If you're slim, what's your lifestyle/ eating habits like?

[thefedupmummyofgoats]

I'm a size 16 which is slightly on the plump side as I'm quite short. I'd love to trim down to about a size 10 so that I'm not crossing my arms or wearing baggy clothing to cover my belly.

If you're slim or have lost weight what is your secret? Do you eat takeout very rarely? Do you walk a lot? Do you make home cooked meals?

I just feel I can't seem to stick to any long term goal. I'm 43 and probably peri which is probably why I've put on weight.

Can we have a little discussion on what the key is for slim living please 🙏

Drink A LOT of water. If you think your hungry down a bottle of water it'll help you hold of longer. If that don't work I bulk up on things like cucumber and carrot sticks.

I drink so much water already, I'm not sure I could possibly drink any more! Easily 3+ litres a day (I have a 900ml bottle and drink 3 by the time I'm done at work, then a further pint or more at home).

I mostly eat vegetables and salad, go to the gym three times a week, few carbs but not none, occasional sweet treats but mostly dark chocolate. Occasional white wine. Don’t eat takeaways, no fizzy juice, will get a salad and fish/chicken if out for dinner. My indulgence is coffee shops but Americano. Huge amounts of sparkling water. I weigh 61kg and am 5’6’’ which is sustainable for me. I would need to starve myself or fast to weigh less and I don’t want to do that so I am not totally skinny.
For a Tesco shop, my challenge is how to switch up my salads and what new vegetables to include. I cook proper meals for the DC but if for example it is chicken curry, I will just have the chicken bit and not the rice but salad.
I probably verge on slightly disordered eating but I am happier this way.

Haven't RTFT.

• Exercise every day.
• No car so lots of walking. I do 12-15k steps a day without trying.
• 3 meals a day. No skipping meals. No snacking.
• Drink lots of water.
• High protein diet.
• 80%+ 'clean' eating.

I've loved reading all your posts, I've found it very interesting how you're all so disciplined.

I'm gonna really try hard to improve some areas of my diet by eating more vegetables and generally eat cleaner foods. It'll be tough I'm sure for the first while but I hope I can persevere and loose some weight.

I'm going to plan my food shop tomorrow and have lots of nice healthy things in my fridge instead of biscuits and crisps

Thanks to everyone who has replied and given me some tips and suggestions I appreciate them all x

if you do feel the craving for a few biscuits, maybe just have one plus some fruit. I think it can be very difficult to immediately cut out all the sweet treats in one go. But everyone is different so it might be easier for you to have none at all in the house!

I can be bad at eating fruit, I'll just leave apples sitting there. My tip is to buy 'treaty' fruit for a fruit salad. I did one last week with pineapple, red grapes and pomegranate mixed with tinned peaches in juice. So nice and it lasted several days. Like the PP I might have one biscuit with this, and it'd be one with butter not dodgy fats.

It is all about the shopping. It is more what I don’t buy. I also never have takeaway because I can’t afford it.
i don’t buy,, bread, pasta, anything cooked in pastry. breakfast cereal, cake .milk pulses or flour.
For biscuits i just buy digestive and eat just one at a time.i like chocolate but i cut it up and put the pieces in a jar. A snicker will be cut up to the size slightly smaller than a celebration. When I fancy a sweet treat i make sure it is a treat. I stop what I am doing, get comfy and savour the sweet or chocolate. Quite often half a sweet is enough at a session, If I want more I have to get up and get it. . I don’t eat treats, sweets or biscuits while doing anything else the unconscious grazing is a sure way to over eat.

i make sure that i am not hungry. I eat while i am still slightly full and I always sit down at a table. I just eat without doing anything else.
My first meal is substantial. Might be bacon tomato, eggs,mushroom, potato waffle or croquette. Cooked in air fryer. I eat a lot of chicken, fish, eggs, casseroles. I like potatoes but don’t eat too many. I like butter and olive oil.

i take a slice of cheese again sitting down to eat it.

i make salads and try to have them once day. I cut up a lot of fruit and have bowls when I have craving.

When I have a hot drink I have a glass or water first.

Never have fizzy drinks.

Peri does not mean automatic weight gain.
I walk 3 miles every day.
Housework, etc
Eat home-made granola for breakfast, crumpets/crackers for lunch, meal early evening.
Don't eat massive portions (go back for more if hungry rather than piling plate)
Don't snack between meals,mapart from a couple of bags of crisps week

I've always been a size 6 but I don't put any conscious effort into staying this weight (as in, I don't diet or count calories, and the exercise I do is not for weight reasons, and is something I've only started recently anyway).

Ive always walked a lot, and now run three times a week, and do a couple of weight workouts a week as well.

We very rarely have takeaways, and always cook from scratch. This is because in our house we have a couple of anaphylactic allergies and I'm coeliac which makes buying ready made stuff or takeaways harder and/or more expensive. This means it's not so much a willpower thing and just a necessity that stuff is cooked from scratch. If takeaways and ready made stuff was a more realistic option, we'd probably have a less healthy diet. It's always been a very low UPF diet before I'd even heard of UPF. It's not 100% UPF free but probably fairly close.

I also don't snack much. Again because things like gluten free biscuits are expensive, it's easier for me to just not buy them.

I don't drink alcohol which probably helps.

I make sure I am eating the right things like protein. Being hungry is normal and ok… normal human body response

If I get hungry in the evening after my evening meal I will go to sleep to escape it to be brutally honest 😂

I think watching your weight is one of the key things though. People who are slim tend to be those who’ve always been slim — I.e. they haven’t messed up their metabolism by yo-yo dieting.

If I ever start to feel my clothes getting tight I pull back. It’s simple and it means you always stay roughly the same size. I don’t care about stones and pounds - I probably weigh more now because I have more muscle but I have a tinier waist.

Shopping — avoid anything processed, fizzy drinks, cereal, biscuits, cakes, fruit juice, anything with lots of ingredients or low fat.

Replace with lots of meat and fish and vegetables and also buy nuts, full fat yogurt, eggs, herbs, spices, some kefir or sauerkraut and a little bit of fruit (mainly berries). You’ll eat like a queen!

Don’t buy 0% fat anything!

You might not be eating enough fats. Fat keeps you full. People think it’s protein but you need fat as well.

Or your blood sugar might not be stable. To do this you need protein with each meal, eat your veggies and protein first, don’t eat sugary things and if you do, don’t eat them on an empty stomach and eat them with some protein. Move after your meals.

I'm afraid for me it's largely genetic and I think this is true of a lot of people. I'm sorry, OP! I am, and have always been bordering underweight. Most people would say I eat what I like but I'm not sure how true it is as you never really know what others are eating. e.g. if there are chocolates at work I'll just eat them but the rest of the day is probably OK. This is a typical day but am not suggesting it's particularly healthy...more to give an idea.

Breakfast (normal time) - two wheatabix, smallish amount of whole milk, handful of berries and dried fruit on top. 3 wheatbix would be too much.

Lunch - sandwich with cheese and real butter, crisps, banana. But I'm always hungry so I eat it throughout the morning (again this is why people think I eat a lot but really I just eat it early).

Dinner is early with DS (I finish work early). Nearly always home cooked but simple. Always carb based. If I have pasta it's at least double the recommended amount. But a portion of sausages for me is only 2. Plenty of veg. This is probably a poor example as people I know tend to find cutting out carbs helps. But I am uncomfortably hungry without them.

I go to bed early but if I'm hungry before bed it's either toast or an unhealthy snack.

I never skip meals (I couldnt) but also never eat to uncomfortably full. I'd have 2 rather than 3 courses for a meal out as a preference.

I don't drink alcohol or soft drinks but that's just preference. I drink lots of water. I'm fit enough to run 5k but don't do it often. No other exercise but I have a lot of nervous energy so walk a lot. Takeaway every couple of weeks. Would never restrict this but natural preference is probably on the healthier side e.g. margherrita (can't spell) not meat feast.

I think my body sort of knows what quantity to eat. e.g. when I was pregnant I was extra hungry at breakfast (am thinking a couple of 100 calories more). The rest of the day I ate the same as normal. I was just me with a bump and just went back to normal afterwards.

I'm 5'2" and 8 stone 12lbs, so not super skinny. I used to think I was one of those people with a high metabolism as my weight stays the same, but when I went on holiday with a group of friends I realised it wasn't high metabolism or luck, I actually ate a lot less!

The good news is it’s small changes here that will make a big difference.

change coffee shop trips to a herbal tea and fruit snacks and walk once a day for 10-20 minutes after lunch and you’ll start to see a difference.

don’t go from 5 to 0 cans a day go to 2, one morning one afternoon.

keep the takeaway but make slightly better choices (rice or bread, boiled rice over fried)

over time you’ll just feel better and want to eat and drink better. Dont go for a massive restrictive change all at once you’ll crash and burn in Feb

don’t be ashamed many many many people will be eating like this.

you can do it - cheering you on!

They don’t taste nice when thawed!

9st 5ft4.So small but curvy.Since hitting 50 I've found the thing that works for me is yoga.Daily in the morning and a few classes a week.Ive got muscles I didn't have before.I've stopped running.I have always walked fast and I think that keeps m the same size.I'll go down to 8.5st if I stick to 3 meals a day no snacking.

It's not about discipline when it becomes lifestyle. It just is. The trick is to make it lifestyle, like showering and doing your teeth.

I agree it’s not really discipline it’s change, you get used to change it you keep doing something long enough. When you like what you see/do it’s motivation to continue

I'm 5'7, weigh 61kg and am a size 10. I run 5k three times a week and walk a lot (I have an energetic Labrador). I don't eat breakfast, mainly beacuse of medication I take in the morning has to be taken on an empty stomach and I don't want to get up earlier in order to have breakfast.
I have a milky coffee around 11am then for lunch a salad or soup then eat whatever the family are having for tea.
I have a choclate bar or biscuit most days after lunch.
I also do yoga twice a week but that keeps me toned rather than keeping any weight off.

I’m a size 8-10. (5’4 and around 9st)

being active is probably the key for me. I run 5k twice a week before work and then run once on the weekend. I get a lift to work with my partner but walk the last bit (25-30 mins) at least twice a week and also walk home once or twice a week. I do a fitness and yoga class at work and try to do yoga at home at least a few times a week. In the summer we also do long walks and bike rides at the weekends. I also have an active job (teacher) which keeps me moving in the day.

i start work at 8am so to be able to run I have to get up at 5.30am, drive to work by 6.45 to park then walk to the gym (5 mins away) and shower etc there . I know I’ll be too tired after work so this is what works for me.

food wise - I don’t really eat big meals apart from at weekend but I do eat things I enjoy too. An average work day would be
2 ginger biscuits for breakfast when I first get up and a soya coffee on my way to work.
greek yoghurt with walnuts, banana and honey at work
a biscuit mid morning with a coffee
lunch is either salad, a bagel or something I’ve made at home like pasta
I snack on grapes in the day (I eat half a punnet most days)
sometimes on my way home I have a bag of crisps
dinner is usually something something on toast - avocado / cheese / tomatoes. Or ‘picky bits’ like olives, cucumbers, cheese with crackers. If my partner has been off work and cooks we will have pasta or stir fry.

weekends I’ll have breakfast like an omelette with one slice of toast and then one big meal (yesterday was pizza). And my usual grapes or oranges / melon etc to snack on.

then a cup of cacao before bed with soya milk

so I probably eat little and often like a goat! I’m vegetarian and very rarely drink.

5 ft 2 inches

Size 8

8.5 stone

BMI 19

I've always been slim. I do pretty much eat what I want, but this is probably due to developing healthy habits over time eg for lunch, I'll have junk food if I'm in the mood for that, but I'm usually just as happy with home made vegetable soup. I'll have a kit kat if i want, but I'm usually just as happy with strawberries instead

Always like the idea of takeaway more than reality, so have them rarely

Exercise most days, which i enjoy

Key is to find foods and lifestyle that you enjoy, rather than constantly feeling deprived and trying to "be good"

And, I don't really think about food / exercise. I just do it, like brushing your teeth. It's habit

For most people, sensible amount of healthy food and an active lifestyle should keep weight under control