If you have always been a healthy weight, what do eat in a typical day?

[Ikeatears]

I know this has been asked before but I can't find a thread on it.
I've overhauled my lifestyle and recently lost 2 and a half stone. I still have at least the same again to go.
I want to be able to eat healthily for ever and not 'diet', especially once I get down to a healthy weight.
If you have a normal, healthy relation with food and you've never really had weight issues, what do you typically eat in a day?

I’ve always been lucky enough to not gain weight and I’m healthy without being skinny (apart from when pregnant and lost it easily after): on a typical day I’ll eat;
Cereal for breakfast
Snack mid morning of a cereal bar
Lunch of jacket potato and tuna/salad, chicken and pasta, some kind of sandwich although I try not to eat too much bread
Dinner - spaghetti bolognese, curry, lasagne, home made chicken kebabs with pitta bread, salmon and pasta. I try to have red meat only once a week and fish twice a week.
I’ll normally always have a bit of a treat in a day - a little 100 calorie chocolate bar type thing.
I eat pudding on Friday and Saturday night although not all the time and drink a glass of wine or two on weekend nights. I’ll often have something a bit more unhealthy on Saturday night too.
I do gain weight if I over eat though, often at Christmas I might gain a couple of pounds then lose it once I start eating normally again

I'm 5'8" and no more than 140lb ever. Now 58yo.

Wholemeal toast or Porridge for breakfast, with some fruit.

Sandwich, omelette or mushrooms/tomatoes on toast for lunch with a piece of fruit and a coffee.

Supper is always home made, whole wheat pasta or risotto with chicken or fish. Lots of veg. The occasional cereal bar as a snack.

Generally cook from scratch, no more than 3 units alcohol a week. Half my food shop by volume is fruit & veg. Three lots of exercise a week - currently a martial arts class, and a couple of 5k runs.
No sweets or puddings except Xmas.

Breakfast
Full fat Yogurt and banana or
Porridge with a little honey

Lunch
Salad with either two hard boiled eggs, tuna, ham or cheddar one or two slices of whole meal bread or left over dinner from the night before

Dinner
I eat Home made Chinese food four or five days a week which is nothing like the stuff in take aways and very healthy overall. But DH is English so I do eat stuff like pork chop with mash and gravy and veg or pasta on the the other days .

I rarely snack, occasionally have crisps. I am not keen on sweet food or chocolate at all though I do like ice cream. I am practically teetotal but that is a cultural thing so I don’t miss it nor get the need. It has made for some interesting conversations at office Christmas parties when I’m the only sober one :]

I really think it has a great deal to do with appetite and genetics. I also think response to stress and sensory issues play a part too. My BMI has been between 21 and 22 since I was about 22 (before that I was very slim). I have crisps most days, chocolate most days and pretty regular takeaways ( at least once a week, often more). However, I never eat when I'm not hungry, and if I don't fancy something I prefer to go without. I don't mind the feeling of hunger and I experience it most days. When stressed or under the weather, I totally lose my appetite.

Most of my friends and colleagues who are bigger don't let themselves get hungry and eat large portions. They would also never think of missing a meal or just not bothering with biscuits if they're around ime. Many of them probably eat healthier meals than I do though.

I’ve always been a healthy weight but maintaining this has been harder in my forties. I have reduced my portions, cook from scratch (love food and cooking, so this bit is easy), increased my protein: carb ratio and don’t snack between meals. I’m strict about the no snacking and I’m sure that makes a big difference.

Only eat when you are hungry and do not eat until you are really full.
I try to maintain nine and a half stone, if I put on any weight it goes straight to my stomach area.
Since I now live alone I do not keep biscuits, crisps etc in the house so the temptation is not there.

I'm a healthy weight, I put on a lot in pregnancy and lost 3 stone last year to come back down to pre baby weight.

Breakfast - I have a coffee, sometimes Chia Seeds soaked with fruit

Lunch - Salad with grains or a Greek salad with a bit of baguette

Dinner - we use gousto so I know how many calories etc - usually salmon noodles, chicken tikka, fish tacos etc

Later on i often have some fruit when I fancy something sweet.

I don't really drink alcohol much and only drink water or tea/coffee.

I do have treat days like when we order a pizza etc but try to eat well most of time.

Always been at the lowest end of healthy BMI. I have porridge or Bircher oats for breakfast, with berries and nuts. Lunch usually soup in winter, salad in summer, or something like egg or sardines on wholemeal toast, often with a piece of fruit.

Dinner is just normal family meals, made from scratch and incorporating a good few portions of veg.

The only drinks I have are water, coffee and tea. I have maybe 1-2 glasses of wine a week but recently that's dwindled to 1-2 glasses per month (thanks perimenopause).

I don't snack at all, but mainly that's because I have a terrible weakness for puddings, so would rather save the calories so I can indulge in a few pudding a week. These are usually homemade too, things like crumbles or a lovely slice of cake.

I have recently lost 3 stone myself and my weight has yo-yoed over the years, so I don’t fit your criteria. However, my MIL has always been very slender… gained a little in retirement but still well within healthy BMI (she found a love of fresh bread and cakes when she left work).
She tends to be very health conscious. Always has decent portions and doesn’t deprive herself but mostly healthy foods… plenty of fruit and veg. Breakfast: fruit and yoghurt, one slice of buttered brown toast. Lunch: large salad. Dinner: small portion of carbs, some protein and at least half a plate of veg. She eats out prob a couple times a week at least and will never refuse a bit of cake, but she will then cut back the next day if she has over indulged. Cooks almost everything from scratch

Thank you all for your replies. You've given me hope! Much of what many of you are saying is how I've been eating since April and it's working. Not only that, I'm enjoying food again and feel like it's something I could maintain long term.
I've switched out white for wholemeal, adjusted my carb:protein:veg ratio, reduced my portion size, dropped all crisps, biscuits, cakes etc unless I really, really fancy them and then I allow myself to have them and don't eat until I'm stuffed anymore.
It's like a switch has flicked in my brain and I don't know why I didn't do this years ago! It's reassuring to read that I'm doing the right things rather than fooling myself with another crash diet that, once I've finished it, will cause me to like weight back on and more besides.

Meals. I eat 3 good meals a day, mostly home cooked, but I don't worry about portion sizes or it being particularly healthy. I eat what I like until I'm not hungry.

However, I never snack, have no fizzy drinks and very little refined sugar. Little processed food and never anything sold as diet food. I also do a lot of exercise.

Real food at regular intervals is what works for me.

Mid 60s and find it harder to maintain my weight these days but still have a healthy BMI.
Breakfast muesli, lots of fruit and yoghurt
Lunch cottage cheese on rye with tomatoes or something similar. Soup in winter.
Dinner whatever I fancy but no takeaways ever and rarely eat out.
Dessert a few times a week.
Alcohol- weekends only
Daily exercises, zumba twice a week and go walking most days when the weather is OK.

I really agree with the real food and 3 proper meals a day. I do eat take aways or eat out on occasion, but the vast majority of my meals are homemade. I regard things marketed as 'diet food' as ersatz food. Always full of nasty chemicals too.

Sounds like you're doing really well OP. I think you're very wise to take it gradually and focus on sustainable long term eating patterns rather than 'dieting'.

I just wanted to add that, while I don't snack, I do have a small glass of wine with my evening meal most evenings and something sweet (I've just had a little macaron, but sometimes it's a piece of turkish delight or chocolate, sometimes cheese) with coffee after supper. I find those treats are much more satisfying than crisps and biscuits during the day.

OP- it sounds to me that you are doing great. You are right that once you get used to moderately eating real food, with lots of fresh and high quality ingredients, crappy processed stuff just isn't as satisfying and you learn to love food in a different way.

I tried the 5:2 diet recently, as I'd heard lots of people say it really works, is great for your mind and body etc.

I can honestly say, that was the most miserable fortnight of my life. Never again. Real food and proper meals is the way forward for me.

I've always been a size 10-12 and in the region of 10 stone. I have to work more to maintain that in my late 30s than I did for earlier in life but typically as follows;

Breakfast : Natural yogurt with fruit and/or a handful of granola or museli.

Lunch : A sandwich or wrap, or leftovers (tuna pasta bake today), or a salad box from the deli near work. Sometimes a Kabuto noodle pot. Soup in winter.

Dinner : Usually something cooked from scratch, chilli or curry or a pasta dish or a roast veg tray bake or steak & salad. Often veggie / vegan dishes. We've started getting Hello Fresh again recently just to get us out of a recipe rut for a few days a week and are sticking to the calorie controlled options.

Snacks during the week : almonds, fruit, rice cakes (chocolate coated ones).

I try and restrict alcohol and fizzy drinks to the weekend but am not super strict. Also enjoy a dominos or Chinese takeaway now and again. Crisps, cheese & haribo are my weak spots. Thankfully I don't like cakes or biscuits much.

Supplement the above by trying to exercise 5 days out of 7, usually achieve 4 days. Swimming, walking or short runs. Am somewhat ruled by my Fitbit

Everything.
ok, not blue cheese or steak or vanilla. We all have limits.

i eat (only) when I'm hungry & I have time to enjoy my food, which means lots of grazing or not eating at all for long hours.

Try to make my diet quite heavy with fruit & veg, in general. Today also featured Doritos, nutty chocolate, white rice, left over battered chicken from the chippy, buckets of tea, cream, chocolate cake. Jars of sauces are fine by me, too.

Well done on your achievements!

I'm mid 40s so maintaining weight is definitely trickier these days. Most days I have low sugar muesli or scrambled eggs and wholemeal sourdough for breakfast, salad with seeds and turkey, ham or cheese for lunch with fruit after, and a home cooked dinner like bolognese, fajitas, risotto, chicken tray bake, salmon etc.

I try not to eat too much bread these days as it definitely goes straight to my stomach (but I LOVE it). I'll have half a bottle of wine over a weekend and a g&t or beer if I fancy it.

I try not to eat between meals, have wholewheat instead of white, try to avoid extra sugar and I exercise every day. I walk the dog about 2 or 3 miles a day and do an online workout after work.

I have no idea what I weigh, but am late 30s, only 5ft, always been size 8-10, eat rubbish, assume this won’t last much longer at my age.

I eat toast with plenty of butter for breakfast, sandwich/ salad/ soup/ random stuff out the fridge for lunch, dinner is usually vegan as DH is vegan and often but not always reasonably healthy and cooked from scratch (curry, pasta, risotto, chilli etc). 2 or 3 days a week I work more than 13hrs and eat breakfast and then a microwave meal some time between 12 and 5 and nothing else. Most weeks I work 1 or more night shifts when I survive the sleep deprivation by eating mostly crisps and biscuits.

I'm pregnant now so everything has gone out of the window but pre-pregnancy:

Hot water with lemon first thing (with a straw as it's not great for your teeth otherwise)

Big bowl of healthy cereal with whole milk, fruit, toast for breakfast

Dinner jacket potato with beans and cheese or veggie chilli or something / cheese and onion sandwich / pasta with homemade sauce / eggs

Tea usually a healthy family meal cooked from scratch e.g cauliflower cheese / stir fry

Loads of water (some tea and coffee), zero alcohol and running 10k a week all helped too. Never touch fizzy drinks unless out. Rarely snacked except for the odd bit of fruit or nuts.

I had a once a week treat from the bakery and would binge eat chocolate etc when on the first couple of days of my period so I wasn't completely boring! Also pretty big portions. Take-away once every couple of months or something.

I am 63, 5'8" and weigh just under 10stone so a healthy weight but not skinny. Weight has been unchanged in 40+ years apart from pregnancy (lost weight due to HG) and illness.
I have never dieted and have no idea what calories are in anything.
I exercise a bit but only walking and pilates.

Breakfast- bran flakes, skimmed milk which prefer. Coffee.
Mid morning - coffee
Lunch - Tuna salad, bowl of fruit with Greek yoghurt.

Dinner - pork chops, new potatoes with butter, 3 or 4 kinds of veg.
Or stir fry with wraps or rice
Or pasta with sauce and some veg.
Weekends I might do a starter.
Maybe once a week I'll have some ice cream for pudding but not straight after the meal.

Evening every day, - the only time I snack. Tea and a piece of cake or wine and crisps.

@Ikeatears

I know this has been asked before but I can't find a thread on it. I've overhauled my lifestyle and recently lost 2 and a half stone. I still have at least the same again to go. I want to be able to eat healthily for ever and not 'diet', especially once I get down to a healthy weight. If you have a normal, healthy relation with food and you've never really had weight issues, what do you typically eat in a day?

Hey OP I'm a PT and a size 6 and have been all my life (outside pregnancy). I never diet but I do generically eat very healthy and know a lot of the science behind keeping in shape that includes taking vits, mineral and good fat and probiotic supps every day without fail (I never crave anything because of that), eating pretty clean so I never feel like crap, loads of water, low alcohol intake, eating every 3 hours (including right up til bedtime if I feel like it), enough good fats, and just basically keeping it healthy (lean meats, fish, veg, etc).

Every meal I have a carb, protein and good fat source. I'm not bothered about sauces, I don't like rich food and so on, I'll have a treat when I want one but I don't like the stodgy feel of big meals - I guess eating less but more often is what works for me.

I'd never touch a diet or calorie count - I'm just sensible. BUT and it's a big but, I don't eat to lose fat, I eat to be healthy and a lower bodyweight is just a side effect of that. Also me and every single person I know who is lean and small eats quite a bit more than a lot of people (were all in the fitness industry) but we all just make exercise a daily part of our lives. That's ultimately the hugest difference. That includes strength training. It's v hard to put on fat regularly if you have decent muscle.

Also a trainer tip - we all teach every class under the sun and spin always gets the weight off super fast if we are given a bunch of spin classes to teach. Purely anecdotal but it's harder to keep weight on for everyone I'd say if they get more spin on their teaching timetable as opposed to other classes.

You need to look beyond what you eat and the psychology of why you overeat etc. There are studies that found that more people who have been overweight long term have ADHD, a much higher percentage than in the general population. Which makes sense when you think about things like impulse control. Overeating is also used to self medicate for so much like anxiety, depression etc.

I think until you work on that side of things, it doesn't make a blind bit of difference what you eat TBH.

I really don't think you can compare yourself to others, people's body composition and activity levels vary so much, as do genetics etc.

However - I'm 5'8" and have been a healthy weight my whole adult life, I put a bit on through three pregnancies but lost it each time and am now 41 and about 9 stone.

Today I ate nothing for breakfast and a ham salad sandwich, apple and yoghurt for lunch. Dinner was a hotdog and chips (it was my sons first day at pre school so he got to choose!) and I had a cereal bar and a few haribos after that. That's a fairly typical day, I barely eat any fruit and veg, I eat quite basic dinners like pasta, curry, fish and potatoes etc, because that's what my kids like. I don't drink much at all but I eat sweets or chocolate every day.

My point is, I'm slim and pretty much always have been, but my diet is crap really. I don't eat a huge amount and I am very active, I work out most days, so those are positives I suppose but my diet is nothing to try and emulate! I think some people find it easier than others to maintain their weight and that's just an unfortunate truth.

Typically some kind of fruit/oats/yogurt mux for breakfast.

Banana mid morning

Soup/pasta/salad for lunch

Fish/chicken/rice/pasta/lots of veg for dinner

Achilles heel is cheese and wine which I eat at weekends.

I row competitively so tend to have pretty large portions which occasionally raises eyebrows in the office if I am tucking into a jacket potato the size of my head.