If you have always been a healthy weight, what do you generally eat?

[biggerthanthebiggest]

Or is there anything you avoid. I'd love to hear what maintaining a size 12 in your 40s looks like in reality. I've definitely fallen down a hole the last 10 years with raising young family, working long hours that I've totally forgotten how to care for myself. I used to be a size 10 and would panick if my jeans didn't fit. Now I'm a size 16 but longing to get back to a healthier weight (for me) but I feel quite lost. Im going to eat more proteins to fill me up and loose the sugary treats

What's your success?

Simple. Cut out all junk food. Cook from scratch. You stop wanting it when you don’t have it, and if you do slip, you feel so awful after that you don’t want it again.

so breakfast most days I have poached egg on toast

lunch usually pasta (I use brown rice pasta) or a jacket potato with tuna, sweetcorn, onion, pepper, cucumber and cheese, or nitrate free chorizo and broccoli with cheese, or leftovers

dinners are very varied and made from whole foods as much as possible. So chickpea and vegetable Thai green curry, chicken curry and rice, steak and sweet potato wedges and veg, bolognese, chilli from scratch, roast dinner (again everything from scratch like cheese sauce, Yorkshires). We do still have the odd less healthy meal like sausage and mash (the sausage being the unhealthy part!)

we only use real butter, full fat milk, extra mature cheese. everything is organic where possible

don’t fear fat, fear sugar and anything ultra processed.

Portion control. And stopping eating even when you're still hungry. Never stuff yourself. Avoid dominoes like the plague! And Burger King. McDonald's isn't too bad if you stick to chicken and don't go more than once a fortnight.
Try to have a couple of drinks on a weekend as opposed to 5/6 on one night. If you have chocolate literally eat a small bar and not a big bag or big bar. No sugar in tea and coffee.

It's really hard for me to stay slim as I really love food but I have found that the above has become a habit.

Wonderful advise! I'm going to implement your advice. I need to stop buying the unhealthy snacks to avoid temptation.

Thing is I love healthy food. I enjoy vegetables and salads and if they were sat down in front of me I'd be delighted to indulge. I need to prioritise myself more and make a conscious effort to look after myself

I’ve been a 12-14 pretty much since going through puberty, I’m now 33 so a bit younger than your target audience but I would say it’s a mix of genes and habit, I barely ever snack, sometimes at the weekend DP will treat us to a jam slice but I don’t ever really for a packet of crisps or biscuit etc between meals. My breakfasts are usually just porridge or weetabix sometimes wholemeal toast and cooking from scratch for dinner 90% of the time - we’ll probably eat out or get a takeaway once a month. I definitely don’t calorie count and just eat the sized portions I want, I’ll sometimes have seconds sometimes won’t finish my plate, it’s about listening to your body and finishing when you’re full.

All that said all the women in my family are the same size height/weight pretty much so could just be genetics! I’ll add that I find it very difficult to lose weight, the handful of times in my life I’ve tried to lose weight for an event eg holiday or getting married I found it really tough and didn’t get very far!

Luckily I very rarely drink so alcohol isn't a problem. Take aways are our downfall- McDonald's is cheap and cheerful on the busy, stressful nights of carting kids to clubs etc. however I need to organise my shop so that healthy snacks are available.

I've stopped taking sugar in coffee but I drink too much Coke Zero 😭

I'm just such a grazer, I'm always eating wee bits and pieces of things 😫

Nothing sweet until about 9pm. If you train yourself to have a coffee or, say, a plain yogurt every day after lunch, your body gets used to it and you stop craving sugar.

I don’t snack much at all, it’s rare, I rarely drink alcohol and stuff like fast food and ready meals are very rare. I also don’t like chocolate and though I do like cakes and biscuits it has to be really good home made stuff and fortunately I’m no baker.

Yesterday food

Bran flakes, banana
Homemade soup of sweet potato, carrot and a tiny bit of broccoli with a hard boiled egg sandwich with rocket on oat bread
Chicken breast with some sweet chilli sauce with boiled rice and stir fried veg of long stem broccoli, French beans, red pepper, shallots.
I had a large cookie as my mate bought some nice ones round for afters.

I take packed lunches to work so that I’m getting plenty of lovely veg, fibre, flavour. It means I eat much less processed food that I wasn’t enjoying / mounds of white carbs from the canteen. I take a portion of a dinner-type food, maybe leftovers, maybe batch cooked for the freezer.

Im 42. I don't eat healthy but don't eat loads. Mine is partly due to my activity levels too. Walk everywhere and spend quite a bit of time on my feet at work too. If I had a car and an office job I think I'd be a stone heavier.

I don't think McDonald's is that cheap and cheerful compared to eating at home. My 6 year old has never been - no judgement, just a statement. When she has activities I tend to plan accordingly, so will make pasta or jackets in advance and heat up. Or I buy organic burgers and sausages when they are yellow stickered and put in the freezer, then I cook them in advance and then we reheat when we come in. I also use slow cooker a lot.

Simple advice really. Cook your own food. No processed or junk food. Really limit alcohol, it’s just sugar. Avoid anything labelled low fat , lower your carb intake and increase your protein and fat portions. Carbs need to be slow release, think veggies and whole grains. If you do have a blowout (because you are human) try and be good for a few days after to balance it out and get some extra exercise in.
Sorry it’s really bloody boring, but it works! I am still a size 10 after going through the menopause.

I have weighed within 3kg for the last 10 years, am 47.

Breakfast is either a banana or plain greek yoghurt with berries and oats.
Lunch is something like a salad make from wild rice, with rocket, feta cheese, avocado, tomatoes or homemade soup or left overs. Occasionally if I have skipped dinner the night before I'll have pasta or a jacket potato. Always follwed by fruit.

About 3 times a week I have a snack around 4-5pm something like a couple of crisp breads or a granola bar, a handful of nuts, sometimes a couple of raw carrots. I will have a sweet treat if they are around ( I like baking)

Dinner is homemade 19 times out of 20 DH and DD are veggi so often plant based, chillis, curries, stir fries, rissotos or pasta dishes, we try to have soup once a week in the winter. I will have a bigger snack and skip dinner about once a week if I have an evenging exercise class. I only drink alcohol when out which averages about once a month.

Try to get my 10,000 steps. I run twice a week and do yoga and pilates.

Hope that helps

I haven't always been a healthy weight as I've been underweight too. I eat what I like, but almost all real food and I don't actually like the taste of most ultra processed foods or how they make me feel so that makes it easy to avoid them. Homemade cake, posh biscuits made with butter and so on I do like! I eat plenty of fat, protein, fruits and vegetables, with grains or potatoes to make it up to a good amount of food rather than as the main part.

All of this. Junk food just tastes nasty if you don't eat much of it, so biscuits / shop bought cakes / ready meals etc are really unappealing to me these days. No willpower needed to avoid them... though having said that, I can see how easily that could change - I bought a packet of chocolate digestives the other week. The first one was vile, but since they were there I ate them, and after a while I was starting to fancy one with a cup of tea.

Thanks all so very much for replying! You're motivating me so much.

I tend to not eat breakfast, maybe 3 coffee's before lunch instead though 🫣

I'm a rubbish cook so I think this is part of the problem. I suppose meat and veg is a handy, healthy option and stirfrys too.

I need to get my menus in place. I always have eggs in the fridge so I suppose I could rustle up scramble egg on toast or omelette for a quick tea !

I lost over two stones in my early thirties and am 43 now and never gained it back. I eat just like @ToussaintTheChef really and I also exercise several time a week (strength training and cardio, although slightly more strength sessions than cardio as I have entered my 40s).

Sometimes you only need 2 meals a day. It's drummed into us to eat 3 times but it's not always necessary.

If you overindulge one day, cut back the next - eg. just an apple and some soup.

Loads of walking and any other exercise you enjoy.

I'm a grazer too, OP; I have a very fast metabolism so need to eat something every 2-2.5hrs.

Don't buy sugary/processed junk. That way you can't eat it - simple! Snack on nuts, dried fruit (just brush your teeth religiously every night), home-made granola, fruit, especially nice small things like grapes, berries if you can afford them (I can't).

Otherwise I agree with Toussaint. Eat normal quantities of normal food, nothing low-fat, as much veg and salad as possible, and the weight should steadily come off. Bonus points if you can walk briskly for even ten mins a day (tho longer would obvs be even better).

I'm 52 and still the same size I was as a teenager.
I'm a life long vegetarian and although I have a sweet tooth, I've always gone for a freddo or a chomp, rather than full sized bars!
I'm mostly teetotal and eat little and often and my meals are naturally protein & veg heavy as it's generally what I prefer.
I've also never eaten breakfast (just don't feel hungry in the morning) and I believe this is similar to the intermittent fasting that a lot of people do now?

When I'm on it diet wise, I'm on it. So it'd be porridge or Greek yoghurt with berries for breakfast (depending on time of year), something like salad or soup for lunch (no bread) and a home cooked tea. I never use jarred sauces and make them all from scratch. No snacking apart from fresh fruit and nuts.

At the minute, I'm about half a stone heavier than I like to be (am currently 10 stone 2lbs and 5'7") but we're coming into winter so I'm less strict.

Breakfast now might be toast, lunch a sandwich and tea stays the same year round (although we'll have more salads in summer) I will also have a bag of crisps maybe 4 times a week and some chocolate, plus wine if I feel like it, but not mad amounts.

If I want to get under 10 stone for summer, I have to cut bread, booze and majority of treats out.

I’ve been the same weight from my teens to my 40s. I basically eat the same as the first responder: no snacks, no sugary treats (they just give your blood sugar a bump and then leave you hungrier). No junk, no ready meals, no takeaways. Fat is fine, it’s sugar that does the damage. Everything I eat is cooked from scratch (and often home grown). Whole grains, organic meat, fish, eggs, veg. But I appreciate that I’m privileged in being able to do that.

Junk food will make you feel sluggish but isn’t going to make you gain weight
unless you’re over eating in general.
ive never cut anything out but if my clothes feel tight I start calorie counting again.
I also go to the gym a few times a week as my day job is sitting on my arse all day

I was slim and the same weight for 20 years until medication screwed up my natural appetite and metabolism. In those days, what I remember is - I never ate when I wasn't hungry. I just couldn't. If there was cake on offer but I didn't feel hungry I said no. It used to annoy my mum and colleagues, but I didn't understand putting food in your mouth if your body wasn't asking for it. I really trusted my body so sometimes I'd go several days not eating much and then have the appetite of a lumberjack. So I was one of those slim people of whom others think 'she can eat what she likes and not get fat' but it was only because somedays I ate almost nothing, but not due to dieting.

These days I am not really in touch with my natural appetite so much. I eat for pleasure and am overweight.

I tend to just cut back a bit if I’ve been indulgent. I don’t really think about what I eat in a day, more over a week or so. If I’ve been out for dinner or had a few puddings one week, I’ll be much more mindful and eat less / more veg the following week. It’s always worked for me, and is less stressful than calorie counting and obsessing about my daily food intake.

I do need to move more in my 40s to maintain it, though. I walk 10,000 steps a day and try to make at least one day at the weekend ‘active’ - more walking or other exercise.

I've been a size 8/10 all my adult life and I'm in my mid fifties now (with an under-active thyroid).

My honest answer to 'what do you generally eat?' is whatever I want and whenever I want.

But compared to a lot of overweight people whose eating habits I've witnessed, I've noticed I don't eat as much.

So smaller portions and I only eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full. I haven't eaten breakfast for over 40 years because I'm just not hungry before lunchtime.