This is how a slim person eats

[photocop]

I have never been overweight, apart from post-baby. Would it be helpful for me to tell you how I stay slim?

Disclaimer: I consider myself very fortunate to have been raised by a mother who a) gave us a love of healthy food and being active and b) never had food issues herself, so I have never learned to be an emotional eater.

I really think emotional eating is a huge issue for a lot of my friends. And I don't claim to have the answer to overcome this. I do know, however, that it's a lot harder to "binge" on healthy food. And I believe the food "industry" manufactures food that is addictive, precisely so that you'll buy more.

My self-imposed rules, because contrary to what people around me believe, I'm not "effortlessly" slim. I work at it.

• nothing is banned, because that would create cravings (I love cake, but I eat it 2-3 times a week not every day)
  
• food is neither reward nor punishment
  
• vegetables at every meal
  
• I don't count calories but I do count fruit & veg - aim for 7 a day
  
• eat for health not weight - look at the nutritional value and eat mostly whole foods
  
• carbs are fine but 90% of the time they are brown not white
  
• drink mainly water or green tea, apart from one coffee & milk a day and approx two glasses of wine a week
  
• eat mainly dark chocolate (70%), soon milk chocolate will taste too sweet by comparison
  
• walk everywhere if time permits
  
• plan ahead so time does permit!
  
• do a form of exercise you love, 2-3 times a week (I am not naturally sporty but enjoy swimming and cycling)
  
• snacks are to tide you over till a mealtime, not fill you up (nuts, fruit, yoghurt)
  
• don't starve yourself, if you're hungry between meals have a healthy snack
  
• no low-fat or diet anything, it is usually full of sugar or nasties
  
• cook from scratch every day - not necessarily fancy, jacket potato and tuna is fine, with some green veg on the side! if you cook from scratch then there will be no secret addictive ingredients to make you binge eat
  
• lean protein with every meal
  
• don't buy biscuits or crisps (if you're desperate, bake some, it'll probably not be worth the effort)
  
• don't buy sweets for your children, that way they are not there to tempt you (and your DCs don't need them)
  
• eat seasonally
  
• meal plan all the time
  
• eat at roughly the same time every day
  
• eat dinner earlier rather than later (for me 7pm)
  
• if you need something upstairs, get it now, all activity is good (I potter a lot)

[DontGotoRoehamptonUniversity]

If you really have to think about it to that extent then it is a regime, a chore - one might say, an unhealthy obsession.
I have no idea how many times a week I have cake/vegetables - don't count. Might be seven times a week, might be not for weeks. I probably have too much wine (for health) some weeks, and then less for others.
My clothes fit, I can get on a bus without squashing other people out of their seats - I am size 12/14 depending on time of month and which shop label you check, but am too busy with life to analyse every mouthful and keep a spreadsheet.

[OmnipotentQueenOfTheUniverse]

Ah OK you need to get the cheese right.

It was cheddar, on the strong side.

You can have it as a "raw" food, or prepare it with bread (sliced, white, not artisan) as follows. Toast the bread lightly, top with cheese and put under a hot grill until bubbling. This meal combines well with crisps, actually.

[Ifyoubuildit]

I wonder how old you are OP? I was size 6-8 all my life until I hit 38 when middle-aged spread kicked in...

[gatewalker]

Actually, as badly as the post came across, I do feel that the OP's heart was in the right place. Some of the responses are equally insensitive.

[photocop]

For breakfast I eat muesli and drink tea.
I'm in my early 40s.

[MrsBertMacklin]

My problem is I know exactly what I should be eating, not eating, quantities etc. But I have disordered eating and punish myself with food. So not really helpful for me, thanks.

[SixToesLeft]

Are you also having much better sex than the rest of us too?
Can you explain where we're going wrong with that?
I suspect you may be single.

[FaFoutis]

Do you work OP? I wonder how much time, energy and thought that regime takes up.

[Fuckmath]

Lol at cake "only" 3 times a week

I am a bit chubby but don't sit about stuffing my face with cake. Bit patronising to assume the fatter among us are on a daily cake binge.

A lot of your comments are common sense and actually are similar to what I do, but you do come across smug in the way you're phrasing yourself.

I think genes really do play into it heavily. I have never been skinny in my life even as a healthy, very sporty teen. Some people are just built a bit more sturdily!

[judydoes]

That got me also, cake only three times a week. I am pretty sure if I did that I'd put a lot of weight on.

[ouryve]

How very nice for you, OP.

[TalkinPeace]

I never eat chocolate or cake because I do not like them
maybe I should force myself ...

[Thurlow]

Best slim diet I ever had was surviving solely on alcohol, cigarettes, Coco Pops and Pickled Onion Monster Munch.

I am 5'1 and I weighed less than 8 stone. And I had boobs. I looked bloody amazing.

I suspect that this is not a nutritious diet but hey, it worked for me, so I thought I'd share it...

[ouryve]

And you must be a really crap cook, because home made biscuits are delicious.

[Thurlow]

Actually I'm now wondering if I should go back to that alcohol and crisps diet. It did work so well...

[Strictlyison]

thurlow, I'm with you. I ate nothing but cereals, full fat milk, coffee and beer up to the age of 30 and I looked amazing. Now post three pregnancies and c sections, I eat relatively well, exercise, drink only at weekends, and at 5'8 I weigh 10 stones 5 and a bit fat round the middle. But I still look amazing, without going through any of what the op states. What a sad post.

[Thurlow]

I know what you mean Spent my 20s living on takeaways and cake, looked fine with it. Post-baby it's finally catching up with me. I need to do something to change it, really. Monster Munch is clearly the way forward.

[Ledkr]

Me too thurlow marlboro lights, wine and cereals, of and a few lines of coke on a Saturday night!
I was a thin as a pin

[Thurlow]

Breakfast cereal is proving to be a rather common theme

[hmc]

Some people have paper thin hides! I didn't find OPs post smug at all - and I am currently a bit porky. Seriously - some of you have issues

[FaFoutis]

In my 20s my regime was tea and biscuits 10am to 6pm, vodka from 6pm onwards. I was slim and full of energy.

[MrsBertMacklin]

some of you have issues

Well, yes. A lot of people on the weight loss boards do have eating issues (myself included), which is why the well-meaning but somewhat Brick-esque OP, has not gone down well.

You wouldn't go onto the money/debt boards and start a post called 'How I Stay Solvent' without any prompt whatsoever and not expect some upset responses.

[judydoes]

Or the parenting boards and say how you keep your children being the best behaved, tantrum free, sleeping through every night since birth

[Panzee]

:)

[Ledkr]

I'm going to start a new weightless topic "monster munch and wine"
I will be the BIWI of the boards, you will all fear my wrath, I will condemn the eating of anything but beef monster munch.