ve tweaked it. This is more what my diet looks like with higher amount of meat and fish than recommended on Zoe.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12085363/amp/Six-women-reverse-aged-11-years-following-8-week-diet.html

i also pulses too but they aren’t in the vast quantities Zoe recommends and I eat lots of dairy and eggs too.

If you’ve exercised your whole life and eaten well no doubt you’ll have helped things.

However in the osteoporosis group I’m in there’s a surprising amount of runners who develop this disease and it only shows up later in their 50s and 60s. It’s always a great shock to them because they’ve taken care of themselves their whole life.

No symptoms is great for menopause, but IMHO there’s still work to do for diet and going into later age to ensure the least inflammation possible.

Same for exercise in that cardio needs to change to include resistance training and weights to maintain bone mineral density.