If you are short and thin please tell me what you eat?

[Guine]

I am 5 ft 3. Have lost 25 pounds. Have a goal weight of 125 pounds. I should add that I have PCOS which means I put on weight easily.

Just wondering if you can only be that slim if you have a naturally high metabolism/are very active.
I’m on a lot of dieting forums and many people (my height) say it is just not sustainable for them to be below 10 stone.

But having said that you see plenty of slim people who don’t appear to be massively restricting.

I consume 1300 calories to lose weight. Exercise 3/4 x a week.

Just figuring out my goal.

I don’t see how this is so different from the majority of the posts.
The key is portion size.
You can have the healthiest meal plan and still over eat quantities.

I'm 5'3.5" and 9 stone. I'm finding it harder to stay slim now I'm in my 30s. I definitely have to restrict the treats, crisps, bread and snacks much more than I used to.

I'm 5'2 and generally weigh 7st 12 .Can put a bit on after holiday or Xmas etc.Know by my jeans if I need to be a bit healthier.
I never count calories and eat what I want including the odd cake or crisps .But I cook from scratch.Eat porridge or eggs for breakfast. Lots of salad and fruit and veg and don't drink much
Just the odd glass of red wine.And I now drink lots of water .Makes me feel much less tired.
But I've always been very active.A physical job.Walking our dog and swimming and gardening.My mum was a similar build and as active well into old age so I think I've inherited her metabolism.

Yes, so hard! I struggle with my husband and kids as I have to eat less than everyone in the house, and my kids are not even teenagers yet! For example we had pasta tonight, and I had to have the smallest portion (about half of what husband has and around 2/3 of what my kids had) just have more salad

Well they only have one meal a day by the sounds of it, so that is likely to keep the weight off for sure. That counts as OMAD (one a day) which is a popular weight loss /fasting tool.

Interesting how given OP’s question some people are claiming to eat “whenever and whatever they want” but then just dropping it in there like an afterthought that they only eat one or two meals a day and no cakes etc as if that’s a minor point - when actually it’s likely to be the main reason.

This would be my goal weight, but you are really only having 1 meal (dinner) and 2 snacks, your lunch of yogurt and nuts is normally what I would have for snack 🙈, well done. Though, this is why you are slim!

I forgot to post what I generally eat too.

breakfast - cereal and a coffee (I’m never very hungry breakfast time)

mid morning - packet of crisps or a few biscuits, sometimes nuts.

lunch - cheese sandwich and crisps or a couple of slices of cheese on toast and crisps or soup and a few slices of bread and crisps or a cream cheese bagel and crisps. Always with the crisps!

afternoon snack - a chocolate bar

dinner - tends to be carb heavy, things like vegetable lasagne, 3 bean chilli and rice, omelette and chips, veg pasta. Dinner I have large portions because that’s when I’m usually hungriest.
Always have dessert after dinner.

Im a terrible evening snacker - usually chocolate, crisps and dips.

I eat too much chocolate, cheese and crisps and just hope I don’t end up being that skinny woman who has a heart attack! (No offence intended to any slim people who have had a heart attack, it’s just something that I worry about).

I’m same height but currently 129 lbs. At this weight I eat quite a bit. Meals generally healthy but decent portions, quite a few snacks and treats and lots of meals out. I am currently on holiday which actually means I snack less than when working (when I’ll have quite a few snacks!). I have chocolate/ice-cream/cake about 4 days a week atm. For meals I always try and have veg and generally make healthy choices. I’d like to lose 7lbs but struggling to cut out snacks or reduce meals out!

last couple of days:

1. greek yoghurt with fruit and bit of granola
2. kale ceaser salad with breaded fish, croutons and parmesan
3. ice cream
4. 2 non-alcoholic cocktails, bread and butter, pasta with tomato and bacon sauce with Parmesan (restaurant), asparagus on side.

day before:

1. Greek yoghurt with fruit
2. grilled fish, fries with mayo, and salad, couple bites partner’s desert (restaurant)
3. nectarine
4. chicken marinated, home made Cole slaw, pitta bread, apple

If I ate what I wanted I would legitimately be over 250 pounds. No joke I put in the leg work to test this during my maternity leave.

Im very envious of people wanting Greek yoghurt for breakfast. You lucky lot!

5' 2" and around 53kg. Never dieted, but I'm now 50 and weight has crept on from when I was 48kg at 20.

I tend to skip breakfast, lunch like a sandwich/ fritata/ soup and roll/ large salad.
Dinner like pasta and veggies/ veggie chilli or curry and rice/ fish & veg + potatoes etc. Snack on cheese and crackers, fruit, biscuits, chocs. Portion sizes probably too big.

Sedentary job but fairly active in walking etc.
Writing it down I can see where I can improve but it's so hard as I get hungry easily!

I agree but I’m in weight loss mode. Lose 2/3 pounds per week on average.

5ft 2 and 8st 3. 58.

Don't exercise regularly but active with a garden, allotment and house. Walk rather than drive if shopping. Sometimes a lot of sitting working from home.

My first meal of the day is after 12 and is usually breakfast based. Cereal, yoghurt, nuts and fruit.

Dinner is around 5.00pm, mainly healthy but not always. Takeaways only at the weekend and not always.

Evenings a cup of tea and a biscuit or chocolate.

I rarely drink alcohol, just because I'm not that keen.

I don't deny myself any food, anything in moderation.

I have always only allowed half a stone weight gain and then moderated my eating to remove that half stone, over a month.

OP yes some of these diets seem to be overly restrictive and wouldn’t work for me . But I agree work a pp that you can eat a balanced diet and just have smaller portions three times a day . And yeah losing weight is very different from maintenance. I used to eat so much when I was 9 stone but walked a lot and it totally offset the calories. Now I am trying to cut I need to focus on diet AND walking /exercise.

I’m 5ft 2 and lost two stone without going lower than 1300 calories most days and not cutting out any food groups. I’m still on a mission to lose just over a stone more and get back to my pre-pandemic weight which was around 9 stone /size 6-8.

Have a look on YouTube, and instagram- there are channels which deal specifically with healthy weight loss for women under 5ft 4.

You say you can’t manage 12k steps but I think that’s about 90 minutes of walking. Can you do half an hour in the morning, half an hour at lunch and half an hour in the evening? Can you get a walking pad to help with you the morning and evening walks? If you jog run you’ll obviously do the steps in less time.

@Guine And no way am I going to get 12000 steps in. I struggle getting to the gym twice a week as is.

It’s just lifestyles. I never go to the gym but probably hit 12000 on my more sedentary days.
15 mins walking to the station, 15 mins walking on the other side to work. Walking around in work all day. Probably 15 min walk to pick up something at lunch time and 15min back.
Then 15 mins to the station, 20 mins from the station to nursery, 20 mins from nursery home. Run around for the next 3 hours until 7:30 when I refuse to move another muscle for the rest of the night 😂

I absolutely agree that portion size is crucial. I tend to have a fist-size helping of rice or noodles, a card deck of protein and the rest of the plate is vegetables. I like my meals looking nice so we either eat from several cute small bowls or bigger plates with empty space around stuff.

Something that really helped me lose the extra kg was making food swaps to more calorie dense foods i.e

Butter bean mash instead of potato mash
Cauliflower rice instead of normal rice
Courgetti instead of spaghetti
Homemade pasta sauce made with veg and lentils instead of jar sauces
Bulking out mince meat with lentils
Greek yoghurt instead of mayo in a burger for e.g

This isn't the daily norm for me, only when I am in weight loss mode.

I also find cutting out 'low fat' options helps as those foods are usually pumped up with other chemicals. Instead I choose full fat milk, butter, cheese etc

I'm no expert btw so don't come at me!

I think I’m lucky in that I have quite a small appetite. I love food but I feel full quickly so the same portion as my 8 year old, with veg sticks or salad, will fill me up. If I go for dinner I generally share a meal or my husband and eldest will finish mine. I do eat takeaways (and love them all), but maybe once a month. We always have treats at the weekend (I could eat chocolate until I’m sick). Generally though, I don’t have a sweet tooth and I don’t snack, although I’m anyone’s for a cold beer and crisps 😂

Yes!

Yes “my eat when I want” is very different to the posters on this thread “eat what I want” 😂 I actually do like Greek yoghurt tbf but I also like a lot of very sugary and fatty foods too which is why I rarely order them with my online shop now.

@Guine You’re best starting a new thread and getting advice from people who have more of a similar appetite and have been overweight before and then successfully lost the weight.

People who don’t desire to eat much and/or have never gained a significant amount of weight and lost it again, will be coming at this from a totally different angle and won’t get your “struggles” or the uphill battle you’re facing as it were.

For some it’s easy to, for example - eat just one meal a day. For many others it’s not.

And that’s fair enough, people can only speak on what they know and they just haven’t walked in your shoes.

Are you me? I am 5'4" and 50kg. I lost 15kg by just eating whole foods and cutting sugar and now struggle to keep the weight on with about 2000 calories a day. Lots of protein and fibre really help coupled with healthy fats which keep you full.

Don’t be discouraged people ! Everyone is different - see my posts above!

I'm 5.4 and 123lb in the morning and approx 126lb by the end of the day. Don't weigh myself every day but when I do, my weight is always the same. A little fluctuation but that's normal.

I eat to maintain my weight so it's approx 1750 calories to 1950 calories a day. I run 5km between 2 to 4 times a week. If I'm hungrier than usual, then I eat.

I allow myself treats through the week, don't calories count BUT I am away of how much I am consuming approx.

I also allow myself to drink alcohol and have meals out/enjoy my life and do lots of socialising at the weekends which always involves eating/drinking more than my maintenance calories. However I have learnt not to over do it. There's no point eating 1300 cals Monday to Friday to then end up eating 6000 calories on Saturday and then again on Sunday.

Sorry I can’t see anything encouraging in your posts either.

the step count I can do but I’ve been dieting a month or so and too tired on it to do my usual workouts. I don’t drive though so walking is a given.

I’ll just ask one last question- how do posters manage hunger pangs? Thanks.

Asking others for info might not be that helpful - all of this is, in my opinion anyway, is very individual. You have to find out what works for you. I know what works for me but it wouldn’t necessarily work for you. I think it’s a bit of trial and error.

Since cutting out upf and sugar I no longer get any hunger pangs. When it is my usual meal time I do get hungry but only crave whole foods, mainly things like bell peppers or nice cheese.