to ask if you have to work hard at being slim

[Tobythecat]

Do you ever eat cake/pizza? Im trying to lose weight and stop binge eating, but the thought that even if i become slimmer, will it mean i can never eat cake?

I really enjoy cake/pizza/pasta and would rather be a size 14 and eat these things once a week or so than be a size 8 or 10 and never get to eat them.

Interested to read your experiences☺

I'm a size 8.
I eat pizza every one to two weeks, I don't like takeaways like dominoes so I never have those.
I'll eat pasta a couple of times a week but I do weigh it for portion sizes, and I don't generally use cream or lots of cheese.
I eat cake but rarely.
I also run three times a week.
It takes effort, I lost a couple of stone two years ago so didn't eat any of those things but I do now I'm maintaining.
Chocolate was my downfall. I now allow myself a full on binge every few months.
It becomes second nature after a while.
On holidays all bets are off and I'll eat anything.

My weight has varied considerably over the years, but I'm much better now at keeping the weight off than I used to be. I think that if you follow a healthy eating diet eventually you stop liking the unhealthy things quite so much. I very seldom eat cake because I no longer really like it. I find most chocolate too sickly now too (though damn you, Hotel Chocolat, yours is delicious). Pizza is OK provided it is a moderate portin with lots of salad. I tend to weigh myself every Friday and if I'm up modify the next week, if not limited treats are OK.

I don’t feel like I work hard because it’s just my life but I suppose I do.

Walk everywhere, gym three times a week, very active job.
I treat myself so I never feel like I’m being hard done by but I don’t eat those foods every day.

I do eat a lot of pasta though. At least once a week.

I lost 6 stone over 18 months finishing a year ago. I am 27 next month.

I fluctuate now between 10st and 9.7st

I wear 10s in jeans 8s in pretty much everything else

Loosing weight changed my attitude to food, so I do have pizza/cake/wine but I tend to now naturally adjust what I am eating over the course of a week so that I can fit in the things I want to eat.

I might fancy a bar of galaxy/glass of wine/takeaway one night, so I have it and will have lighter dinner or whatever the next day.

As they say on the "Gram" it is all about BaLaNcE

I think it’s genetic.

I eat whatever I want whenever I want and stay a size 6-8.

I am very active though, probably an hour or more of activity a day plus work in a physical job.

Unfortunately, yes, I do have to work hard. I'm not naturally slim, I count calories and force myself to exercise. There's a lot of diabetes in my (Middle Eastern) family and if I gain weight it goes directly to my middle, so I don't have a lot leeway about it.

I'm a size 8. I eat chocolate every day, not a fan of pizza and I do avoid cake.
I don't eat after 6:30pm.
I have noticed that my larger friends tend to eat more than me though I thought I ate normally. They might eat a large bag of crisps where I wouldn't.

With me, if I eat pasta, rice, bread it actually makes me hungry. I'm hungrier than if I don't eat at all. So it's pointless calories.

I've never had to work at being slim, I've always been a small size 8 and snapped back very quickly after giving birth. I enjoy cake, pizza and pasta in moderation and don't deny myself treats, but I also don't have a massive appetite and would struggle to eat 3 courses in one sitting.
DH loves fish so a lot of our meals are fairly healthy, and I don't drink alcohol often. I'm only 28 though, so who knows things may change!

Yes, I put a lot of effort into staying slim. I do occasionally eat things like chips, cake, chocolate (not pizza, not that keen), but I am very mindful of how much,how often etc and factor it in to my wider eating. You can still eat it, just don't go mad!

Unfortunately yes. I’m a size 8 now due to having a more relaxed diet but exercise 3-4 times a week and count calories pretty religiously. I will have the occasional treat (cake, take out) but will always try to offset it with additional exercise or less calories the next day. Very rarely will I eat in excess of 1,200 calories per day.

I used to think that all naturally slim people were lucky but many, including my sister who is beautiful, naturally slim etc actually wants to put on weight and have a few more curves.

I do, yes.

At 22 I lost over a stone in a month eating 1200 calories per day.

At 30 I’m doing that same calorie intake now and I’ve lost less than half that in a month!

To stay as slim as I’d like (i was 12st at 5ft 9 last year when I realised I was a pound away from being overweight and it shocked me into doing something about it) I can’t just eat whatever I want whenever I want.

I’m 10st 12 currently, I’ve lost 16lbs, and would like to get down to 10st. 10st 3 and I’d be delighted though. I made it to 9st 7 before but it wasn’t sustainable.

You really do have to watch what you eat to maintain being very slim unless it’s naturally your frame. I’m craving chips like mad but won’t let myself have any until i’m at 10st 6 as I know once I have them I’ll get the taste for them even more!

I do find after the first week of being on 1200 cal it starts to seem like plenty and I really enjoy the maths of trying to plan three good meals and snacks per day for that amount. There’s a great reddit called 1200isplenty.

Cakes are rarely as nice as they look so usually I won't bother because it's disappointing, but yes I eat them sometimes. Probably about 5 times a year.

Pizza/pasta. - I eat them rarely, as I'm not that keen on them. Pasta on it's own is really boring. Had a pizza for lunch the other day - not a thin one. I ate all of it and I was really hungry about 3 hours later, which I wouldn't have been with my usual lunch.

It's more about portion control than anything else.

For some people, eating pizza means one slice and a salad.
For others, it means eating an entire pizza, garlic bread, and dough balls.

I have to watch what I eat and really limit sweets, otherwise I pack on the weight. It's a constant struggle.

My weight is stable and I don't consciously make an effort to eat healthily - I just happen to prefer healthy things. I eat a lot.

Yes sorry some PPs mentioned that people who "don't have to try" often eat little. I think I might come into this. I find it all a bit of a hassle to think about food and tend to eat one, maybe two decent meals a day. I also ignore hunger to a bit of a weird extent - you know when you stay up a bit too late and it's now been another 3 or 4 hours since you ate so you get hungry again? DH and I both did that the other night and he got up and made more food yet I stayed in bed. I said don't people just ignore that hunger because they can't be arsed? And he said but how do you get past the mental image of all the food you could be eating? And started describing cheese on toast I literally don't think I've ever experienced that. Being hungry is an annoying sensation and if I'm at that point I know I'll get lightheaded and dizzy if I wait too long but it doesn't make me want to eat as such. I just know eating is the way to make it go away and tend to want to eat for that reason.

Occasional cake or pizza - yes absolutely (only at weekends though) Daily cake and pizza - definitely not as that's how I got fat in the first place

For some people, eating pizza means one slice and a salad.
For others, it means eating an entire pizza, garlic bread, and dough balls.

This! There’s nothing you can’t eat when you’re trying to maintain a slim figure or lose weight, it’s just about choices and portion sizes. For example I haven’t had mashed potatoes since December as they’re so calorific and I want to eat as much volume for my 1200 calories as possible, but last night we decided on sausages and mash and gravy with broccoli. OH had a full sized meal, I had a cereal bowl with a scoop of mash, one veggie sausage and lots of broccoli. Still delicious and felt indulgent, but probably a quarter (seriously) of the amount i would usually put away.

I’ve reduced my BMI from 24.9 to (I think) 22.5 or so, I feel very proud of myself and happy with it.

For those who find it daunting, I’ve found MyFitnessPal app to be the best thing ever. Set a calorie limit, input your weight every week or so (I weigh daily), and don’t eat anything until you’ve added it to the app. Don’t go over your calorie limit and you’ll lose weight. Makes it so easy, I love it. You become more in tune with the choices you make, for example I’d usually have half a pack of Oreos! But knowing they’re 70cals each, I’ll have one. Or have an apple instead as it’s the same calories and much more filling.

My other strategy that works well is drinking a pint of water before each meal and snack.

I’m in the swing of it now and really enjoying it. But yes, I’d recommend myfitnesspal to anyone, you can’t beat it. Then when you’ve met your goal weight you can play around with upping the calorie limit to find what works for maintenance.

you know when you stay up a bit too late and it's now been another 3 or 4 hours since you ate so you get hungry again?

I think that some people are genuinely never hungry (as in peckish, not actual hunger) because they eat all the time! My dentist told me recently not to eat everything for at least 2 hours.. completely reasonable advice, but it was early afternoon so I would have assumed most people wouldn't need to eat for at least 5 or 6 hours after!

It's the constant eating and snacking that kills some people's diet.

I think the term work hard is very subjective. I'm slim. I work out 6 or 7 times a week, running, pilates, zumba.... I enjoy working out so it's a pleasure for me.
My evenings are spent pottering around tidying or preparing meals not sitting on the sofa.
I eat a lot of salad, veggie dishes and fruit. Again it's what I enjoy.
Some might consider this hard work some would say naturally slim.

I do eat cake, pizza, chips etc. But we rarely have take aways. I think I'm conscious about what I eat. I don't snack, I do cook from scratch most evenings and I'm aware that if I had a huge meal the day before I should eat well the next day. So there is some level of effort.

I think it's probably about trying to change the way you view these things. If they seem like hard work they're hard to keep up. If they become just habit you don't notice them.

I work stupidly hard at keeping slim. I don't eat cake, pizza or the like. It's what it takes and .... no, it it doesn't make me miserable.

I’m very underweight
I absolutely love my diet
But it’s not of the pizza kind.
I much prefer salads, soups, fruit etc
So who knows - If I ate crisps, cake etc may be I would be overweight
But I don’t eat them and don’t enjoy them at all - do I will never really know!

BertieBotts if it’s not meal or snack time I usually find drinking a pint of water takes the hunger pangs away enough for a bit! Or if I fancy eating I’ll have a rice cake or something. Feels filling due to its size/volume.

I know it’s been used for nefarious purposes, but the phrase ‘nothing tastes as good as thin feels’ definitely rings true for me. How confident and happy I feel when I’m slimmer is so much more enjoyable than anything I’ve ever tasted. And once you’ve done the hard work to get there, you can still have the things you crave, just not go nuts with them. I was eating chippy three times a week 😫

we should also forget calories, and focus on this sometimes