Is it possible to be a foodie and also be slim/ lose weight

[SeeooelllaaaCola]

Following from my post on another thread. I have only managed to lose weight for the first time by 'breaking up' with food. In the past I could take or leave chocolate and most cake, I ate probably ten bags of crisps per year, I never enjoyed fast food. My typical Sunday would be sourdough bread toasted, eggs and hot sauce, lunch would be an avocado wrap, snacks would be olives, dinner would be a roast dinner.
I now try to see food as fuel and choose foods that will fill me up but not use up much of my tiny calorie allowance. Taste rarely comes into it. I don't go until local businesses and browse the shelves for inspiration. I don't read recipe books. I don't (even when I could) travel to food markets and street food stalls. I feel like I've had to give up a side of myself, and a hobby, but I now fit into size 12 jeans. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it.

Anyone managed to combine a love of food with losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight? Please tell me how!

I'm 5'9 and 9.5st. I don't calorie count or restrict in any way, due to having a bad relationship with food as a teenager. I eat what I want, with no moderation tbh. My family are overweight and waiting for slimming World to start again, so I'm not sure how much is down to genetics. I do eat quite slowly however!
The only time I have trouble with my weight, is when I spend too much time watching cooking shows or on foodie social media. Australian Masterchef saw me put on a stone in a single season!

You’re making a lot of assumptions about the size of the meals.

I wouldn’t call a couple of spicy eggs and some toast a particularly large or calorific breakfast.

An avocado wrap doesn’t have to be really calorific either.

Roast is a Sunday special.

I don’t know how that could be three days of food for anyone without an eating disorder.

Name changed for this as a bit outing! I love food, I’m tall (5’8”) and currently about a size 10-12. I’ve lost about 3 dress sizes in the past year with zero calorie counting & still eating 3 flavourful satiating meals a day of decent portion size BUT I try to eat high fat, moderate protein, moderate carb. I cut out all gluten, dairy (except butter), & alcohol and drastically reduced anything with sugar including fizzy drinks, processed juice etc. Don’t snack much anymore either & try to make it something that includes protein if I do snack.

So yes OP I’m slim and people complement me a lot on how well I look but I do make sacrifices for that. Now I’ve adjusted, I don’t really miss those things anymore, but that took time! It was a huge lifestyle change for me.

It’s far more important btw to track your macronutrient intake than it is to track overall calories - women actually need adequate healthy fat & protein for our hormones to work properly and if you don’t have enough of either of those your blood sugar will be all over the place and you will snack, overeat etc.

What on earth make you think that post is outing @Whoopdedoolove?

I agree that people must process things like food and appetite differently. I'm trying to lose weight (lockdown stress eating out of control) and am realising that me and DH are completely different in this regard which makes things difficult.

He is thin as a rake, eats more crap food than me and yet doesn't really take any pleasure in food. None of his family do, I've said it before but they even plate up Christmas Dinner. They don't have a huge tin of Christmas chocolates but will pass a box aound and eat one each (I bring my own stash ).

Unlike DH I don't seem to naturally self-regulate. I have to weigh, measure and count calories or I overeat. Luckily my downfall is junk and snacking, my meals don't tend to be that bad.

@PurpleDaisies there’s quite a lot of specific detail in it and since it was such a massive change for me I talked about it a lot at the time 🤣

I lost 2 stone by intermittent fasting and eating the two meals I do have on smaller plates. Am aware more of snacking and try not to. Haven’t changed my diet and love food just eat less of it and in a shorter time frame. Also do cardio most days. Been over a year now and kept the weight off.

It depends how you cook things. I'm a slightly squishy 10st, so certainly no disorders round here. If you cooked spicy eggs so they were really bland, yes you could make a low calorie meal of it. A single thin piece a supermarket bread, marg and plain eggs, with a sprinkle of chilli flakes it might be 400 cals, but it wouldn't be worth eating.

But if you cook as a 'foodie' it rapidly gets very high calories. A piece of sourdough bread isn't worth eating if it's not at least an inch thick. That already makes it quite a substantial meal, especially if you have two slices. Then drizzle it with high quality olive oil. Top with two eggs (fried?) and some sauce, possibly containing sugar or bacon bits. Serve with salad, maybe with more oil or a dressing, possibly nuts, seeds, cheese, avocado. That's a meal that will keep you full and could well be 800-1200 cals, so definitely enough for your main meal. Assuming the OP is actually cooking exciting meals like that, it's very easy to see how she'd go over.

Do the same exercise with the wrap. Half avocado + 1 tortilla is an incredibly boring meal, but isn't super high in calories. But 4 wraps, a whole avocado, some mayo and something to make it interesting again turns it into a substantial meal.

I'd much rather eat one really good meal a day that oozes with flavour than nibble on non-food all day. But if you try to eat 3 meals like that a day, or even 3 half meals a day, you're going to get fat.

Of course keeping slim is often hard, if it wasn't then noone would be overweight. Running the 100m in less than 12 seconds is hard and I can't do it - but some people can.

I fast most of the time and then binge on all the good stuff every few weeks, it's the only way I can be. I love food so much but can't manage it healthily on a daily basis. I do know people who can enjoy fast food and delicious stuff without gaining but they exercise and I hate exercise!

It sounds like you need to start cooking more @stodgystollen. There are loads of ways of cooking low calorie/carb/fat whatever you’re trying to avoid without it being bland.

Your egg example. For 400 calories...
Two eggs poached is about 150 calories. Slice of sourdough doesn’t have to be more than another 150 calories. Then you’ve got 100 calories left for whatever you want to put on top. My favourite sriracha hot sauce is 99cals per 100ml. That lot packs heck of a punch.

For the avocado wrap, who on earth eats four wraps? That’s a substantial meal but nobody would really eat that much. My avocado wrap usually has a stack of salad, roast peppers or tomatoes, plus whatever herbs I’ve got in and some sliced chillis. Again, no lack of flavour and nowhere near 800 calories.

If you are on a diet, obviously you have to make some compromises on how much you’re eating but it doesn’t have to be on flavour.

@SeeooelllaaaCola

Following from my post on another thread. I have only managed to lose weight for the first time by 'breaking up' with food. In the past I could take or leave chocolate and most cake, I ate probably ten bags of crisps per year, I never enjoyed fast food. My typical Sunday would be sourdough bread toasted, eggs and hot sauce, lunch would be an avocado wrap, snacks would be olives, dinner would be a roast dinner. I now try to see food as fuel and choose foods that will fill me up but not use up much of my tiny calorie allowance. Taste rarely comes into it. I don't go until local businesses and browse the shelves for inspiration. I don't read recipe books. I don't (even when I could) travel to food markets and street food stalls. I feel like I've had to give up a side of myself, and a hobby, but I now fit into size 12 jeans. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it.

Anyone managed to combine a love of food with losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight? Please tell me how!

Hi OP! I had to give up "a part of myself" temporarily, whilst I dieted heavily to lose some weight gained after my wedding. Once that was done, I shifted to a more "everything in moderation" view and started exercising regularly (4 / 5 times a week). It's high intensity exercise (spinning, running) to help keep me in shape and 3 years on l, I am managing to maintain a healthy size 12 and love for all food! And I slowly learned to appreciate and love exercise and understand that diet alone would never keep my body in shape! Hope this helps somewhat :) x

@PurpleDaisies it's cultural differences. Everywhere I've lived, that would count as quite a boring 'dieters' meal, and certainly wouldn't tick the foodie box for me. I'd rather have an apple and then a proper meal later.

I grew up that you have a single meal with more different textures and always a sauce, and probably a starter and dessert. You balance that by restrained eating the rest of the day. I guess similar to a 16:8 diet. The British way seems to be constant nibbling and micromeals if you're trying to lose weight. Both should work to lose weight, but 1 meal is certainly less stressful because you don't need to count every ingredient and gives you much more freedom of ingredients. If you get the micromeals even slightly over regularly, it's going to screw up your diet.

But it all depends on your food preferences and ability to control the ingredients and change your habits/timings. If the OP doesn't want to sacrifice the excitement and flexibility of wandering round a deli, maybe different approach that's not micromeals would work better for her. If she needs to eat every two hours, it's probably going to have to be rice cakes and bananas from here on.

Seems like there is a misnomer here that being a foodie and into food means being into unhealthy food. I think it's quite the opposite. I love fruits and vegetables, grains, nuts, flavour.

@Perfect28

Seems like there is a misnomer here that being a foodie and into food means being into unhealthy food. I think it's quite the opposite. I love fruits and vegetables, grains, nuts, flavour.

Yes, so many seem to think healthy food is bland. They’re cooking it wrong.

@stodgystollen But if you cook as a 'foodie' it rapidly gets very high calories. A piece of sourdough bread isn't worth eating if it's not at least an inch thick. That already makes it quite a substantial meal, especially if you have two slices. Then drizzle it with high quality olive oil. Top with two eggs (fried?) and some sauce, possibly containing sugar or bacon bits. Serve with salad, maybe with more oil or a dressing, possibly nuts, seeds, cheese, avocado. That's a meal that will keep you full and could well be 800-1200 cals, so definitely enough for your main meal. Assuming the OP is actually cooking exciting meals like that, it's very easy to see how she'd go over.

The thing is though who is cooking a 1200 cal egg breakfast every day?
It is easy to have nice food that isn't on the high calorie scale of that, and if someone can't make nice food without it being unhealthy overload then they maybe aren't the foodie they think they are.
Plus if your late weekend cooked breakfast is 1200 calories you really shouldn't be hungry for another meal 3 hours later. It is all about balance, it doesn't mean you can't eat meals like the eggs you described but it really is unnecessary and unhealthy to have such an extravagant plate for every meal.

I'm sorry but that just sounds batshit.

I've lived in more than half a dozen countries (including countries like France which has a strong foodie culture), never have I heard of anywhere where the "cultural norm" is to consider anything not covered in mayo or not having four helpings of your main course to be "boring diet food" and "not a proper meal."

That's a really unhealthy attitude towards food, and outside of maybe very deprived parts of the United States (the kind of areas where people eat McDonalds twice a day due to lack of access to fresh food) considering anything other than massive portions of junk to be boring diet food is not a cultural attitude, it's a personal attitude.

In most places on the planet, a delicious highly flavoured meal of chilli eggs on sourdough is considered a very tasty and normal meal. I don't know anyone or any culture that would consider delicious homemade bread to be "not worth eating" unless it's an inch-thick and slathered in mayo, bacon and sugar. That's not being a "foodie" that's dangerous binge eating territory.

I think it takes more skill to cook decent tasting food that is also healthy, you need to understand flavours and textures. Loads of people in the UK simple don't have those skills and if you don't know what you're missing you aren't inclined to learn

I’ve come back to this thread a few times over the weekend. We’ve gone through the usual MN thread chain of:

1. Logical, informed answers.
2. Individuals with unusual solutions.
3. Personal attacks on those individuals.
4. Squabbling over terminology.
5. OP objecting because the discussion has gone off course.
6. People who’ve never had the problem and can’t understand why anyone might.

Maybe I’ve been on Mumsnet too long....

Anyway, FWIW here’s my experience as a foodie. I’m pre-diabetic and have had to change my eating patterns to low carb, or it’s Metformin for me. I’ve successfully avoided that for the last three years and have recently taken on 16:8 (more like 17:7) by skipping breakfast and having early dinners, so my eating window is 1-8pm with the family.

I’m still a foodie, but one with a lot of experience and good sensory recall.
I know, for example, what good bread looks, smells, sounds and tastes like. Actually ingesting it is the last step and I often just have a pinch off the crust. I’ve eaten enough pasta in my life that cooking it for the others and eating courgetti myself with the same sauce is fine. Same with potatoes.
I enjoy the cooking process but by the time I’ve shopped, prepped, cooked and assembled everything, I’m basically done and can choose the bits of the meal that won’t do me any harm. In fact the cooking of it is just as much fun as the eating!
My cakes and desserts are high standard BECAUSE I’m not in a rush to gobble them up. They’re more like a sacrificial offering to the altar of fine food. And a gesture of love and care to my family or guests*.

So, it took a medical condition to make me change my overeating habits but I certainly still consider myself a foodie.

And yes, you can survive very easily for 17 hours without food. It took me about two weeks to get used to it. Breakfast food just doesn’t feature any more, leaving more mental energy for your day. Black coffee still does, though!
And keep in mind that for every hour of fasting over 12 you are consuming your reserves of body fat. You’re immediately undoing any excesses from the day before. No more “I’ll start my diet on Monday”. Start it today while you’re still cross with yourself for overeating.

*Let’s not mention the time I dredged my New Year’s Bundt cake with baking powder instead of icing sugar because they were in similar containers...

Yes, I'm a total foodie and I maintain a steady weight and lose it quite easily.

Quality over quantity for me, I don't have a huge appetite and I'm not afraid to leave food if I'm full but to me the sign of a good restaurant is one where I can finish the petit fours.

Thanks everyone. I have found a lot of posters have reassured me that continuing to fast is probably best for my mindset/ metabolism/ appetite. I last ate at 7pm last night and managed to make it until 18.30 tonight with just black coffee and water. Then I had some spag Bol (leftovers and not a huge portion) and four squares of dark chocolate and I feel satisfied. If I do this at least four days then I can have a bit more to eat on weekends. I also now can't wear my size 16 trousers anymore as they're just too big and fall down, so it must be working.
I know I'll probably have to eat like this forever but I don't mind. It's not like I eat really exciting breakfasts and lunches on work days anyway! Plus working in the NHS at present, there really is no time to eat anyway.

Sorry if I was a bit hangry yesterday.

There seem to be quite a few contradictions in your posts op.
First you say you dont ever really feel hungry, then later you say you feel hungry a lot.
Is that actual hunger or just wanting to eat?
Those things are not the same.
You also say you only eat one meal a day but mention a buscuit and a bun and also crackers.
You would be better off to swap those things for nuts or veg.
I used to be slim no effort.
I didnt eat massive amounts of food but would eat what I wanted including a lot of crap.
I did suffer eating disorder in my teens early 20s, mostly lived on fags and cans of coke/cups of tea some days.
Now I'm older and well I enjoy food so it takes more work to stay slim.
Im the heaviest ive ever been now, mostly due to being on furlough most of the year rather than working on my feet.
I fast 16/18 hours a day now and eat what I want during my window.
I cant calorie count or restrict food groups because its triggering for my illness, I find this way is healthier and means I dont have to obbsess about food, the only thing I need to think about is the time.
It might work for you op?
No need to deny the things you want or feel guilty for eating.
Being honest I think you do need to be hungry sometimes to be slim.
There's nothing wrong or unhealthy about being hungry.

Sorry xposted.
Didn't realise you were fasting.
Its obviously working if you're losing weight, maybe relax the window when you reach your target?
If you're miserable it wont be sustainable.
Ive not noticed much loss yet but I never weigh myself so not sure.

@Blubellsarebells sorry some of the contradictions are me comparing how I feel now I'm fasting to when I wasn't. So prior to this I was never full but never hungry, now I'm starving at times but that's because I'm fasting. I agree that I think feeling hungry is no bad thing.

Depends on the food. I realised that I really struggle to control my intake of sweet foods (chocolate, sugar, biscuits, sweets) so I have cut them out. I do miss them but if I am not eating them I can eat very well and still lose weight. I can use the calories on full fat foods that make me feel full for longer.