OK, those of you who are naturally slim!

[chipmonkey]

You people whe have lovely figures but are not always on a "diet"! What, in your opinion are you doing right, that we chubbier people are doing wrong?

chipmonkey , for me it would be careful amounts of food and no snacks, no processed stuff, good well balanced diet, average walking as my only exercise
and the odd treat of course
but lucky for me i dont like chocolate bars or crisps. never did even as a teenager.

oh eat a good full breakfast

Slightly off subject, one of my thin childless friends watched me preparing tea once, and commented

"God, you really don't eat that much do you? And it's all really healthy!"

She has been my friend since we were 11, that's why she still has arms and legs after that commnt[shock}

I have noticed that "naturally" thin people will say no to food if they aren't hungry, whereas chubbier people will say yes if they aren't stuffed.

yes but naturally thin people are boring!!!!

I am naturally thin and slightly underweight. My secret is

I skip meals (I haven't eaten anything today)
I never sit down, even to the point where I twitch when sitting down.

So okay I'm thin but I'm not healthy (I know) and often catch colds and flu. I also have to take iron pills because I regularly become anaemic.

Thin isn't so great and I worry as much about my weight/health and those that aren't thin.

I was "naturally" skinny until I met dh (5'8" and weight under 8 stone). I ate healthily, didn't drink, didn't snack and exercised a reasonable amount. But dh introduced me to alochol and cos he liked sticky puddings I started making them...and eating them!
Then I had kids and it got even worse!

Oh and I just remembered the secret to losing weight for me is to find something to get really really stressed about. Works a treat for me...

MaryPOP1 do you deliberately skip meals or do you just forget to eat?

When I get stressed, I eat more

I either forget or get caught up in stuff and the day always goes too quickly for me. I never seem to have enough time.

Actually, scotlou, I think dh is a bad influence on me too! When he was growing up, convenience foods were the norm and he was a frequent visitor to the chip-shop, as were his 2 brothers. Once a girl working in the chip-shop told BIL that he really shouldn't keep eating this stuff, thats how regularly he went there!

MAryPop, get off MN now and get yourself some brunch!

I'm not skinny or even thin but evenly proptioned (I think - size 12, 5ft 6) but I don't "diet". Eat mostly good-for-you food (but not always), eat when hungry, stop (mostly) when full, have nothing forbidden and don't seem to gorge myself too much. If I do, I just feel full and then don't eat until feel hungry again. I am, however, pretty untoned (should anyone meet me after writing this!) Don't believe in food restrictive diets if not a sustainable lifelong change - most don't seem to be.

Agree with Tinker. I'm 5' 2" and about 7.5 stone (but not toned at all). I don't eat much junk or processed stuff at all. Fast food is probably eaten about once every 2 months in our house. I never diet, just have a reasonably balanced diet, no fizzy drinks, alcohol v. rarely (makes me fall asleep ) - but I pack away the food I do eat!

I also think your genes play a huge part - and crikey, life would be boring if we were all the same shape and size

For me I think:

It's genetic (main thing)
I'm always on the go - barely sit down tbh
I swim 3-4 mornings a week and do sit ups at night

It's certainly not through not eating - mind you, I don't eat much during the day but only cos I don't sit down long enough. I stuff my face at night though - we have a big main meal and I usually have a treat afterwards!

I'm sitting here now eating a Twirl with a cup of tea!

Oh - don't eat ready made or processed food - cook everything from scratch -might that make a difference?

My diet is not very high in fat except for the choccie treats!

Sorry - reading the other posts is reminding me other things!

I hardly drink at all (alcohol I mean!)

I loathe cream-based foods and sauces. So I never eat white sauces of any sort. Only tomato based ones.

I also don't like processed food. It gives me the boak. So does most fried food. Yuk.

Crisps make me sick. Too greasy.

So does overly sweet stuff - prefer the cake over the icing.

I'm also very impatient and prefer to walk over waiting for a bus.

I've never had a big stomach and I can't eat much at one time, so I tend to graze all day.

I'm normally 5ft., 3 in. and about 7.5 stone. Am pregnant just now, but have put on 1 stone at 6 months along.

chipmonkey, read Paul Mckenna's book (I can make you thin or slim I think) - he says the secrets of naturally slim people are that they eat only when they are hungry and stop when they are full. They also eat slower so they get messages from their stomachs when they are full. they probably also don't eat to fulfill emotional needs - bored, stressed, depressed etc. He also says that they are usually more active than overweight people. I think his book makes alot of sense (I am not naturally slim). (he also has a cd you can play to change your eating habits - hypnotherapy??).I think there is a thread on here somewhere with people following the book.

I qualify as slim I guess at 5ft 6 and 9.5 stone, the only difference btween dp who is overweight (14 stone and 5ft 9) and me is portion sizes, he eats tons and I eat smaller amounts, I also graze on nuts and seeds and fruit and the odd slice of toast, he will eat 3 solid meals.
That said I come from a skinny family and I have put on weight over the last 3 years due to living with someone who eats a lot!
I drink herbal tea, walk a lot and cycle when possible too, whereas DP is stationary and resists exercise.

MarypOp1, not sure you can say that you are 'naturally' thin and then that you 'skip meals' in the same breath. Surely if you were naturally slim then you wouldn't have to control your weight by such extreme and not terribly clever strategies as skipping meals ?

I am naturally...fat!!!
My mum and dad are/were larger people! My brothers are both big. My grand parents werent slim..a great grandad had to have furniture made so he could sit in it..so what chance do I have!!
Yes I diet and loose weight, but I dont want to be pn a permanent diet!!
I turn to food when I get upset..comfort food..hot choc and cheese on toast!!!

I think I'm detecting a theme here:

I sort of qualify: I'm 5'4" and a size 10 (12 in teenager's shops). Although I am heavy at 10.5 stone (I think I'm just denser than the average human being)

Why?

It's partly genetic (my mum is very slim, my dad less so).

After one dreadful experience in my late teens I have never dieted. I find it distorts my relationship with food so much that all I can think about is food, all the time. Total torture and so boring.

Instead I do quite a lot of exercise (running, yoga, cycling) so I don't have to worry about food quantities. Since I know it won't be an issue, I relax and find that naturally my portion sizes have become smaller. Curiously I also seem to have an instinctive preference for veg/carb based dishes (although normally larded with a goodly amount of fat!)

Food is not a comfort for me: how much I want to eat is completely divorced from how I am emotionally. In fact if I'm upset it completely destroys my appetite

Also, there's definitely a relationship between how busy I am and eating. If I'm busy, eating is a low priority (although curiously, cooking isn't - puzzling huh?)

I don't like to think of people who hold weight as doing anything 'wrong'. It's a mindset thing, which I've been lucky to have for years, and I'm not really sure how to suggest others could go about cultivating it. My only observation is that dieting seemed to send me down totally the wrong track and definitely didn't work for me.

I think to some degree thinness is a blessing bestowed on some and not others. I am thin but I eat what I like when I like and I can assure you I have a large appetite when all is going well. I don't eat only fruit and salad leaves - eg I eat chocolate every day.

I do think though, that, because I am thin, if I put on a few pounds, I notice it quickly and try to eat a bit less for a while, or choose less fattening foods, in order to get rid of the excess. I hope this isn't offensive, but I do think larger people might not notice the addition of a few pounds on their bodies in the same way that thin people do (unless of course they are weighing themselves daily) and so it might be possible for them to gain more weight without realising it, and the more weight you gain, the worse it becomes. Does that make sense?

My personal pet theory for losing weight is to drink loads of water, espeically before eating, as that makes you feel full sooner - it is also good for you anyway.

I used to be thin, with no effort till I stopped smoking and started munching. Crips chocolate the rest of the kids dinner, half thier crisps if I can manage to persuade them.
I know my extra 2 stone is munching meat.