What do you eat if you’re slim?

[Merryoldgoat]

I’m sorry but I really don’t know.

I’m very fat and have been yo-yo dieting for years to the point where I don’t know what a normal healthy day-to-day diet is. I know all the various weight-loss diets etc but it’s the normal eating I struggle with.

I’m currently on a LONG weight loss journey and have lost 3 stone so far but I want to keep it off once I’ve lost it.

I like healthy food and a variety of food - I’m just trying to understand what slim people eat on a typical day.

In particular I’m really interested in what you have for family dinners.

I’m hoping things that can be batches cool feature as I need to save time where I can.

Thank you for reading my very boring AIBU

Following this thread, good luck with your health journey OP

Congratulations on your weight loss - what a fantastic achievement.
I’ve lost 2 stone over the past 18 mths and am now a size 6.
I have made a huge financial commitment to having a PT twice a week - I feel like I’m going to die for those 2 hours but I know I won’t do it on my own. It’s a complete love/hate relationship.

For me it’s portion size. We probably have a takeaway once every 6 weeks but we get 1 main and 2-3 sides.
We never have desserts.
I always have 2 bottles of water on the go - 1 in the fridge & 1 with me.
This was my dinner last night - the salad is usually twice the side but that’s all I had 😂.
I ate all the salad, sweet corn, chicken & a 1/3 of the sweet potato.

Good luck

Oh - I never have anything low fat except skim milk (because I cannot stand the taste of anything else) & I had a very large glass of cider with dinner

Whatever I want but never eat anything if not hungry.

Don't have crap in the house. No cake/biscuits/crisps/chips/fish fingers/sausages.
Remember that it's natural to be hungry. It's natural to be randy too, but you don't expect to gratify that desire instantly every time. Probably.

Quote of the day! 😂

One thing I worry about a lot is my DC. They are very slim at the moment, as I was when I was young (like 10th percentile slim). I worry about them then having trouble with their weight when they are older as they think they can eat what they like and not get fat, but I also worry about them picking up on weight hangups, so they have cakes and biscuits etc.
Do the people here who are very controlled with their eating do the same for the whole family or are you obviously eating differently? We all eat the same meals, all homecooked, but I don't want to be the only one not eating pasta and making it obvious Im not eating something. My DM is a feeder. She has been staying with us and has constantly been buying them biscuits, ice cream and sweets. I can see I'm developing a tendency to do the same, and am consciously trying to curb that without making it obvious that Im cutting treats down in their diet. I do make them homemade cakes with much less sugar but its still cake.

How slim? I'm pretty small (size 8) but I don't diet at all. In fact my diet is utter shit. I enjoy food a lot, just lucky to have a good metabolism I guess? Having said that, I will go through periods of time where I eat very little. But generally I eat loads.

Just a tiny tip. Olives are quite good at quelling hunger pangs. Healthyntoo.

I'm afraid the simple answer is - not very much. We either don't eat very often, or when we do, our portion sizes are small.

I'm naturally fairly slim, through absolutely no thought or effort on my own part (thanks, genetics). I only eat a couple of times a day, and my usual diet is quite limited - I'm a vegetarian, for starters, and although I don't have any allergies, I find that large amounts of carbs such as white pasta or bread make me feel bloated and 'slow', so I avoid them and mostly eat more complex carbs and veg proteins. I don't eat a lot of dairy or processed sugars - I do, however, eat a lot of fats, such as avocado or nuts.

I once had a fascinating conversation with a friend who is very overweight, who insisted her diet was no different to mine - however, looking at her portion sizes, protein choices etc, it quickly became clear that she was consuming about 1/3 more calories than I was over the course of a day.

Firstly, look at what you're eating, then how much you're eating, then when you're eating, and finally, why you're eating. A food diary is useful.

Remember, diets don't work: you want to make sustainable changes to your lifestyle.

I've managed to keep off the 4st I lost between May and December but it's hard....really hard.

Breakfast is yoghurt on 2 weetabix with berries, overnight oats, a crumpet with fruit and yoghurt or a small brown roll with one scrambled egg, tomato, mushroom and bacon with all fat cut off.

Lunch is salad or rice cakes or weight watchers wrap or toast....with cottage cheese or tuna or lean ham, boiled eggs, feta or pastrami ....plus 3 pieces of fruit and low Cal crisps. I often use weight watchers wraps as a base for pizza or make a flat Yorkshire pudding wrap with one egg, tblspn flour and skimmed milk.

Dinners is whatever I'm making for the family with loads of veg or salad plus a ton of spinach. If I'm making a creamy curry, carbona or something very cheesey, I'll have a calorie counted ready meal instead.

I have sugar free jelly, pink x whites wafers, Halo Top icecream, sorbet, reduced sugar marshmallows, Muller Lights x Options hot chocolate sachets mixed and frozen , bowls of frozen mashed banana, low Cal hot c hoc and milk.

Approx. 1500 cals a day, 14000 steps and gallons of water.

Weetabix or porridge with skim or soya milk for breakfast
banana mid morning
lunch pitta, with salad and falafel
Snack - a few nuts
Dinner - chicken / fish with veg or salad or variations of. I use courgettini or no carb rice.

In my 30s I could drink a fair bit with this diet and still lose weight.

However, I now have to run 2/3 a week to lose weight as I'm 50.

If up my activity / weights I can eat more but I have to control it more than I ever did when I was younger.

Here's today's food :

Two scrambled eggs
Half an English muffin with Nutella
Massive mug of coffee

Two big bowls of homemade lentil and veg soup
4 crackers with smoked salmon pâté

Raspberries and blueberries

Diet Pepsi

More coffee, loads of water

Cucumber, grissini, bit more of the smoked salmon pâté

One and a half chilli wrap for dinner, small glass red wine
Square dark choc

Looks loads written down!

Well done OP on losing such a lot of weight for health reasons. I always have breakfast - I think it kick starts your metabolism. Also, I have to take medication so need to eat before. Usually fruit, full fat bio yoghurt with couple of tablespoons of sugar free muesli mixed in. Normally add five almonds too. If I could be arsed or had the time, I would have an egg, boiled or scrambled with slice of well buttered brown toast. I don't like fat free anything apart from milk - but that's just a personal taste thing.

I'm afraid the simple answer is - not very much. We either don't eat very often, or when we do, our portion sizes are small.

That’s not necessarily true. I eat mainly veggies. A lot of them. I get hungry otherwise.

It’s definitely not true. I’m quite active and have never dieted so my metabolism is relatively fast.

I eat three good meals a day. Predominantly plant based but lots of good fats, fish, eggs too. Dark chocolate for treat.

I weigh less than I did when I was 18.

Thank you again everyone - the number of responses is frankly overwhelming!

Several posters have said about ‘diets not working’ and it’s all about ‘lifestyle change’ - that’s a totally valid viewpoint IF you aren’t 11 stone overweight and need to lose weight FAST for medical reasons.

I’m very fat. There is no other way to describe it. It needs urgent attention (which I’m giving it) but when you are like me it is not possible to slowly make changes when you need fast significant results.

Op just to add that sometimes when very fat people lose weight, they discover it hard psychologically to be thin. I know you need to do for this health reasons, but don't assume it will be easy psychologically to lose a lot of weight, a lot of women really struggle with it.

The people who talk about 'diets not working' in that way probably haven't encountered recent medical research about how crash diets can be useful for very obese people and those with type 2 diabetes. (And after that phase of dieting they would be moving on to the 'lifestyle change' type of eating plan.)

OP I read your post about not liking walking as a form of exercise, me neither but the last PT I had was a fan of it for what he called ‘shredding’ without building muscle. I’m quite athletic and if I do to much I get big legs which I hate as I’m only 5’4 so that’s we he recommended. Anyway boring as hell especially for the recommended hr/45 mins but what I have been doing is listening to an audio book if I’m doing it outside or watching something on catch up on my phone if I’m in the gym on the treadmill - it really, really helps pass the time 👍🏻

The people who talk about 'diets not working' in that way probably haven't encountered recent medical research about how crash diets can be useful for very obese people and those with type 2 diabetes. (And after that phase of dieting they would be moving on to the 'lifestyle change' type of eating plan.)

VLCDs do work for people who are morbidly obese and who have to lose a significant amount of weight in a short amount of time (i.e. for surgery or similar), but they are not intended to be long-term solutions.

The vast majority of people who go on VLCDs WILL lose weight (it's practically impossible not to, if you're barely consuming 800 calories a day).

It's the sustainable aspect that most people struggle with, and that's why people say 'diets don't work': healthy eating is a long-term lifestyle change, not a quick fix.

If you are taking that tack, in general diets and lifestyle changes don't work for very obese people. NICE found only bariatric surgery worked long term

It’s not what others eat, it’s what you personally have to eat to keep your weight down.
I’m a size 8 and have been since I was 16 (I’m 32). I’m a greedy pig, and the way I eat, I should be fat.

I eat exactly what I feel like with no consideration to my weight and what is healthy, which is bad. I try to eat healthily sometimes and it makes my IBS flare up. I have to type of digestive system that prefers a McDonalds to a salads, which is bizarre.

Today I’ve eaten:
Rice crispies
3 pieces of toast and 2 eggs
Bag of hoola hoops
Piece of Italian chocolate cake
Chicken breast, cous cous, broccoli, green beans, beetroot and a potato waffle.
I always have some kind of snack, like cheese and crackers/toast/crisps/cake/biscuits before bed.

I don’t get fat (yet), although my stomach is flabby from 2 children.

I do get spotty, though. Would I rather be a clothes size bigger and have lovely skin? Hell yes!

Smaller portions (you need even fewer calories post menopause), and more exercise. It’s the balance of the two that matters. I hate gym type exercise but I increased the amount of brisk walking I did and this helped. Have you tried the old trick of serving your food on a smaller plate so it looks like a larger serving?

I have sugar free jelly, pink x whites wafers, Halo Top icecream, sorbet, reduced sugar marshmallows, Muller Lights x Options hot chocolate sachets mixed and frozen , bowls of frozen mashed banana, low Cal hot c hoc and milk.

This is interesting, too: having no sweet tooth, I'm amazed that these options even exist - I would never go looking for them because I'm not interested.

To me, it seems like a lot of work (and processed, chemical-ridden food). But as I say, I don't have a sweet tooth, so cutting out chocolate or whatever has never been any kind of tortuous step to overcome.

If I want to lose a few lbs I cut out white carbs and sugar completely, whilst eating full fat dairy and other healthy fats eg coconut oil.

If I’m happy with my weight I’m more relaxed and will have the odd sugary snack or plate of pasta.