To ask you all a question about weight?

[Onceinabuemoon]

If you are slim and in good shape. What's your diet like? Do you eat a healthy diet, do you exercise regularly and so on? What I mean is do you work at keeping in shape, even if it's not difficult for you personally? Or are you slim but live on coffee and fags?!

If you are overweight or know you eat a bad diet and don't exercise, do you feel a bit rubbish? Or are you bigger but feel healthy and great?

The reason I'm asking is although I've never been overweight, I've always been bigger than I'd like upper end of a healthy weight. I eat what I want and don't really exercise and I don't really feel particularly healthy. Tired a lot, bad pms, feel unfit.

I can lose weight ok if I try and have often lost a stone but find it a real drag, hate limiting calories, hate cutting out food groups. Always put it back on. I figured I'm going to try a different way. Instead of disliking my body and trying to change it, I'm going to try and forget altogether but try eating better and exercising to feel healthier in the hope things will fall into place.

I'm just interested to hear how others manage their diet/weight really.

[JungleInTheRumble]

I'm slim and the lower end of normal weight.

I don't limit the calories I eat or the kinds of food I eat at all but I naturally have a small appetite and hate the feeling of being full.

I do try and eat healthily though, have lots of salad at meals, fruits for pudding etc.

[Confusedandintrigued]

I'm very slim.
Work out 6 times a week, but that's for toning.

I'm very slim for two reasons.

1. Genetics. I was very slim when I wasn't doing any exercise at all.
   
2. My diet is very very clean. I adore vegetables and fruit. I almost NEVER eat chocolate, biscuits, crisps etc.
   

If suddenly all good was made nil calories, I still wouldn't start eating biscuits etc but quite honestly, faces with a packet of biscuits or a huge fruit salad or pile of steamed fresh veg, I would choose the latter options over the biscuits almost every time.

So essentially, it's no hardship and it makes staying very slim and healthy - easy

[Confusedandintrigued]

5'7, 8 stone btw

[Confusedandintrigued]

Breakfast
Banana
Porridge with raisins

Lunch
Entire Pack of chargrilled chicken
Mountain of salad and whole pack of beetroot
0% Greek yoghurt with agave nectar
Huge fruit salad

Snack
2 apples

Dinner
HUGE pile of steamed veg
600ml of fresh soup
0% Greek yoghurt with berries
Fruit salad

Snack
Options hot choc
Apple x2

Lots of waters, decaf tea and coffee (about 7 cups a day)

[TrueLove83]

Confused great diet.

[TrueLove83]

Ping you can't live on a 1000kcals!

You need to work out your protein/carb l/fat requirements against your weight etc you'll find you need to have at least 1600kcals I'm sure!!

[flatbreads]

Confused I couldn't eat all that in a million years my appetite is just so low.

[TipTopTipTopClop]

I'm 44 and have recently lost a size (but gained weight) going from a 12 back to a 10. Blessedly, I do not have love handles anymore, which were the impetus for it all.

I would still like to lose more.

I do Pilates 4x week and run around 4x a week, and eat around 1,000 calories a day with fairly few cheat days (maybe 1 in 10). It's been fucking miserable but I found my rhythm and can deal with it now.

My saving grace is my SodaStream and diet cranberry soda. I walk around with a giant glass of it all day long. Keeps me sane.

[peachgreen]

@TrueLove83 I lived on 1000 cals 6 days a week for 6 months. It's perfectly doable. I had breakfast, lunch and dinner. I lost around 2lbs a week.

I'm now pregnant so am on 1200-1400 depending on how sick I feel. 1200 is about where I maintain. Everyone's metabolism is due different. If I ate 1600 calories a day I would be constantly gaining weight.

[TipTopTipTopClop]

You can easily live in 1,000 calories a day.

[vikingprincess81]

5'11" and a size 14-16 - bigger than I'd like but I'm working on it. Recently lost 2 stone and working on the next stone (i only concentrate on the next stone I have to lose - once it's gone I forget about it and move on)
I go to spin classes 3x a week before work, but my real secret weapon is a Fitbit!! It's amazing to see what you've done (and more importantly haven't done) and it appeals to my competitive nature when linked up with friends. You can log your food - portion control is important, and it'll tell you how much of a deficit you need to get to the weight you need. I don't work for Fitbit, and I got a 2nd hand one from my sister (I have a charge HR) but it's definitely made a difference. I did Scottish slimmers and lost a few stone a few years back but didn't find it sustainable. It's a lifestyle change that's needed, not dieting. Getting your 10k steps every day will make you naturally more active, and you can do little challenges against yourself to motivate. Hope that helps a bit

[vikingprincess81]

If you go on groupon or wowcher they have discounts on non branded fitness trackers - doesn't have to be a Fitbit

[Birdsbeesandtrees]

I'm very slim. I don't think I eat especially healthily but then I see the utter shit other people eat and change my mind. I'm not one of these "I do yoga at 6am then drink a green tea with organic honey" people at all. I like food.

I have an active lifestyle but that's it.

I went food shopping with my overweight friend once who has asked me to help her keep on her diet. I spent the entire time chucking food out of her trolley and into the shelves. I use the term food very loosely because it was all sweets, sugary drinks and stuff I don't even consider food.

That said I have a weakness for certain crap foods - I quite enjoy a McDonald's, I eat chocolate probably every day in the form of a biscuit or couple of squares. I also love cheese and crisps.

[Birdsbeesandtrees]

That said I have a high metabolism and I think I would be quite unwell on 1000 calories a day. It's easy for me to loose weight without trying and I do have to keep an eye on it.

[GhostCurry]

I'm skinnyfat. Generally small - about 5'3 and 7st12. Size 8 on top, 10 on the bottom.

I don't do anything. I eat what I want to and am addicted to sugar. Don't eat nearly enough greens, and too much chocolate. I don't really drink anything except water - wonder if that helps? And although I eat whatever, I probably don't eat alllll that much, although my portion sizes have crept up over the years.

I hate exercise and never do it. I'm within sight of 40 and I know things will have to change soon. My figure hasn't changed that much in 20 years, but my arse is starting to sag and I know I'm unhealthy and untoned.

[revolution909]

For semi accurate calorie readings you need a tracker with heart rate functionality

[vikingprincess81]

I have an accountability buddy too - if I don't post a pic on my Instagram page set up for this purpose, of something to do with spin class on the days I go, then I get a text asking where it is/if I forgot. It definitely helps motivate you when it's 6.30am and you have to get up and go to the gym - she wants reasons, and 'I'm tired' doesn't cut it (I told her to be firm with me, and it's totally up her street!!)

[vikingprincess81]

Ah yes, as pp says - one with a HR function is best.

[Birdsbeesandtrees]

Also interestingly - someone once commented that sometimes I eat a lot and other times not much at all.

I was really baffled and just said "I eat when I'm hungry" I think this is something that escapes people a lot.

I also cannot eat a lot in one go - I can almost never manage 2 courses unless they are very small and I can count on one hand the number of times I've managed to eat 3.

[TipTopTipTopClop]

That said I have a high metabolism and I think I would be quite unwell on 1000 calories a day. It's easy for me to loose weight without trying and I do have to keep an eye on it.

Sigh. Exit the thread, please.

I like McDonalds too - I have 6 nuggets for lunch probably twice a week. This has kept me on the straight and narrow many times whilst out and about when hunger strikes.

[SuperBeagle]

I would also seriously struggle on 1,000 calories a day. I dropped to 48kg (5'7") just by being strict on my diet and going to the gym a few times a week. Very unhealthy.

[Birdsbeesandtrees]

I'm sorry. But I'm being honest. What I'm getting at is we aren't all built the same - it's rubbish I know because for some of us it really IS easier to loose weighty han others.

[OverTheHammer]

I've never been really over weight but I have been close.

Now I have a BMI of 21 but I do have to work at it. I log everything I eat in MFP and ensure I meet my protein and fibre goals whilst ensuring I don't overdo the fat and carbs. I limit myself to 1500 calories a day and have been doing this successfully for years so it's not a fad diet and I'm happy with it.

I'm starting the gym today so I'll be able to increase my calorie intake a bit, even though I find I'm never really hungry on 1500.

I feel great but I do have food issues so probably put too much thought into my diet than is psychologically healthy.

[MoodyOne]

I'm average weight, 5ft 1 and 9 stone ...
I eat in moderation ... I have cake and ice cream but I also eat salad and fruit... I believe it's mostly about portion control, if you eat something and are still hungry after eat more veg.

[Bedraggledmumoftwo]

My Bmi is around 20 and I'm around my minimum ever weight, but if I get up to around a Bmi of 23+ then I start to feel uncomfortable and have to do something even if I'm technically still a healthy weight. In the past slimming world has worked for me. But I would then go off the rails and put on weight e.g. all inclusive holiday/ pregnancy and baby weight etc because I have a sweet tooth and get over excited when I finally allow myself to eat cake!

Now im 37 but prematurely menopausal and a year ago I was really putting on weight round my tummy probably due to that. I decided in desperation to try 5:2 /intermittent fasting and have found it to really work for me. On the fasting days i have found things that work for me so that I can have both lunch and dinner as long as it is just small amounts of very lean meat/fish and lots of salad/veg (no carbs) . Having never calorie counted before (I syn counted on slimming world but everything else was free) I am really surprised at the low calorie counts of many salads/vegetables and even fruits. I usually even have 100 calories left of my 500 by the end of the day to eat a tiny portion of chocolate drops in he evening as I do have a sweet tooth!

On the other days I stuff my face. Eat carbs, drink wine, eat chocolate/ice cream. I am able to get through the fasting days knowing that I am going to eat whatever I am looking longingly at tomorrow! I hen wake up starving the next morning. I don't calorie count on the non fasting days, and probably eat more than I should but I think I have shrunk my stomach with the fasting and my portion sizes have shrunk accordingly, even if I do follow them up with ice cream. If I start going up or have a particularly gluttonous period I will do 4:3 instead and literally zigzag from day to day. Or try to actually be relatively good on the non fasting days but actually he reason it works for me is because I have little self control and unless I am fasting I like to eat anything and everything, so just fasting more frequently but over indulging on the other days works for me.