To think you can't be 'greedy' if you're not overweight

[LaurieFairyCake]

Seems simple to me

If you're not overweight then no matter what you consume you can't be 'greedy'

As you are a healthy weight and BMI and you're just eating to maintain that

Course you can be. I’m a size 6/8 I’m a greedy shit at times! Maybe not all the time but I can fair wolf down a tub of Ben and Jerrys or too much cake or pizza!

I’m extremely restless so I think that’s why I get away with it but I’m sure it’ll catch up with me. But you can be slim and greedy, I know a few people who are the same and all of us have been called out for being wee pigs at times!

@Potatoespuds

Course you can be. I’m a size 6/8 I’m a greedy shit at times! Maybe not all the time but I can fair wolf down a tub of Ben and Jerrys or too much cake or pizza!

I’m extremely restless so I think that’s why I get away with it but I’m sure it’ll catch up with me. But you can be slim and greedy, I know a few people who are the same and all of us have been called out for being wee pigs at times!

Yes, but you're not eating too much are you? Otherwise, you wouldn't be as thin.

@Bluesername

Two people of the same height and age can eat the same things. One may put on weight, the other stay the same, due to any number of reasons. The one who weighs more is unlucky rather than greedy, and the one who stays the same is lucky, not more virtuous than the other.

They'd have to be in lab conditions for us to see what's really going on though. There are people who say they hardly eat anything and are overweight and others who say they stuff themselves and are underweight, but we can't verify these claims.

I think it's the difference between greed and gluttony. You cannot be a normal weight and a glutton. But you can be a normal weight and greedy, because greedy refers to a behaviour rather than overindulgence - taking all the nicest food for yourself, eating other peoples sweets etc.

Why is fat always used as an insult, especially alongside greedy?

I said fat as they were actually all very obese. Not an insult, a fact.

I suppose you can be 'greedy' at the same time as very active and not put on weight due to lifestyle. My sis in law is very trim, she eats the same as DB who is 6ft tall. She loves puddings and can eat 3 in a row. It's a family joke about her being a bottomless pit.

But she's a farmer so very physically active and never sits still so she's not fat.

Yes, but you're not eating too much are you? Otherwise, you wouldn't be as thin.

Eating a whole tub of ice cream is a greedy thing to do, but if you only do it occasionally there is no reason you couldn't be slim. And the 'But if you need that many calories, it's not greedy' argument doesn't work either, because surely nobody can claim that eating a whole tub of ice cream is a good way of getting the calories you need!

If you add just one single biscuit to your intake each day (say 70 calories), then after 50 days you'd be 1 lb heavier than you'd otherwise have been After 3 years of your weight creeping upwards you'd be 21 lb heavier. Is it really 'greedy' to eat such a small amount more than the person who stays the same weight?

@Bluesername

If you add just one single biscuit to your intake each day (say 70 calories), then after 50 days you'd be 1 lb heavier than you'd otherwise have been After 3 years of your weight creeping upwards you'd be 21 lb heavier. Is it really 'greedy' to eat such a small amount more than the person who stays the same weight?

That's not true, about the calories.

Bluesername, but then it’s surely just as easy to lose those pounds. Just eat one biscuit less a day and you’ll lose that stone easily

"Eating a whole tub of ice cream is a greedy thing to do, but if you only do it occasionally there is no reason you couldn't be slim"

You could do it everyday and still be slim, depending on what else you eat.

"'But if you need that many calories, it's not greedy' argument doesn't work either, because surely nobody can claim that eating a whole tub of ice cream is a good way of getting the calories you need!"

Well, not it's not healthy eating, but greedy doesn't mean unhealthy eating, it means eating (or something else) too much and if someone is still slim, it's obviously not too much.

"But she's a farmer so very physically active and never sits still so she's not fat."

So she eats what she needs rather than being greedy then.

Bluesername, but then it’s surely just as easy to lose those pounds. Just eat one biscuit less a day

If only 'just' doing what we know is right was 'easy'...

That's not true, about the calories.

Why?

OP you clearly dont have a 27 inch waisted 5,7" 8 stone 17 year son in your life!

He is is like a rake. Yet can eat a entire 3lb lasagna home made for a family of six in one evening.

Dispite being built like a anorexic adult, he eats about 5000 calories a day and I refuse to believe it's because he is hungry.

He is blessed with amazing metabolism, for now

Someone's never met a bulimic with a binging problem. Many are a healthy weight.

@CorianderBee

Someone's never met a bulimic with a binging problem. Many are a healthy weight.

And I'm speaking from a place of experience with this. It is very much greed including eating other peoples food at times.

My friend eats like a horse. Toby cavery, she goes up for seconds and thirds. I eat a small side plate full yet I’m the one hugely overweight and she’s skinny.one day I was eating a bunch of grapes and she thought I was eating bag of chocs,she was disappointed! She doesn’t stop eating. I pick at food. It’s not fair.

@Ladybird69

My friend eats like a horse. Toby cavery, she goes up for seconds and thirds. I eat a small side plate full yet I’m the one hugely overweight and she’s skinny.one day I was eating a bunch of grapes and she thought I was eating bag of chocs,she was disappointed! She doesn’t stop eating. I pick at food. It’s not fair.

You don't know what she eats all the time unless you're with her all the time. Some people go for seconds when there's a fixed price.

You are so very wrong. Some people can eat and eat and their metabolism keeps them thin but inside their arteries are clogging with fat. Then they grow older, lose their metabolism ( well it slows down) and they suddenly realise they were greedy.

@Bluesername

That's not true, about the calories.

Why?

In Mumsnet land, normal physics doesn't apply.

People either manage to run a human body on practically no energy at all, while others 'never stop eating' but don't gain weight despite taking in excess energy.

There's been numerous TV programmes featuring such phenomena and in practically all cases, the thin people who 'never stop eating' don't actually eat that much and the overweight people who 'only ever eat salad but can't lose weight' always eat an awful lot more than they claim.

Sure you can be greedy without being overweight. What a weird idea.

But then I don't think most people have much sense of what greed is anymore, it's encouraged in a consumer society.

But wanting more than you should have or need, wanting stuff even if it means other people don't get enough, eating things that involve poor farming practices when you could do otherwise, being picky about what you eat and onl accepting certain high status or expensive food, etc. There are all kinds of ways that greed can manifest itself.

"eating things that involve poor farming practices when you could do otherwise, being picky about what you eat and onl accepting certain high status or expensive food, etc. There are all kinds of ways that greed can manifest itself."

You're totally re-defining greed here.

"There's been numerous TV programmes featuring such phenomena and in practically all cases, the thin people who 'never stop eating' don't actually eat that much and the overweight people who 'only ever eat salad but can't lose weight' always eat an awful lot more than they claim."

Yep.
I have a skinny friend who claims to lack brown adipose tissue or something. Spend some proper time with him though and you realise he just barely eats. Smokes a lot though.

My teenager can be greedy even though he is a stick insect. If he eats all the treats without sharing them with the rest of the family. Otoh he can eat 3 packets of noodles for a break time snack and thats not greedy because he is the only one who eats them. So I guess to me, being greedy is about depriving others.