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

The key thing is that when you get to the weight you want to stay at you don't then start eating 'like normal'.

You gradually add a little into your diet each week until you identify what the amount is that your body needs to stay the same. So with slimming world you'd add in an extra healthy B (fibre based cards such as whole meal bread, cereal, nuts) first. Or 2 if you had been losing rapidly at the point you got to target.

You would focus on adding in healthier syns such as nuts, avocado, sun dried tomatoes etc rather than increasing sugars and simple carbs

You keeping monitoring your weight periodically so that you can correct weight gain before it gets out of hand,

You learn that your body fluctuated a couple of pounds either way in real life.

You accept that you'll have occasions or even weeks where you eat lots of naughty food (birthdays, weddings, holidays etc) and you plan for more rigorous week the week after so you keep in control.

As you've got some more to lose you will find that tastes, portions etc will change over the process. The key thing to remember is that thus isn't a diet, you don't get to go back to eating what you were before unless you want to return to what you weighed before. Think of it as the way you eat now and it will be easier to cope with.

Good luck x

I recommend swimming too. It uses a huge amount of calories and I think it is partly why I am quite slim and have never needed to diet.

I think I’m quite genetically lucky and also quite tall but my average day goes along the lines of

Breakfast - two slices of toast with plenty of peanut butter on and some fruit (normally blueberries or strawberries)
Snack am - a yoghurt or cereal bar or couple of biscuits and some fruit
Lunch - a sandwich, some chopped up cucumber and peppers
Snack pm - normally need a bit of chocolate by this point (just a few squares), maybe some fruit and nut mix or a bit of cheese and a handful of grapes
Tea - whatever - spag bol, stir fry, salmon risotto etc

I also get a lot of excercise in without really trying eg. I have two young little ones to run after, walk the dog daily, walk to the shops/playgroups/work, potter about at the stables weeding, mucking out, filling hay nets etc. It all adds up without feeling like I’m making myself excercise!

I'm slim but my diet is appalling. Or at least I think the sensible eaters on MN would think so. I don't eat at all all day (because I am simply not hungry) until around 22.30, when I'll have a sandwich or maybe half a pizza. Before DP moved in I could go 2 days before it occurred to me to eat; I've put a stone on in last 2 years since he's lived with me. The lack of fruit and veg occasionally really bothers me and then I'll eat nothing but broccoli and carrots and various fruit for dinner for a couple of weeks before reverting back to pizza and sandwich for another couple. It does sort of bother me, how weird and un-hungry I am, but when I think about eating any earlier in the day the very idea makes me feel a bit queasy

That was the wrong face! Was supposed to be

I suppose I am slim but I have to work hard st staying slim esp in belly area!
This is what I eat when I’m trying to maintain a size 10-12.
Breakfast - full-fat natural yoghurt with fruit and muesli. Water.
Snack: coffee, fruit, oatcake or similar.
Lunch: whole meal sandwich w protein filling such as smoked salmon, cucumber, tomato. Fruit, small dessert like 2-finger kitkat or bag of low fat crisps. Water.
Dinner: veggie chilli w rice and cheese, biscuit, water.
I don’t always stick to that but I tend to lose or maintain on minimal snacking, minimal wheat carbs in particular. I try and keep ‘treats’ for weekends but doesn’t always work esp if I’m out for dinner or other social event.
I also walk a lot which helps.

The idea it wouldn’t occur to me to eat!

I’d like to swim but exercise like that is hard to fit in as I can’t afford a gym membership with a crèche to go in the day and the evenings are too hectic - I might be able to fit in twice a week - I’ll see if I can make it work as I do like swimming and would like to get stronger and fitter as well as slimmer.

I truly think the key to being and staying slim is waiting til properly hungry to eat a normal meal of appropriate size sitting at a table.

Do not snack.

Repeat.

Well done your weight loss. I follow Weightwatchers. I have a big apperite. My dinners would be as follows:
Home made pizza
Chicken curry with Mayflower sauce
Bangers and mash (low fat sausages)
Pasta and chicken with tomato and mascarpone sauce (home made)
Mayflower chicken curry
Home made burgers with 5% mince

I eat poached egge and one slice of toast for breakfast. I am maintaining my weight. Not a big fruit / veg eater. Have a treat every evening.

My weakness is butter. So when I'm being bad I will have home made scones with lashings of butter and jam / home made pancakes etc.

If I have eaten too much at weekend I will have a very low Monday with cauliflower rice instead of normal rice for example. I don't drink much alcohol as I have a toddler.

I rarely eat things i haven't cooked from scratch myself. I think that helps i know what goes in it.

I eat whatever I want, but small portions. And I exercise. I am vegetarian.

I cook normal meals for the family. And eat smaller portions PLUS avoid starchy carbs.
Kids would have the potatoes/rice/etc with the veg and proteins. And for me - I have mostly the veg and the protein.

I eat starchy carbs - bead, cereal, myself - mostly for breakfast as I need the energy kick then.

Keeping things off for me has been about adjusting the amount and carb intake.
Has worked for several years so far.

So. My take away from this thread:

No processed food
Smaller portions
Eat consciously so only when hungry and until full - no gorging (obv)
Exercise

Feeling hopeful - I think I’ll be able to do that. I’ve got a lot more weight to lose so hopefully by the time I get there my appetite will have reset too as it’s going to take a good year to get where I need to.

I’m the same weight I was when I got married 20 years ago. I’ve had to become more calorie conscious since I’ve become post menopausal. I stick to around 1200-1300 calories per day, which is easy for me as I don’t have a huge appetite. Muesli and a cup of tea for breakfast, fruit for morning tea, salad, soup or a sandwich for lunch, yoghurt and/fruit for afternoon tea and a small portion of whatever Is going for dinner. I have a glass of wine most nights and I enjoy a few squares of chocolate when I watch tv after dinner. I go to the gym twice a week and do weights and I walk a fair bit (mostly incidental though, eg I take the stairs instead of lifts, Walk to the shop instead of driving etc). It’s a way of life for me and keeps me around a size 6-8 despite my metabolism plummeting with menopause.

Honestly?

What they all recommend you eat: lean meat, fruit, veg, pulses, not much in the way of white carbs.

Smaller portions too : I went out with my slim (about a size ten) friend yesterday, we both ordered a chicken pita, she got it with salad, I had mine with fries and we split the fries and salad between us. She took half the pita to go, I didn't finish my pita but we both ate all the chips and salad.

I didn't really eat dinner because I wasn't hungry : had a few cherries, square of dark chocolate and a couple of slices of turkey breast.

I'm 5'5, size ten, just under 10 stone.

As a random aside..

There was a doctor who experimented in dieting by eating sweets and chocolate and crisps. He still lost weight as long as the calories eaten were still less than those burned. So his experiment made a clear link between portion size and calorie counting and weight loss. The body treats calories the same regardless of what they are. Not suggesting this is a good diet approach in any way obvs as the suggestions made on here are preferable but it's just to demonstrate the principle.

@Baumederose is right, you could live off McDonalds and still lose weight- so long as you only have one meal a day!!!!!

As a general rule processed foods are to be avoided but this is because they tend to be calorific. The nutritional value doesn't play a huge part in terms of weight loss, although it is of course important in terms of general health.

You need to find what your triggers are too: food that you can eat loads of that is full of calories is no good.

For me this is ice-cream and chocolate, so I avoid those. I know some people can eat loads of cheese, I like cheese but only eat a small bit as its too much otherwise. I find it super filling, too. Ice cream doesn't fill me AND its just full of calories so I avoid it.

I fill up on homemade lentil and veg soup, hard boiled eggs, stewed fruit and yogurt.

Sorry to sound sanctimonious but it works.

I record my calories in myfitnesspal,without it I sometimes binge on rubbish,I'm cutting out bread pasta,rice, pastry and potatoes atm as those foods can trigger ibs bloating and cramps

I'm a size 12 so not slim but healthy weight and BMI fine

For family dinners I do lots of traditional stuff but increase the veg and reduce carbs and also eat wholemeal versions and brown rice. So spag bol - I might slow cook a massive batch but will have grated carrot and other veg like peppers and mushrooms and celery. And replace beef with turkey. Half veg half meat. Will still add wine etc for flavour. And with wholemeal spaghetti. I normally cook from scratch including own stir fry sauces etc which I cook or mix in bulk then freeze in small pots - I think a lot of packet ones are full of sugar. We are a bit more relaxed at the weekends. We do healthy versions of pizzas by putting tomato puree and toppings on wholemeal pittas and avoiding too much processed meat for lunches and do bbq quite a bit

I still do unhealthy things - yesterday had tartiflette (potatoes cheese cream bacon!) For lunch but I froze it in small portions (half what you would have normally)and had it with green beans and broccoli to fill up

We don't have many puddings - if we do its often berries with a bit of ice cream or a banana split or something or yoghurt with some toppings like smarties etc so has some good things as well. Crumble sometimes. If we have other people over I'll do something with chocolate

I buy posh chocolates and have one after lunch and dinner as they're expensive it seems to make me ration them better! Also it's less sweet and more cocoa solids than cheap chocolate.
I think if you cook yourself and have a lot of veg and not too much sugar you'll be fine.

Delph

You don’t sound sanctimonious! The reality is I have a very unhealthy relationship with food and find it very hard to make healthy choices.

I’m a little gratified as it appears a few people on here are my height and a size 10 at around 10 stone.

I’m aiming for a size 12-14 so maybe 11ish stone might work for me so a bit less to lose than I thought.

I have been slim for most of my adult life (although I had a period of being very overweight - 13st - when I was in my 20's). Over the last couple of years it's crept up from 57kg to 63kg which at 5'6" on a slim frame is noticeable. I got a Nutribullet (other blenders are available!) earlier in the year and make a huge smoothie every day and have this in stead of breakfast and lunch and then a normal dinner.

I use more veg than fruit; the one I'm sipping on at the moment has;

1 apple
1 small beetroot
1 carrot
3 frozen spinach cubes
a handful of frozen berries
a splash of low calorie red berry juice
2 dessertspoons of raspberry yogurt.

It's absolutely delicious, very filling and much healthier than fruit based smoothies.

Over the last 8 weeks I've lost 3.5kg so 2 to go! :)

I think it's true what people are saying actually about 'not being bothered' about food.

Most of the 'naturally slim' people I know don't eat much at all and they say they are just not that bothered about food. They don't have to force themselves to eat as such, but they can take it or leave it and as such actually eat quite little.

I wonder why it is, like is it an inherent thing or the way they were brought up or what, I don't know?

Definitely to do with the size of the portions.
I eat well, but simply cannot ear large portions
I have a close relative who is very overweight. I was actually shocked at the amount of that she eats in one sitting .