To ask if you are a normal weight...

[Moomoomango]

If you are a normal weight as in roughly within the range of healthy BMi what an average day of eating looks like?

I’ve just never been an average weight and I’ve just lost 7 stone but struggling to loose the last 4. I wonder how people who maintain a healthy bmi do it? Do you never have the odd piece of cake? Or chocolate? Do you generally eat well but indulge sparingly?

I'm 5 foot 3 and weigh 9 stone 3 so healthy BMI and size 10 clothes. Age 35 and have 2 kids.

I eat tons! Way more than anyone on here seems to say. I love carbs and chocolate. Have never dieted in my life. Always been healthy /slim.

Typically eat 2 weetabix and a banana plus some bran flakes for breakfast. Maybe some granola on top instead of the banana.

Lunch 3 slices toast with pate or brie or marmite or honey plus a few tomatoes or maybe some lettuce or half an apple (or today I had a chicken pasta salad from m and s).
Snack crisps if they're in the house,,! Chocolate (dark or milk) or biscuits. Today I had 3 ginger snap biscuits, most of an apple and a bag of crisps.

Evening meal - mostly eat what kids are having eg scampi and boiled potatoes, or pasta pesto, or spaghetti bolognase.

Pudding later in evening of some chocolate,mayve 6 squares...? Often also have an apple and big hunk of cheddar if hungry.

Basically I'm very lucky and genetically seem able to get away with the above! I do tend to eat when hungry and I don't feel guilty about what I eat. Sometimes I go ages when busy without eating.

My husband can't eat as much as me without putting on weight so it's definitely genetics not numbers of calories....,,!

If you read into set point theory it explains it well. Basically we all have a weight that our body performs best at, and the body fights to stay within this weight range regardless of how much you eat. When you intefere with your body’s set point (eg starve yourself or overeat) it will work harder to stay maintain your set point range hence why yo-yo dieting dosent tend to work.

Coffee for breakfast
2x crumpets with a smidge of butter, cream cheese, cherry tomatoes and a smidge of marmite for lunch
Sometimes a cake in the afternoon at a coffee shop to keep DC entertained
Supper usually something by Jamie Oliver
Glass of wine at weekends

On a bad day I might throw in 2-3 chocolate bars.

I love these threads because of the huge variations. I don't have a"typical day". I'm 5 foot 8 and about 8 stone 10.

I never eat breakfast, mainly eat lots of vegetables, fish, peanut butter, ice lollies, tea with almond milk, baked potatoes with fillings, liquorice when I can find the type I like. I'm not keen on cake but would pick the icing off, don't really like bread or crisps. But if I'm hungry I'll eat anything. I don't have strict mealtimes at all, probably because that's how I grew up.

I find threads like this so interesting. Lots of people saying they don’t really watch what they eat but their dinner consists of steamed veg and rice and their snacks are a boiled egg or a handful of seeds. I’m envious of people who genuinely enjoy that over a big bag of maltesers. For me not watching what I eat means eating a lot of absolute junk because that’s what I enjoy.

I don't watch my weight at all. I've never been on a diet or tried to lose weight ever. I'm 5'5" and I weigh about 8.5 stones. I'm 50 and I have three DC. I eat what I like, and that includes usually a daily bar of chocolate or cake. I like bread, pasta, rice, full fat milk, butter, etc. I'm mainly vegetarian - maybe eat meat once a week. Breakfast tends to be two slices of toast with butter and jam, lunch (at work) is leftovers from the evening meal the night before (I always make more to allow for this). Full evening meal. The odd piece of fruit throughout the day. Maybe a cheese sandwich as well when I get in from work. I don't drink much alcohol - the odd glass of wine or beer at weekends. I'm happy to scoff the odd bag of crisps as well.

DH and I can both maintain a healthy weight (BMI around 22 for me) eating what we like but exercising a lot (20 hours + per week). In order to be at our best physically (and sit at a slightly lower BMI), we tend to eat a bit healthier than that! Especially as I am heavily pregnant and my physical activity is very limited currently!

A normal day for me would be:
Breakfast - Eggs on rye bread with avocado, shakshuka, or a smoothie with frozen fruits, protein powder, a banana and Greek yoghurt.

Snacks - fruit, eat natural bar, nakd bar, flapjack, nuts, dark chocolate... and or all of those, depending how hungry I am!

Lunch - leftovers from the previous night.

Snacks - as in the morning. Possibly some cottage cheese, Greek yoghurt or peanut butter with fruit or veg.

Dinner - high protein, high fat, reasonably low carb meal. Couldn’t tell you what the calorie count would be though! We eat lots of veg, meat/fish and pulses, limiting grains and starch.

Desserts: fruit, dark chocolate, frozen yoghurt, sorbet, soya ice cream, Greek yoghurt with honey etc. Occasional indulgences - I might make a crumble or we might have some nice cookies or something.

We probably have fish and chips or another take away/meal out about twice per month. If we are visiting friends or family we eat whatever we are served and I’d never turn down a slice of cake or a biscuit! DH will have the odd sugary drink or handful of sweets when doing a long training session.

My tuppence about my experience:
Fairylea has a point, some of us genuinely like lots of F+Veg... then again, I wasn't just born that way. I worked on cultivating a taste for those things since adulthood.

I don't find this difficult, but still consciously work on the principle "If I don't fancy an apple then I'm probably not really hungry at all." Coz when you're truly hungry, then ANY food tastes great, not just the high sugar high fat ones. An apple when you're ravenous tastes so good that you realise how much you're missing out if you eat when not hungry. What I'm saying hangs together. "I only fancy a bag of Maltesers" = I'm not really hungry at all, I'm just bored. Meanwhile, it's daft to waste a lot of my calories on low nutrient food (not health promoting) that will never taste as good as a boring apple does when I'm truly hungry. I'm robbing myself of 2 things: a great taste experience (& health benefits) if I eat the Maltesers just because I'm bored.

I still eat some junk food, but try to keep portions of junk food small & highly balanced with lots of F+Veg or anything savory, really.

Well done on the weight loss OP. I now have a normal BMI but only as a result of dieting and have to have a lot of willpower to maintain it.

Over the past couple of years I've gone on various trips with various friends and have noticed that those who are normal weight/slim just eat less! At hotel breakfasts they ate one slice of toast, my norm is two; same with bread served with meals; they pick at one or two olives I have about six; they leave some fries/potatoes but I eat them all. You get my drift!

I know there are some naturally-slim people who eat like a horse but people like me need to be on the case, every single day.

im 5ft 6 and about 10 stone ish, give or take a pound or two

breakfast might be a couple of bits of toast, but sometimes ill eat leftovers. Lunch, maybe a sandwich or a small readymeal curry with a bag of steamfresh vegetables. I will probably snack between meals but its generally proper food rather than junk junk iykwim,

I graze a lot, and often do this in place of proper meals. If im going to miss a meal, it will usually be my evening meal
Before bed, I have a mug of cereal. I was having muesli, but ive changed it to shreddies, as i think muesli is a bit calorific. If i dont eat before bed, i wake up starving at 4am.

I think my eating is all over the place tbh, im really disorganised about it

I don't weigh myself, but I wear UK size 8 clothing and am generally told I am slim. My typical day:

Breakfast: 2 slices of toast with butter and marmalade or butter and marmite. 2 cups of tea with milk.

mid-morning tea with milk

Lunch: a sandwich and salad. eg cheese and pickle / ham / tuna mayo... or homemade soup and bread or a steak pastie.

mid-afternoon tea with milk

Supper: I often make a casserole or shepherd's pie or fish pie in advance or we might heat up left over Sunday roast. Pudding is yoghurt, fruit or crumble. I generally make crumble mix in batches in the freezer, along with chopped apples and blackberries. Occasionally we have fish and chips takeaway by the sea or get something like a pizza from the Coop.

I don't go to a gym, but I do walk the dog every day and do some gardening most weeks. I often realise that the only liquid I have consumed all day is tea, so I am by no means perfect, but the difference might be that because I have never dieted, I don't thinking about or eating food outside of mealtimes and I don't buying low fat or sugar free anything. I can see how, if weight has always been a worry, it might be harder to live like that.

I eat all types of food I just make sure I eat on average less than 14000 calories a week. (Which means I can have pudding, and go to all you can eat Chinese reasturants etc)
I prefer savoury to sweet so that’s lucky. And I snack on fruits veg and nuts
I also lost weight by cutting caffeine and go to the gym 3x week
Hth?

One thing I hate about these threads is when severely underweight people post. BMI of 17.9 is not a good definition of 'normal', either.

I’m down to 7 stone 11lbs and I’m 5 foot 5 inches.

I barely eat anything ever.

Unfortunately being a t1 diabetic means there is absolutely no enjoyment in eating anything so I just don’t unless I absolutely have to (low blood sugar). I’d rather not take the insulin so I just don’t eat...

I’m probably verging on too thin now I suppose but to be this weight I have to eating next to nothing.
When I was eating more normally I was 9 stone 7 lbs and I didn’t each much then either...

You're BMI is 18.1 Sunday, so not great, no.

Yes unfortunately I’m scared of the insulin. Get it wrong and it kills you so if I’m not eating much I don’t have to take much insulin and I don’t have to make risky dosing decisions. Not eating cuts out some of the risk as far as I can see...

Sunday surely you are aware that sustaining on next to nothing is more dangerous than using insulin as per the direction of your diabetic team at a regime that has been chosen for you? You need to go and see your diabetic nurse and talk this through.

I’m 5’7” and 8st 9lb. A normal day for me would be:

Breakfast: bowl of cereal such as Cheerios and a banana

Snack: anything ranging from a yoghurt to chocolate biscuits, depending on what I fancy at the time

Lunch: school dinners normally, which can again range from a burger and wedges to a chicken salad wth cous cous, depending on the day. Always have an additional fruit or vegetable pot too.

No snack then between lunch and dinner.

Dinner (5pm): smaller than average sized portion of whatever we’re having, cottage pie and veg, Chicken and rice, fish and potato. I generally find myself least hungry for me evening meal

Support: normally have a bowl of cereal/couple of biscuits at about 8pm

Loads of water, green tea and the odd cup of tea.

My BMI is about 23-24 i think. I'm a size 10-14 (depending on style and shop). I eat a huge amount and it is not a great diet, some days i have 5 cheese sandwiches and a packet of biscuits! What saves me is; 1) i'm huge framed - tall and very broad and 'athletic'. 2) I almost never sit down - I am moving constantly from about 5-6am to 10pm (and a few hours in the night). and 3) i'm breastfeeding.

Not much help OP, sorry, but i often think of those superskinny vs supersize progs that used to be on and remember that often the most unhealthy one was the 'skinny' one who maybe ate 2 mars bars and 5 cans of coke a day, compared to the 'supersize' ones who ate really quite decent meals but were just huge portions.

I always remember when i worked in an office and there was a really petite framed woman struggling with her weight. We'd go out to lunch and she'd have the same as me. She'd then moan 'how can you be so slim and me be so big when we eat the same - this is proof it's just genetics'. But she was almost a foot shorter than me. I could hold one of her tiny hands in the palm of mine. Her feet were a size 2 and i'm an 8. And she sat down all day and never did any exercise. It was really hard to bite my tongue because it seemed so obvious why.

Firstly, a massive well done on your weight loss, OP; fantastic achievement

I'm 51 years of age, my BMI is around 20 and body fat 11.5%. I lift weights three or four times a week (aiming for five times) and walk a round trip of four miles to work Monday to Friday.

Foodwise:

BREAKFAST
fish or eggs with salad/vegetables' OR fresh fruit

LUNCH
homemade protein based lunch with salad/vegetables, eg Thai quorn curry, three bean stew, lentil dhal — that sort of thing

DINNER
steak/chicken/fish with a small portion of brown rice/pasta (on training days) and vegetables/salad

SNACKS
a couple of pieces of fresh fruit

DRINKS
tea/coffee on tap all day: it's a vice
water x two litres (minimum)

EATING OUT
I love eating out. I relax the rules when I'm out but I don't go mad. My digestive system is not what is was when I was younger I'm likely to go for red meat (treat)/fish (I love fish) and vegetables, rather than burgers, pizzas and the like. If I'm dining out properly (a date sort of thing), rather than a bite out with friends, then I like to finish with the cheeseboard

I very rarely eat junk food, don't eat sweet things and don't drink alcohol.

Reading back, it does sound rather grim but actually it's way easier and more pleasant than it sounds. If I deviate for any length of time, I (a) put weight on and (b) feel shit (physically). Sad. But true. I was asked previously whether, seeing as I'm 50+, I couldn't just be happy putting on a few pounds and being a size 12 . My answer back then was: 'No. I like me just the way I am at size 8'. I haven't changed my view since.

What I have noticed on this thread is the wide variation in what people can eat to maintain their healthy weight. We're all different and just need to find an individual strategy that suits. There's no one approach that will suit everyone.

Incidentally, I too have been much heavier in the past, having lost over six stones during my late 40s. Maybe that's why I'm so keen to stay healthy now.

OP I was quite overweight during my student days, I got down to about a size ten with very healthy eating and one cheat meal a week (and even then not a takeaway etc) I also went to the gym three to four times a week and worked out hard, it took about eighteen months. Once I got there I found if I restricted calories (low fat, low sugar, lots of salad and veg) during the week to between 1250-1500 including three meals and some kind of sweet treat after dinner (no more than 150 calories) and went to the gym 2-3 times a week I could basically eat what I wanted at weekends, cake, ice cream, wine etc as long at I didn't go to KFC three meals a day all weekend. I say all of this in the past tense only because I'm currently pregnant, am finding exercise difficult in this heat and am not restricting calories, I have gained weight that's not just the baby. People will tell you they eat whatever they like and it's fine as long as you walk a bit, it depends on your metabolism and other things. I have PCOS and am insulin resistant so gain weight easily.

Yesterday I had porridge for breakfast with cinnamon on rather than sugar. Lunch was a tin of tuna with mayonnaise and celery mixed into it followed by a banana. Got in from work and ate a piece of pizza left over from the kids tea 😁 my tea was 4 fishfingers potato wedges and salad. Snack was a bag of baked crisps.

I try and drink as much water as I can manage and most of my hot drinks are fruit tea.

I only drink when I go out - I usually end up eating onion rings in Wetherspoons and have cheesy chips for the walk home 😂😂😂

Well done on losing so much and really hope you feel healthier. I have big breakfast of loads of different fresh fruit, couple of tablespoons of full fat bio yoghurt also couple of tablespoons of muesli plus handful of almonds. It is Big! I don't have lunch but may snack on few olives / unsalted mixed nuts / cheese when get home. Dinner is always home cooked but don't eat meat (personal dislike / ethical reasons) but eat sustainable fish. No food is out of bounds or seen as a treat. I have chocolate in the fridge (but only have a little bit when fancy) and ice cream in freezer. Also, prefer full fat everything apart from milk. It's so annoying that women are judged and are so judging too. It pisses me off if I eat a doughnut (example - only like very plain ones!) nobody bat's an eyelid but a heavy WOMAN does and all sorts of assumptions.

Bugger.. Read through makes me sound smug. Forgot to explain I have chronic pain which means I struggle and have to be regimented in eating enough.

I started fasting in the week (kind of) porridge/yogurt for breakfast, green smoothie for lunch and normal dinner but with smaller portion of starchy carbs than usual, no alcohol or sugary stuff. Then on weekends I eat and drink whatever I want (fri eve to sunday eve).
There are exceptions, but in general I stick to it and I have never been so slim in my whole life, and I feel great in myself on the week days.