What do thin/slim people eat?

[cherrypiepie]

I'm genuinely intrigued as I am far from slim with a BMI of 30.

Watching an American series with some very tiny actresses and thinking that they can't eat much. It was the Bold Type.

So if you are slim with BMI around 20 what do you eat?

And I suppose how much do you exercise? But I reckon the old rule of 80% diet : 20 % exercise is right when It comes to weight management.

BMI about 19 (it was the last time I was weighed, when I had my last DC & I'm still wearing the same clothes!) and I love food and eating. I don't deny myself anything, but what I have noticed is that I naturally eat less than others. I also don't drink, never fancied it. I'm very active, I walk to school, run 50+ miles every week and do pilates.

Bmi 19

Eating mostly plants, some dairy, few eggs. But I can eat whatever I like. I cook such tasty food, just got Anna Jones new cookbook.

Everyone says exercise has little bearing on weight, but I find it’s vital to keeping my eating habits stable
I agree with this. Aerobic exercise like swimming takes away my appetite entirely fir hours afterwards. And exercise in general makes me crave spinach/leaves etc, not carbs.

@TeddingtonTrashbag

Everyone says exercise has little bearing on weight, but I find it’s vital to keeping my eating habits stable I agree with this. Aerobic exercise like swimming takes away my appetite entirely fir hours afterwards. And exercise in general makes me crave spinach/leaves etc, not carbs.

I think exercise doesn’t really affect weight loss much but it is really important to maintaining a healthy weight. It gives me space to have an extra biscuit or two without putting weight on!

One of the things exercise does for me is helps me sleep. I sleep really well after gymnastics sessions and i think this plays an important role in regulating hormones and maintining overall health. It's hard though especially with young kids waking through the night, i think some people get so used to being sleep deprived it becomes their normal/ sometimes people have no choice about interrupted or sporadic sleep.

I try not to drink calories (unless it’s alcohol). So at a coffee shop I’d only ever have black coffee, a diet soft drink, or tea with milk. Never hot chocolate, frappes, juice, milkshakes etc. When I was bigger I had a cappuccino.

BMI 21 - I'm 56 - used to eat more carbs when I was younger - weight has stayed more or less the same

Typical day:

1-2 eggs for breakfast, no toast unless a weekend

Fruit for lunch, sometimes soup

Braised veg, roast or grilled meat / fish for dinner with potato / pasta / rice / wraps - often have just the veg through the week

Hardly ever any snacks or "treats" - I don't need them & don't see the point - occasionally I'll have cake / pudding at the weekend but not regularly

I think it’s so hugely individual. I’m sure a lot of it (but not all) is down to genetics. I honestly do not eat a great deal. My BMI is 30. I’ve done food diaries to see where I’m going wrong and there’s not a lot to change. I’m pescatarian, watch my carb intake, don’t drink much alcohol and don’t have a very sweet tooth. I can go weeks without cheese. I also do the 16/8. Today I’ve had a small piece of mackerel, half an avocado and some low carb crisp breads. Tea will be a salmon fillet with salad and sweet potatoes. I average about 18K steps a day. I was very slim (size 8) until I had children. Whatever I do I don’t seem to shift it. Next plan is to try HIT but as I currently have a broken leg that might have to wait!

My Mum on the other hand has always been slim. She eats a lot more that me. Very annoying! She always says I’m good peasant stock with hips and boobs

I don’t eat that well to be honest. But portion sizes are small. BMi is 19

I have a BMI of 20.9. I lost about 10kg last year, not by choice but by stress however I was happy with the new weight (after extensive tests to make sure it was not anything sinister as I lost most of it in 2 months).

What’s kept it off is only having a piece of wholemeal toast or a small amount of porridge for breakfast with raspberries or somesuch.

Mid morning coffee sometimes with one biscuit or very small bit of cake.

Lunch normally a sandwich or today beans on one bit of toast.

Dinner, if pasta for example, less than 80g of pasta and major on veg and protein. Last night was Nigella’s fried chicken but no bun and only a couple of baby new potatoes, the rest was salad.

Sometimes a pudding. Last night was a magnum.

Eat before 1800 and don’t have ANY food after then. Eat after 0700 in the morning or ideally 0800. That last bit I definitely stick to if I want to lose a couple of pounds.

I also weigh myself every morning and am trying very hard to disassociate food with comfort.

I walk the dog twice a day and do HIIT (although not done the latter for a couple of weeks).

Also I am 43 and realise as you get older you really have to eat a lot less. Dull but there you go.

BMI 21-22. Age 45.

I've always been slim and so is everyone in my family but it's hard to separate nature and nurture because we are all active, busy people who fidget and also we love veg and all cook from scratch!

We're the (probably annoying) types who get bored sitting around.

That said we aren't obsessive about healthy eating either and often bake cakes too.

I do have to be more "careful" as I get older, however. I don't count calories but I do lean towards healthier food and I'm not a big drinker. Mostly I drink water, black coffee and green tea. Two or three glasses of red wine a week. When I bake I reduce the amount of sugar and use wholemeal flour. I cook using "brown" carbs not white. I aim for variety in my meals and am not a big meat eater.

This is what I do, I eat everything. I used to have a night time snack.

I have a very slim friend size 8 to 10, have been friends 30 years and know her habits well She eats all junk. Drinks sugary full fat drinks. Chocolate and crisps fro breakfast, take aways 3 times a week., big cream cakes daily. Etc.
Rarely has fruit and veg. And eats A LOT.
Exercise is walking to work 10.min each way. That's it

She's lucky! ( although not healthy.. But she has regular blood tests and they all come back fine.

@NotMyCat

See I read these and am "why the fuck am I fat?!" Apart from the dodgy thyroid and inability to exercise I guess Today I had

B - three marmite rice cakes with cottage cheese (never changes!)
L - chicken salad wrap with cucumber mint yoghurt, a bag of popchips, 4 squares dark chocolate
Snack - apple and 2 fruit/seed oatcakes
T - chicken pad Thai (homemade, small portion)

That's pretty much what I eat except for a takeaway or cake maybe every fortnight/month

Because you’re eating ‘diet’ food. You’re probably really hungry for all your meals.

Breakfast is about 200 cals. You could have two rashers of grilled bacon, a grilled tomato, grilled portobello mushroom and a couple of handfuls of wilted greens for a similar calorie count. The second will give you a couple of portions of veg, take longer to eat and satisfy you more.

The same at lunch and snack time. The popchips and chocolate are probably 250-300 calories and aren’t really doing anything for you. The wrap and dressing might be anything from 300 to 700. The snack is helping because it gives you an energy boost, but it’s basically 200 calories of sugar, so you’ll crash again.

So you’re riding this wave of ‘healthy’ convenience food up and down and always hungry a short while later.

Im late 50's, BMI 19, 5ft 4

Always been 8 stone - 9st 3 when pregnant, and heaviest since then is 8.5 stone, lowest 7st 10.

I was a 'tubby teenager' when Chinese take out food started to be available....and probably got to 9 stone/9 stone 5 and made a conscious effort to lose weight only once in my life aged 17 when asked to be a bridesmaid and have never really put it back on

I never eat breakfast as I am just not hungry or even think of food until midday...drink plenty coffee and water in morning though; Lunch is light, usually yoghurt or cereal.

Evening - good size dinner and I am starving for it by 7pm!
Rarely eat sweets or cakes but adore nuts and will snack too much on them during the evening; Cup of tea before bed and Im done

Drink about 3 times a week but only one G+T or glass of wine, never a second glass.....use treadmill at gym x 4 a week for 1 hour and use weights....walk a lot usually in course of the day and drive way less than I used to....so I still wonder if I will blossom...definitely noted since Meno that my shape has changed and I do now think about my weight and shape more now than I ever have....my mum was always on a diet as a Vegetarian in her time, she was limited a bit so her diet was 'hard work' in a meat eating family....but she loved cake!

Her mum, my Grandmother- is definitely who I take after and she would have been a size 10 her whole life but worked hard, physically, ate when she was hungry and cooked a lot for the family, so ate less as she was fed up with food before she sat down to it!

I can luckily still wear jeans and dresses I have had 10 years which still fit, but no denying I look less smooth than before and my thighs are now bigger though the rest remains the same....

Food is fuel at home - for me - but going out to dinner or supper is when I really enjoy food and occasionally over do it....I just then have one small meal the next day and keep it all manageable by stopping when I feel full....

I think they don't eat for pleasure, Just out of necessity.

Not true about not eating for pleasure. I am slim and love food. I just don't eat 3 massive meals a day and snack and sugary drinks. I treat myself to the things I love, but know I can't eat all day, everyday.

@catfunk

I think they don't eat for pleasure, Just out of necessity.

There are lots of slim posters on every thread like this saying that’s nonsense.

Lots of us love food. I love cooking. It’s just mostly healthier food.

I'm BMI 19 and I love food, I'm always thinking about what I would like to eat for lunch/dinner etc. Love meals out. I just eat smaller portions than normal and usually only have 2 meals a day. I don't snack on empty calories like soft drinks/biscuits/chocolate etc.
If I do feel like I've put on a kilo I just eat more mindfully the next week and it's fine.

Dust

Very interesting that many are saying they are vegetarian, and don't have much alcohol

I had toast and jam for breakfast, McDonald’s veggie deluxe meal 1 hour ago, now having cup of tea and shop millionaires shortbread DD gave me, I’m going running tonight but I’ve always eaten like this and I don’t always exercise. I’m a uk size 6 and don’t fluctuate much

I'm pregnant so my diet has changed massively but when I was my thinnest I was 9st 3lb and 5.4. I was on slimming world so ate so much pasta, still ate chocolate and crisps every day but ate a lot of fruit/salad/veg etc. Will be going straight back to the class once I'm settled with the baby. I know people say it dosent work but for me it was brilliant to be able to still eat carbs abs loose weight. My starting weight was 11.2

I don't know my BMI but I've been a aize 8/10 my whole adult life, maintained a steady weight and only gained a stone during both of my pregnancies which disappeared within days of giving birth.

I eat what I like but know how to moderate.

My DH and some other family members struggle with weight and I would say the fundamental differences in our eating habits are that I don't drink alcohol, don't eat fried food, eat very little meat but lots of fruit and veg and as I've said I can moderate well (I would never eat 3/4/5 bags of crisps a day like my DH easily can for example - one is enough. Same as if I'm having a biscuit I will eat one or two - not half the packet).

I don't exercise as much as I used to but do some yoga now and again and walk the dogs lots.

I have always been pissed off at comments about how I don't eat or must be boring because I'm thin. In one job they had cakes in every day and I never ate them - not because I don't eat cake but because when I do eat cake I want it to be when im relaxing having coffee in a nice cafe at the weekend, not every day sitting at a cramped desk in an uncomfortably hot office. But of course I was soooo boring because I dodn't eat the bloody cakes!