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?

I’m 5ft and always been a size 8ish (mid 30’s) I eat terribly at the moment - loads of snacks, sweet stuff, carbs and don’t watch what I eat at all nor do I do any structured exercise (apart from running round after small kids).

I’m not as fit / toned as I’ve been when I’ve done more exercise in the past, but I genuinely think that I stay around this size because I burn off a lot at night. I move around loads in my sleep and even if I go to sleep freezing I always wake up really really hot (my dh calls me a human hot water bottle). I’ve no doubt that middle aged spread will set in and I’ll have to sort out my diet / exercise in the future when I have more time to myself so I’m not complacent at all. Just thought I’d chip in as not everyone who is a size 8 is starving themselves/ calorie counting.

simple carbs 80% of the time

Dont even know what a simple carb is and how do you divide up your week into 80%

Quite a few people Live by the 80:20 rule- you count the meals in a week (3 x 7=21), which means about 4 meals a week can be whatever you want, and the rest are more mindful. Simples!

I follow 80:20 make it simpler than that-5 days eat well, 2 days don’t worry. That’s technically 70% but breakfast is pretty much always healthy so that means more like 80%. It’s not a hard a fast rule.

formerbabe
You may not, but it's evident that some posters do have insecurities about the fact that others make healthy decisions.

The vast majority of people are in a position to choose whether to make healthy choices or not. Health, diet and exercise always seems to bring out people's insecurities.

It reminds me of a family friend who will shrug off their poor diet and sedentary lifestyle by reminding us all that one of their friends did triathlon and was very fit but is recovering from a heart attack so 'all that exercise obsession didn't do him any good'. It's so evidently deflection from the fact the family friend is sedentary and has chosen not to make healthy choices.
Or when I mentioned trying to get back into some of my fitness activities after giving birth another friend of my parents said 'but there's nothing on you, you don't need to lose weight' followed by getting on their high horse about celebrity culture, unrealistic expectations and being pushy with biscuits to the point of rude. Rather than consider that someone who likes their exercise and was borderline overweight after pregnancy might want to get back to their hobbies 6 months postpartum, they decided to rewrite the narrative to suit their insecurities. After all, nobody could possibly be happy enjoying healthy food and exercise. 🤷‍♀️

Run it by me ( see what I did there) as to why 2 "Water Days" a week is a healthy choice....or a cuppa soup is dinner or weighing self and every morsal daily is healthy?

Fasting is a way of reducing calorie intake - at Ramadam fasting is done daily, even for water, once you are used to it there is nothing easier. I run fasted each morning no problem, I don't eat until lunchtime, there is no proble. Why not try it before criticizing it?
As for weighing each day, that takes seconds and is more of a wake up call to be careful not to over eat if you've eaten loads the night before. It is effective, scientific studies have proved.
Soup is very healthy as an evening meal. I live in France and traditionally the main meal was at lunchtime, soup was always the evening meal. It isn't so much the case now and obesity is increasing.
For those who want to stay slim and not end up costing the NHS thousands there are a lot of different ways of not overeating.
I haven't mentioned the F word this time, it clearly touches a nerve with a lot of people.

randomer
It's abundantly clear you have a warped view of people who are slimmer so are jumping on the minority of posters who are at the more unusual end of dieting. You've even told people who've watched what they ate in pregnancy (which is reasonable given that nobody should be eating for two in pregnancy) they were sad.

Personally, I wouldn't do any sort of fasting. It works for some people. One of my former colleagues swore that he couldn't outtrain a bad diet. He was an average build guy who liked working out. One of my friend's partners trains regularly had has found using different nutrition plans has helped him reach his goals. Who care if it works for them and they're healthy?

Weighing out food and monitoring portions perfectly reasonable if someone knows that helps them control portions. I've never been a weigher but DH did when we met. It was quite funny when we realized that my estimate was the almost the same weight that he would weigh out.

What comes through your posts is someone with a lot of food hangups and issues regarding other people being slim and making the right choices for them.

Maybe you'd feel better if everyone tucked into a tub of ice cream after a bad day. That way nobody would be doing pesky things like exercise and we could all wallow in how we're hardwired to eat crap.

I haven't mentioned the F word this time, it clearly touches a nerve with a lot of people
Just the very mention of portion control and exercise seems to be enough to touch a nerve. 🤷‍♀️

Just out of interest, what does disordered eating look like to you if fasting is totally healthy?

LolaSmiles
Great post, there are posters here with real issues and they aren't those who choose to look after themselves regarding their weight and size.

You can say the word fat @Jemenfouscompletement

It was this particular gem I took exception to

So much jealousy on this thread from presumably fatties

I'm sure you can see the difference between the use of the word fat and fatties

Just out of interest, what does disordered eating look like to you if fasting is totally healthy?
For me it's when it becomes a preoccupation above other things, when there's feelings of guilt or shame or anxiety surrounding food, or when it's affecting their quality of life.

If someone is training for an event and designs a training plan, follows it, does the event and moves on them as far as I'm concerned it's each to their own.

I'm by far more concerned about the dominance of 'eat your feelings / treat yourself / have a naughty indulgence because I deserve it' mentality than someone choosing a nutrition plan that suits their goals.

I'm far more concerned that people consider it depressing / sad / unhealthy to be mindful of portion sizes and to exercise regularly than the fact that some people check their portion sizes acknowledge to consciously avoid overeating.

I'm by far more concerned about the dominance of 'eat your feelings / treat yourself / have a naughty indulgence because I deserve it' mentality than someone choosing a nutrition plan that suits their goals

There's a middle ground between eating your feelings and eating to purely achieve a physical goal. Or do you not see food as something which you can enjoy for its own sake?

I find it odd that eating well to feel well and exercising is frowned upon.

Especially in a pandemic where fitness is more important than ever.

I'm a size 8-10 at 5'9 and nowhere near underweight.

I find it odd that eating well to feel well and exercising is frowned upon

It's not frowned upon...but

I wouldn't call fasting two days a week, having a slimming soup for dinner and not eating when really hungry, eating well.

I'm a size 8/10 and weigh 8 and a half stone. I was very slim in my teens but that was down to an eating disorder and being obsessed about it. The heaviest I've been is 10st. I've managed to maintain my current weight for around 2/3 years by being very strict with what I eat, I usually have 2 alpen light bars and then a healthyish evening meal usually veg with quorn/jacket potato or a slimming world meal. Less strict at weekends. I don't do exercise though.

I wouldn't call fasting two days a week, having a slimming soup for dinner and not eating when really hungry, eating well.

And the majority of posters agree with you. Why are you continuing to quote the most extreme examples when most people don’t eat like that?

I weighed our pasta to go with my bolognaise tonight. Do you think I’ve got an eating problem?

I weigh my pasta too so no idea what you're getting at.

I never said anything about that or even just healthy eating and exercise. I objected to @Jemenfouscompletement really unpleasant comments and expressed concern over some people's very extreme routines.

I was obese until about six months ago and now keep to my ideal weight by exercising and never going above my TDEE which is 1460. I used to base my calories on the old saying that a woman needs approx 2000 a day, which is why I was so fat. If I go over my TDEE, even with exercise, I will put on weight.

Or do you not see food as something which you can enjoy for its own sake?
Most people I know who are conscious with their diet enjoy food.

They just aren't consumed by feelings of guilt and shame surrounding food, and they also tend to enjoy healthy food (which seems to be incomprehensible to some people).

For example, I love my food, have a healthy diet and I enjoy cooking. If I want to have fish and chips for dinner then I'll have it because it's nice. I don't want to have it very often because I don't enjoy having fried food often. What I don't do is justify having fish and chips because it's Friday / I'm going for a run tomorrow / I only had a small lunch / it's been a hard day / i thought someone looked at me funny and fish and chips will cheer me up. There's no justification required.
This attitude is the norm with my friends and the people in my fitness clubs.

If anything I find it's people with their own food hangups who struggle to get their head around how someone can enjoy food separate to emotions.
For example, on work meals I'm more than happy to have a starter and a main. Without fail every meal my colleagues will insist on trying to persuade me to have pudding. I never want one, but every time we go through the irritating dance of 'we deserve one / it's a treat / we don't come out often / insert another excuse for a pudding here'. Really they want other people to eat pudding to help them make peace with the fact that they want pudding but for whatever reason couldn't possibly have something nice. It would be so much healthier if they just had pudding because they want to and spared us all the justifications, pointless nagging and the inevitable claims of 'ooh Lola you're so good'. 🙄 One of these days I'm going to end up saying 'I'm not being 'good'. I had starter and main, you want main and pudding, get over your hangups and eat the bloody cake'.

No one cares about people eating healthily.

The thing is there's plenty of people who are thin, not because they eat healthily, but because they survive off coffee and cigarettes. So whilst they're bmi might be in the healthy range, are you really saying they're healthier than a person who eats three meals a day but whose bmi is slightly over the normal range?

*their

Loving this thread thank you op and everyone who answered

The thing is there's plenty of people who are thin, not because they eat healthily, but because they survive off coffee and cigarettes. So whilst they're bmi might be in the healthy range, are you really saying they're healthier than a person who eats three meals a day but whose bmi is slightly over the normal range?
There may be some people like that (not sure it is 'plenty') but everyone on this thread have said they stay slim by a combination of eating less, eating mostly healthy food and doing exercise. You don't necessarily need to eat 3 meals a day, especially when you get older and metabolic rate slows down.