If you’ve never been overweight, what do you eat and do

[Kittenswhiskers]

Seems we always seek advice from fellow people with the same problems so I’d like to ask people that have never had this ?

I'm overweight myself, but my DH has always been very slim (BMI around 19) and my observation from living with him is that he doesn't restrict himself at all - he genuinely eats whatever he wants - but he just isn't that bothered by food. For example, he will often miss a meal if he's busy and not even notice until a few hours later (this would never happen to me!). He rarely clears his plate. He can't be arsed with food that is tricky to eat (eg picking meat off a bone) and probably won't bother even if he likes the taste.

I have been slightly over weight after childbirth but usualy hover around the middle to top end of healthy. I think the main one is I don't necessarily eat if I feel hungry. Sometimes I just ignore it and the feeling passes, especially between meals. Also if I have a very fatty meal like a takeaway, I try and balance out the excess by having something light the following day like a salad etc.

I just eat normally tbh

Breakfast would be yoghurt, toast and egg, peanut butter, avocado, porridge, Cereal

Lunch either salad, sandwich, soup

Dinner is normal dinners, basically a wide range

I don't cut anything out. I do eat takeaways/fast food but not that often. I eat chocolate, crisps. Mostly eat homemade and I don't tend to snack very much. And I drink lots of water.

I excercise a couple times a week but my general lifestyle is quite active I would say, I'm on my feet a lot and like above am definitely a fidgeter

I get lots of carbs from potatoes, butter milk and root vegetables.

I eat what I want, when I want. My husband eats less and is always on a diet. He’s overweight, I’m not. Makes no sense!

48 here, 5 foot 9 and 9.5 stone my whole adult life.

I've worked out since I was 15, do f45 and running 4-5 times a week. Eat healthily. Vegetarian since I was 13. No alcohol for 7 years.

I eat normally and don't snack. Since the menopause I am a size larger, and low carbing and cutting out sugar is just making no difference, but I rarely eat crisps and even more rarely eat chocolate. I just eat smaller portions these days.

I do 20 minutes on the exercise bike about 5x a week and do pilates once a week.

i don’t really snack and do not have a sweet tooth. I love really good food so if something is just cheap and not nice I’m not interested. I’m also a light drinker. Played a lot of sport until 30 after children life became busier but still had dancing lessons and walk a lot.

I’m careful not to have a huge amount of carbs. My Mother was English and my Father was East Asian so can cook both cuisines. Father’s home cooking involves lots of veg, little fat, plenty of fish and meat. My parents both taught me how to cook, my Father had a restaurant though they broke up when I was young.

For lunch today I made some small flatbreads and a crème fraiche and basil dip, With some fried chorizo on top of a mixed green salad of 4 types of leaf and a few tomatoes. I have plenty of time to cook now but because they taught me well and I worked in a kitchen when at school I can cook and make stuff very quickly. My Mother taught me how to make English food but just too carb heavy so we do eat it but it’s mainly East Asian and Mediterranean food here. Plus it’s nothing like the horrific gloopy sauces and stuff you have in take aways,

For me, it's portion control, discipline around deserts and snacks, and "atoning" straight after an indulgent day/week/whatever. So if I've had say a week of dinners out, birthday cakes etc, then I am sure to eat sparingly the week after.

I only eat bread that has very few ingredients in and rarely eat UPF. I don't snack (other than fruit). I cook everything from scratch and eat wholefoods with plenty of veg etc. the v occasional times I have eaten junk food I cannot stop eating it, I really don't believe it's down to body types or willpower, UPF and fatty foods are very addictive and the less you have them, the less you want them. Because this is what happens to me, I eat rubbish and I want more and more, like they are not satisfying and I don't get satiated, I eat natural wholefoods and I stop when I'm full and it feels good.

I'm as fat as a pig so don't do what I do 🤣 but my mum has lived on coffee, chocolate, crisps and biscuits her entire life and has never been above a size 10. She's 70 now and she's down to an 8 and getting smaller. Her shopping came yesterday and within an hour she'd had 6 packets of skips and 4 choc ices.

I think I'm her fat picture in the fucking attic.

I eat whatever I feel like. I'm not especially into carbs though - I'm happy with meat and vegetables. The best bit about a burger to me is the meat and the salad so I usually end up chucking the bread off. If I feel like a big bowl of creamy pasta, I'll have it though.

I exercised fairly regularly, although this was to build strength, flexibility, and endurance. Never to lose weight. I have some health problems, but that training continues to see me right today.

I never eat anything low calorie or with sweeteners in. It's unsatisfying. I prefer to eat delicious food.

I stop eating when I'm full. I'm never hungry for breakfast so I just don't eat it. I'm well up for midnight snacks though.

If I feel like my clothes are getting tight, I'll make sure I go to bed hungry for a couple of days and then go back to eating normally again. I don't find being hungry unbearable - it's just a sensation, not torturous.

Also, I have a naturally fast metabolism from what I can tell.

I haven’t been over weight since I was a teenager so I feel I can comment. I used to track my calories but I don’t anymore.

For dinner I eat whatever I want but 50% of my plate is veg. Usually a side salad but depends what we’re eating really - but always 50% of my plate. So i’m still eating the same volume of food but much smaller portions. I’d have pizza or chips if that’s what DH wanted but would be a small portion.

We’re also not a dessert house and don’t have treats in the cupboard unless you count the multi packet of crisps for DH lunch box only. I also drink alcohol probably once every 4 months and I’d say we get takeaway about once every 4 months too.

I do allow myself days where I relax if we’re doing something or if we went out to eat I would order what I fancied but above is just my general day to day.

I work out 6x a week.

Have you ever tried phasing them out gradually?

I thought I could never live without bread and pasta and rice used to be a part of regular meals. Used to eat bread daily!

Overs years I've just started eating less and less of them and now I barely eat any and really don't miss them. No bread in the house, pasta maybe once every 2 weeks as a meal, hardly any rice ever (never liked it much anyway). Pizza maybe once a month.

I've just upped my fruit and vegetable intake so much that they replace those items. I eat so much veg there's just no room for other add-ons to chicken/salmon/steak.

We're raised to think carbs are such a staple and must be a part of every meal. It's social conditioning. Fair enough, they are easy calories to make a meal nutritious, but if you are looking to have a varied diet and improve gut health, and not getting enough calories is not a worry, vegetables and pulses can be much more exciting and tasty, nevermind the nutritional benefits.

I eat what I like, just not very large amounts when I have compared myself to others, when eating in company. I don't eat a lot of UPF's, and am mindful of what I put into my body. I don't eat unless I am hungry. I tend to want to eat 'healthy' food, as a matter of course.

The thing is. I really love bread, pasta, rice, pizza etc. I enjoy eating them and as I’m pretty active I feel I need the fuel. I’m not out to loose weight and feel pretty healthy.

In that case, yes, do not see why you would not want to be eating them :) If you're not looking to lose weight and in fact need to fuel your workouts, they are certainly a very good source of energy.

I'm not hugely active, so phasing out those types of carbs has really helped me. Whereas if I was to become more active, I'd build them back in.

Just to add to this, my observation is that there's too much emphasis in the dieting world on never being hungry.

If you're constantly eating, even if it's good stuff, your stomach will expand and feeling hungry will be brutal on you. This is why I go to bed hungry if I feel my clothes are tight, it's an intermittent fast and it shrinks your stomach. A small stomach means you feel less hungry and you can't force large meals down yourself.

I also only ever drink alcohol on social occasions and never too much. A few glasses of wine every evening makes you feel shit, dehydrates you, and it's a lot of extra calories.

And one more thing - I always make sure I drink an absolute sea of water every day. Staying hydrated will make you feel good, look good, give you energy, and make you less hungry.

Apparently I look quite a bit younger than I actually am. Someone yesterday assumed the woman next to me was my mum. She was only two years older than me. So drink your water!!!

My (skinny!) DH eats bread 3x a day plus. Toast for breakfast, sandwich for lunch and crusty bread with oil and balsamic with dinner- If I didn’t love him I’d hate his guts.

Know it's old fashioned but it's calorie control for me and I don't snack between meals or eat large portions.

Anxiety.
With anxiety comes nausea, so you don't tend to eat that much.
My generation were conditioned to deal with this themselves, so some of us have since childhood, just with "common sense" and coping strategies.

I've never been overweight but I do creep up to the top of my BMI range. However, I hate my body like this and if I feel like I'm getting that way I automatically cut back.

I don't eat breakfast (although I do have coffee with cream). I like to eat a big lunch and will often have pudding but have something light or nothing for dinner. I don't eat much UPF but I find when it creeps in then I always want more. I do love veg which helps and I don't really like many potatoes or pasta which also helps.

This is why I go to bed hungry

How do you sleep?

What I ate in my childhood. I come from a country where you could not get much food in the shops in the 80s. Everybody grew vegetables in the garden and we ate what we grew. The economy was closed to the foreign markets, so we did not have processed foods till late 90s or so. Parents bought half of a pig in autumn, portioned it in the kitchen, put the meat/bones in the freezer and we cooked that till spring. I grew up eating only freshly cooked, seasonal food. Crisps, snacks, jellies and soft drinks were treats that only appeared in your corner shop when I was a teenager. Even then we did not eat them daily. Maybe once a month. When I was in high school/at a uni, I usually went the whole day without food, because it was not common to eat lunch outside of home. I ate half a sandwich for breakfast and nothing till 4pm when I got home and had a hot soup + mains. I rarely ate before bedtime, sometimes maybe a small sandwich. I think this is what and how most of the people I know used to eat back then. The feeling of hunger was normal and it usually didn't bother me. I knew I would have food when I got home, so buying food outside seemed like a waste of money. Also, we didn't really have McDonalds, Starbucks and most American food outlets until I got to uni. It was not the culture to snack and have coffees outside. Right now I probably eat more than I did when I was young but I'm still size 12. I don't buy frozen ready meals from the shop or takeway, but cook from scratch. I try not to eat crisps and other rubbish. Generally, we eat out of boredom - and if we see snacks and food outlets everywhere - we 'eat' with our eyes. What you do is you do your supermarket order you buy only what you need. It's better not to go shopping to the shop, because we tend to buy more food in this way.

Anxiety can be an eating trigger for some people.