How do slim people think?

[Episcomama]

...because I really do think there is a difference between how slim and overweight people think. I am very overweight - BMI of 33. So obese rather than overweight, technically.

I've been off and on diets all my adult life, and the only thing I've really had success with is intermittent fasting and keto. When I stick to it, it works. The problem isn't my body, it's my mind. It's as though there's a switch that gets flicked from time to time. A voice in my head telling me to eat in case of famine. Food occupies much of my waking hours - once I've had a meal I'm thinking ahead to the next one.

A dear friend is very slim and once mentioned that she just doesn't really find satisfaction in food in the way I do (comfort, commiseration, celebration, whatever.) When I spent the weekend with her recently, it really became apparent how differently we see food. She was mildly horrified at both the quantity and frequency of my meals whereas I couldn't understand how she was satisfied with what she ate.

Eating disorders aside, do you think there's a difference between a "thin mind" and a "fat mind", to express it crudely. And if you have a thin mind and used to have a fat mind, can you share with me how you flicked that switch?

How can he be convinced he'll die without snacking? Surely he sees you eat way less and aren't dying, while he is obsese, logic would tell him he is overeating and therefore not going to die when hungry.

Surely you can see the point being made, and if this thread shows nothing else, it's that 'logic' just doesn't come into it.

Some people simply cannot tolerate the feeling of hunger, and will do anything to immediately ward it off.

Obviously this poster is exaggerating slightly, but the end result is the same - zero tolerance for hunger = immediate, unnecessary food consumption.

People say that weight loss is simple, and on paper it is: eat less, move more.

But it's only simple on paper.

In practice, it can be extremely difficult for some people, because when you're dealing with that over-riding feeling of hunger + modern society of an array of easily accessible food, every day is a (almost constant) challenge.

I say this as a 'slim' person, who loves food, but who is forced to exercise denial and self-restraint, because if i ate what I liked, I'd be overweight. I get how difficult it is, but I have some tolerance for hunger. Unlike others, who don't.

P.S. as mentioned upthread, I don't actually think I am slim (tall size 12), but I think an overweight person probably would describe me as such.

The entire slimming world philosophy is built around this idea that you shouldn't ever be hungry, they constantly market that idea. Filling up on free food, describing heaps and mounds of everything. I ate so much food on SW and lost virtually no weight even though I followed the plan to the letter .

The biggest revelation to me doing a low calorie/high fat/low carb diet was just how little food I actually need to eat and how much I was eating. I feel like my body runs so much more efficiently when I eat small portions of high calorie food instead of masses of low calorie 'bulk' and a few treats

I mentioned upthread: I'm not a natural slim person, I was overweight for many years and my default setting is to eat. I have a desperately sweet tooth. I have to remind myself regularly that if I want to be slim I have to put the work in.

There's an interesting experiment you can try: eat a dry cracker and time how long it takes for it to turn sweet tasting in your mouth. The quicker it does, the more responsive your enzymes are to carbohydrates, and the more effectively you can handle them. If it doesn't turn sweet at all you are better off avoiding carbs if you want to lose weight
(It's a very rudimentary test by the way, not exactly scientific. But it was featured on a documentary recently)

I’m naturally slim. My weight ballooned and went all over the place when I was on antidepressants. Now I’ve been off them 6 months I’m well on my way back to my natural weight.
I can ‘hear’ my body and am able to stop eating when I’m full. I’m that annoying person that only eats half a meal when out for dinner. Purely because I listen to my body and know when I’m full. If I try to force more food in I feel ill, sluggish, tired etc. Eating small amounts means I function better physically and mentally. I couldn’t give 2 hoots what size I am as long as by body is happy

Not sure my post posted before:

Hi OP,

I'm sure slim people do think differently but not because they are more virtuous- just because their brain chemistry, hormones etc. are all on a different setting.

Satiety is controlled by hormones so whilst a slim person might be able to stop after a few bites of cake, an overweight person with inadequate Leptin (or leptin processing issue) would not feel full and would keep eating.

There have been studies done into satiety with 3-5 year olds who were given plates full of cakes and sweets. 1/3rd of them will not eat sweet food past the point of fullness, the rest will. In terms of survival it's good to eat in excess and store the calories for times of starvation; in terms of weight loss- not so much! I'm not really sure it's as much of a Psychological issue as a Physiological issue!

I am short and a natural size 8, I just have a small body.

I went through a phase in my life of being broke whilst at uni so would literally just buy whatever was on offer, whether that was enough basics for basic pasta (ie just OST’s and sauce) or a ready meal burger etc. Sometimes I would skip meals too, simply because all nearby shops were closed and I didn’t want to spend £15+ on a London takeaway (minimum order cost & delivery fees). I lost weight but in the worst way, what little bum/hips/boobs I had just disappeared.

When I became more financially free, my natural spendthrift came out. I would eat out or order food for every meal, never cooked. Constant Starbucks and Pret, and Uber too so lack of walking etc. I went up to a size 10 which made me look really chubby for my height, my arms were massive and I had a constant gut. I didn’t feel or look comfortable.

I have naturally gone back to a 6/8 but desperately want to put weight on, in the right areas obvi but that isn’t possible. It’s annoying not being curvy.

I'm sure slim people do think differently but not because they are more virtuous- just because their brain chemistry, hormones etc. are all on a different setting.

Satiety is controlled by hormones so whilst a slim person might be able to stop after a few bites of cake, an overweight person with inadequate Leptin (or leptin processing issue) would not feel full and would keep eating.

64% of UK adults are overweight/obese.

Do they all have inadequate Leptin and if so, what do you think is causing it?

an overweight person with inadequate Leptin

Sorry I could be completely wrong, but an adult who has become fat is more likely to suffer from too much leptin, which in turn effects the level of feeling full / increases feelings of hunger. This is different to a child say who is born with insufficient leptin. Being aware of the effect of Leptin on appetite is useful though. Knowing that a hormone is wrongly signalling you are hungry and need to eat, would certainly help me deal with it better. What would be even better is knowing how long that actually lasts, how much weight do you need to lose before your body resets ?

I don't think as a country we are very good at giving people the information and knowledge they need to reduce weight. A lot of the information has been quite conflicting and not necessarily based on current science, and I think science is where a lot of the solutions lie. Give people the knowledge to understand how their bodies alter due to obesity and you give them something quite powerful. I don't know if there have been any UK studies based on satiety and the length of time it takes to return to normal following weight loss ?

Sorry that should have said during and following weight loss

Slimming World is flawed because it encourages over eaters to over eat! They encourage free foods and filling up on 'speed' food. Fine, it works short term because people who ate vast amounts of high calorie food, start off well because they switch to vast amounts of lower calorie food, thereby they eat fewer calories and lose weight. Then after months of slow weight loss they get bored and often switch to more tasty food, i.e. fats etc. But they haven't actually done the one thing they need to do, which is train themselves to need smaller portions. So they're back to square one, they regain weight, so often they rejoin Slimming World, because 'it works'. Er, no, it doesn't because you still over eat on it. There is no magic wand, no miracle to this weight loss malarky: you need to eat less calories than you use. You are fine being a little bit hungry some of the time. Don't cut out food groups, eat whatever you want, but eat in moderation and not too often. I lost stones 15 years ago on Atkins, but it was impossible to maintain, so the weight returned and brought along a few extra pounds for good measure! I eat healthily, no sugar, lots of fruit, veg, some lean protein and unrefined carbs. But the portions are restricted. I don't get hungry. I honestly eat about a third of the quantity of food a day than I did a year ago. The quality is 100% better though.

I am 53 and size 6 to 8 (more an 8) and apart from slightly more around the waist since 2 DC have the same as I did when I was 14.

To answer how I think about food, I love it and I think I eat quite decent size portions, not like a sparrow and not like Desperate Dan and I also like my snacks. I go to bed thinking about my breakfast and it is very rare I am off my food.

I can only put the above down to genes, my mum and her father were exactly the same, infact my grandad was TINY and skinny.

*I'm sure slim people do think differently but not because they are more virtuous- just because their brain chemistry, hormones etc. are all on a different setting.

Satiety is controlled by hormones so whilst a slim person might be able to stop after a few bites of cake, an overweight person with inadequate Leptin (or leptin processing issue) would not feel full and would keep eating.*
As mentioned above. I'm a size 6/8. Due to a rare medical condition I had a total vagotomy, meaning I don't have the ability to feel full.

This is an interesting point that has been made by a couple of posters:

3. Feeling of hunger felt really uncomfortable, far more than when I was thin. My new normal was stuffed, so hunger almost felt like dying.

I have friends who say similar and I really struggle to understand it. They allege that they feel light headed etc if they skip meals - I've always been a bit but maybe it is something physiological at play?

I'm slim but unfortunately not effortlessly so. I absolutely love food, think about it constantly and can eat very large amounts. The way I keep it in check is:

• I do 6:1 or 5:2 every week depending on how my weight is. I am extremely conscious of my weight and will rein it back in if I feel it increasing
• I do loads of exercise including lots of strength stuff and long distance running. I genuinely love it
• I often skip breakfast
• I only ever eat junk food on a weekend. It would never even cross my mind to have cake or crisps or a takeaway during the week. Just not an option

There is so much hidden sugar in all our food.

Remember in the 80s when fat was bad, so everyone switched to low fat versions of everything and grim oily spreads instead of butter? To make up for the loss of flavour caused by removing fat, they just upped the sugar. So your low fat yoghurt is actually just as high in calories. But because it’s lacking fat, it doesn’t even make you feel full. Fat makes you feel full quicker. Eat something low fat but full of sugar, you’ll probably end up eating even more of it.

Sugar is in everything. Bread, pasta sauces, low fat yoghurts, ready meals... it’s so hard to avoid.

And there’s also research that says that the sweetener in drinks like Diet Coke actually cause you to put on weight. The chemical sweetener messes with gut absorption or something. I’ll see if I can dig out the paper on it.

They allege that they feel light headed etc if they skip meals

I can feel absolutely terrible, sweaty and shaky if I don’t eat regularly. When I get like that, I feel compelled to hoover up a lot of food as the shaking doesn’t stop instantly on eating (e.g. a banana won’t cut it).

But interestingly, I also feel shaky and desperately hungry a couple of hours after eating something hugely sugary like a packet of sweets.

It’s a blood-sugar thing. If I don’t eat for too long (especially if I’m physically active), I NEED to eat. If I have a sugary snack, my blood sugar spikes and then crashes, and I NEED to eat. So sugary snacks actually make me eat far more than I would have had I not had the sugary snack.

I feel ill if I don't eat regularly, even if I don't get the hunger pains in my belly first I can get all shaky and clammy, always have even when I was slim.

@noblegiraffe

I’m not an expert but AKAIK it’s all the high GI foods you eat are spiking your blood sugar levels and then your insulin.

You can stop this by eating low GI Foods instead.

Are you pre diabetic ?

You can stop this by eating low GI Foods instead.

I don’t get it any more. But I need to eat breakfast and a mid-morning snack (I’m a teacher), or I do get it. I can’t skip breakfast like other people on this thread and then teach, the morning would go badly wrong.

@noblegiraffe @raspberryk thanks - that's interesting. I can't relate to that at all but it sounds tough. On a fasting day I won't eat until dinner and have no issues and will exercise as normal at lunch. I've done 72 hour water fasts no problem either.

Nope low GI doesn't help, after porridge is one of the worst offenders. Supposed to keep you going for hours but I'll need to eat 1.5 hours after porridge or I feel like I'll faint. I have passed out before when I haven't eaten, can't imagine fasting til dinner let alone 72 hours.
I had to fast for a GD test when pregnant and I thought I might die. I was very very nearly sick.

I had to fast from midnight for an ELC. They kept putting back my c-section time and I was feeling worse and worse. By 3pm they put me on a drip.

It’s the amount of carbs. Porridge and cereals are high in carbs.

Try (some of ) eggs / bacon/ sausage / tomatoes / mushrooms / spinach.

When you think about it - it makes no sense. How could humans have evolved to feel faint or think they were dying if they didn’t eat every 1.5 hours ?

Unless you are dangerously thin , your body must have fat stores like the rest of us. Why do you think that your body isn’t accessing them ?

Are you insulin resistant / pre diabetic ?

It won’t change overnight, it can take a while to wean yourself off a high carb diet.

My mum’s side of the family all have thyroid issues, probably something to do with that.

I’m not naturally slim - somewhat in the middle. If I was to overeat, though, or consume too much of the wrong things, I would balloon. Knowing this, I do regulate myself. I don’t tend to drink my calories (what a waste!) and choose only one hight-fat food a day.

Yesterday, at a cafeteria, I happened to see an obese young woman eating chips and gravy for lunch with a large Coke. I wouldn’t have chosen that. My DH and I had sandwiches and a carton of chips between us. That might illustrate the difference.

www.diabetes.co.uk/insulin-resistance.html

www.diabetes.co.uk/symptoms/polyphagia.html

If you think this might be you, you need to see your GP. The symptoms of type 2 diabetes develop gradually and lots of people don’t know they have it. It needs to be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible to limit the any damage.