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?

The definition of a diet is an interesting thing in its own right. To me, a diet implies that you are thinking of what you eat, that you make a conscious decision not to eat something you would like to eat/would consider normal to eat.

But some people just don't naturally eat very much. My DM is a nibbler: does eat chocolate and cake, but usually very small portions of everything, and is also very active; she has never put on weight. I wouldn't call it a diet, because that is just how it suits her to eat. They've never had a car, so that is probably a big part of it, too. But again, you could hardly call it an exercise programme.

Size eight to ten here, I am currently eating hot buttered toast and will have a cheeseburger for dinner today. I did do parkrun this morning and I don't eat like this every day. It's definitely 80:20 for me, but no, in never on a diet.

Everyone is on a diet of sorts all the time, some people normally have a good diet and others normally don't.

Normal activity levels matter too

I easily stay around a 10. I'ld gain weight if I ate crap every day but I wouldn't enjoy eating crap every day so I don't. I can have a moderate amount of cake/chocolate/take out and stay a 10 - but I'm talking weekly not daily. It's not a "diet" as such because I wouldn't want or enjoy it daily.

I'm not depriving myself at all. personally if I wanted to be a 6/8 then I would have to watch what I eat more, but not for a 10. as a PP poster already said, a 10 is quite big nowadays, I'm nowhere near a vintage 10!

I don't have a car though and walk everywhere which helps.

WorraLiberty 'What a silly thing to think about individual women'. Actually, no, it was a query based on observation of about a dozen colleagues.

And have you ever heard the saying 'if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all'? I recommend it to you.

I'm in my 50s, a size 10. I'm small though so not really skinny. I eat everything, I just watch my portions. I'd have one biscuit or a small piece of cake. I find a huge pile of pasta or pizza a bit boring, do I'd only have a bit. We got takeaway pizza last night and I had one slice.

My DD(20) is probably a 6. She is borderline underweight and struggling massively with food intolerances and IBS at Uni. It basically often hurts her to eat. When her gut is calm she eats pretty much anything that doesn't set her off though.

In my experience they just eat much less. I work with a load of thin women and one has the healthiest diet and works out the rest just eat a lot less than most people and one barely eats at all but saves her calories for crap. The result on the outside is they all look very slim. My friend is around a size 6 maybe even a 4 and she does eat chocolate, cake, crisps etc but she just eats so much less over a day. We used to meet up with the kids she'd have coffee and cake but she often shared the cake or leave some or if she could she'd wrap some up to take home. I'd be sat there with my hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows and stabbing my children with my fork if they so much as looked at my cake! I would think my friend eats as many calories daily as I do when I'm on a diet. To me she's on a permanent diet but to her its just how she eats.

I've gone from a size 20 to a size 8/10 over the last few years.

My idea of full now is completely different. I don't eat to burst
I done eat because I'm sad/unhappy/tired/grumpy
I am so much more active than I used to be.

I now eat 3 good meals a day. No lo carbing - bread, pasta or potatoes with most meals. I have the occasional pud, takeaway or wine but crucially, not all three and not every day.

(today I had a ham&chese croissant, mint tea, and 2 slices of real buttery toast with scrambled egg and tomatos with black coffee for lunch). No salad today although I do enjoy salads and will chose salad a few times a week.

I'm 5"7 and size 8 UK , occasionally 10. While I know I have a bad relationship with food, I am definitely not always on a diet.

It does seem to be mainly about eating less food than a lot of overweight people, and taking a bit more exercise.

We all know someone who 'eats like a pig', and never gains weight.

We all know someone who 'only has to look at food' and gains weight.

But on the whole ime, most slim people tend to eat less food than their overweight peers and they tend to move about a bit more.

" I just watch my portions. I'd have one biscuit or a small piece of cake. I find a huge pile of pasta or pizza a bit boring, do I'd only have a bit. We got takeaway pizza last night and I had one slice."

This makes me feel both depressed and ravenous. One biscuit? One slice? What's the point then?

The carb thing is funny too. When I was little, the standard diet was boiled spuds with a small helping of meat and fish, and hardly anybody seemed to be overweight. Which suggests that using carbs as a kind of synonym of fattening might not be terribly helpful.

What a silly conclusion to come to OP.

My daily food intake always includes all the food groups and some dark chocolate BUT I do watch my portion sizes, in that when I'm full I stop eating.

My DH has had weight issues because he comes from a family who grew up eating lots and lots of food. (They were farmers and needed it at the time) Fortunately I've managed to train him and he now knows what a "normal" portion size is.

I'm 5'7" and 8-10.
I'm never on a diet, I love running so that helps
But as an idea I've eaten a pain au chocolate, a whole Easter egg and a slice of pizza today and I'll have risotto later. I love my food!
Generally I just eat to appetite and just wait till I am genuinely hungry, that can mean eating 200 calories in a day, that can mean eating 5000! It probably averages out at 1500 ish a day, I just eat wha I want when I want but not for the sake of it.

Well it was a silly thing to say OP.

As for whether it's 'nice' or not, I dunno. Are you always this easily offended?

Your title doesn't mention your 12 colleagues.

It just says, "to think that women who are a size 6/8/10 are permanently on a diet?"

Sort your rant to add I'm an 8-10

I agree with Worra

You did say something silly.

And when you ask if you are being unreasonable, you are inviting people to say what they think of what you are doing.

What I think is that you are being SILLY.

^We all know someone who 'eats like a pig', and never gains weight.

We all know someone who 'only has to look at food' and gains weight.^

but they don't. I bet if you tracked their calories you'ld find the first person actually doesn't consume a lot over the course of a day/week. And the second eats all sorts of hidden calories (like "low fat" but high sugar snacks, "drinking their calories" etc etc)

What a sweeping statement.

I'm tall and a size 6–8 depending on the shop. I eat carbs including bread, rice, pasta, quinoa, cous-cous...

I have two big slices of toast for breakfast, with cheese, avocado or pate. I eat a sandwich for lunch most days (meat, fish, cheese, anything really). For dinner most nights I'll have home-made pastas, curries, stews etc, often veggie but sometimes with fish or meat. About once a week I'll have a takeaway –fish and chips, pizza, chicken.

I eat cake or biscuits, chocolate and crisps most days. I'll also have a couple of pieces of fruit a day.

People have said that my portion sizes are large; my household and I (none of whom are overweight) think they're normal. I don't really know what that signifies!

I only do about an hour or two of vigorous cardio exercise a week, plus some gentle yoga, and I don't drive so I walk a lot.

So yes, I think YABU and jumping to massive conclusions.

Not sure what my UK size is, but I am officially underweight.

Eat lots of chocolate and cookies.

The only "diet" I keep is not drinking any sugary drinks. Except for sweets I eat mostly unprocessed foods.

I think a lot of it is metabolism, and a lot is food additives. Lifestyle comes after that, and eating habits ... probably last. If you have been taught to eat until the plate is empty instead of eating until you are full, that might affect your weight, too.
But actual dieting, like "I'd like to eat more, but I won't because I want to stay thin"? I think that is a very weak factor, actually.

It is universally acknowledged in Europe that if you spend a year in the US, you will have gained weight when you return. People don't suddenly lose willpower or grow larger stomachs, so a lot has to be due to the substances they are allowed to add to food over there.
And the fact that you go everywhere by car, whereas in Europe you will usually walk.

One biscuit is enough for anyone really. I was brought up to have one biscuit and my kids are the same. To be honest I think eating half a packet is just greedy. And the takeaway pizza? Well it was a bit processed tasting and not that amazing. I normally make my own but I was feeling lazy.

Ah, here we go. The plump sneering at the un-plump.

Things I've noticed about differences in how I (115lb, 27 waist, 35 ass, 32 chest) eat and how larger people eat (especially the ones who like to have a good ol' sneer at my size):-

1. A friend who says being fat is 'in the genes', yet eats Haribo sweets almost constantly, thinks a pasty or sandwich from a shop is a between-meal snack and likes to eat blocks of raw, plain cheese. Overall, taking in more calories in the day than needed. Simple maths.

1. Drinking. I don't drink, so no 180+ cal drinks going down easily. Multiple ones. Someone sinks 8 pints, there's 1440 useless calories.

1. I don't eat/order takeaways, so portions are generally controlled. I don't eat out often - its a treat.

1. Between-meal snacks. The 'snack' industry convinces you you need to eat more more more - after breakfast, before lunch, after lunch, after dinner, scoff scoff. People buy 'healthy' snacks (200 cal here, 300 cal there) and keep adding to their daily intake.

1. Walking. I know someone who uses the car to go to the postbox which is about 6 doors down from the house. Not one smidge of exercise will they do. Meanwhile, I don't own a car and cover about 20,000 steps a day. It helps make room for the pie and pizza I want to eat :)

Most overweight people know why they are overweight. There are few who are genuinely baffled. The problem is behaviours that have become the norm - daily desserts, multiple high-calorie drinks, snacks and sweets in the pocket - so you think you're eating 'normally' and others are being 'abnormal', with their smaller portions, their lack of Haribo, their avoidance of a mid-afternoon flapjack. But really, it's no mystery. If you were deadly serious about finding out why you were overweight you could ask someone to follow you round all day and watch what you take in, but... people already know.

I'm a size 8-10 and eat chocolate/cake/biscuits every day. I don't know why I don't gain weight. I think it's metabolism/natural body shape. I eat healthy(ish) main meals but skip them sometimes if I'm busy or stressed.

bakeoffcake are you always so dismissive about people who genuinely want people's opinion? That's trolling in my book.

Thanks to all the people who replied with useful anecdotes and information. I think part of the reason my view of this is a bit skewed is the field I work in, which has a lot of very image-conscious people in and of course many of them read the mags and do the latest food fads (plenty of smoothies and spiralised courgette around at lunchtime). However when you know someone is training for a marathon and see them eating salad all the time, you do sort of wonder how they manage it.