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Original poster

To let you into a secret about being slim.....

788 replies

Yellow1793 · 06/08/2020 23:19

I’m 5’2” and an untoned size 10. Over the last year or so (lockdown excluded) I’ve spent extended amounts of time with 4 different female friends, who are all taller, slimmer and considerably more toned than me. Aside from the fact that they all exercise at least 5 times a week, they also eat like birds. Their lifestyle revolves around making healthy choices, every single day, and I’m beginning to wonder if you do this consistently if you just stop feeling hungry. One of them regularly skips lunch. Another never has more than 2 glasses of alcohol in one sitting. Another always eats about 30% less than I do.....last time I was with her she had a small pasta portion for her lunch whilst serving me 3x the amount of pasta she had AND 2 sausages. No wonder she is tiny. None of them calorie count or talk about diets because their lifestyle choice is one big diet. I’d love to have their discipline.

OP posts:
BeChuille · 09/08/2020 20:27

I'd be enormous if I ate 2000 calories. I can't understand how people can eat that much and be a healthy weight.

I only eat about 1400 per day but I am small. I'm not hungry though.

2000 calories a day sounds like over eating to me, but if you're a healthy weight, that's amazing.

Lelophants · 09/08/2020 20:28

@bechuille enormous or what a healthy woman should look like?

Lelophants · 09/08/2020 20:28

Id be very curious to actually see what many people on here look like.

BeChuille · 09/08/2020 20:36

Obviously I mean overweight.

Unlike others on mumsnet, I completely get that not everybody can eat as much as 2000 and stay healthy. I have a BMI of about 23 and I'm size ten. If I ate as much as 2000 every day, I would be quite overweight before too long.

But I don't disbelieve posters who eat that much and stay slim. They're unusually fortunate, but we are all different.

Desperadododo · 09/08/2020 20:36

@BeChuille

I'd be enormous if I ate 2000 calories. I can't understand how people can eat that much and be a healthy weight.

I only eat about 1400 per day but I am small. I'm not hungry though.

2000 calories a day sounds like over eating to me, but if you're a healthy weight, that's amazing.

Do you mind me asking your age, height, and how tall you are? Frankly you may be right. Every app / calculator I use says I burn around 3-4K calories a day but I’m still overweight at under 2k calories a day - boo. I’m slowly losing, but I wish it was faster!
Lelophants · 09/08/2020 20:40

@Desperadododo but are you genuinely only eating that?

I'm guessing no exercise at all?

I'm very surprised that you would be enormous @bechuill

BeChuille · 09/08/2020 20:41

Earlier today @Lelophants
A picture of my rotund arse, taken by my son outside. As you can see, Im not rail thin. Im not hungry though. But no way could I consume 2000 calories a day.

To let you into a secret about being slim.....
Lelophants · 09/08/2020 20:41

maybe not your ideal, but enormous? Hmm so what size is that?

FreekStar · 09/08/2020 20:42

2000 calories is the recommended daily average for the average woman! I'm fairly tall at 5'7" and fairly active, but not unusually so. From past experience, if i eat under 2000 calories I start to slowly lose weight. I've kept a food diary in the past and found I generally eat between 2000 and 2200 on most days. Obviously someone who is smaller will need less generally. if you want to maintain a low weight then you obviously need to eat less. I weigh around 10 stone.

Lelophants · 09/08/2020 20:43

I now feel the urge to eat an ice cream! Which is about 300 calories. So you would have only 1,100 left for a whole day! Confused

BeChuille · 09/08/2020 20:44

I would be overweight, getting up towards the upper end of that bracket.

Not everybody can eat that much per day I assure you.

That is not a criticism of any body. I just know that personally, if I ate that much, it wouldn't be healthy for me.

sirfredfredgeorge · 09/08/2020 20:48

I'd be enormous if I ate 2000 calories. I can't understand how people can eat that much and be a healthy weight.

Remember the recommended daily calories is for active people, who also do the recommended amount of exercise. If you have a sedentary lifestyle (desk job, passive commute etc.) then it will be less, and if you do no exercise it will be less again.

You can't just pick and choose one part of government "recommended" and ignore all the others.

Tunnocks34 · 09/08/2020 20:49

I’ve no idea how many calories I eat to be honest and I don’t count them. I just eat until I’m full, and then stop eating. Try to make healthy choices most of the time But at the end of the day sometimes I want shit food and I have it and enjoy it. So yesterday I ate:

Breakfast: muesli with peppermint tea
Snack: cashew nuts (handful) OJ and my iron tablet
Lunch: grilled turkey bacon and low fat cream cheese bagel with a largish salad (vinegar and oil dressing) followed by an apply and a tablespoon on peanut butter, pint of mint water
Dinner: 8oz steak, jacket potato, loads of vegetables
Supper: natural yoghurt with nectarine and banana chips.

Today I’ve had

Breakfast: cereal bar and an earl grey tea Plus iron tablet
Snack: ice cream from the ice cream van
Lunch: lasagna, garlic bread, salad, few chips and onion rings (went out) plus two glasses of wine
Supper: chip sandwich from the chippy and another cup of tea (only managed half the sandwich though)

Tomorrow I’ll eat better!

TatianaBis · 09/08/2020 20:49

I have no idea how many calories I eat a day. Never counted calories in my life.

I know I don’t eat a huge amount compared to others and I have a taste for healthy food. But I had 2 big bowlfuls of chocolate ice cream today and very nice it was too.

FreekStar · 09/08/2020 20:53

my meals would generally consist of

Breakfast- 2 slices of toast with peanut butter and a banana, or porridge with berries, or fruit salad with greek yoghurt and honey.

Lunch- soup and a slice of bread and a yoghurt and fruit, or a sandwich with ham or chicken and fruit, or a salad with humous and a yoghurt etc.

Dinner would be some kind of pasta dish and salad, or chicken and veg stir fry with rice or noodles, or fish with potatoes and veg, or a curry with lots of veg paneer and rice, etc- we eat a very varied menu- couple of veggie meals each week.

In between I might have a biscuit on my morning break and maybe a small packet of crisps, a cracker with cheese, or a handful of nuts late afternoon as we often eat dinner late due to commitments with dd's sport in the evenings.

Desperadododo · 09/08/2020 20:58

[quote Lelophants]@Desperadododo but are you genuinely only eating that?

I'm guessing no exercise at all?

I'm very surprised that you would be enormous @bechuill[/quote]
I exercise 6 days a week!

EndofmyWeightTether · 09/08/2020 21:16

@FreekStar what about sweet treats, sugar, chocolate, cake, puddings..?

FreekStar · 09/08/2020 21:30

Oh yes, I definitely have cake and chocolate! I always have a biscuit barrel full of chocolate digestives or similar and might have couple 3-4 times a week with a cuppa. I don't regularly buy chocolate bars, but might have one very couple of weeks from the petrol station,or I'll add a family bar to the Ocado shop if I feel like it or if someone brought cake or chocolate into work i wouldn't generally refuse. We always have chocolate in the house at Christas, Easter, birthdays etc and I or dd will bake every few weeks- things like scones, victoria sponge cookies, flapjacks etc. DD is pancake mad so that's a regular sunday breakfast for us with maple syrup.

FreekStar · 09/08/2020 21:32

And I drink- maybe a bottle of wine over th weekend and a couple of g&ts

FreekStar · 09/08/2020 21:34

I wouldn't say I do anything to excess and I'm not skinny- a size 12, but I feel healthy and my weight is stable- I've been exactly the same weight give or take about 3-4ilbs for the last 15 years.

BaconAndAvocado · 09/08/2020 21:39

Regarding the idea that to be and stay slim, people need to eat less and exercise more is just obvious.

However, people don't like to hear this. This is one of the reasons the diet industry never goes out of business.

PhoneLock · 09/08/2020 21:47

Id be very curious to actually see what many people on here look like.

www.mumsnet.com/uploads/talk/202008/large-818988-firewood-stack.jpg

BeChuille · 09/08/2020 22:01

@BaconAndAvocado

Regarding the idea that to be and stay slim, people need to eat less and exercise more is just obvious.

However, people don't like to hear this. This is one of the reasons the diet industry never goes out of business.

That is incorrect. Eat less and exercise more only works temporarily to the delight of The Diet Industry. 97% of people will re-gain any weight lost. Are they all weak-willed? So your ''obvious truth'' is the reason the diet industry can relax.
BaconAndAvocado · 09/08/2020 22:10

Bechuille
You have misunderstood me.
Consistently eating less and exercising more as part of your daily lifestyle, not as a temporary measure, equals staying slim.

PhoneLock · 09/08/2020 22:21

97% of people will re-gain any weight lost

Only because they stop eating less and exercising more.