AIBU to ask how people stay slim without strict dieting?

I remember some years ago there was an experiment shown on TV where a selection of 'naturally thin' people went on a diet where they had to overeat for a period, I think it was 3 months and they had to eat about 3500 calories a day.

The first point of interest was that they all struggled to do this. I remember a popular method they used was to eat pots of clotted cream - high calorie, low volume - to get their calorie count up.

The second point of interest was that they did gain weight - but only a relatively small amount and for a short period. It was something like, they put on on average of half a stone in the first month but then they didn't continue to gain, it was as if their bodies had adjusted.

I may have some of the specifics wrong, I will see if I can find anything about it online.

Its the other was round, 10% genetics and 90% habits / environment
Until the 1970s everyone was fit and slim with the odd exception
The way we ate, what we ate, food type and availability, how we travel and our daily habits have changed enormously
A small example
As a child we would shop frequently for food, fresh, what was in season and on offer.
Mum walked to the village shop and back, she baked, her friend would ring up and ask if she wanted a cabbage, a lettuce etc as they had a glut
She walked to collect it

Then supermarkets came in
Marvellous!
Mum was ecstatic
She drove 12 miles to the fancy new supermarket once a fortnight
Of course it wouldnt keep so she started buying frozen stuff, dinner that was once fresh meat,veg and potato was now a Findus crispy pancake

Just a small example of how environment and availability changed

I think it must have been this - BBC Horizon Why are Thin People Not Fat?

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB1DA2AB38FEC9F96

Yes this is the same for me. I never lost weight doing 16/8 fasting, and I have lost a bit now I have gone back to yoghurt and fruit for breakfast. I do have a genetic predisposition to diabetes in my family and I wonder if that may be the difference.

I'm about the same size, 5'8 and 9.5 stone but definitely eat 3 meals a day and I'm not vegetarian but I don't have a sweet tooth at all and have learned to eat what I want rather than the portion given. I do drink a few glasses of wine in a week.
That said, I think some of the answer is metabolism. My father, 5'11, weighed 8.5 - 9 stone all his adult life, ate out most lunchtimes as part of his job and another hot dinner in the evening. Never put on weight.

Some people just have naturally small appetites and aren’t over fond of e.g. biscuits and cakes.
I was one such - at least until my mid-late 50s. I didn’t need to diet or do anything else to stay at a size 10, even after 2 babies. At one point there was even a rumour that I was anorexic - apparently because I’d declined biscuits at a so-called friend’s house! Probably horrible custard creams, and at the time I preferred a fag with my coffee anyway.

I have a busy and a social lifestyle so conventional diets don’t work for me

Why not... what is the conflict between lifestyle and a "conventional diet" for U, OP?

@Sunbringer

she probably doesn’t like her clothes fitting tight.

im 5,8 and 8 stone 10 and a size 10, sometimes 8 on top

seeing what slim people eat, it’s just less. Guy at work walks in fast every day, about 4 miles…does golf 3 times a week eats the same kind of home made sandwich every day, doesn’t snack eats pretty much the same meal at night…just not interested in food.

slim woman who walks everyday, she’ll have a tin of tuna for lunch, skip breakfast and eat a normal dinner.

I’m a stone and a half overweight, was 3 stone. It all went on in my late 30s after always being slim up to then. I’ve lost the stone and a half through cutting out the extra shit I was eating. Biscuits at work, cheese and biscuits for supper, ready meals.

we cook properly now, eat more protein…more fibre.

but when I was slim I was far more active, I did snack but I’d probably not have a proper dinner if I’d snacked in the day…I ate less basically.

I agree with you about the carbs - I did the Atkins diet decades ago so that I could fit into my wedding dress to look better and it definitely did reduce the cravings for food. But I had to go mega low (less than 20g of carbs a day) to get into ketosis and it was just too restrictive to maintain long term.

I am really lucky that I absolutely LOVE wholefoods, which means that I get quite full on a relatively low amount of calories. It also helps that I can afford to buy the said foods as they can be more expensive.

Other things I do include not snacking if I can help it but eating fruit and a handful of nuts/greek yogurt when I do. I also finish eating by 7 pm most nights. I tend to cook from scratch but will have a take away once a week.

A typical day for me is a small amount of
porridge with seeds, almond butter and blueberries for breakfast. Leftovers or smoked salmon/beans/chickpeas with a big salad, tahini dressing and a handful of nuts or avocado followed by dark chocolate. Dinner is usually chicken/fish/tofu curry/stir-fry/gumbo with lots of veggies and a small amount of rice or pasta with a date for after.

You definitely can. I have eaten out for every meal for the last two weeks (and had a few glasses of wine a day) and I weight exactly the same as I did before the fortnight began (55kg/ 5 ft 6). I have walked about 300km in the same period tbf.

Blimey - you walk on average 13 miles a day, or is this exceptional ie. walking the Camino de Santiago?

You might find the weight appears in another week or two though? And certainly it would if you did it regularly for months or years

I agree with the poster above- anyone who tracks calories can see how very difficult us is to stay in a decent calorie intake in a restaurant. Things like Sunday roasts can easily be 1500 calories. That’s my entire days maintenance calories

@CurdinHenry that's a very impressive but probably unusual amount of walking!

I'm more thinking people who try to get their steps in and do the odd workout but work from home etc. My experience of friends who have lost weight (plus myself over the years) is that radically cutting down the meals out and booze is a big help.

There will always be people who are outliers in all cases - for example I don't deny there are some like those on this thread who are a size 6 and eat a lot every day without copiously exercising. I do know one person like this. I was really just suggesting that for most people who are thin their maintenance calories won't be huge so they are either doing a lot of exercise to burn it off and create a high metabolism or eating at the lower end of 'normal' amounts of food.

My mum for example has been really thin my whole adult life. She never snacks (but will eat a piece of homemade cake if you offer) and eats basically two meals a day which are a combo of fruit/veg/grains/lean protein. It's not as boring as this but that's what it boils down to. Does what she wants on holiday or out for meals but you know in private afterwards she's eating less to compensate. She's very active and healthy at 75. It's what I aspire to tbh but I've got an awful sweet tooth which I have to restrain!

No, I eat out with friends and husband several times a week. Today I had brunch, a chocolate croissant on the train and tonight I'm having pasta (it will be big portions) with fizzy wine. I don't count calories what's the point of being alive then?

I absolutely loathe the English calories on menus thing.

The last two weeks has been unusual (precisely the Camino!!) and feasting. I walk about ten miles a day at home if I can manage it, though

What is wrong with English calories specifically? Would you prefer American calories, or perhaps metric kilojoules instead?

I think it's great. Not only do I get my money's worth by opting for the most calories for my money, they aren't just calories, they're English calories.

🤣

I think it's actually reflective of the reason Brits are so fat. "What's the most i can shovel on for cheapest cos that's good value!"

I struggle with the calories on menus. I had an ED where I counted/calculated calories for about 8 years. Now I dont generally think about them and would say I was recovered.
....but give me a menu with calories on it and i am really conflicted between choosing what I actually want to eat and looking for the lowest calorie options. (If I have a menu without calories....i just choose what I want to eat!)

Yes I do agree that for the average person it's the other way around, but for those who never seem to put weight on no matter what they do I think it's mostly genetic.

When I was younger I was really thin to the point that I was self conscious about it, mostly because of negative comments from others. I tried everything to put weight on but it was only as I got older that it actually happened.

People think nothing about saying 'you need to eat a burger' or 'no wonder you're cold with no meat on your bones'. I'd never say to a fat person 'you wouldn't be so hot if you lost weight' or 'do you really need that burger'?

I think I'm going to eat a trifle tonight in honour of this thread. 🤣

You’ll put on weight though, that’s just science.