People who are seen to be "naturally" slim.. what do you eat/how much exercise do you do?

[optimisticpessimist01]

I know a lot of people in my life that have always been slim, to an outsider looking in it looks like they have the genetics of God and are naturally very slim. However, I'm sure there is a lot of hard work that we don't see

If you are quite slim and have never really gained lots of weight, what does your usual food/exercise diary look like? Or is it possible that some people are just "naturally" slim?

I try really really hard not to snack. If I buy treat foods I eat one biscuit/ scoop and throw out the rest because I have no willpower.

I use a side plate not a dinner plate.

I weigh myself every morning.

I limit carbs.

I exercise every day.

I drink water, diet coke and peppermint tea. Very little alcohol. Loads of water.

I don’t eat breakfast.

I am obsessed but I don’t share that IRL.

Following with interest, I'm overweight, obsessed with food and a yoyo dieter, so total opposite!

I don't know if it's what you want to hear, but I have pretty much always eaten whatever I want and had a consistent weight... when I was a teenager I was skinny, used to get teased and called anorexic, now 30 and a nice slim I think. My weight has fluctuated very little in the last 10 years (aside from when pregnant). It's genetics - my mum, my grandmother and I are all 5ft9 with this kind of build. Being tallish definitely helps too.

This won’t be what you want to hear, but I’m naturally slim. BMI is about 20. I’ve been more or less the same weight all my adult life and I’m in my 50s with three DC. I have never been on a diet, don’t own any scales, have no idea how many calories are in food. I also don’t do any exercise- though I am changing that for health reasons. I eat cakes and biscuits and chocolate and have large lunches and dinner. I don’t have large breakfasts - not enough time before going to work. A couple of slices of toast only.
Things I don’t do- I don’t drink much alcohol and I don’t have takeaways.
I find it hard to keep my weight up and have to work at it - Eg, periods of stress or anxiety makes me not hungry at all, so I have to be careful then.

OP I think you’re right in that most slim people work really hard at it. However, I’ve got a really good friend who rarely exercises and she’s tiny - probably a size 4 and 5ft 1 tall and she she really does eat. Had loads of takeaways, dinners out, been on hold together etc and I cannot believe she’s not bigger. It makes me so insanely jealous. I keep on losing and gaining the same 3 stone every few years. I just can’t keep my weight stable. Well maybe I could stay bigger, but I hate it so much that I work hard to lose weight, but just can’t keep up the lifestyle needed to keep it off.

Similar to Dolly. I'm not naturally thin, it's hard work to stay slim. If I put on half a stone over Christmas or on holiday I will spend the next month losing it. I will never allow myself to put on much more than half a stone before I act on it.

Similar to Dolly. I'm not naturally thin, it's hard work to stay slim. If I put on half a stone over Christmas or on holiday I will spend the next month losing it. I will never allow myself to put on much more than half a stone before I act on it.

I‘ve also got another friend who is a size 10. She eats what she likes, but runs LOADS to keep her weight down.

I exercise 6 days per week, around an hour running or cycling. On the 7th day I'll usually do something active, gardening or a days walk.

All my meals at home are home cooked, I eat what I fancy , in the quantity I fancy and I'd never pick a meal in a restaurant based on it's calories, so people often get the impression that I eat loads but I never snack and very rarely eat junk.

I think the main thing though is that I'm generally "active". All my friends are slim and active too, which makes a massive difference. It's our "culture" to exercise and eat well. Tomorrow we're going out for lunch. Cycling 15 miles each way to get there and going to a lovely cafe where we'll have omlette and salad or jacket potatoes. For the last birthday celebration we all went to (a 42nd!) we went trampolining. For my 50th we went paddle boarding.The last hen do we did crazy golf. If we meet for coffee it will be after parkrun or a yoga class (in normal times). We have a planned long weekend cycling in the New Forest, not lounging around in a spa. And, it's a double whammy, all the time we're out doing stuff we aren't eating or drinking.

Naturally slim over here. 0 exercise bar the school run and buggy walks, currently BF Ds 6 months but was back in pre pregnancy clothes 4 days after birth after putting on 18kgs. I dont eat dairy or soya due to DS having allergies but don't monitor what I eat at all. BMI of 20, 5ft 4.

I'm not naturally slim. But, I'm slim-ish now I've found what suits me and I've maintained my ideal weight for over a year by not eating anything with wheat in it. I tell people (friends who comment on my weight loss) and they moan about how they can't lose weight but then.reach for the biscuits. I eat loads of veg and other grains, apart from wheat, don't eat rubbish, and limit my fat and sugar intake.

Never been overweight and never watched what I eat. I do snack, although I try to be sensible only because I know that endless sugar isn’t healthy rather than because of the calories. Am 5’10” which helps. Don’t exercise since DC were born (know I ought to and keep meaning to!) but can happily go for a 15 mile walk without keeling over. Just turned 40...am aware I may need to be more careful going forward.

What don’t I do...drink on a week night and we probably have one takeaway a month if that.

Cutting out wheat has given me more energy, so I can exercise more, so I feel fitter. Win win.

I make sure I am hungry before I eat, stop when I’m fullish and don’t snack. I also don’t eat breakfast - but that’s more personal preference. I don’t particularly like sweet things, which probably helps.

I'm naturally a size 6, eat what I want and don't do exercise, although my job does involve being on my feet.

I eat 3 square meals a day until I'm full. They are normally healthy but I'm perfectly happy to have junk food and takeaway a few times a week if I feel like it. I snack on anything I fancy; meat, biscuits, crisps, toast, chocolate, salad, fruit...

I drink about a bottle of wine a week and only drink water, no soft drinks.

Like PP, I've always been naturally skinny and used to hate being called 'anorexic' when nothing could be further from the truth! I think I have fast metabolism because I need to eat every 2 hours.

I've always been slim but don't do much to maintain. Just try not to eat sugary stuff too often or have takeaways. I don't exercise. I'm sure age will catch up with me!

I'm naturally very thin (actually tried quite a few times to "bulk up" 😅 and failed to ever gain any sort of weight so have resigned myself to being skinny for life) and the only thing I probably do differently to most people, is basically what they say is the worst thing you can do... I skip breakfast, and snack/gorge late on an evening. I know it's bad eating habits, but I cannot stomach food before 11am, and I'm always starving on am evening. I also don't eat red meat, (only occasionally eat chicken and fish) but haven't always done that. X

Very interesting article about the Hadza in New Scientist the other day ...
they have no chairs
so their spinal and core muscles are working the whole time when they are awake
so they are burning more calories than you'd realise

fidgety people are generally slimmer
than those who can sit still on a comfy chair for hours

Exercise is limited to running around after two small people, and walking the dog

I think some of it is genetic like how fast your metabolism is perhaps? And also some of it is psychology - I don't really comfort eat for example and when I do it's not huge amounts. I try to listen to my body and mostly only eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full. I eat little and often as a result of that. I'm only in my twenties though, I'm aware I'm likely to get heavier as I get older. I have a similar body type to what my DM did at this age - size 8, although she was a size 10 post me (and I've already had DD), and she's now a size 12 in her fifties so a bit bigger but not massively so. But she says she does now have to watch what she eats and not eat as much sweet/fattening snacks as she used to eat without thinking about it when she was young. I think your metabolism does slow as you get older, right?

I definitely don't think all slim people have a lot of 'hard work' going on behind the scenes to keep us this way. I rarely think about my weight and certainly don't focus on keeping myself slim.

@DollyMixtureLulus Can you say why you are obsessed ... I mean, why is it so important to you to stay slim? I’m genuinely interested.

Not what you want to hear but not much I do do exercise a few times a week but I never used to and wasn't any bitter. Diet is pretty average.
Today I've had a bagel loaded with butter, crisps, pasta cuppa soup, some fruit, protein yogurt, 2 large bowl fulls of spaghetti bolognaise (home made) with cheese and garlic bread (3 slices), sticky toffee pudding and custard. Lots of cups of tea. This is very very typical.

I have a BMI of 21 and am size 8-10 (but am short).

I am 50, 5 foot 8 and 8 stone 10. I run once or twice a week but only 3 or 4 k. I have only done that for the last 10 years.

I don't drink alcohol in the week and I weigh myself every morning. I have 3 meals a day plus an afternoon snack which is usually cake or biscuits. No other desserts though and I think I eat smallish portions.

I cook everything from scratch and eat very little processed food. No sugary drinks. Nothing after dinner.

You are not "naturally slim" if you spend your life on a diet.
I'm like daisypond.
Weigh the same at 60 as I did at 20. BMI 20, eat what I like although I don't think about food all the time and never been on a diet.

It's in the genes. My parents were the same and so are my DC.

I don’t drink. But eat what I want. Drink lots of water.
I walk about 10 km a day with the dog. And I stop eating when I am full.

I usually sit at 9stone and am 5”6 I wear size 8 clothes