How do people without disordered habits eat?

[Frequency]

It's probably the wrong place to ask but how do normal people eat? Why are the not either fat or hungry all the time?

And, most importantly, how do they deal with cravings? Like, how do they just eat what they fancy, when they fancy without worrying about losing control and gaining weight?

If for example, they really, really wanted a portion of Gregg's brownies with salted caramel dip, would they just order them without considering how they would fit into their daily calorie allowance?

Surely, if they did that, they'd be over their TDEE that day? And if they did that say every couple of weeks, they'd gain weight.

I don't know, I just eat what I want and when, and don't give it a second thought. Stayed the same weight forever, just gave birth a couple of months ago, so do have 3kg to lose now. But I know it'll come off in it's own time without having to diet. Current weight 63kg, normal weight 58kg, height 5.5 feet and 45 years old. I do try and avoid eating too much processed food when I can, but that's due to health risks that they can contribute to, not weight.

@Frequency i can tell from your meal example of the day that you posted that you are a sugar addict as you are still seeking that taste through chocolate protein bar for breakfast, hot chocolate drink etc….someone like you needs to go cold turkey for the sugary tastes.

This. Other than the chicken and veg everything else I’m your daily menu is processed food with a much higher sugar or sugar substitute content than you realise and very little real nutrition. It will be causing your problems. Replace with real food. Second the recommendation for Dr Rupy Aujla, ‘The Doctor’s Kitchen’ also look at Zoe and Professor Tim Spector. Both Dr Rupy and Tim Spector became ill eating your sort of menu and healed themselves by changing their diet.

The doctors kitchen ZOE

I'd defo skip lunch if I had brownies. Likewise if I have a cooked breakfast, I won't eat until the evening.

I think the over 'diagnosis' on this forum which declares 'disordered eating' is completely over the top.

I think few people have true disordered eating but just have habits that take into account balancing out their intake for the day, so not having dinner if they've eating a lot earlier and also its normal to like a food to crave that at times.

As usual the wide range of normal eating habits are pathologised on this forum.

Because usually people who don’t have disordered eating get full up or self regulate naturally. If they'd had a huge meal with pudding the day before it wouldn’t be likely they’d be craving something stodgy or sweet for a while. And to be honest, having worked in a restaurant, those who are not overweight rarely order three courses. Usually a starter and main or main and pud, not all. And my friends in the trade say it’s often a main only now.

Additionally much depends on the eating habits you formed growing up. We always had fruit as a dessert and a salad course for big sit down meals - therefore main not enormous and usually all that’s wanted. We were always taught ‘rubbish in, rubbish out’ 😬😁

So, I used to have quite disordered eating in my 20s - but more orthorexia - used to be paranoid about both portion size and not putting anything 'unclean' in my body. Had a strict (but what I considered to be 'healthy' as it wasn't super low) calorie limit. Also addicted to exercise.

This was followed by a very unhealthy relationship with alcohol and then a running habit (more healthy than either of the previous two and probably not dissimilar to most runners, but any injury which meant I couldn't run would be the end of the world).

So all three were quite similar in that they occupied my thoughts constantly.

(Yes, I have childhood trauma).

Then I had children and now just don't have the headspace for very specific obsessions 😁

Neither food, nor alcohol nor running are things I now think about on a day-to-day basis.

With regards to food now, I pretty much eat what I want. With the brownies example, if I wanted them I would eat them, but it's probably unlikely that I would be able to eat them all without starting to feel really full so would stop. I would then probably only be hungry enough for a smaller lunch and would probably crave something healthier anyway.

I think I also have quite a fast metabolism, but with primary-aged children (and one with SEN), I am constantly on the go and have little time to just sit, so probably burning enough calories just day-to-day living.

This reads like the slimming world book of how to lose weight only to immediately regain it when you inevitably fall off the wagon.

3 meals a day, protein and fat at every meal and substantial portions of fruit and veg and you won't be craving as badly.

There's a box of cornflakes and you don't weigh the contents or eat multiple bowls in one sitting. And you are an average size and standard measures generally are in line with your requirements. You are happy to order more if you are hungry but don't feel the need to eat the whole plate just because it's there and would be a waste if you didn't even if you feel full.

I think about my eating as a whole rather than just a day. If I want a brownie I’ll eat one and not think about calories or worry about it. But I know that if I ate brownies and things like that every day I might put a bit of weight on so I try and balance it with healthy meals. I enjoy exercise and fitness so I do walks and hikes and the gym. I try and never let myself get too hungry because that can lead to binging so I try and eat regularly throughout the day with a big proteiny breakfast to keep me full.

I think this post is the problem with asking about disordered eating on here

A lot of people with proper disordered eating also dont 'calorie count' or obsess.

A lot of people without disordered eating do calorie count, the definition of 'obsess' is difficult to define

Your example of today, is that you have given thought and consideration to eating something at lunch and amending your later meal of the day. You are watching your intake even if not counting the specific calories per se. One mans consideration is another mans obsession.

I dont see that as disordered eating, neither do I see calorie counting as disordered, no more than keeping a tally of what I spend every month and ensuring my bank account is in credit (never is, disordered spending perhaps!)

We take account of lots of areas of our health but the minute someone starts paying attention to what is going in their mouths and trying to counter balance it, its considered disordered on this forum. Its not. Neither is enjoying some food in excess occasionally.

Its disordered when it is all consuming, destabilising to your every day life, causing you health issues and causing you harm and distress.

Other than that, people need to work out their own method of managing their health and weight and be happy with it.

Huge amounts of processed crap. Impacting your blood sugar, your cravings, your tastes and your health. There's loads of tasty, healthy dinners you can have. If you make your meals that unappetising of course you feel the need to treat yourself with sweet things. Someone already posted a link to the glucose goddess, look in to that.

I'd have the brownies and then just carry on with my life and not give them another thought. I wouldn't eat a treat that indulgent every day though.

Unlike my life-long dieter mum, who - in her hay day - would have the brownies and then think she's been 'naughty' and blown her diet, then think 'fuck it' and eat 5 doughnuts and have fish and chips with 2 rounds of bread and butter for dinner.

Wow, I think you need some decent carbohydrate in there - a little rice or potato (or couscous or polenta or rye bread etc) instead of the low cal sugar stuff. I can imagine you’d get an energy low after days of eating as you’ve described, maybe that leads to the cravings?

This is me now at 66. I am a dress size large than I have been most of my life and I don't want to be any larger. I am curently trying to get a flatter stomach so I have given up the sweet stuff and have cut back on the carbs.

I now find that I don't crave anything sweet now. I swerve the confectionery and cakes/biscuits aisles in the supermarket so am not tempted by having them in the house. I also don't live anywhere near shops so the temptation isn't there to nip out and buy them either.

I eat healthily and don't tend to eat UPF foods, but I'm not sanctimonious about it. I enjoy the occasional McDonalds for example.

I eat a small breakfast, a sandwich or salad for lunch and just about anything for tea. Last night I made a traybake wth sausages and loads of vegetables. I make a lot of recipes from The Roasting Tin books and they are full of vegetables and are very tasty and nutritious. I don't snack in the evening as my evening meal keeps me full all evening.

If I get the munchies before the next meal I will have some nuts or a piece of cheese.

@Frequency why do you skip lunch? It's no wonder you are hungry all the time.

I skip lunch as a way to control my calorie intake. Also, there are not many "lunch" foods I enjoy.

I haven't always skipped lunch or eaten chocolate for breakfast. The chocolate protein bars are a relatively recent addition. Skipping lunch has been going on for the last 6 months-ish.

I know my diet is shit. I also know that if I cut out the processed shit I won't replace it with anything substantial but I do get what people are saying and I agree I was probably craving sugar because of all the UPF.

I have had disordered eating and now eat intuitively. My weight has now been stable for decades with a BMI of 22.

When I had disordered eating, I ate the kind of food you ate, would think about food constantly, and had big cravings and occasional binges and felt bad about myself.

Now, I don't. I wouldn't have the Greggs brownie as its cheap chemical/industrial filler designed to be made as cheaply as possible. It's not 'food'.

Instead I would make some brownies with butter, dark chocolate, sugar and flour and really enjoy them. I'd have them with greek yoghurt and berries or even cream so as not to spike my blood sugar/keep me satisfied for longer.

The big difference - I now eat for nutrition and I eat real food. I also exercise most days.

I don't have breakfast cereal for breakfast as after reading the UPF book, I don't see it as food, just industrially produced paste. Once you think of it that way, it's hard to desire it.

I love cake but it has to be homemade, not chemical stodge. The chemical stodge is designed to be easy to eat (no need to chew), spike your blood sugar so causing cravings, and yet you will still feel hungry as its missing the nutrition you need.

Breakfast was poached eggs with butter and salt sourdough bread. I then had another slice of sourdough with butter and raspberry jam. My food delivery comes on Sunday so I also had some squares of dark chocolate.

Lunch will be seared tuna, roasted garlic and rosemary potatoes and probably some spinach. I'll likely have more dark chocolate afterwards. Possibly some greek yoghurt with berries/banana/honey if I feel like it, but maybe not. Ice cream, but it has to be made with real cream and actually melt.

Dinner - not sure either soup or wraps/tacos with salad. And wine.

What are ‘lunch foods’ op? Food is food.

And why wouldn’t you replace the upf with substantial foods? You know that’s what you need to do , you’re not happy with your diet but won’t do anything about it. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Walking makes no difference, that’s your first mistake. The most recent thinking is that your body burns the same almost regardless, all that matters is what you eat.

To answer your question, I eat what I want, but I want to be healthy. I made a banana cake today, had a slice, had a sliver as fancied more, but now I’m totally full and you couldn’t make me eat any more.

It’s mainly genetic, your body ‘wants’ to be a certain size.

What's a lunch food???

I often have dhal for breakfast and lenpah ( yoghurt so thick its like cheese ) and fruit and seeds for around 2pm when Im getting peckish , then a cooked family meal in the evening

Atm Im rather partial to a slice of black rye bread, smothered in cottage cheese and either topped with fruit - grapes, kiwi, satsumas or rocket and tinned fish - depending if I want sweet or savoury

Cereals don't get a look in - empty bloody calories in my mind and do not fill you up, but Im happy to throw in seeds and nuts to yoghurt and weekends its a full on cooked breakfast off eggs, bacon, mushroom, tomatoes, beans and has browns

Lunch is whatever - might be just fruit and labnah, might be cold roasted veg and a couple of mackerel fillets , jacket potato with beans and cheese

Any food can be eaten at any time of day. It was Kelloggs who invented cereal and sold it as a breakfast meal , before that we went to work on an egg - high protein - filling - good for your body, brain and hormones

I try to eat clean , I try to keep my protein intake as high as I can, I try to have as much plants as I possibly can face and in eating like that, Im too full to be craving the brownies ( last week Ive been awful poorly and not been keeping to it - hence the sugar cravings )

Lunch food is food I can prepare at work, where I don't have access to an oven, that fits in with my calorie allowance.

I think people have misunderstood my post. I enjoy what I currently eat. I don't mind being hungry.

I do mind the deep, deep cravings I occasionally get. And I don't understand how people can allow themselves the occasional treat without compensation for it somehow by cutting meals or counting calories.

My question was more how do people just eat without counting everything and pre-planning every morsel without gaining weight? How do they manage to have treats without gaining weight if they're not counting and planning everything?

It just does not make sense to my brain.

I don’t consider calories at all. I never weigh myself. But I am thin and always have been and assume genetics?

I couldn’t go eat something big from Greggs. A large pastry, I’d have to cut in half and eat over two days. My portion sizes are small. I get dizzy if I don’t eat every two hours or so.

Breakfast is usually an egg or two on sourdough toast.
I usually have something small to snack on, often a smoothie with added flax seed and ground nuts. Sometimes a cake or a chocolate bar instead.
Lunch is usually a chicken wrap or falafel salad.
Afternoon snack is almost always yogurt and granola.
Dinner is whatever, could be a full roast or a pizza or curry.
I don’t snack after dinner, I have a hiatal hernia so can’t eat for two hours or more before going to bed

I took it to mean she wouldnt necessarily eat anything in replacement. Like most of us, we're eating a biscuit because we fancy a biscuit, not because we're hungry.

They do compensate for it by eating less in another meal or another day. Where do you get the idea they dont

Poster above you eats the sort of food I eat, although describes it as 'clean' eating, I dont, I dont consider one food clean and another unclean or healthy or unhealthy, however you'll have posters on this site saying its orthorexia or disordered eating, to pay attention to what goes inside you. Or for people that take stock of their calorie or protein levels, its disordered eating

Thats why I wouldnt ask about disordered eating. You might want to know how to minimise the sugary stuff because that will make you crave more sugary stuff. On the other hand you might be happy with things how they are.