If you're a size 8-10 (or your ideal) but not naturally slim how do you stay that way?

[overweightcat]

I know some people are just naturally rather petite or slim and willowy.

But if you're not and manage to stay a size 8-10 how do you do it?

I'm 5'5 and recently lost weight and gone down to a solid size 12 - 10 in certain shops. Beforehand it was on the larger side of size 14.
I used to be very slim in my teens, had a terrible diet full of crap and sweets but was also very active around 8hrs a week of various sports/dance activities. I became quite sedentary and steadily piled on the weight since.

I don't have long legs or a small frame or anything - if anything I find that I'm rather in proportion all around and when I used to do a lot of sports I looked slim and athletic not willowy (which I'd prefer TBH).
Size 8-10 is my ideal I think as I've recently seen pictures of myself when I was that size and I think that's when I looked my healthiest and fittest - but I'm not sure how to get there.

My weight is at a bit of a standstill at the moment and I want to lose in a sustainable way. I probably have about 9lbs to go.

So anyone who has managed to achieve that and stay the desired size - can you share how you did it?

fatties who can't help themselves

What like a sort of female Billy Bunter character?

I think I might be a fatty/fattie and I can help myself thank you very much.

Can't stand the phrase 'no excuses'. It's mainly used by those who massively lack when it comes to critical thinking.

If there are no excuses for anyone being fat ( God forbid such a hideous thing) why do we have an obesity epidemic on our tubby little hands?

Well we could say no excuses to absolutely any situation couldn't we.

Overweight
Underweight
Can't speak a second language
Can't cook
Can't drive
Can't swim
Don't read a lot of books
Don't have a lot of knowledge on politics
Don't have a beautiful cultivated garden
Don't have an immaculate home

NO EXCUSES

bumblingbovine49
I'm not following your point. I agree with you that anyone who is a healthy weight doesn't need to be any smaller, but I don't see how you can say people who are within the healthy range have some sort of eating disorder because they choose to be a healthy weight.

As a slimmer person it really winds me up that there's the assumption that slimmer people have eating disorders.

The healthy weight range for my height is 3 stone. Pre-DC I was always comfortably at the bottom end, eating good portion sizes and leading an active life. Some would say that's 'naturally slim', but that fails to account for the fact if I ate junk food lots and was sedentary. Post pregnancy I was at the top of healthy, and now I'm somewhere in the middle. I still eat well and lead an active lifestyle but post DC haven't the time to do as many of my sports, but I do walk 5-10km a day with the dogs.

It seems like quite a few people on this thread are working quite hard to challenge the idea that a healthy balanced diet, healthy physical activity and a range of habits (that will differ person to person) allow people to be slim, by saying either slim people have eating disorders or slim people don't have good habits because they stuff their face with cake and have special gift. If people are happy in their size, great, if people aren't happy then they need to either get happy with it or do something about it. Neither of those options need to involve bringing perfectly healthy people down.

We could say no excuses for " I thought Boris would do a grand job" for example?

Nobody has said slim people have an eating disorder.

But picking at a starter and eating a cuppa soup for dinner is disordered.

But what if you don’t want to make excuses and it is what it is.

How many pounds is it please? Is it a size 14?

@pabloshoney

Exactly...being overweight is not a crime...there's no need to plead mitigating circumstances

Avoid carbs. I'm only slim if I don't eat carbs

Nobody has said slim people have an eating disorder
They have:
I think people who have to work really really hard to stay a slightly smaller size than they would be naturally probably does have some sort of eating disorder. I don't mean the difference between medically a normal weight and overweight , I mean the difference between the lower and upper end of normal BMI

Apparently if someone makes an effort to be within the healthy range for their height they apparently have an eating disorder if they would rather be the lower end of the healthy range.

Some people on here really have an issue with people having a healthy diet, reasonable portion sizes and being active to a point where, depending on who replies, slim people are both liars about making healthy choices on one hand because they have a special slim gift, but are also obsessed with exercise and have an eating disorder on the other. 🤷‍♀️ Anything to avoid the fairly boring and obvious answer that slim people will tend to eat healthy food, have portion control and will tend not to be sedentary.

Can you be slim on the outside and unhealthy on the inside I wonder?

Of course, loads of naturally slim people have loads of visceral fat.

I've been following this post for a while and my overwhelming feeling is sadness. Most ladies sound on the verge of an eating disorder - constant weighing and calculating of food, only picking at a starter, I could go on.

I'm not denying that diet and exercise are key to a healthy lifestyle and in turn will mean you are slimmer, but sorry, no. I'm not going to monitor every morsel that I eat or drink. At 5ft 11", I weigh 11st 6lb and a size 12. Could do with losing the 6lb, but this is the weight my body happily sits at now (over 40). I have been a size 8/10 in my 20's and quite frankly I looked ill. Gaunt face and bony - this is not a look I aspire too.

Of course you can be slim and unhealthy, but those people are more likely to fall into the naturally slim camp, which isn't what the OP was asking.

Too much fake sugar and fats aren’t good for you either so diets that revolve around that may make you slim but not healthy. Fasting has been proven to be great for your overall health so that may be worth a look OP

Whilst I do agree that some people's comments make me think they have slightly disordered eating, I don't think it's automatic that anyone who consciously monitors what they eat and exercise has an eating disorder. I think that if your monitoring what you eat and exercise has an adverse impact on your life, it is a problem - e.g. if you turn down a social event because of food, exercise to the point where you're trying to run despite being ill/injured, or get upset if you have to eat a cookie lovingly made by your 8 year old DC (examples only).

In specific response to @Jemenfouscompletement - I'm sorry you feel that way. I think what this thread and a similar thread (on habits of naturally slim people) show is that for many people, maintaining a healthy weight is very hard for some people.

There is a reason why white carbs (rice, bread, corn and pasta) are the most common food worldwide - a cheap way to feed the masses for manual labour.

Fresh veg and fresh protein cost more (time and money) than pasta, bread and white rice. It is also much harder to fit in the physical activity now than it was 100 years ago or even 30 years ago - we work longer hours than anyone in Europe, at sedentary jobs, and many women then have to come home to do the second shift, so for some, getting in 20k steps a day requires significant sacrifice (i.e. giving up time spent with DC or DPs, or getting less sleep, not just sitting in front of the TV less).

So combine cheap white carbs and not enough exercise, and you get increasing insulin resistance for many. Not to mention aggressive marketing and complicated relationships with food (where many people associate food with love, or have been brought up to feel guilt for not clearing their plate "because there are starving children in Africa).

So it really does show ignorance if you say that there is no excuse for being overweight. There are some really complicated "excuses" and we'd do much better at helping everyone address these than dismissing them as lazy or whatever because they haven't been able to address them.

(Having said that, I think we really really do need to help people and encourage them to at least put some effort into getting to a healthy BMI, in the same way that we need to help people quit smoking).

The thing is though that whether you are a size 8 or a size 16, to stay at your current weight (not gaining or losing any) you would need pretty much the same number of calories.

It’s losing weight that means you have to restrict your calories...exercise helps but as they say, you can’t outrun your fork.

So yes, if you’re a size 16, or 12, or even 10 and looking to lose weight, your size 8 friend could be eating more than you if she’s at a stable weight.

WhatWillSantaBring
Exactly.

I do think some people get a bit defensive and lash out because it's easier to have a go at slim people than reflect on their actions and attitudes though.

For example, DH and I both have good appetites, eat healthy food and enjoy exercise. DH is a plate clearer at times so has to pay attention to his portion size, whereas I'm quite good at stopping when full. He's a healthy weight and fit but not slim, yet based on some posters here his behaviour would prove he has an eating disorder as he must be obsessively monitoring his food, obsessed over exercise and so on. The funny thing is that they'd probably never say that about a man in the middle of the healthy range, but if I did what he does they'd be quick to have a jibe because it makes them feel better to present a size 8-10 woman as an obsessive dieter rather than a sensible woman who is more than capable of exercising portion control that is appropriate for her level of physical activity.

There's a lot to be said for the advertising of food as a form of therapy too, the whole 'naughty' food and 'treats' mentality too as eating is regularly sold as a form of self love, but it's easier to deflect onto people who have made conscious choices regarding their food and exercise than it is to consider their personal relationship with food.

Since the discussion mentioned female dress sizes, I assumed it was about females.

The why we don't slag off slim/fat men in the same way we do women may be worthy of thought.

randomer
Yes the thread is about female sizes, but my point was that I highly doubt anyone claiming a healthy, slim woman who adjusts her portions and exercise to suit her has an eating disorder would be claiming the same about my DH, an average man, doing the same thing.

As you say, it's interesting how the same behaviour in a man wouldn't be questioned and yet the keyboard warriors are quick to criticise any slim woman who matches portions and exercise to suit her (we've already had up thread that this only applies to women within the healthy BMI range so it's fine adapt portions and exercise if your BMI is over 25 but otherwise it's an eating disorder).

I don't think weight and size is an even playing field for men and women.

If a man weighed his food, ate a cuppa soup for a meal and ordered a starter in a restaurant, I think there may be raised eyebrows..

I agree it's not an even playing field.
That's my point.

On this thread there's people outlining entirely reasonable behaviours and perfectly healthy attitudes only to be told:

1. Any slim woman who says they watch what they eat is lying. They have a special power and definitely do eat cakes etc.
2. Any slim woman is only slim because she really has an eating disorder / doesn't eat anything / is obsessed with exercise

The reality is that whilst some people will have unhealthy attitudes, most people who are a healthy weight (which is around a 3 stone range to factor in different builds) will have appropriate portion control for their level of physical activity.

We are now talking about " a healthy weight" which is not the same as being an 8/10.