To think that slim people have different habits re food and exercise

[WhatWillSantaBring]

I've been overweight most of my adult life, and find I put on weight very easily. BUT I also think I have had very unhealthy food habits - I think of food as treats, I avoid the scales, I eat when I'm not hungry, I always have the cake, emotional eating etc. I know all the things I do wrong (and that I'm sure a lot of overweight people do) but what I want to know is what do thin people do "right". i.e. what are the habits of people who are consistently a healthy weight (i.e. BMI of 20-25).

I've got some very petite friends who will do things like:

• weigh every day and take immediate action if their weight goes up by more than 5lbs;
• never accept a biscuit
• only drink one glass of wine (unless its a very special occasion when they may have two)
• never order themselves a dessert/ice cream etc (will just eat whatever their kids leave)

- exercise 5-6 days a week without fail, including Christmas Day

• never have seconds

If you're slender, and have maintained a healthy weight for years, what habits do you have that you think help you?

If you have a calorie deficit you will lose weight. It really takes no time to weigh your food. I'm slim but at the start of lock down I put on 3kg and all my clothes were tight. A couple of months making sure I was in a deficit and increasing movement and I've lost it. It really takes will power. I still have treats - as long as I don't go over the deficit on a weekly basis. This allows for nights out (or in mor like!)

I eat what I want within reason and don't own scales but I do walk my dog and move as much as I can throughout the day.

I'm usually a size 10 but I'm a size 12 since lockdown even though my routine hasn't changed so I'm on it to lose that extra weight.

It's so much harder the older I get so I do keep an eye on weight gain and try to get it off ASAP.

I’m overweight, but I live with DH who is very slim (bordering on underweight for his height).

The main thing I notice is that he’s just not that bothered about food. So he can easily forget to eat a meal (this would NEVER happen to me however busy I was!), or will eat a very small portion if he’s just not very hungry.

He doesn’t deliberately limit his food though. He’ll happily eat an ice cream / biscuit / slice of cake or drink a few glasses of wine. It’s just that he doesn’t want to very often.

He rarely weighs himself and doesn’t exercise much.

I monitor my weight and take action if it rises (either less eating or more cardio exercise). I also feel terribly groggy and unhappy if I don’t exercise and keep my weight healthy which is an added incentive, usually that’s the trigger for me weighing myself

I’m not mega thin tho. Around the middle of the healthy bmi for my height

Try following Plantiful KiKi on YouTube.

Was size 8-10 my whole adult life pretty much ate what i wanted but not a huge portion kinda person. Never ate starters rarely ate a whole meal. Menopause struck..... now 2.5 stone over weight, have cut right down on food portions walk 10,000 steps just about every day unless absolutely pouring drizzle/light rain still do it. Eat healthy no longer eat between meals, can not shift even a pound, but that tbh is due to have now developed a sweet tooth! Am working on it, have been to the doctor, who said natural to put weight on during and after menopause that REALLY helped!.

Going to do my evangelical bit again 🙄😳.

@Barney60 have a look at this video

I’ve been pretty much bmi 20 for the past 5/6 years. I don’t have specific habits- but I don’t see any foods as good or bad. I eat what I want but I know if I didn’t do that I would probably end up binge eating. I eat all foods. I suppose I see food as more of fuel now. In the ages of 18-25 I had a desk job and was always on this diet or that one and it was a massive focus in my life. I would cut out foods that I deemed as naughty and then end up demolishing a packet of biscuits. I don’t have a desk job anymore so probs being more consistently active helps. Literally the least I focused on it and didn’t cut foods out and didn’t group them into good or bad...into treats etc the more I ended up where I wanted to be naturally

• I dont have scales at home
• i always accept a biscuit, its rude not to
• I dont drink (only on work occasions when I dont want to be like a complete wierdo)
• never order dessert unless it's a paid for meal. I dont actually like cakes etc and dont get peoples - especially womens' obsession with it.
• i always have ice cream with the kids
• I always eat with kids
• i never purposely exercise but I am always working or pottering around
• I do have seconds - i love meat especially bbq
• i do snack especially at night, but i only eat when hungry
• i wake up ravenous and the first thing i do is have breakfast. Again I dont like sweet stuff, on weekends I have a huge ham and peppers omlette toast etc
• I have Chinese takeaway once a week - just a dish and rice or noodles

Im a size 10, usually an 8, and always have been a very stable weight. Half a stone makes a size difference for me. Never been above a size 10. I dont own scales. And im just not over interested in food. When people say they are celebrating their anniversery etc by having a meal at home (and plastering it all over social media) im always thats just having your dinner. Hows that a treat?! I dont dent myself anything though! I wouldnt turn down a Biscuit i like!

I eat small meal portions. All my meals are served on a side plate.
If i have seconds at dinner it is of the veg. (Im veggie Now anyway but this Has always been the case)
I dont have a sweet tooth. I prefer savoury tastes.
I dont view food as a treat or reward.
My job is mainly on my feet with little opportunity to eat apart from twenty mins at lunch, when i usually have a salad.
Semi skimmed milk in my tea. I dont drink pop / juice.
I rarely have breakfast. Ive been having breakfast for the past five weeks while ive been going to work for a few days each week but havent had time for lunch those days. If i do have breakfast, its never cereal. Porridge maybe. Yoghurt and fruit. Half a Bagel recently.

If i was to suggest why people i know struggle with weight id say it was down to drinking a few bottles of wine each week, empty calories, and eating large portions at meal times. Most people over eat. I think if people spent two weeks weighing out accurate portions and paying attention to the amounts theyd be appalled at how different their usual portions are, and could start to make those changes. I dont do this btw! I just mean people who have spent a lifetime over eating wont know what an actual healthy portion looks like. One friend is trying to lose weight and i asked about her dinner, she told me, i said i sounded ok. She didnt put butter on the veg did she? She laughed. She covered her veg in butter!

I know a woman who is now slim and active but up until two years ago was very overweight. She had a complete attitude overhaul. She has two primary children. One is very overweight. All she does on sm is post photos of them baking and having afternoon teas. Cake cake cake. Despite addressing her food issues in herself she is passing on her bad habits to her children.

And yes like pp I eat to live and dont live to eat nor think much about it.

I cant for the life remember what I ate today or yesterday or even when I visit a restaurant

I think a lot of thin people don’t need a scale. I am thin and have been my whole life (except the three times I was pregnant and gained 23-25 kilos!!). But after each child was born the weight came off and I’m always back to pre pregnancy self. Just had my third baby 7 months ago and lost the 23 kilos with out trying and back to normal weight (same weight since my late teens!). I never weigh myself usually. Just during pregnancy out of curiosity how much I would weigh and how much weight was being lost.

Anyways, my habits are walking everywhere. We don’t own a car. I walk loads. I’m in the park a lot. Never get to sit to watch a show. Too many things to do w three kids and a dog. If I watch a movie it takes me 3 days to finish it as I can only watch for short amount of time because I’ve got too much to do. I eat what I want, but rarely snack because again I’m busy. The time goes by and before I know it the next meal time has arrived. I try to eat lots of veggies and fruit as I’m breastfeeding.

There has been 2 or 3 times I’ve felt bloated from eating too much and bad foods so I’ve skipped dinner and then voila it seems to reset my body and it works. But again, I’ve only done this 2-3 times my whole life. I wish I had the willpower to do it more often as I feel it’s good to skip a meal sometimes (allows your body to heal and recharge).

@WhatWillSantaBring

Thanks *@Spinningdot* - I’m already there (and have lost loads), but I have been using this thread to find out what else I should be doing to make sure this is the last time I get overweight and it’s been fascinating.

Only a couple of totally unhelpful/unsupportive comments, which I’m relieved at as it’s my first foray. If only it was as simple as calories in and calories out, it would have taken me years to get myself sorted....

Oops sorry - I should have recognised your user name!

Thank you cave mum, i do quite a bit of this but few things may help.

BMI of 22.5, was weighed for the first time since childhood at 18, then 28 (both for contraceptive purposes) and then again at 37 when I was pregnant. I don’t weigh myself, I don’t diet and I have a healthy relationship with food but a raging sweet tooth. I eat decent size portions but stop if I’m full, I don’t overeat. I snack on crap and love cake. I move a lot, used to be a gym bunny when I was a SAHM (enjoy exercising) but now I’m back in the office I ensure I do at least 12-15k steps a day. I try to run at least once a week. I drink booze about 3 nights a week but no more than a bottle of wine over those 3 nights. I do overdo it on holiday, my clothes are a little tight when I get back but going back to normal eating drops the inches. I only have one wardrobe in one size.

I probably sound smug, I’m not but this is all I know. It was recently that a new friend told me that I had a really good relationship with food. I had no idea, didn’t know it was a thing.

I never weigh myself usually. Just during pregnancy out of curiosity how much I would weigh and how much weight was being lost.

I did the same. Weighed and measured my bump frequently at my parents. I gained three stone in pregnancy each time. Babies were 8 and 10lb. Lost it very quickly. Was wearing my jeans two weeks later.

I did a lot of dancing from being a child until i was pregnant With my first. I think having a basis of good core muscles is also a benefit.

I’m quite slim (around 8 stone at 5’3”, size 6-8) and I think the difference between me and my bigger friends is portions. A meal is usually a small portion of decent quality protein (eg a salmon fillet or small chicken breast) a regular portion of carbs (I weigh pasta and rice to what the packet suggests is a portion) and then veg. I eat cakes and biscuits and whatnot, but again I stick to one serving, not the whole packet. Also I love going out for coffee and cake, but I’d have that in place of a meal, not as well as.
I do think metabolism plays a role though, I reckon I’m quite lucky that way, as I really don’t exercise either.

I really think that for those who are naturally slim without the restrictive measures of your slim friends, genetics and metabolism (but especially genetics) play the biggest part. I have a friend who is the same size & shape she was as a teen, her mum & gran were the same. I know that if I wasn't careful about what and how I ate & didn't take action when I gained, I'd be overweight like my mum.

I think your metabolism comes into it too. I used to be between 10 stone and 10 and a half before I had children. Between 12-14 and 5:4 inch

Surprisingly after I had children I went the opposite of most women. I could eat what I wanted when I wanted and was never over 8 stone and a half stone. I was between 10-12 depending on what clothing it was. I have quite a broad back so always need slightly bigger at the top.

Getting into my mid 50s i can't do that now and also having some mobility issues I have to be more careful. I'm between 14-16 now.

Ofcourse a healthy diet comes into it. However bone structure and metabolidm are part of it too.

Even at my lowest weight I never looked like some petite feather as I don't have a small bone structure

Not really. Lots of reasons. I do everything you've described about yourself and am a size 8.

I have a disordered eating history. Mostly I spend a couple of years gaining about 2 stone and then spend 6 months calorie counting and exercising to lose it all again and begin the cycle again. Range between 7st 11 and 9st 11.

Am trying to change this now.

Oh, I'm not really a sweet tooth though - don't eat biscuits or buy in chocolate or anything. Am also vegetarian.

I have a lot more than the occasional wine, exercise twice a week, sometimes have seconds.

I think the major thing is that the snacks, puddings and portion size of an overweight person would likely be what I see as a 'binge' but they see as normal.

It's good to know that people here generally went back to original weight after pregnancy. My mum is in fact slimmer now after 2 kids than in her youth, yet I remember on a thread years ago people were falling over themselves to tell me you WILL get fat after being pregnant and you CAN'T lose it because your body just permanently changes and that's how it is! Sounds like that was bollocks...

Healthy/slim habbit:
Never eat on the sofa whilst watching TV. All meals and snacks are eaten at a table. Sit at table to have your cuppa and biscuit(s). Then you enjoy your food/drink, have a nice quiet time/chat with family. Eating in front of TV/mobile you don't concentrate on the food or really enjoy every mouthful.

A lot of it is in the genes I think. I'm skinny and when I read your list i thought I literally do the precise opposite of that. It just couldn't be less reflective of the way I eat . I do exercise but only because I like it. I eat exactly what I want and always have. Put a bit of weight on over lockdown and honestly it's the first time I've put weight on apart from pregnancy my whole adult life. I'm 46.

I think there's a bit of a stereotype that if you're skinny you're a weird miserable robot. Some people are just skinny and normal, same as some people are big and normal.

All meals and snacks are eaten at a table.

Life is too short to eat a packet of crisps at the table. I am enjoying mine in from of the tv right now. I even have a G and T.