To ask how people go about their food intake?

[Zhan]

Do you simply eat what you want, when you want?

Do you count calories?

Do you follow a specific diet?

Do you make sure you burn more than you eat?

And ultimately, are you under or overweight or a healthy weight?

I ask as I've given up with all diets and now simply eat what I want whilst trying to burn off more than I eat. I'm a healthy weight (but flabbier than I'd like to be).

Reason I'm asking is ive noticed that most people who are a healthy weight simply eat what they want with no obvious restrictions whilst those who are trying to follow specific rules, are overweight (and continue to be so despite the dieting).

I've noticed myself that when I put myself on a diet, I gain weight. I just can't understand how.

So AIBU to ask how you all manage your food intakes?! Is dieting really worth the stress?!

I lost nearly 3 stone and several dress sizes. I have kept it off for nearly 2 years. I always monitored what I was eating in the beginning and then it became habit, a way of life to eat the way I do. If I have had a less healthy week or two and a few lbs have slipped back on, I go back to my fitness pal to refocus my mind into what I need to do.

Bmi - 24/25. Only reason I'm not overweight is I don't eat dinner.

I'm slim probably mostly because of the fags, but I had a very slim and elegant aunt who once said that you stop eating before you feel full and I think that is the trick, apart from trying to eat minimal processed food and maximum fruit and veg.

I eat at mealtimes, as much as fills me up. Occasionally I have a carby snack like hot cross bun or toast or crisps in the afternoon. Mainly I eat a vegetarian diet.

Luckily for me I've never had to watch my weight so I could eat as much as I wanted without getting fat. I really mean that - I have hardly any fat at all. Mostly I don't want to though.

I don't diet, I follow Slimming World which is a healthy lifestyle change.
It really is just eating healthily with the odd small treat so you don't feel your missing out. It's the support network it offers which helps you to stick to it and keep on track where otherwise you might have given up.
I also have exercise regularly which helps massively with weight loss.
I am overweight still but have lost 3 stone so far with SW & exercise.

BMI of just under 22. I eat pretty much what I want, but have, over the years, "trained" myself not to want large quantities of food and to eat healthily most of the time. If I'd not done this, I'd be overweight because I love food and could be quite greedy.

I think the trick to weight control is to exercise gentle restraint all the time, so that it becomes second nature. People I know who have gone on diets to lose weight have invariably put the weight back on, because they suppress the instinct to overeat in order to achieve their goal weight, then go back to their old habits. The only way to keep weight off is to reset your expectations of diet for life and work out how to eat food you enjoy, without overeating.

The other trick is to eat less, but better. So if I'm in a restaurant with friends who are going for the full 3 courses, I'll have a steak, salad and a glass of wine, but no starter, pudding or sides. At home, I eat the same as my DH and DC'S, but keep the carbs to a minimum.

I eat what I want

Issue is that what I want isn't very much, so most days unless I make a conscious effort I overeat

I spent a while being very focused on what I ate to get my BMI up, tracking with Myfitness Pal - then I let it slip and the weight came dropping off

I'm 5'8" and currently 8 stone 3

I'm 5'0 and 8st 4 so I fall into the healthy for my height category.

I pretty much eat what I want when I want. I mostly have brunch instead of breakfast and lunch so that'll probably be poached eggs, mushrooms toast and bacon or two rolls with sausage at 11am, which keeps me full until dinner. I'll always have coffee and some sort of cake or biscuit inbetween. I tend not to eat again after my dinner. That is a typical day obviously I'll have days where I do eat a bit more. The big meal at 11 suits me as I tend not to think about food for the rest of the day and I really hate being hungry, my afternoon sweet treat is more habit.

*Do you simply eat what you want, when you want? Yes to a point as in I eat 'healthy' through the week and never go hungry with foods such as jacket potatoes and beans, chicken and veg, wholemeal pittas etc. On a weekend I always have 'junk' such as an indian takeaway, chinese, carvery etc.

Do you count calories? Never

Do you follow a specific diet? No

Do you make sure you burn more than you eat? No

And ultimately, are you under or overweight or a healthy weight? * I'm 5'6 and just under 8st

My sister is overweight and always on some 'fad' diet or other - I.E just shakes etc, Cambridge diet etc - I've tried telling her umpteen times they won't work because as soon as you go back to eating 'normal' food you put back on.

I do however know that food is a big issue for a lot of people and there is no easy answer

I'm 5foot6 and 9.5 stone and have been since the age of 16, now 42. I eat what I want when I want. I am quite fit although less so nowadays as my cycle commute is tiny since moving jobs but still do sport at least 1-2 a week. Have a good appetite but stop eating naturally when I'm full. Not the healthiest diet and I eat far too many sweets (trying to cut down). I have never obsessed about food and eat when I'm hungry rather than at set times. Never tracked or counted what I eat, I wouldn't begin to be able to guess what calories are in what foods.

Do you simply eat what you want, when you want? Yes I eat whatever food I want, I don't cut anything out. I just have small amounts of certain things for example small portion of rice but a bit extra veg chilli or 2 biscuits instead of the pack

Do you count calories? Never

Do you follow a specific diet? No because I think diets will always fail in the end

Do you make sure you burn more than you eat? I don't obsess over it but I do try and exercise every day. Mil watches the babies every morning and I go for a run and I try and get in the home gym with dh each evening.

And ultimately, are you under or overweight or a healthy weight? I am a healthy weight, always have been

I have never been overweight (except after twin pregnancy fir a few months) and never been on a diet. I think the two are related! I wouldn't eat a whole packet if biscuits (doesn't appeal) but dont have any banned foods either. I try and roughly balance out what I eat and eat helthily in general. Today lunch is a salad for example but breakfast was an egg mcmuffin at McD's!

I never count calories, dont see the point and am not very sporty but I do walk a lot.

I am very slim. I eat absolutely what I want, never feel deprived BUT I think I don't have a very large appetite and this may have been something I have trained myself in over decades. I don't obsess about food groups or calories at all - if I fancy chocolate, cake, etc I have it. But I don't have a lot of it. The main thing I think I do is to stop eating when I am no longer hungry but before I am really full. I don't have to think about this partly because I don't like the feeling of being full. This possibly sounds obvious but I also don't eat unless I am hungry - so I don't have lunch just because it's lunchtime for example. To some extent I avoid processed food but not all the time. I try generally to follow the rule: Eat food, not too much, mainly vegetables. That sounds a bit holier than thou, it's not meant to.

I'm 5'6 weight 8.5 stone and I find it incredibly hard to maintain this weight I eat very little and do a lot of exercise. I'm not one of the lucky "I can eat what I want when I want bunch" !!

If you are 5'6" then you can go to 11st 2 and still have a healthy BMI.