How do people stay so slim without being on a diet?

[Cwoffeelover1]

How do people maintain a slim weight when not actively dieting does anyone have any tips on how they stay slim? I hate being on strict diet plans because it makes me crave the food more lol

I've realised that people's definitions of eating what they want and.not being on a diet are really different.

I was reading a diet thread a while ago and one poster said they are slim but eat "whatever they want", even as much chocolate as they want - which they said was two squares a day. For them two squares was an indulgent treat that totally satisfied. For me, having just two squares would be like torture! It would be like getting to smell food without eating it. I'd rather have none.

And please don’t take any slimming teas, “magic” or not

I’m a two squares of chocolate sort of person

But I would not have chocolate if I was hungry, I’d have a meal. I’d only have choc/sweets if I just fancied them

If that makes sense

@Oxyiz Same for me. It’s taking a bit of getting used to! I think I like my new found appetite and I suddenly understand why people like food! I always thought that I was naturally slim but now realise that my eating was quite disordered. I also wonder if a big part of it is addressing the anxiety.

OP - I'm not slim - yet - but I was for years, and I've lost a stone in the last six months without dieting. When I say without dieting, I mean, eating crisps, cheese, drinking wine, having cake pretty much everyday since the weight loss began.

Three changes I have made:

1. I started exercising hard 3-4 times per week. Bootcamps that really tone your muscles and give you loads more energy to move around more during the day, to lift heavy stuff instead of asking men to do it, to run upstairs instead of shouting etc. And a daily walk on non exercise days.
2. I never eat when I'm not hungry. Recently I was stressed and ate nothing at all for about 36 hours. I didn't fret about it. I trusted the lack of hunger. I never have breakfast unless I want it, but never skip it if I wake up hungry. Total trust in your body's own hunger messages. 3.) I have almost entirely stopped eating 'trigger' food. That's food which makes me constantly crave more food, no matter how much I've eaten. For me, trigger food is bread. If I eat even a slice of wholemeal toast by midmorning I am growling for more carbs and that craving carries on all day. If I eat crispbread or crackers, this doesn't happen, so instead of bread I usually have crackers at lunchtime, or the only carb I have is a bag of crisps. Same goes for sugar. Most of the time I avoid it as I notice it causes inflammation and makes my joints sore and makes me bad tempered. occasionally if I fancy some, though, I'll have it. There's no 'denying' myself. I just don't like how it makes me feel physically and emotionally so I only eat it if it's in a food I really love.

Until I was in my mid-forties I was slim and this is how I ate naturally. Then I ended up on medication that caused me to crave carbs and feel tired all the time as side effects. Off it now and finally getting back to natural eating habits.

Cannot believe I got to 45 without realising the truth of what Labobo explains above. If I eat one slice of toast for breakfast I am wobbly hungry by lunch and crave carbs all day. That’s how I got to bmi 27 size 14

Gave up breakfast have early lunch only. Minimised sugary snacks but still have them. Cardio turbo bike most days. Lost 2 stone and maintaining - kept it off a year now. Bmi 21 size 10

But I would not have chocolate if I was hungry, I’d have a meal. I’d only have choc/sweets if I just fancied them
Same here.
I eat chocolate and biscuits if I would like something sweet, usually to go with cup of tea or coffee.
I don't grab a bar of chocolate when I'm out and feel a little hungry because I'll have either eaten before I go out, have something substantial when out if it's over a mealtime, or I know that it's not long until my next meal.

I've never dieted but I think what I eat would be considered "a diet" to many of my heavier friends.

I eat 3 meals a day, comprising of home cooked food with a lot of veg. I don't aim to eat low calorie, just honest good quality, satisfying meals but if you cook real food, even extravagant, savoury meals are unlikely to be more than 700 cals.

I very rarely have anything with refined sugar, I gave it up years ago and it's made a huge difference to my PMS.

I don't snack. I exercise most days, my sport is very important to me.

I love food, but good food, I genuinely don't want junk, although I suppose that has been a gradual process that came about with giving up sugar.

This is just the way I live. I don't do it to be slim, if there is a reason, it's to be fit and strong for my sport, but mostly it's just normal to me.

Minimal alcohol, avoiding snacks (eg crisps and chocolate), no sugar in tea/coffee, only eating at mealtimes, avoiding too many carbs, no takeways, being aware of calorie content of what is eaten, drinking a lot of water or low calorie drinks to fill up etc etc.
And exercise to stay toned.

I was once with a fat friend when we stopped for lunch en route somewhere. I had a salad, she had a baked potato with beans and cheese. Not long afterwards I had a pub lunch with a very slim friend. We had been on a long country walk. I ordered a big stodgy pie and chips meal. My friend ordered a child's portion. That sums it up really. If only I followed my own advice I might also be slim.

I'm size 6-8 , bmi 21. I love food and eat mostly what I want including chocolate. I think it's mainly luck so far that keeps me slim.
I run about 3 times a week, walk every day and always take the stairs (at work I probably climb about 10 flights of stairs each day)
I'm always fidgeting (DH and DD hate sitting next to me on the sofa as I'm always moving without even noticing ) I've read that slimmer people fidget more but I'm dubious if that's actually true. I cant imagine it burns many calories!
My DM was overweight my whole life, and always on a diet (although a size 14 was the slimmest she ever got) .She used to think home cooking was superior/healthier than anything shop bought, regardless of portion size, and avoided exercise as much as possible. But even in older pictures of her when she was a teenager she was quite chubby, and both her parents and siblings were overweight so not sure if it was genetic.

Some people don’t think about food that much. Others prefer naturally low fat, low cal foods. Some people do lots of exercise or are very active in their daily lives. Some are biologically ‘fortunate’ and can pretty much eat what they want and remain at the lower end of the normal BMI scale. Some take medication that suppresses their appetite as a side effect (not the primary aim of the medication, I’m not suggesting that slim people are all on diet pills). Some smoke as an appetite suppressant. There are myriad reasons for people being slim, same as there are myriad reasons for people being overweight.

@Redburnett, I am now BMI 22 but until about 2yrs ago I was always around 18-19 (I’m early-mid 40’s). I would regularly have had the jkt spud lunch but thinking about it, I would’ve self regulated in the evening with a smaller meal. I was never consciously doing it, it was just how I ate and what I wanted. That seems to have gone out of the window in the last couple of years though , need to get a grip of it or I’ll keep climbing the BMI scale without noticing it.

I was once with a fat friend when we stopped for lunch en route somewhere. I had a salad, she had a baked potato with beans and cheese. Not long afterwards I had a pub lunch with a very slim friend. We had been on a long country walk. I ordered a big stodgy pie and chips meal. My friend ordered a child's portion. That sums it up really. If only I followed my own advice I might also be slim.

I wouldnt think of a jacket potato with cheese and beans as particularly indulgent
Although I often dont do double carbs so if I order a burger in a pub for example I rarely eat all the bun because I would rather eat the chips, and I probably wouldnt get through both. If I had a pie I would leave some of the pastry if I was also having potatoes or chips. ( a Macdonalds is exempt from this rule though!)

I'd also think of baked spud and cheese as a meal as indulgent and usually a no-no for me.

I'm slim (ish) but most days I wake up and think "how am I going to get through the day on 1200 calories". It's my mantra.

I have to stick to it, and even if I insist to myself that it's not a diet, but a "way of life" I know I'm kidding myself because, at the end of the day, it IS about calorie restriction.

And it's bloody hard.

My DD is slim, despite the rest of us not being
The main thing I have noticed with her is that she only eats when hungry, no matter what is on offer if she’s not hungry she’s not interested.
She been like this since little, if someone brought the dc a treat DS would eat it right away but DD would put it away for later if ste wasn’t really hungry. Plus she stops eating before she’s full, she says she doesn’t like feeling too full
She has a healthy and varied diet but if she’s not genuinely hungry it doesn’t matter what you offer her she’s not going to eat it
I really wish I was the same

Overweight here but losing. It is resetting Your relationship with food.
It takes time, effort, it’s like doing a bloody degree tbf as you unpick bad habits and rebuild in good ones.

It took me a good 3 months to finally feel ‘full’ from a 600cal meal. one that’s protein and veg rich but lower carb, best for me and my lifestyle. I find carb heavy meals I get hungry again before the next meal. I don’t snack on anything but cucumber or watermelon. I managed to lose 20lbs just by focusing on my relationship with food and not exercising at all (lockdown etc made it hard so didn’t make it the focus) and now I’m in a position to exercise well I’ll spend time readjusting my food intake as I increase the exercise.

I also give myself a lot of grace if I have days where I need to eat more. Eg day before period I am absolutely ravenous. I can gauge this pretty easily from my cycle app so making sure I have some decent food in to eat like a steak and low fat garlic mushrooms, lots of my fave sugar free drink o can sail through those days by only going over by 2-300 calories rather than the 1000 it could be. Which seems like loads but once a month it’s not much at all.

Everyone will be different to find their ‘normal’.

I also can’t deal with food obsessed people. I don’t think much about food during the day and will eat it not loads. Being around big eaters is a challenge.

Always being on the ball so the weight doesn't creep up - I weigh myself every Monday morning. I always control portion size, and if weight goes up, I take a week of noting what I eat. I always set out the food I am going to eat, and sit down, say grace, eat, grace, then leave the "table" - even if it's a rock on a hill.
I found the weight piling on after the menopause, but found I was eating extra helpings of pudding and cake. Went from 9st6 to 10st4 in two months. Took two months to take that off, by small portions and zero sugary stuff. I always eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and would literally pass out if I missed a meal.
Other women have always envied my figure and comment on how much I seem to eat. But they seem to eat way more than me, in concentrated form. I think each of us is different, as I live on carbs and any rich creamy food gives me a migraine. So my huge sandwich would have a scrape of butter and no mayo, and I make pizza with thick crust and hardly any cheese. Clearly, for other women, carbs lead to increased appetite. There is no one right way.
HTH OP

@trunumber

Turns out slim people just don't think about food all the time so eat what they need for fuel. Honestly this blew my mind a little, I had always assumed everyone was struggling and depriving themselves but nope, just not hungry it turns out.

This & genetics for me. Doesn't mean I don't like food or eat a whole pizza ever so often, but for the most part I just eat when I'm hungry & never eat until I'm over full.

please go and see, you will like it!

This is always trotted out on this sort of thread and it absolutely is not true for many slim people, myself included! I love food.

This! I love food - definitely isn't just fuel for me. But I don't drive so I walk a lot, play a sport several times a week, and some days, I barely eat anything and just have toast for lunch and then dinner later 🤷🏻‍♀️

I don’t really eat that much, turn down snacks and don’t ever associate food with treats, and I exercise, don’t eat junk, and food isn’t that important to me. I like it but it’s not massively important in my life.

I used to be thin through sheer laziness. I couldn’t be arsed to go to the kitchen and cook so I would skip meals or just have a toastie. Then I moved in with DH who is fat. He wants a cooked meal every night and eats something at every mealtime. Eating with him has made me fat. It’s a real struggle to be thin because every time I skip a meal he whinges about me not joining him for mealtimes, and watching him cook and eat makes me end up having some.

The fact that some of us would see jacket spud cheese, beans and salad as indulgent and linked to being a fat person and some wouldn't sums it up for me. It seems some of us don't think we are being restrictive because we have what we like, but our beliefs about what constitutes a treat are so different; to others, it isn't a treat and it is normal eating.

It's the same (with increasing evidence of the role of genetics) as needing to consider the financial, social and emotional reasons for any health behaviours. Our beliefs about normal are so influential.

@MsTSwift i don't think it's fasting if you have oj in the fasting period. Black coffee yes but not juice. You're obvs just eating less calories as skipping breakfast but that's not the science of the intermittent fasting