To ask how much slim people eat in a day?

[InSpaceNooneCanHearYouScream]

I know this is an odd question, but bear with me! I used to be a normal healthy weight when I was young, but over the years my BMI crept up to 30. I've been battling with my weight for the past few years, and have managed to wrestle my BMI down to 27. But I've yo-yo-ing up and down for a while, and I think I've lost sight of what a normal daily food intake looks like.

My worry is that if I manage to get down to a BMI of 23 or 24, with a reasonable amount of activity per day, how will I manage to sustain it long term? I know how to eat healthily, but I also like the odd takeaway, wine and occasional junk food. I suspect that slim people maybe just don't eat that much? Except for the few with high metabolisms of course.

So, it would be really helpful for some slim people in their 30's, 40's, or older, to give me a quick example of their daily diet. Thanks in advance!

I'm fat, so what do I know!

However I think the key to loosing weight is picking a diet that you can really see yourself following for the rest of your life.

I did a traditional doctor recommended low calorie diet and lost a fair bit of weight. In the long run it made me so ill I had to stop. I'd never have been able to stick to it realistically for life, either.

I'm putting my faith in the Paleo/Primal diet, which I'm about to embark on. What impressed me about it is that I've seen a fair few success stories where people have lost weight and kept it off for a year or more.

I think it's because it's 'proper' food, you can eat meat, curries etc. If you are not too strict you can even eat cheese. It's the only diet I've seen where I actually like the look of the food!

I will say that if you are going to stick to a diet, you need to plan, plan and plan again. It's those moments where you are caught unprepared and hungry that you end up having to grab something less then healthy.

Great thread, always wanted to ask this.

I've always been slim (tall size 8-10) and I eat a lot but I make healthy choices (no take aways, v little sugar, lots of vegetables, home cooked food, no fizzy drinks) excepting a fondness for butter and v dark chocolate!

I often eat scrambled eggs with onions/ peppers for breakfast with 4 pieces of toast.

Lunch I usually have a cooked meal of leftovers from the night before (usually involving rice, vegetables and some meat/ fish), I often have a bit of dark chocolate afterwards.

Evening meal as above but larger portion.

Bedtime snack- toast/porridge.

I snack on fruit/ nuts.

I'm 42, 5ft 3 and just under 8 stone (used to be 7.5 stone but I have an anorexic daughter which tends to make carefully not careful about eating stuff I probably shouldn't!)

It's probably more about exercise for me. I'm an ex professional dancer and teach dance part time as well as attending long advanced level classes whenever possible (2-4 times a week normally). I run most mornings and do weight training a couple of times a week.

A typical day's food would be:
breakfast - omelette, yogurt and fruit
lunch - pasta or chicken salad or chicken and salad sandwich, fruit
dinner - some kind of white meat or fish with rice or potatoes and veg or stir fry/fajitas. Sometimes a pasta dish or jacket potatoes/meat/salad. yogurt, fruit or icecream for pudding.
snacks - nuts or dried fruit or bananas (usually 2 snacks a day)

49yrs, 5'4", 8st 10lb

Same weight more or less since aged 18.

Good home-cooked food including cream & butter, plenty of wine to drink.

Portion control is the key - as I've aged I've needed less - stop when full, do not regularly eat between meals, feeling hungry won't harm you (but if you fancy the odd piece of cake, eat it)

Also exercise - I walk, use the stairs etc etc & cycle regularly (15-30miles/week)

I'm 40, 5'8, and just under 10 stone, I am also utterly lazy when it comes to exercise, not adverse to a nice walk and quite happy to do so if it has a purpose or I fancy an amble but have never subscribed to any physical activity for the sake of 'exercise',

Today I had two eggs with sourdough toast and butter for breakfast.

One cranberry and oat cookie.

Falafel with tabouleh, spinach & tomato salad, hummus & Tzatziki

A handful of pistachios

Homemade minced beef and onion pie with homemade chips, gravy, cabbage & peas (it was very nice).

2 Lindt white truffles

A billion cups of tea with no sugar and one coffee with one sugar.

That's pretty typical (although fairly light on the snacks today, I am a bit of a snacker), dinner wouldn't usually be quite so hefty but I've been away for a week and DH has been feeding himself (poorly) and looked bereft when I suggested chickpea, pepper & chorizo stew so I made him a rib-sticker to feed him back up.

I have no idea how many calories in that lot, have never calorie counted, dieted or skimped of the good stuff and have been a fairly steady weight for the last 15 years (I was 8 stone at 20, 9 at 30 and my current weight after children, which I'm very happy with - I used to be too skinny).

I guess I eat a good and very varied diet, no junk, always cook, and have a very good relationship with food, I do like snacks though & drink A LOT of beer (we own a brewery, it's hard not too!).

I'm nearly 40 and my body shape hasn't changed much since hitting puberty and neither have my eating habits.

I think most have been mentioned here already but I'm a grazer, I leave food when I have had enough - much to my Dhs bemusement.

I don't do breakfast and work is really busy so I mainly have water, tea and crisps during the day (one small packet lasts me 2 days) and a graze box lasts me a week.

I then have tea and toast or pick at the children's dinner before eating a main meal in the evening. I don't snack after my dinner although I do drink a bit too much wine.

Exercise is running around work and after a small family.

I had a Realy poor relationship with food when growing up - insure being made to eat everything even if it had gone stone cold and learnt to hide food.

I have never done that now as an adult but I do believe that my body got used to not eating itms.

I hardly ever weigh myself either - once a month perhaps at work - I don't own any scales. Weight goes up/down by a pound or two - not a problem.

Am 47, BMI around 21, and fairly active with rare aerobic exercise. I'm a frequent grazer. Today I had
2 medium bananas
5 chocolate brazil nuts
about 60grams of Cheesy Doritos
4-5 big mugs of tea with milk
A whole wheat muffin with cheese and humus
A medium plate of pasta with heaps of veg & jar sauce with cheese on top

It's massively less food than what I could eat 10+ yrs ago.

Stopping eating when full is important - there is no need to clear the plate and then have a pudding

I sympathise as my weight crept up to overweight but I've now managed to get down to bmi 21.5. I'm 34.

Portion size is the key for me, plus making sure I balance meals in terms of protein, carbs, etc. I have occasional takeaway and enjoy life.

I had to work hard to train myself to eat smaller portions and eat food that fills me up. I read about the GI diet and it changed how I look at meals. I used to have loads of pasta with a bit if sauce, that's now reversed. It takes a while to retrain your eating habits and like you I got stuck on the way at a weight for a really long time.

I really think it depends on the individual.

I have one friend (40s) who has gone from a size 14/16 to an 8/10 and been maintaining for the last few years. She eats the same every day: small bowl cereal for breakfast, an apple and a yoghurt for lunch, vegetables in the evening. She is ridiculously strict. But at weekends she eats whatever she fancies.

I have another friend (30s) who is and has always been a slim size 8. She eats constantly - good food, but still. Constantly grazing throughout the day. She eats WAY more than my other friend, but just effortlessly stays slim. If friend A ate like that, she'd balloon back to her bigger size immediately.

I'm somewhere in the middle I think! I'm slim but not thin, size 10-12. Today I ate:

• no breakfast
• lunch: big bowl veg soup, two cheese and rocket bread rolls, three chocolate cookies
• snack: a few nuts, a few wasabi peas
• dinner: 1.5 large boudin blanc sausages, broccoli. Yoghurt. A few spoons of nutella.

Somebody (not me!) has got to see how often the slim reporters on here are frequent snackers (like me). I read it reduces risk of obesity by keeping blood sugars stable.

I'm 36, 5'10" and 9.5 stone. Size 8 - 10.
Today breakfast was a slice of wholemeal toast and butter, lunch was tomato soup and a cheese sandwich, and dinner will be chicken and pepper stir fry. Afternoon snack of an apple and a chocolate chip cookie. Lots of coffee and probably a glass of wine tonight.

I think being active is more important than diet. I don't run or go to the gym, but I don't drive so walk an awful lot (usually pushing a laden buggy and/or carrying a toddler) and spend lots of time running around the at the park with my children.

Sorry - forgot to say what I eat:

Breakfast - small dish (Tupperware container so can't add more) of granola and semi skim milk

Lunch - soup and roll (no butter) or baked potato with cheese and salad

Dinner - main meal, when dh is home normally fish pie and salad/kale, fish with salad or something like fajitas with no sour cream. When alone I'd just have small bowl of pasta with tomato sauce.

Dessert - I cut that out years ago, only have it in restaurants

Snacks - banana, yoghurt, sometimes a small piece of cake at work. I'm bad for snacking on cheese cubes at home!

Doh forgot size - 34 yrs old, 5'6", 9st 7, size 8-10

I think talkinpeace said about either snacking or having meals. I think that's true.

I'm mid 40s, size 8, 8st 6lb

Today I have eaten:

Breakfast - bowl of porridge and a cup of tea
Mid-morning snack - home made chocolate chip cookie
Lunch - Lamb chump with ratatoille and two roast potatoes, followed by creme brulee
Evening - a jaffa cake, a packet of crisps and a French fancy!

It's hardly the most healthy diet and I do really need to eat better! The most significant thing about my eating habits is that I eat very little after lunch time. What I have eaten this afternoon has been fairly normal for me

I do very little proper exercise. Today I have, however, spent 12 hours at work/commuting followed immediately by a two and a half hour (non-work) meeting. I only got home 20 minutes ago which is when I scoffed the crisps and cake (I had the jaffa cake at the meeting!).

I am 8 stone 5lbs and 5ft 7 ins.
I have maintained this weight since I was 16. Almost 30 years ago.
I exercise every day, I rarely sit down & am always on the go.
If I snack I will miss the next meal. The one thing that had helped me keep my weight steady is to weigh myself every day. If the scales go up,, I cut back. I even take my mini scales on holiday so I can keep track.

I'm 8.5 stone and 5 ft 6. I'm 41 and have been this weight all my adult life except during my 20s when I used to go out drinking a lot - I had a lot of beer belly and went up to 9.5 stone.

I never miss breakfast. If I'm not particularly hungry because I ate my evening meal late the night before, I'll just have brekkie slightly later, and a bit less of it. I have a bowl of porridge, or a bowl of muesli with berries, or weetabix if I'm in a hurry. If I have something like cornflakes my blood sugar plummets a couple of hours later and I feel starving well before lunchtime. Not to mention a bit sick and irritable. So I like to keep my blood sugar fairly level.

For lunch In work I'll have soup and a roll with either a piece of fruit for dessert or a slice of shortbread. (I seem to be alright with a bit of sugar if it comes straight after a proper meal.). At the weekends I'll have cheese and tomato on toast, or peanut butter on toast (2 slices), or a cheese and salad sandwich.

If we're eating our evenifng meal late I'll have a bag of crisps to keep me going when I get in from work.

Tea (dinner) is usual home cooked stuff like curry and rice, tomato-based sauce with pasta, salmon and noodles, chicken stir fry, the odd fry up, steak and ale pie with oven chips and veg, baked potato with cheese and salad etc. I make sure my portions are big enough so that I feel full and don't need dessert. I rarely just fancy something sweet afterwards in that way, but won't deny myself if I do. Usually a fruity yoghurt. But it will be a couple of biscuits not half a pack. Small slice of cake not 2 big pieces. I had a bowl of ice cream tonight. Didn't really need it but DS was having some so I had a bit too. I feel sick if I eat too much though and I don't like feeling sick so rarely overindulge! Just at Xmas or if my mum's roast dinner is particularly delish - then I'll have seconds and even thirds. And a lovely helping of indigestion and bloating later!

I very rarely feel hungry between meals and never really have an afternoon dip where I'm craving biscuits etc. I don't buy fizzy drinks as I look after my teeth and hate the low-sugar ones, but would have the full-fat ones at parties.

I don't exercise so am not toned and very unfit. So don't assume that skinny people are healthy!

Oh yes, I weigh myself about twice a year, out of interest. Really don't see the point of obsessing over a few pounds off and on here and there.

5 feet 7 and just under 9 stone.

Yesterday:

Porridge at 6:30 with golden syrup. Tea, milk and 2 sugars.

Cycled to work, 15 minutes.

Tea (as above) at 10.

Peanut butter sandwich at 12. Wholemeal bread.

Apple and mandarin some point afterwards.

Tea at 3.

Cycled home. Ate flapjack (home made) when I arrived.

Played cricket (unusual)

Dinner at 8: kidney bean stew with bacon, spinach and rice. 2 helpings.

Oh, and no pudding. The stew was the last thing I ate. I normally have a bit of chocolate if we have any in the house (we go through one 250g bar a week).

Maybe some wine at the weekend (we go through 2 bottles every 3-4 weeks).

In my experience perpetually thin people eat very few meals a day (usually just 1-2 proper meals) don't tend to snack and have small portions. Also, they get angry when you point all this out. In my experience perpetually overweight people eat large portions, snack often, tend to go for greasy and sugary food and exercise much less than they realise. They too get angry when you point this out.

I fluctuate between the two groups.

It's carbs that is causing the most issues with people. Cut them down, you will lose weight and lose the cravings/crashes. I have changed to a mostly paleo lifestyle and I have never felt better.

I have banana omelette for breakfast with honey and almonds. Consists of 2 eggs and 2 bananas.

I had homemade chicken Korma for evening meal but with no rice.

I have lost 2.5 stone this year by cutting down on the starchy carbs and grains.