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?

[hopingtobedally]

@rhodacamel what would you do if you had to take medication that made you gain a significant amount of weight?

[morefun]

CazzaCat yeah, I hate clothes shopping when bigger, nothing I like looks good anymore and it's depressing!

[allfalldown47]

Sounds like your friends are not naturally slim!
I've been very slim all my life, I have a very sweet tooth and eat biscuits & chocolate everyday but would always go for a freddo or chomp, rather than a bigger bar. So I don't feel bad that I eat it everyday!

I don't eat breakfast as I never feel hungry in the morning so I guess I skip a meal but I do snack a lot and definitely make up for it during the day.
I move a lot, I'm a natural fidget and I think this has contributed to my size.

[ConnellWaldronsChain]

I am fairly slim (BMI about 22) and my weight has been fairly static for most of my adult life (I'm 5'8.5", weight is usually somewhere between 10 1 and 10 6)

I love cakes, chocolate & puddings so often get accused of being able to 'eat what I like' but in reality I am quite controlled and stick to certain rules

• I weigh self regularly (at least twice a week) and take immediate action if weight has crept up a few pounds
• I exercise regularly including running for about an hour a few times a week
• I stick to 3 meals a day at regular times
• I never miss breakfast
• I almost always make my own lunch
• I don't eat fast food (never go in KFC, Subway, Mcdonalds etc)
• I eat my evening meal at about 630/7pm and don't tend to snack on an evening after my dinner
• More recently I've also been eating less meat and enjoying lots of lovely vegi & vegan recipes

[FreakStar]

Women I know whoa rae very slim are what I call 'pickers' ie. they never finish anything, they eat slowly, they push it round their plates, they don't appear to really enjoy their food. I wouldn't want to be a picker- it's annoying!

[DishRanAwayWithTheSpoon]

Im not uber skinny but have always maintained a healthy BMI of around 22 - although Ive gained weight in lockdown

Honestly the key thing is a I weigh myself regularly and cut back when I gain a few pounds. Thats it really

I drink plenty of alcohol.

I never really turn down cake, but this still only results in cake maybe a couple of times a month

I cook mostly from scratch, but I dont have particularly small portions .

I dont drink anything but water and tea/coffee during the week. I have juice for breakfast on the weekends and alcohol on weekends. I wouldnt ever drink a latte or capuccino its either black coffee or coffee with a dash of milk, iced black coffee is my favourite drink atm

I dont really like bought puddings, so I dont often have pudding unless Ive been baking. But this isnt an active choice, sometimes i'll have some icecream or chocolate in the evenings

I also dont really enjoy excercise - but I am active. I will walk everywhere, spend my weekends out and about. Normally swimming a couple of times a week, plus i do spin classes and weights in the gym. I have been massively less active in lockdown and have gained about a stone.

[Valkadin]

I have always been slim between 8.5 and 9.5 stone at 5ft 5. Plus I’m post menopausal.

I weigh myself every few months.
I am not much of a drinker, not teetotal but very occasional
I rarely snack
I don’t like chocolate much at all
I walk rather than drive
I eat every food category, I do not believe in cutting out any food group.

The poster that wrote they only eat cake they really like, I’m the same. So at work the communal biscuit tin if it had stuff in I really wasn’t bothered about I didn’t bother. If it was shortbread or ginger biscuits I was win there but that was it.

[Davespecifico]

Re: the OP’s OP - I don’t fit either camp. My bmi is always somewhere in the heavier part of healthy weight.
I eat 3 meals a day, half a bottle of wine every nigh with dinner, a biscuit late afternoon and a square of chocolate after dinner.
I love my evening meal with wine and I love my morning pastry and coffee.
Since lockdown, I’ve done half an hour on my exercise bike every day which has barely lost me any weigh but lost some inches.
I’ve no interest in eating between meals apart from my afternoon snack but my evening meal is hearty.

[verybritishproblems]

Unpopular opinion but I don’t want to get to the end of my life thinking, wish I’d had that cake. I’m not slim or fat (5ft 9 and size 12) and I eat healthy (generally) but couldnt be like the posters on here who never ever eat chocolate or except a biscuit. How drab.

[allfalldown47]

@RhodaCamel I can relate to that, my whole identity feels wrapped up in my size, despite being 49, my family still refer to me as 'little allfall' and I wear the same clothes that I did when I was a teenager and have a definite look that is very much who I am.

[FatherBrownsBicycle]

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

Doing all the things you listed op. I had always been slim until early 40’s when, although normal BMI, I realised I had gone up and was 2.5 stones heavier and I was miserable. It also wouldn’t have taken much to tip me into overweight. DM is fat and has health problems, I didn’t want to follow her so I made changes. Weighing and portioning my food, and understanding that I don’t need the same amount of calories I used to, has helped me lose all the weight.

[susie2014]

I've always been a size 8 - my BMI is about 20 now but in my twenties I was a bit underweight and often tried to put it on. I would have always put it down to genetics but a friend did once say that it's eating habits too and on reflection she was probably right. The big thing for me I think is that I don't connect food to emotion so I only eat when I'm hungry. I enjoy food and always have three meals a day but I don't eat out of boredom or for comfort like some of my friends do. Don't get me wrong, I've got plenty of other vices - I'm far too fond of a glass of wine and have been an on-off smoker since my teens and so they're the things I reach for when I'm stressed, not food. Not sure that's very helpful to you though because obviously that's not something you can easily change!

[Lovelymonkeyninetynine]

I think one of the big things is that people whose bodies tend to be naturally slim are less likely to have dieted. Therefore they can be aware of their weight without all the emotional eating, yo yo dieting and fear of deprivation that comes from a history of dieting or feeling inadequate for being 'fat' or eating 'too much.'

[Crispsginchoc]

Hi OP, I’ve always been slim, in the 90’s a size 8/10 and now a size 6/8. I’ve not lost weight, the shops seem to vanity size clothes now. I don’t weigh myself, don’t own scales, am prone to losing weight easily, last went to a gym in 2003. I am delicately boned - if that’s a thing - and I think it may make a difference.
My husband is the opposite and overweight and seems to put weight on easily. Although he does eat when he’s bored/watching tv/films etc and likes snacking. I only feel the need to eat when I’m hungry, I don’t see the point otherwise. Saying that I do snack and have a bag of crisps or bar of chocolate most evenings and maybe a biscuit or two during the day. I just eat when my stomach is hungry. Although I’m staying away atm and refusing when my husband offers, in the hope he’ll decide not to snack.
I don’t eat regularly after 9pm, as I don’t like going to bed feeling full. I don’t eat breakfast, I can’t stand eating first thing. Meal wise I just have lunch and a massive dinner with pudding.

It’s difficult as I think it’s genetics and down to metabolic rates and maybe an inbuilt gene - I’ve read that some naturally slim people have an inbuilt system so they know when not to eat. Some people just seem to need to look at food and put weight on and others lose it easily. It’s not fair and I do feel guilty when I hear my Mum and others. I feel like a freak at times and uncomfortable when people point out how slim I am and the large portion sizes I eat.

I think the biggie is to ask yourself if you’re really feeling hungry, or if you want to eat because you’re bored, or emotionally eating to feel better due to feeling stressed, upset etc. Make the next time you feel like eating go and do something for 5 minutes and then see if you’re still hungry, or if it was just something to do/a whim.

[BeijingBikini]

I also wouldn't eat cake unless it was a deserving cake. For example if someone at work brought in Colin the Caterpillar, I wouldn't eat it, because it's just a bland cake that's made in a factory and a total waste of calories, but if someone had brought in a homemade one I would definitely have some.

[user12345796]

BMI is 21 and always has been except during 4 pregnancies.
I don't like puddings(genuinely they all make me heave toffee pudding and Eton mess and all that stuff)
I only like to have a small amount of chocolate
I like one glass of red wine every day
Dont eat meat
Smallish appetite probably
Also walk 2-3 miles a day with the dog

[caramelbun]

My slim friends snack “very rarely”. That’s what I’ve picked up. And they’re the ones who don’t exercise.

I am slim and I go for a run every morning on an empty stomach. If I don’t run the weight creeps up on me! Same for DH.

[RhodaCamel]

hopingtobedally I should be on medication for two separate health conditions but the side effects are weight gain so I have refused and am suffering as a consequence!

[suggestionsplease1]

I'm slim but I don't consciously watch my weight - I just fill up quickly and then have no desire/ ability to eat more. I actually eat a very high fat and high sugar diet, but portion sizes smaller than others would have. And I think I'm naturally low carb - I'm not drawn to huge amounts of pasta, rice, potatoes and would rather have fish, meats and sauces. Eg. making a bacon sandwich I would have 2 pieces of back bacon folded inside a single slice of bread, as with 2 slices I would find it too bready.

I also have a dog so spend at least 1 hour a day walking, sometimes 3.

[DishRanAwayWithTheSpoon]

Also I would have a biscuit but I never really eat more than 2. For chocolate I would have a couple of squares or like a kitkat

Probably only around 200kcal max. I never binge on chocolate, I have never eaten a bag of chocolate or a whole chocolate bar or a whole easter egg in my life. Ive never eaten a whole pack or even half a pack of biscuits. I just wouldnt, one or two biscuits and I feel Ive eaten biscuits.

I do have big portions for dinner, I would always have seconds. I think because my lunches/dinners are relatively large I am just not hungry. If I restrict I do find I am craving chocolate/crisps and find it harder to stop. Whilst if I have a big dinner I dont really want anything else

[CistitisStings]

In my case, I don't have strategies/rules. Don't own any scales, so generally no idea what I weigh; drink and eat what I feel like. Exercise a bit because it helps with mood, etc., but not for weight and far from every day. Always been a size 8, and none of the points in your OP applies to me. Personally, I think I have hunger and fullness mechanisms which approximately balance each other.

I'm only 40, though, so menopause has yet to hit. Apparently that'll change things.

[Lucylivesinamushroomhouse]

I eat fairly big, carby portions especially for breakfast and lunch but tends to be quite healthy - porridge, bread, also loads of vegetables.

Tend not to eat at all after dinner.

Don’t have a sweet tooth so not tempted by cake and biscuits. (Love cheese though!)

Walk everywhere and run a few times a week.

[Macncheeseballs]

I move alot, eat what I want but often don't finish it, I dont snack constantly, food is not on my mind alot, love wine but love exercise too!

[EthelMayFergus]

My BMI has always been around 21, I'm tall and until February I played netball 2 or 3 times a week and my normal weight is about 9 stone. For me it's simply that I don't really enjoy food, I'd rather go out for a drink than a meal. Dh feels sorry for me, he loves cooking and eating and thinks I'm missing out, but I just don't get it.

[Macncheeseballs]

I often skip breakfast too