To ask if you have a normal relationship with food?

[Miajk]

And if so, what is your weight like, have you ever dieted? How often do you think about food, do you only eat when hungry and stop when full?

By normal I mean: no counting/tracking, no excluding food groups (unless for allergy or other health reasons), etc.

Normal as far as I know… and aside from a brief period when I was on mirtazapine and put on weight, and a few periods where I was exceptionally stressed and lost weight, I’ve been roughly the same size my whole adult life, always hovering somewhere between 9-10 stone and size 8 or 10 clothes.

I do however have quite nasty IBS and when I have flare ups or eat the wrong thing I blow up like a puffer fish… it’s really quite impressive. I can go from a nice neat size 8 to being offered a seat on the tube because I look heavily pregnant in no time at all!

As someone who's weight fluctuated my whole life this fascinates me!

Do you just not think about food as much? Or just don't enjoy being too full?

I have never dieted but I have adhd and often struggle with making decisions about food resulting in missing meals sometimes. Or sometimes not eating much because I get bored or distracted.

I do only eat when hungry and stop when full, I hate that feeling when you’ve eaten too much and try to avoid it.

We mostly cook from scratch, will go through phases of a weekly take-away but never more often and not all the time.

I eat small breakfast, cereal/toast/pancake, fairly small lunch, sandwich or school canteen food and standard dinner. Rarely snack. Did put on weight breastfeeding because I was eating a lot of chocolate and cake. I’m 5’3” and about 8st. Was below 7.5st before I had kids.

I don't unfortunately. It's definitely better than it was, but I struggle sometimes.

I've never been overweight, always BMI 21-22 and do eat well, but it's complicated. Most people would have no idea. I don't even think my husband knows the extent of it.

I'd love to hear from people who maybe were a bit obsessional about food but have managed to acquire a healthy attitude later in life.

What a great question!

Personally I have the most fucked up relationship with food and have done for about 30 years ( I'm late 50s now). Used to not think about what I ate - been a 12- 14 since a teenager. Not overweight and do exercise but I can binge eat for England if I'm upset - or if it's there! Honestly - I had my evening meal about an hour and a half ago but if we had chocolate in I would hoover it up. Sometimes on my lunch break I go to the shop and buy biscuits/ chocolate and eat the lot before I get back to the office (5min drive,). I am a glutton but I remember my mom eating crispbread (remember them?) And then demolishing a shit ton of gateaux or something. Nothing really changes. I can't explain it and I don't like it but it's fucked up and I cannot control it. So no - I most definitely do NOT have a normal relationship with food.

I think I do. I really enjoy food and the ritual of it - cooking, the social side etc and I also enjoy ‘healthy’ foods as much as treats. By that I mean that I eat salad and veg by choice every day because I genuinely enjoy it, not because I know I should. I very rarely weigh myself but I’ve been roughly the same size of clothes from 20 until now (40s) apart from a year after each pregnancy. I feel very lucky as I know lots of my friends experience a lot of guilt and shame around food and are often limiting what they eat.

No. Terrible. It’s all consuming to me and I’m very overweight now. I hate food but I’m obsessed with it. Finally getting some help soon with eating disorder service.

I’m in my 60’s, 5ft 6in weighted about 8 stones at age 20 and about 9 stones now. I think that’s right but am not totally sure as only weigh myself about once every two years.
I’ve never been on a diet in my life and yes sometimes I do pig myself like at Christmas. However that is only occasionally and usually I eat fairly simple home cooked meals. So dinner would be a small amount of lean meat/fish with three to five helpings of vegetables and a small portion of potatoes/pasta/rice.

I try and avoid processed foods which is anything where I don’t recognise the ingredients or typical fast food.

Honestly OP thank you for asking this question - it's so evocative and I really want to know what other people are saying.

I would say I have a normal relationship with food. At the risk of sounding a bit of a twat I am a bit of a foodie, but not a snobby one. It's more of an interest or hobby.

I watch a lot of cookery shows and enjoy trying out lots of different cuisines. I go to food festivals and buy my bodyweight in cheese

I eat three meals a day and don't snack in between. I love vegetables and salad as well as other foods and eat other less healthy foods in moderation.

On a typical workday I would have a slice of toast for breakfast, a soup, salad or sandwich for lunch and then a stir fry, pasta dish, bangers and mash, curry with rice, chilli, fajitas, fish cake, pizza, lasagne, moussaka, other - served with salad or vegetables.

I am the right weight for my height but would love to lose about 4 or 5 pounds as I now have a bit of a pot belly (post menopausal).

I don't think about food all the time and can't think about making a meal when I am still full from my previous meal.

I eat normally. I can pretty much eat what i want, when I want but I do exercise quite a bit too. However, for at least 4 days out of 7 i only want 3 meals a day and these are all healthy and home cooked. I rarely snack in the week or drink booze.

I know that if i thought "ive eaten too much junk this week", i would 100% cut it out deliberately though. But i tend to self regulate well and not want junk food all that often.

Even if i dont exercise and eat junk, i have only ever got up to 11.5 stone (im 5'7). Im currently 10 st which is 4lbs heavier than id like.

Today i have eaten

A fried egg sandwich
A chicken caesar wrap
A single victoria sponge with lots of cream
Steak and kidney pudding with chips and curry sauce
An irish coffee (double shot of whiskey)

Tomorrow will look different tho!

I had an eating disorder as a teenager. My relationship with food is always in recovery.
However I eat what I want and don't count calories or weigh myself ( last weighed myself about ten years ago. When stressed I lose my appetite and have a tendency to lose rather than gain weight. I dislike large meals / plates of food and am more of a three smaller meals and three or four snacks a day type person.
Because I am aware of my history with food I can become anxious about whether I am normal / have normal eating habits. Then I can talk to the other women I know who are always on a diet, or to one friend who would panic if they put the wrong kind of milk in her latte...
And I try not to worry. Just like other kinds of normal , it may be hard to nail down what is normal re food for people .

I think I do in the sense I don’t think about the weight gain aspect of food before I eat it. I am 5’6 and have hovered around a size 12 since my teens, sometimes 10-12 sometimes 12-14 but never really bothered either way.

I eat what I want, but sometimes if I feel like I have been eating rubbish for a couple of days I will crave healthy fresh food and I think my diet naturally balances out in this way.

I think I have a pretty healthy relationship with food - I do have a tendency so sometimes eat my emotions though. But part of ‘healthy’ is recognising that I think.

My weight doesn’t fluctuate much.
I put on Lockdown weight because I wasn’t able to move as much as I like and because nice food was often the highlight of my week!

I calorie counted for a while earlier this year to help get rid of it - but generally I’m able to be more active again.

I would recommend anyone on instagram to look for the intuitive eating hashtag.
There are a lot of sensible people on there.

I don't ever really think about my relationship with food, it's just not really much of a thing for me. I'm certainly not an emotional eater. I'm a slim size 6/ 8 and my weight only fluctuates according to my menstrual cycle, but not by much.

To answer your question about feeling full, I really like the sensation of feeling full however I have a complete inability to eat after that point or I'd feel sick, I understand some people can eat beyond that point but that just seems totally alien to me - my friend is like that and I'm quite envious of how she can just get stuck in!

I have a normal relationship with food AND follow a restrictive diet (vegan whole foods) keeping to around 1600 calories a day. The two for me are not mutually exclusive.
I now think it's 'normal' to eat foods that are good for me, in the quantities I need at my age and size. What wasnt 'normal' was eating to excess, eating foods with little benefit and treating food as a leisure activity, a comfort or a treat, as I did for years. It made me unhappy, harmed my health and made me feel I lacked control.
I'm 5 ' 4" and 8 stone 10.

Reasonably so I think. I've never cut anything out completely and don't count/track although I do pay more attention in a fairly general way to what calories I'm taking in now.

I was a 12 for a long time and then after having DC2 my weight crept up until I was a 14 and definitely overweight although never hugely so (maxed out at 85kg and I'm 5'8"). Not due to massive overeating or anything, just a bit too much on a regular basis.

At 85kg I decided that was enough, and set out to lose weight gradually. Just ate less at each meal, more veggie options very little snacking. Lost 13kg in six months and it has now stayed off (actually a bit more has gone but more gradually) for nearly a year.

Yes, I think so. Outside of pregnancy, I've always been fairly slim although I've noticed that approaching menopause that might not continue. I don't diet. Ever. It scares me to try as everyone I know who diets ends up yoyoing. I love food but I never crave it - that is I never crave a lot of it. I can never manage a starter, main and pudding, for example. My mum's the same.

I don't know if this is relevant (and I know some people will heartily disagree!) but I do eat all my meals at a table and never watch tv while eating unless I am on my own. We spend a lot of time as a family around the table. I think it helps foster a good relationship with food.

I ate normally as a teen.
I'm in my 60's now and since I was in my early 20's I have suffered frequent stomach cramps over the years, not period related.
I have stress related heartburn and eat less when upset.
Subsequently i am a grazer and at meal times eat very small portions.
I'm 5'4" and weigh 7st 12lbs which is low for me.
I was 8st 9lbs last year.
I wear size 10 clothes.

Yes I do.
I do loose intermittent fasting in that I only eat once I'm properly hungry the next day. I do this for health reasons.
I used to be able to eat absolutely anything and never gain weight but since being peri menopausal that's not the case.
I tend to eat lots of fat and protein and go easy on the carbs, but I'm not dogmatic. I had Indian takeaway last night with all the naan bread etc and tomorrow I'll be having baked camembert for lunch with a friend.
I'm 60kg and 5ft 4 - a comfy size 10

I have a healthy relationship with food I think, I love food! I’m probably half a stone heavier than I’d like but I don’t let it bother me. I’d much rather be slightly overweight and enjoy food than stress about half a stone. My BMI is about 25 I think so just over the healthy range. I’m 5’7 and 11 stone.
I’ve always been really active though. I cycle everywhere and am training for a marathon so the half a stone should come off soon.
I always believe you have to be either very active/fit and eat what you want, or constantly on a diet if you don’t like exercise. It’s one or the other IMO.

My relationship with food is definitely better than it used to be. I had disordered eating as a teen. Used to starve myself, would only eat a tin of beans each day, had certain foods I would fear. I would weight myself daily and never felt skinny enough even at a size 8. I've fluctuated between a UK 6 and 12.

I've done slimming world, atkins diet, slim fast, chemical diet, calorie counted, diet pills.

I'm 35 now. I don't diet or track calories, however after years of doing so I do have a fairly good idea of calorie content of food. I'm a sensible, healthy eater and I do stop when I'm full, eat when I'm hungry. I rarely weigh myself now.

I'm currently a size 6-8 and the happiest I've been with my body. This is mostly down to weight resistance training. My PT asked what my goals were and I said I didn't want to lose any weight. That was a big thing for me. I allow myself to enjoy food now without feeling guilty.

Yeah, I think so. It all came together for me when I figured out that fighting my body just makes things worse. I'm vegetarian, enjoy food that is naturally pretty healthy and drink wine - provided I don't keep all the snacks around I mostly seem to cycle back to the same size in the summer and then put on a bit over Christmas.

I'm a bit heavier than I like to be atm but had twins not too long ago. When I get back to cooking well again it will either go or it won't, and I'll figure out how to feel good at my new regular size.

Had a couple of years of not eating much at all, it was a control issue in me and trying to right my life then. Obviously unsuccessful. Other than that I have never dieted, I've only ever eaten 2 meals a day, I dont own scales so only weighed at drs once a year or so.
Except for the two years as an anorexic, I'm generally between 10 and 11 stone, I'm 5ft 6, I love food but if I eat too much crap, I crave the good stuff.
My two meals are a decent size, forget breakfast, cant bear to eat on a morning
Brunch and dinner is all I need. Rarely want snacks.

The only time I thought about food all the time was my two years of not eating, I was obsessed with what I was eating next.