If you are slim, what, in your opinion, keeps you that way?

[pepsicolagirl]

I read the other thread with interest and as an obese person a lot of the comments range true but it made me wonder. Those of you who are in the ideal/normal weight category, what do you attribute that to?

One of the previous posters asked about portion size. I read some where that a portion of rice, for example, is two tablespoons. That was an eye opener. I used to easily consume three times that in the past.

Now I try to keep portions small, but increase variety. So, for example, start with a soup or salad, Then the main with protein, a bit of carb and lots of veg, then maybe a small slice of cheese followed by a little bit of dessert (maybe a couple of small squares of dark chocolate) and then coffee. If I eat a mono meal, just one thing, then I tend to eat more.

For me it's mainly genetics. I don't follow a lot of the suggestions people have made on here, but I've always been within a healthy bmi. I'm a little at the higher end right now as I'm not exercising at all due to time. But I'm a size 10/12 right now, if I was exercising more I'd be a size 8/10 without changing eating habits. During lockdown I walked loads and was back at size 8 but I'm back to using public transport again. I love my carbs though and eat large portions, and I tend to be a bit of an emotional eater so I can overeat pretty unhealthy snacks as a source of comfort. I will eat until I'm beyond full, unlike some on here - very much an emotional thing, I know it's bad for me but I still do it. We eat dinner quite late, around 8pm. We don't eat out or takeaways often, but we do use ready prepped food (jars, prepared meat etc). I have an underactive thyroid (take NHS prescribed thyroxine, which I suspect is not a high enough dose).

Some lifestyle factors that I don't think about but probably helps - I don't drink alcohol as I don't like it, mostly drink water and don't drive. We don't have much kitchen cupboard/fridge space and only get one supermarket delivery a week, so we don't have space for treats.

Eating to hunger

Being vegan

Thinking about what I'm putting in my body

Eating cake when I want it

Being active

All the people saying genetics - this is only true to a certain extent (if you are tall and skinny build) but the rest of us who say genetics actually grew up in houses where people ate small portions and ate good food and no snacks.

I see this as I am very small and slim and so are the DC. (sorry, they are not small but slim). DH is very tall big and also very overweight. So are his family. But, the DC eat like me, as I am a SAHM and work Part time so I cook all meals - they eat them. We have sweets in the house and there are no limits on that but DC only eat a small treat in the afternoon, eat a bowl of porridge for breakfast and fruit, veg and a sandwich or salad for lunch.

DH however, eats very badly, huge portions, and constant snacks (he works outside the home and travels and constantly has food wrappers in the car). HIs mum also eats like this.

So he grew up thinking this was how you ate and I did not grow up like that. His sibling's children are either thin or overweight based on whether the parent who does all the cooking and feeding of the DC was reared in a slim person household or an overweight person household.

I look at all my relatives and the slim / not slim divide over adulthood and into their children is all based on how they eat. Because weight gain is 80% food and 20% exercise, so unless you play for your country or county, you will not be exercising at the rate you would need to burn excess food intake.

Does anyone else find this? I'm 52 and my tastes haven't changed since childhood. So although I'm a slim size 8/10 and very fit (I do competitive running and am fast), I still eat a lot of chocolate, pick and mix type sweets and crisps. I dont like alcohol, tea, coffee or any hot drink and drink only water or water with diluting juice. When I visit other people and they offer me a drink, thars what I have to ask for - I hate the taste of tea, coffee and any kind of alcohol so much I can't drink them at all.

I hate fruit and don't eat it, unless it's with a main meal eg pineapple on pizza, peach with gammon, etc.. I detest fried food and never eat it. Not keen on takeaways and wouldn't eat one out of choice, only if with others who bought one. Fish and chips the same - that greasy smell puts me off.

I eat a strict calorie controlled diet Monday to Friday and remain slim. I dont do it every week though and can eat masses of chocolate each day when I'm not sticking to it, plus cakes and crisis. I really like a rich chocolate brownie. I don't do more than just over an hour of training each day but it's mostly very fast running and then I'll go out on my bike later in the day for a half hour spin. Im very muscular and toned. I recently started het and it was like a magic bullet and within 6 weeks, I'd pinged back to my pre menopausal shape (it was beginning to creep on in subtle ways).

I do like vegetables and beans and pulses but also meat and potatoes. I will eat pasta and rice but not that frequently.

I look very young for my age and my skin is great and very soft. Basically what I'm saying is that I'm ageing very slowly, and this seems to include my choice of what I eat - it just hasn't changed since childhood one little bit.

My mother's side of the family are all much the same. Even when they haven't dieted for a while and have overdone the big meals, sweets, ice cream, etc for a while, the biggest they go is a size 12 and then they will go on a rigidly adhere to diet and exercise regime and be back to a slim looking size 8/10.

Approaching this from a slightly different angle as I've always been slim, but gained quite a lot of weight with DS so am still continuing to try and shift it. I'm nearly there, but still have some way to go.

• Lots of coffee
• 1 serving of carbs per day
• Daily exercise, and more crucially, a variety of activities. Usually done first thing on a morning.
• Being vegetarian
• I measure out my water intake at the beginning of every day. Any healthy regime will fail if you don't drink enough water.

But most importantly. . . running.

Genetics probably, plus I'm tall and was always slim as a child
But nowadays in my 50s it's vigilance. I don't own scales because I have a DD with an ED. But if innit I e my waistbands getting tight I don't kid myself and a just portions and treats accordingly. Cutting out alcohol helps hugely
Plus I like being active and always have.

I'm 5'2" and weigh 8st (age 46). I am genetically screwed, I come from a family of overweight people. My half sister is the same height and build as me but weighs more than 11 stone. My mother was a large woman.

I run quite a lot (30/40 miles a week), I bike, strength train and am always on the go.

I eat about 2000 calories a day (carb heavy), but only because I burn them off. My baseline is 1250 a day and I love food, so exercise enables me to eat lots.

I look athletic, it takes a lot of effort. I am not naturally slim or muscular. I'm short and a bit pudgy if I'm in my natural state.

I went on a six week holiday over the summer and ate more than usual (not excessively) and only ran three short runs a week - I got home 12lbs heavier and had to go on a diet. It was a good reminder of how quickly I gain weight. I felt sluggish and it took me eight weeks to shift 12lbs, dieting is grim.

@Sodamncold since lockdown and limited supermarket trips, I have more of a weekly diet. So things like a punnet of plums, bag of apples, bag of oranges, six pack of crisps will last me for the working (from home) week but are not always evenly distributed. Otherwise I have three eggs before lunch, chicken sausages, cheese and salad for lunch, stir fry with fish, prawns, lots of vegetables for tea. I get through a block of cheese a week, and a litre of almond milk a day (loads of tea). Oh and ice cream - a tub a week, and a couple of baked potatoes in the week too.

I ensure that I eat no more than I burn off. After years, I don't need to count every calorie to know.

I eat slot quantity wise but it is all healthy food. Limited pasta/rice and bread only a couple of time a month.

No alcohol at all, no coffees, no fatty food, no take aways, rarely go out to eat and if I do, I opt for the healthy option. My downfall is sugar sadly.

I do 16k steps a day on average and do hit classes, run and cycle and more.

It's still really hard to remain in my zone. I would need to cut down on food quantity but since the menopause, I crave good every minute I'm awake!

Knowing how hard it was to get slim in the first place after losing 3 and a half stone.

Being vegan

I put weight on when I went veggie and when I went vegan swapping lean meat for cheese and then dairy for lots of substitutes. I’ve changed what I eat for the better now with mostly veggies and pulses but it took a while. Lots of people think vegan/vegetarian diets are automatically healthier which isn’t true.

[quote Lobsterquadrille2]@Sodamncold since lockdown and limited supermarket trips, I have more of a weekly diet. So things like a punnet of plums, bag of apples, bag of oranges, six pack of crisps will last me for the working (from home) week but are not always evenly distributed. Otherwise I have three eggs before lunch, chicken sausages, cheese and salad for lunch, stir fry with fish, prawns, lots of vegetables for tea. I get through a block of cheese a week, and a litre of almond milk a day (loads of tea). Oh and ice cream - a tub a week, and a couple of baked potatoes in the week too.[/quote]
@Lobsterquadrille2

That is a superb diet - you have gone from someone previously an alcoholic and suffered an eating disorder... to this. Good on you!

@unmarkedbythat You've described me. My yo yo is usually the best part of 3 stone and I'm in my 4th skinny phase now. I've sworn I'm not going to have to lose the weight again as it's been tough going this time

@Sodamncold thank you; that's very kind of you. I was going to say what an awesome memory you have, but I mentioned the alcohol in an earlier post 😀. Food I probably regulate internally, but it's natural now. The word that has helped me most through my 13 years in AA is "consequences". So a huge bar of chocolate every few weeks is fine.

Tracking everything I eat. All the time.

A price worth paying? Yep, absolutely!

Another who stops when I'm full. I hate feeling 'stuffed'. Not keen on too many carbs - they feel like a big lump of stodge weighing down my middle.

My treats are just that - I occasionally have something very calorific that I really enjoy (eg chocolates, cream tea). I look forward to it, savour it, enjoy the memory of it and probably wouldn't have it again for months. I don't think I'd get the same pleasure from a 'treat' that I had often.

I don't understand the genetic argument. Growing up in the 1960s and 70s we had very little money and our diet was very fat and carb heavy but portion sizes were small, as were plates, and practically no one was overweight. Did genes suddenly change in the 1980s?

I weigh myself each day and cut down on treats if my starts to creep up. I only eat within a 8 hour window - say 12pm-8pm. Eat fairly sensibly during the week and relax about it at weekends. Also exercise- strength training 3 times a week for an hour each time. I wish I could say it’s natural but I’m naturally greedy and have maintained a size 8-10 figure for the last 15 years using these methods after years of being overweight and unhappy about it.

It’s interesting but I don’t think anyone has mentioned diet pills or injections as ways they stay slim. Nor anyone admitting to surgery but it happens. I personally know someone who was morbidly obese and was entitled to a gastric band on the NHS as a result. She lost a huge life changing amount of weight and the effort she had to put in seemed brutal but she is now a completely different person. This is one example where it was critical to her health. But I wonder how prevalent surgery and pills are just as an everyday way people stay slim?

Breastfeeding at the moment but I can’t do that for the rest of my life alas so will have to cut out the chocolate one day

But I wonder how prevalent surgery and pills are just as an everyday way people stay slim?

I'd think surgery is more common to become slim, not to stay slim.
Diet help are probably more common.

@Turboshift - not very prevalent at all I’d think. I do think that there’s a bit of a narrative that being a healthy weight requires hard and constant work and investment which is out of the reach of ‘normal’ people. This is total bullshit, of course, but is a comforting lie which makes people fee better.

@Turboshift

It’s interesting but I don’t think anyone has mentioned diet pills or injections as ways they stay slim. Nor anyone admitting to surgery but it happens. I personally know someone who was morbidly obese and was entitled to a gastric band on the NHS as a result. She lost a huge life changing amount of weight and the effort she had to put in seemed brutal but she is now a completely different person. This is one example where it was critical to her health. But I wonder how prevalent surgery and pills are just as an everyday way people stay slim?

If pills etc worked for staying slim - then they would be sold out constantly!! No such thing exists.

Surgery exists to take someone from morbidly obese to slim but then there’s no magic cure for them staying slim.

So in short - being persistently slim really is not something that can be medically induced via pills or surgery

I’m healthy weight now size 10/12. Been obese for years before losing 5 stone In 8 months with SlimmingWorld last year. Maintained weight loss for 14 months so far. I eat mainly fruit veg and lean protein some carbs but not loads. SlimmingWorld gets a bad rep on here but the emphasis on minimum 1/3 every plate veg and cooking from scratch suits me. I feel better for eating better. Limited chocolate and crisps and biscuits - before I could eat a whole packet.

@Turboshift

It’s interesting but I don’t think anyone has mentioned diet pills or injections as ways they stay slim. Nor anyone admitting to surgery but it happens. I personally know someone who was morbidly obese and was entitled to a gastric band on the NHS as a result. She lost a huge life changing amount of weight and the effort she had to put in seemed brutal but she is now a completely different person. This is one example where it was critical to her health. But I wonder how prevalent surgery and pills are just as an everyday way people stay slim?

There's quite a large body of research literature to suggest that surgery genuinely changes people's ability to read hunger/satiety signals properly.

The process is controlled by two hormones, ghrelin and leptin. In those of us who are naturally skinny, between meals ghrelin builds up so we start to feel hungry. When we eat, leptin is released and we feel full (and therefore stop eating). In a lot of obese people, the underlying reason for their obesity is simply that they don't have this natural "off switch" on their appetite - the low-blood-sugar - ghrelin -hunger - eat - high blood sugar - release leptin - realise you're full mechanism is broken. People in this state exist in a more-or-less constant state of hunger.

Gastric band surgery can stop some of the adipose cells which normally release ghrelin from doing so.

academic.oup.com/jcem/article/88/7/2999/2845142

This was a really unexpected scientific discovery, btw. Surgeons thought it would work by simply reducing the stomach's capacity for food, and causing physical feelings of pressure and discomfort if people tried to eat too much. But they found post-op patients reporting changes in the way their appetite worked.