Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

1000 replies

SabineUndine · 30/04/2016 14:34

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?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
TheCatsMeow · 30/04/2016 15:49

While I said I eat what I want, I should add I don't get much pleasure from eating. It's mostly functional to me and it bugs me that I have to do it. I'd rather take my nutrition in the form of a tablet for the day and be done with it.

I don't eat salads and soup though. I hate soup.

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 15:50

I think people who are slim are often just not as interested in food as people who are fatter and often appear to live to eat

fat people are fat because they are in the grip of constant food cravings, presumably this is so overwhelming that they cant image slim people can be anything but even more overwhelmed with food cavings

ILostItInTheEarlyNineties · 30/04/2016 15:52

Going against the tide, I'm a size 8 and eat very little. I don't restrict any foods, but my portions are small and if I think I've overeaten, I will almost subconsciously eat less the next day.

MrsJayy · 30/04/2016 15:52

Tbf i dont have a huge appetite when im full im full but im a crisp monster and drink fizz but I dont obsess over food I think there is a lot of food obsessing goes on especially amongst women

Alisvolatpropiis · 30/04/2016 15:52

I'm an 8/10 and eat loads. Hmm

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 15:53

shaming slim people
seems to me that overweight people resent the very existence of slim people, whatever they do they get grief from fat people because by just being there they make fat people feel criticised

Sistersweet · 30/04/2016 15:56

I'm a 10 and always have been. I am not on a diet but I don't have a sweet tooth. Biscuits, cake, chocolate and sweets don't do it for me and I can go months without any. However, I love my crisps, cheese and carbs.

WorraLiberty · 30/04/2016 15:57

Going against the tide, I'm a size 8 and eat very little. I don't restrict any foods, but my portions are small and if I think I've overeaten, I will almost subconsciously eat less the next day.

That's not going against the tide here at all?

FeckOfffCup · 30/04/2016 15:57

Shining I think there is some truth to that. Thinking now, I don't actually think about food very often at all. It is more functional than pleasure for me.
I will hear some people at work say 'oooh I can't wait for tea tonight, we're having xyz' I never think like that. When I think about tea I mainly dread the cooking and washing up but couldn't give two shits about the actual meal.

bakeoffcake · 30/04/2016 15:58

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

Grin saying someone has come to a daft and insulting conclusion (as you have) is not trolling.
And I have given you my opinion, like many others have said, it's to do with portion size.

ShowOfHands · 30/04/2016 15:58

I'm a size 8. I eat when I'm hungry, eat slowly, stop when full and eat what I like. I eat a healthy diet because I enjoy it, I exercise a lot and I like to feel healthy but I never diet, would never see food as forbidden and really enjoy eating and cooking.

Sistersweet · 30/04/2016 16:00

Actually, thinking bout it, I'm not a snacker. Maybe that makes the difference? Today I had 2 boiled eggs for breakfast and a chicken burrito in a restaurant for lunch. I doubt I will eat anything till dinner. That's quite normal and how I eat naturally.

IceBeing · 30/04/2016 16:01

no, op, if things were fair, then people eating less would be not only be eating less but would be eating less than they wanted to and hence 'be on a diet'. The sad reality is that things aren't fair. If everyone ate what they wanted to, stoping when they were full, then some people will migrate to size 6-8 and some will migrate towards 26-28, and everything in between.

Peoples appetites aren't the same and they don't automatically balance desire to eat with need for calories. I personally have a choice of going hungry all the time, or putting on weight.

Which sucks big time.

Others have to force themselves to eat in order to maintain weight - which sucks for them too.

Then there are the golden lucky ones (who often have absolutely no understanding of the variation in life experience on this point and hence judge anyone not so blessed as them) who can just eat without thinking about it and stay the same weight.

So yes, thinner people eat less than fatter people - but most of them aren't depriving themselves or on a diet, they just naturally want to stop eating at an earlier point. It isn't a moral issue, it is a metabolism/brain chemistry issue.

TheCatsMeow · 30/04/2016 16:01

Sister I'm the opposite, I'm a grazer. I hate big meals and instead prefer to pick at small things.

I don't think that makes much difference, as I'm an 8/10 too!

bloodymaria · 30/04/2016 16:02

Op: "Aibu to voice a ridiculous generalisation about slim women?"

Everyone: "yes"

Op: "wah. you are all terrible people"

WorraLiberty · 30/04/2016 16:02

I love food and lots of different varieties of it. But I don't think about it constantly or stress about it.

I have friends who won't agree to go shopping in town until it's been decided where they're going to eat lunch and even that can cause bloody dramas.

I inwardly roll my eyes and think, Jesus just grab a sausage roll if you're hungry and get on with doing what you came for - ie shopping! Grin

hownottofuckup · 30/04/2016 16:03

I don't think it's the norm to be obese and if you're not it's because you don't eat enough. That's a very skewed of looking at things

CharlieSierra · 30/04/2016 16:04

When I see diets in magazines they will always suggest things like "lunch - one lettuce leaf with a single sunflower seed" or "dinner - half a boiled egg with a third of a ryvita they never say that, what a silly statement.

Mostly slimmer people eat less than fat people, pretty obviously. And lunch is meant to be a light meal if you are eating dinner later. Biscuits and cakes are for occasional eating ideally. Most overweight people do not realise how much they are eating in my experience, and often have a distorted idea of body size. These days 10 & 12 are not small. When I was a young woman I was a 12 at 9st, now I can fit in a 12 at 11.5 st. I haven't changed height.

mrsmugoo · 30/04/2016 16:05

There's nothing wrong with being mindful of what you eat!

If this thread had been entitled "AIBU to think anyone over a size 12 just eats anything they want with no consideration for their figure?" -

what do you think the response would have been? HmmHmm

blinkyoullmissit · 30/04/2016 16:06

I'm a size 6/8. I eat so much junk food but I work out. Just because someone's thinner doesn't mean we don't like to eat at all. YABU.

StepintotheLightleave · 30/04/2016 16:06

Becky cold and hard post but the truth.

Or take photos of everything you eat.

Its true little snacks, and drinks do add up.

This is why its good to really cut back for a few days then you can assess how much extra your eating.

I am currently on no snacks bar the famous SIX almonds...Grin and very low carb....

Op google caroline fleming on instagram, she was on ladies of london, and is super slim, she also has three cookboks and posts pics of her lunches and meals.

literally bowls of salad, breads made out of nuts ( rare carbs) ....and yoga or excersie it seems on a very regular basis.

StepintotheLightleave · 30/04/2016 16:06

also some conditions can kick in the more weight you put on.

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 16:09

So yes, thinner people eat less than fatter people - but most of them aren't depriving themselves or on a diet, they just naturally want to stop eating at an earlier point. It isn't a moral issue, it is a metabolism/brain chemistry issue

Very true Icebeing

Iwantagoonthetrampoline · 30/04/2016 16:11

Stop with the thin bashing! Thin people have feelings too. I'm thin, I have always been thin. I also have absolutely no curves. The time when I was happiest with my body is post birth and was a bit disappointed when the boobs and hips disappeared again. People sometimes make comments about "feeding me up" which I laugh off but actually find a bit upsetting. I never diet or deny myself the food that I want. I snack a fair bit, but generally eat a balanced diet - rarely have takeaways or ready meals. I don't eat huge portions but that's not out of denial it's just my natural appetite. I also do very little exercise and am pretty unfit.
Being healthy and happy is more important than your dress size and being thin doesn't guarantee either of those things.

WorraLiberty · 30/04/2016 16:12

The thing is I think the more a person eats in one sitting, the more they eventually have to eat in order to feel full up.

You often hear people who have lost huge amounts of weight saying they can't believe how big their old portion sizes were, and that they could never eat that amount in one sitting now.

I think the stomach stretches and shrinks in accordance with the volume of food, it's regularly given.

This is why I cringe sometimes when reading breakfast/lunch/dinner threads for kids. Some of them are literally being given more food in one sitting than I could ever manage and yet some of them aren't even 8 or 10 years old.

Just because your child can eat 5 Weetabix for breakfast, doesn't necessarily mean you should let them.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In
This thread is not accepting new messages.