to think that women who are a size 6/8/10 are permanently on a diet?

[SabineUndine]

I don't mean diet as in counting every calorie, but diet as in they hardly eat any carbs and don't eat cakes, biscuits etc more than a couple of times a year? I am not a thin person (you guessed?) and I look at what my really slim female colleagues eat and it's salads with no carbs and just a tiny bit of protein, or soup or smoothies. Is that what it takes to be a thin person?

Olly would you mind specifying your portion sizes? Is it 30g of conflakes or a full bowl? A slice of garlic bread or full baguette etc

Ahh thanks! Very interesting... Definitely confirms I'm a pig I knew this already though..
I'm in fat/binge mode at the moment so today I ate:

Scrambled egg on two slices buttered toast
2 sausage rolls
1 cheese roll
Huge bowl of spaghetti bolognese
1 big bar dairy milk
1 small galaxy bar
Half an apple crumble with double cream
Two pints of lemonade
3 coffees with sweeteners and full fat milk
No exercise

Eating what I want puts me firmly as a size 16 and I stay there, so with it being the average size in the UK maybe this is a typical kind of day for a lot of people.. Yes it's excessive but doesn't make us keep geting bigger and bigger until we're size 30.. Which is probably why so many people think it's a normal way of eating. But it's not, I definitely didn't need all that food! I just love it unfortunately..

When I'm slim I eat no carbs and exercise a lot, small portions etc.. I seriously feel like two different people.. People don't know where they are with me!

Cornflakes would be a full bowl.
Couldn't eat a whole baguette - just a slice!
Restaurant portions for the lunch although didn't finish the mac and cheese

Stirfry was maybe half a large plate as still full from lunch.

I've been musing about cereal portions. I had children to stay recently (relations not random!) and bought the small portion boxes of cereal as I didn't know what they would like. This was a treat for us when we were kids and I remember one box being ample for breakfast. These kids ate 3 boxes each, and I have to say, contents of just one box looked a paltry amount in the bowl. Have portions shrunk, or are bowls bigger, or expectations just higher?

Very interesting thread.

People who say 'I eat loads, I eat anything I want', and still stay slim, I'd like to actually see what they eat, as in portion sizes, what their meals contain, calorie intake etc.

Because portions vastly vary, as does 'I eat whatever I fancy'.

I do believe that some people are naturally slimmer, but not through fast metabolism, but rather through good habits learned in childhood/ not having to clear your plate / small portions.

And I honestly do the believe this rubbish about your stomach shrinking and you not being able to eat as much after you've reduced portions is rubbish. I eat a lot less than I used to but given the chance can still 'clear the table top off' as my grandma used to say.

To stay a size ten I limit myself to 1400 cals per day.

Do we not teach the conservation of energy any more?

Their energy consumption and expenditure is simply equal.

Some ultra marathon runners and cross fit ladies eat yuuuge quantities

Sp:I do not believe this rubbish about your stomach shrinking etc

Size 16 here. Big built as in feet/shoulders/wrists

Typical days food

Greek yog with raspberries, teaspoon of honey and a few Brazil nuts

Two rice cakes with peanut butter

Protein shake post gym

Goats cheese and bacon salad (50g cheese, 3 small bacon strips, 3/4 bag salad leaves, spring onions, cucumber, balsamic)

Tea, coffee, Fanta zero and water

I know the calories in-out thing but I tracked everything using MFP for months. Calories in = between 1400-1900. Calories out = my BMR was around 1800 and that isn't accounting for any gym stuff

I can lose if I go ultra low carb or stay under 1000 cals a day

I'm a size 18 and need to stick at 1500 cals plus exercise (1200ish net) to maintain. I can lose if I drop to 1200 plus exercise (sub 1000 cals) but I get too tired/ hungry to maintain that long term.

I was a size 6 pre pregnancies, now a size 8.
I have never been on a diet, I eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm satisfied, not to the extent of feeling uncomfortably full though.
I don't drink much alcohol.
An average day for me would be 2 slices of buttered toast for breakfast, cold meat and salad sandwich for lunch, chilli or stirfry with rice or meat and veg for dinner.I eat about 3 bits of fruit a day, usually a bar of chocolate in the evenings. I don't like fizzy juice but I will drink about 6 cups of frothy coffee a day.
I love cake too and usually have one in the tin at home.

I'm a solid 12 (5'8, go between 62-65kg) and today I ate:

Pancake with full fat yoghurt and half punnet blueberries
2 chicken drumsticks with rocket, avocado, tomatoes and dressing
Apple
More blueberries
Banana
Three Oreo cookies
Turkey slices with spaghetti, kale and spinach
Bag of tortilla chips with guacamole
Shared a rocky road with DH
Strawberries before bed

Eat less, move more. Simples.

Theoretically - the simplest thing ever. Practically - virtually impossible for many.

Otherwise, everyone would be slim, wouldn't they?

Last two days food diary are shocking when I think about them (quantities guesstimated)

Friday :
2 glasses chocolate milk
1 Pret mozzarella and tomato croissant
Carrot juice
4 tomatoes
Half bag of carrot batons
3 kiwi fruit
5 chocolate digestives
Cod 'n' chips

Saturday :
1 glass chocolate milk
Bowl natural yogurt with Purition protein powder & honey
2 hard boiled eggs
2 kiwi fruit
Big chunk cucumber
3 slices mature cheddar + 2 tomatoes

Sat I only had the cheese and tomatoes because I was reading this thread and realised I hadn't eaten any dinner

These are about as bad as my eating habits get - no proper meals and grazing

I've been miscarrying for the last 7 weeks, which hopefully thanks to another operation on Weds means my hormone levels are now finally returning to normal

Which means I need to get out of stress eating mode (ie not much) and get my diet sorted in prep for starting IVF #3 in the next few weeks

Did the Ocado order with loads of healthy food and easy proper meals so DH and I are going to force ourselves out of post miscarriage slump and I am going to start my fitness pal tracking again for a bit so I can aim for 2000 cals+ and at least 60g protein (and at least 5 a day in veg alone plus fruit on top)

Naturally thin people do seem to eat what they want and stay slim. I have a theory though; they don't eat such bit portions and they frequently and unintentionally fast.

My sister is like this. She eats everything naughty and is a size 6/8. She also has a lot of nervous energy and must have a very fast metabolism.

Mind you I eat huge portions sometime and had for the last few years just ate whatever I felt like. My equilibrium is a size 12 but on the side of looking a bit large for my frame. Ice always maintained I have a fast metabolism too.

I am however currently into week 5 of doing Paul McKenna's I can make you thin programme and have dropped over a stone already. This because I gave birth to DC2 in February. I want to be a tidy size 10

I'm big, my sis in law v slim. The difference is mainly genetics, then portion control and how much we move. I have to limit to around 800-1000 calories to start losing.

YANBU. No such thing as eating loads & staying thin. It's basic maths.

I'm a size 8 but I'm not naturally skinny and have to watch my choices and control my portion sizes. Generally this means I fast on Monday, eat healthily but small portions Tues-Fri and whatever I want on weekends. No snacks though. I admit that be slim and able to wear what I want is important to me. I was much bigger many years ago and it made me unhappy. Struggled again at menopause but now OK (even though I gave up smoking 3 years ago). People I work with say I'm lucky I'm so slim but it's only because I am careful. Portion sizes are much bigger nowadays and when I compare my old plates and bowls with newer ones they are also much larger. I am 60 and 5 foot 2 and weight about 7 stone 12 pounds

I can believe the nervous energy thing.. My mum lost a lot of weight when she developed anxiety and her brain/body wouldn't stop pacing. Her diet was the same as it always was but she went from a size 16 to a 10 quickly. Definitely not reccommended and she's not been able to emulate it again (by doing it in a healthy way)

Just came across the tummy picture that a poster uploaded in page 11.

35 and two children?! And she eats very healthily but a decent quantity

I would have seen that at the beach and assumed that she starved herself.

It really must be a metabolism thinks to some extent

I think metabolism and activity levels (fidgeting, finding it hard to keep still) do play a role.

Also, your body type matters. I usually weigh 54-55 kg, which isn't light for my height - at a guess my BMI is probably around 22-23. But I look much lighter because of my build. I'm a similar height to granny above, probably wear a similar clothes size (6-8) yet I must weigh a stone more.

I'm just under or just over 10 stone (5 foot 4 ish). I move between 9 - 10 stone since I was 14, sometimes over 10 and a half although I don't feel that great when I get that heavy.

In terms of eating yesterday - totally random so not scientific analysis of typical day:

2 large duck breasts (for two people but I ate them all mmm) with 2 leeks chopped up and cooked with them. A Waitrose prepared salad with corn and endame beans, peppers etc - whole packet which is presumably for 2 or 3 people.

Then took son on driving practice and to Tesco (he's recently become a vegan so wanted to buy loads of spices etc and I bought a bag of huts and raisins and ate them all which became my dinner - it was 1200 calories - I checked). Just before bed remains of pack of salad above with 2 tins of sardines in olive oil.

So I would guess that is about 2300 calories or something like that? may be 2000.

Day before Friday - if I can remember - actually I can't remember. It might have been 4 slices of bacon fried in olive oil and 3 poached egg yolks (I don't like egg white, weird I know) as late brunch (I worked from home that day). Salad (as above - whole pack but it was a Tesco pack raw of beansprout stir fry). Dinner - may be it was a piece of salmon stir fried in olive oil with peppers, red and green and courgettes. Yes I think it was with spinach and broccoli. I had a grapefruit just before bed.

So I suspect my meals are bigger than many people but I don't have snacks and I don't eat junk food. I drink water only although sometimes cocoa with nothing added except hot water.

attheedgeofsanity thanks for sharing. It's good to get an idea of what others eat. I could not eat that amount of food!

It's an appetite thing though.

I have never been on a diet. I eat when I am hungry. I am 5'6 and weigh 9 st.
A typical day would be
A banana
handful of nuts after the gym
bowl of homemade soup and a coffee- no sugar.
an apple and a satsuma
big plate of stir fried chicken and veg with rice
houmous, crackers with pickle for supper
I only drink water.

Sz 8. I do calorie count because I was a Sz 18 Jan 2015 but I eat cake and biscuits and chocolate and carbs. Just very careful about what sort.

And yes the fidgeting matters too I think. I'm a huge fidget, I cannot keep still. It used to drive my ex batty if we sat on the same sofa in the evenings. He used to touch my hands to stop me fiddling. I wasn't even aware I was doing it. Even as a child I always had to be dong something with my hands, usually seeing, knitting, jigsaw etc.