To ask if you naturally sit at *your* preferred weight

[Weighthate]

I just want to start off saying this isn't a thread to have a dig at people's sizes at all.

I was watching re-runs of Friends and Monica, Rachel and Phoebe are so skinny (to me) I wonder if people naturally sit at that slim level or if it has to be maintained with a lot of hard work and willpower.

When I was at my slimmest it became hard work for me to maintain. I gained some extra lbs and it was easy again. I now have (a lot of!) baby weight to shift before returning to work in 4 months. I'm just thinking how difficult it is going to be and will I now find it hard to maintain that weight once there (if ever there!)

I’m at my natural weight. I’m in my early 50s, have three DC and have weighed about 8.5 stones for most of my life. When I was in my 20s, I was a couple of pounds less. I’m now a couple of pounds more. I don’t need to do anything to maintain that weight. I eat what I like and have never dieted.

I need to do something. I only have four months. I'll try the 16:8 but as a pp started I can start small maybe aim for 14:10 first. I think that is more realistic for me.

I always thought it was sad how the three actresses from Friends immediately felt they had to lose weight (or were told to) when the show became successful. In Series 1 they are slim but not ridiculously so, then in the next series they’ve all shrunk!

@crispysausagerolls brilliant! 🤣

9 stone is a good weight...i now have it at 12 stone and im aiming to loose about 1.5-2 stone. I dont feel huge now though...i have slim leags and arms but my boobs are huge and tummy a bit wobbly.

Not quite. Am 5ft7 and 58kgs naturally, without effort (though I do only eat when I am hungry and stop when I am full. 3 full meals, sometimes I snack in between if I am peckish. But this all comes naturally to me and always has).

However, I still have a small double chin at this weight - even if the rest of me is a size 8-10.

55kg is my ideal weight as then the chin is much better. But I have to focus on this in terms of my eating and I revert to 58 eventually.

Am mid 30s so imagine it will become harder to maintain over time.

I have to work hard at it. When I stopped watching what I ate, and ate whatever I liked, I gained 2 stone

I would say I was slim. I exercise a lot and eat fairly healthily. I don't exclude anything in particular. If I see the muffin growing, I get rid of it by intermittent fasting. So, yes, it takes work and willpower.

I'm 5'6" and a very easy size six. Smaller and the children's rail with some brands.

I tried leaving it to nature and my own appetite once and gained about 4 dress sizes

I did the same while at university and ended up a 12, although still slim in my head.

No, I don’t naturally sit here in the sense that I’m careful about what I eat, and do a lot of exercise (this week I’ll run around 45k, do a couple of weights sessions, and some Pilates). Equally though, as someone has said upthread I’ll happily walk past biscuits in the office, etc, which probably does help me. I also love exercising so I don’t consciously do it because I want to stay at my weight... I do it because I enjoy it. So I guess it depends on your definition of natural?

Nope.

Unless I pay 100% attention my weight will creep up.

I'm naturally very greedy (Dad stole my food as a child) and love carbs.

So if left to my own devices (like now after lockdown) my "natural weight" is overweight.

It's horribly depressing and currently hate myself for it.

But equally depriving myself also makes me feel shit. Even though when I'm slim (and my slim is a size 12 as I'm curvy and large chested) I feel so much better. But that's a few stone away at the moment and seems such a difficult journey away.

My ideal weight is 8.5 stone but I'm happy and comfortable with anything under 9 stone.

I'm 9 stone 4 at the moment as I've put on 5 pounds during Lockdown (3 children including a one year old, so finding it hard to fit exercise into the day) and I'll need about 6 weeks of limiting treats and upping the exercise (from very little to something 😂) to get back down to 9 stone.

So I suppose my answer is my natural weight if I'm pretty sedentary and not watching my intake too much (healthy meals but bigger portions than I need and daily pudding!) is a few pounds over what I'm comfortable with. But in normal life that includes being out and about, I can sit at my comfortable weight without any extra effort.

I found getting to the comfortable weight very easy after all three babies, but I didn't manage to find the time or will power to get back to my ideal weight until the older two were around 2, so I'm not going to worry myself this time until then. I have a few more months!

I’m around 9 stone which I’m happy with, I used to be much bigger and lost three stone post babies. I’ve stuck at 9 stone for about a year and a half now, the ‘secret’ for me is fewer carbs and less alcohol. I don’t eat amazingly healthily but it seems to balance out. I used to drink loads and eat really carb heavy meals.

I sit at a weight that looks 'skinny' to people around me - but when I take my clothes off I'm not skinny. Slim, but not skinny. I think people would be shocked if they saw my naked body at how my weight is distributed.

I'm half an inch off 6ft though. I can vary 1.5 stone in weight and no one would notice with my clothes on, apart from my face looking slimmer.

It’s a question that’s wide open to interpretation really. People who are ‘naturally slim’ generally ‘naturally’ eat within the recommended amounts and exercise willingly. People who are bigger, are more often than not, less active and eat far more than is recommended.

We have a very warped idea of how much we should be allowed to eat, and many people can feel restricted by calorie counting because it doesn’t allow you to go hell for leather on family sized bags of crisps.

I’m in my healthy bmi, I exercise and move way more than the average person. That’s natural for me when I’m at work in normal times as it’s an active job and I also commute by bike/foot, but I’ve had to motivate myself to run more during lockdown. I eat healthy meals but like bigger portions than I know I need. I also love a few treats.

If I ate all the junk I truly desired then I’d pile weight on. Attitude is important, I don’t think of it as restricting myself, I think of it as being responsible for myself and my well-being in the same way that I make myself get out of bed and go to work instead of pressing snooze; or make myself clean the bathroom instead of watching Netflix all morning.

I'm 5' 1" slim build and happiest 7.5 stone. Usually put about half a stone on in the wintertime. This year it's harder to shift. I am 53, had my last period within the last year so I suppose it's hormones slowing my metabolism. Smaller portions and more exercise needed or my summer work clothes won't fit!

Hi op, I wanted to offer my experience too although I'm loads heavier than these posters. I'm 5'8 and weigh 14 stone 10. I've cut out all sugar for a few months now and count calories (around 1500 a day). I've got young kids so active but don't do regular cardio so need to probably change that. I've not lost anything. I never eat crap food, no crisps etc. Always salad for lunch, weigh out porridge for breakfast or scrambled eggs etc and a homecooked tea. I've limited my hot drink intake so milk is low etc. It's depressing, especially when other people would naturally loose weight quickly like this but as I know I've done my best honestly all I can do is accept who I am and hope every day that I'll get there one day. Sorry.

I'm around 9st, I have been as low as 8.6, but that was far too hard to maintain for me.

My body seems to settle round 9.3, and I fluctuate around that. I watch what I eat though. I've taken up running in lockdown which I haven't done for a few years and although I've not seen a massive difference in my weight I do seem leaner.

I follow SW and stick to it most days, now I'm more in a maintenance plan so I usually have one day off when I have a treat meal and drink booze. So I'd say my diet is pretty healthy, but it takes effort with home cooked food like soups for lunch rather than buying a tin.

I could not calorie count, I think that would become obsessive for me, so this is a good middle ground. It does take effort though!

@Pannacottaformeplease I'm the same. I've crept up to 9 and a half stone since lockdown and eating my son's leftovers! I'm confident I can get back down to 9 stone again (no more leftovers for me) but it's still annoying!

I annoyingly hover around 10 stone 2 pounds if I just eat normally/what I fancy. I'd love to be 9 stone (which I can do) but requires a huge calorie deficit and I have never been able to sustain or maintain it. I'm small build and 5ft 3 just for perspective so I do have body fat that needs to go!

I was very slim in my twenties and early thirties, a little too slim in mid twenties. But it is much harder to maintain heading towards forty. In my forties I lost 1.5 stone as I was just eating what I wanted and my weight became too much for me in that I was struggling to walk up hills etc. I am only small and my body was beginning to warn me.

I am now late fifties and I know I am too big at the moment, not huge but a bit on the chubby side. It has been hard to maintain weight despite exercise in lock down as I am cooking and making meals for my grandsons who live with me. They are teenagers and never seem to stop eating. In line with youth, they are super slim.

The point I make is that as you get older you need less calories and it is harder to maintain your weight. Dont believe it when you are told exercise alone can maintain your weight. As an oldie,I can tell you it doesn't.

Definitely not, I don't think the western diet and way of life supports a lean body any more. We are inactive and eat a lot more compared to early humans.

Absolutely not. I have always gained weight easily, and I have to work hard physically (energy output) and be disciplined in terms of my diet (energy input) to maintain a healthy weight.

Humans did not evolve to live sedentary lives in times of constant plenty, with limitless easily accessible supplies of affordable energy-dense food, so for many of us it’s a constant battle, and it always will be.

This thread is so depressing! Why do we all feel we have to deprive ourselves just to look a certain way? Yes, it's good to be healthy blah blah blah but there must be millions of women (and yes, some men but I'd guess to nowhere near such an extent) wasting SO much focus on what we eat and dont eat and for what? An extra stone or two maybe?

Imagine if we all just stopped.

@positivevibesonlyplease Quite honestly, with that level of obsession, I think she has already gone too far!

Yes but I know I feel much better when I am at the lower end of a healthy weight. I look better, my clothes are comfortable and I move around easier. It’s worth the effort to eat sensibly.