Naturally slim people to post

Hello
Well I am overweight and have got to lose weight - doctors orders! So, about 2 months ago I registered with slimming world and have already lost over half a stone which I am very happy with - however I was made redundant just over two weeks ago and I stopped going BUT I have all the books to continue. It is dropping off slow but that is healthy - AND already pain in my knees and lower back has really improved - and since being made redundant I am now making sure I must move more rather than sat most of my day stuck in an office - eating healthier definitely has made me feel better but I got a long way to go yet before I reach my ideal weight- but I must for my health especially at my age too!!!

so unfair! I eat about a quarter of what the slim folk eat and am as fat as hell. I have a son who is the same, I think it is genetic, although I don't move much being badly arthritic!

I keep reasonably slim. Thinner at the moment (7st 3lbs) due to house move and DH's PD accelerating, but generally under 8st. Breakfast is one and a half oat cakes with honey and white tea without milk and sugar. Mid morning black coffee, but with some hot milk added,,a banana and a couple of squares dark chocolate. I rarely eat a sandwich these days, instead have things like ham, hard boiled egg or omelette, olives, tomatoes, cheese, or maybe soup with an oatcake. I try not to eat sweet things In the aft, unless I'm out, but I do sometimes have cake or half a hot cross bun. Evening is run of the mill like meat or fish and veg, pasta or a rice dish. I rarely eat potatoes, but do eat a few chips or a potato waffle. Seldom have puddings. I try to eat a couple of portions of fruit in the evening. With my last cup,of tea, I have half an oatcake and a few dates or nuts. I sound boring, but I'm not too bothered about food really, though have a weakness for chocolate, and over and above what's listed, I do have other treats. When the weight creeps up, I'll have a fasting day. I often think that where weight is concerned, it's what you don't eat/drink that might make the difference ie, I eat little in the way of bread, potatoes, pastry, and rarely drink alcohol. As I can afford to put a little weight on at the moment, I have been indulging myself! My guilty pleasure is Double Raspberry Magnums!

I have lost 10lbs since New Year. I now weigh 9st1lb. Still more than I did up till about 5 years ago. Anyway, I decided to do a low carb diet. So no bread, pasta or Lidl lollies (yummy). Can't seem to get my carbs down but not eating the above seems to work. Breakfast - 30g porridge with blueberries and low fat almond milk. Lunch - salad with pretty much what I like in it, including pine nuts; prawns or ham, avocado (half a small), and the usual basics. Dinner - this week it has been chicken breast with micro-rice or it could be fish. I eat a banana about 10am and if I get peckish I have a Chia & Oat Crispbread. About 5 coffees a day and that's it. I have plenty of stamina as I have just finished unloading 10 x 25kg bags of sand up the garden to lay the new patio slabs on. Which I am also doing myself. So I think I'm a healthy 5ft2in. ?

Although I only weigh 7st I am only 4ft 11ins, so not very tall.

My normal eating routine would be a bowl of Oatibix Flakes with frozen blueberries, raspberries & cherries at about 7.30am with a cup of tea.

As OH is now retired we usually have a cup of tea around 10am and a plain biscuit, although before he retired I never ate anything between breakfast and lunch.

For lunch I have a yoghurt, banana, about 3 walnut halves and a cup of tea.

Mid afternoon I've always had a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Dinner is around 5.30pm and it varies from day to day as to what we eat. We don't have particularly large portions and I know I eat less the older I have got. I'm not very adventurous with my cooking so it's usually something like spag bol, chilli, swedish meatballs, baked salmon, all with rice or pasta and we usually have egg and chips on a Saturday evening as I do love my chips. We always have a pudding after dinner too, although nothing too fattening.

My main weakness is in the evening when I do crave a bag of crisps or something similar. I do have a very sweet tooth too and love a nice piece of cheesecake or hot pudding with custard!

I know back in my 20's and 30's I was much more sedentary than I am now and apart from housework never did any exercise. Now I have my Fitbit and do 25mins of hula hooping a day, walk the dog and make sure I do my 10,000 steps.

I don't like crisps and rarely buy biscuits.

For those who just HAVE to snack:

Try slices of apple or pears, or carrots
Buy mixed bags of fruit and nuts they sell in supermarket and only eat about a third of the pack each day
Do not eat crisps or biscuits at all

I am a size 10 -12 around 9 st 3 and 5 ft 4 .i constantly keep an eye on what I eat to keep the weight down as I once was a size 16 and 11 st plus !i what works for me is fruit for breakfast sometimes nothing and then I have an early lunch of eggs on toast with a yougart or fruit.I then have a normal meal in the evening but always cook healthy using low fat spray .I always try to have plenty of veg and only eat pudding when I eat out.I pig out occasionally ,fish and chips or an Indian takeaway! I walk my dogs for an hour every morning and then 4 days a week I walk another dog for 30 mins.I really think the exercise is key.

Blaming big bones; medication; water retention; blood pressure; feeling hungry; cravings etc is just making excuses.

If you want to lose weight make up your mind that you want to reach a certain weight and stick to your routine until you achieve it.

It can be done. Do not give in to temptation and ditch the alcohol. There is lots of sugar in most spirits and canned drinks so just don't buy them and you will not be tempted. That goes for foods you know you have to avoid too. Don't put them on your shopping list!

My doctor says losing weight means you have to watch what you put in to your mouth. Exercise tones you and keeps you fit but watching your diet is the most important.

I have been eating the following and have lost a stone in 6 months:

Oranges for breakfast
Small portion of main course
Lots of vegetables
Crackers with thin slice of cheese, tuna,salmon, ham with tomato or cucumber
Fruit salad
Or soup such as tomato or chicken

NO deserts; no biscuits, cakes, cereal, sweets or chocolate allowed

NO fruit juices, instead use water with lime or lemon flavour

Never feel hungry and never tired

Weight is coming off at last!

Also bought a peddle exerciser to use sitting down for arms and legs

I have never been skinny but at 5ft 3, I weigh 9st 5lb.

I love food and enjoy sampling different cuisines and foods.

Currently, breakfast is 2 marmite rice cakes spread with quark (a low fat soft cheese and sliced cucumber, fruit juice and coffee. Lunch is our main meal so it will be 3-4oz potatoes or 2ozs rice/pasta/couscous (dry weight) with a meat/fish/other based dish, usually casseroled and cooked with extra veg so that 1lb meat serves 6+ people plus a side dish of vegetables, followed by stewed fruit. Supper; a salad, veg soup, other veg dish, occasionall sausages,or fish cake with grilled tomatoes.

I do not usually eat between meals, but if I feel hungry I eat a piece of cheese. I do not consume much alcohol, mainly because I do not like it

I think portion control and not snacking is the key to weight loss, plus, of course leading an active life. I walk a lot, several miles daily, do pilates, swim and I am on my feet a lot at home; gardening, housework, sewing etc. If I sit down I am often sewing or knitting.

I'm now 10 lbs lighter because I'm going to Slimming World, other people I know go to Weight Watchers. Being slim requires focus but something you can achieve. I now eat healthy foods, am not hungry and reward myself with new clothes or a manicure when I'm wanting a bit of cossetting!
Good luck and remind yourself it's possible.
M xxx

I think that slim people look younger myself

Now must go and work off that plain yogurt and banana

20 years ago I was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid. I now weigh 14 and a half stone and cannot lose any weight, I was 10 stone all my adult life until the age of 50 and my diagnosis. I hate it ... and am now seeing a specialist to get my medication raised, to see if that alters my metabolism. There are many people with this condition, but are unaware of it and it doesn't always show up in blood tests. I suspect many people who can't lose weight may have this problem to a lesser degree maybe.

That could be why I still look 21 when I am 71

(wishful thinking )

Of course, those with fuller figures tend to look younger, its an absolute pig that trying to remain skinny leads to scrawny all to easily.............

As others have said I find it really important to NOT GET HUNGRY - if that happens I am so much more likely to reach for the biscuits. My best advice is to keep loads of healthy salad and veg handy and to eat until you are completely full - it was pointed out to me that you cant put on fat from carrots and broccoli, so if i fancy eating a whole head of broccoli and 4 large carrots I do. Better that than half a French stick, a packet of brie and 4 chocolate digestives.

probably have a bit of body dismorphia and see myself as a hulking lump
I think I have body dismorphia and see myself as a slender size 10 until I catch sight in a mirror

I blame my medication.

The gentle filling of my tubs and baskets doesn't count then?

although I did do a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and we have steps and a slope
and I did have to carry fresh soil etc
My back hurt so I must have put something into doing it all
Not finished yet either!

Im 50 5'7" and probably weigh around 9and half stone. I wear size 10 clothes (which I admit have grown in size and are NOT what a size 10 was when I was a girl.) As I have a desk job I have realised that my dietary requirements are almost zero. I dont eat carbs - bread pasta rice biscuits potatoes. Sadly a slice of toast with butter and marmite is now considered an absolute treat. I eat lots and lots of vegetables - broccoli and carrots especially cos they're plentiful and cheap!! and say if serving chilli con carne I will serve the chilli over veg for myself. I am NOT skinny - probably have a bit of body dismorphia and see myself as a hulking lump, big bones, solid child bearing hips that will never give me the skinny hip silhouette that even when I starved myself I could not achieve. Im less brutal on myself now - I will have a slice of pizza or two if Ive been exerting myself in the garden or gym but on a drive to work and sit at desk day I dont need to eat much!

As for exercise, I find hacking rhododendrons and other mega gardening tasks (DH is not a gardener and we have a challenging garden on a steep hill) and even housework keep my muscles well oiled, so to speak. I can walk two or three kilometres without even leaving the garden. It's not that big, the steps add up just toing and froing.

Pic of garden 'twig' ;)

Today has been fairly typical so far: two oatcakes and about six dates, two mugs weak coffee with whole milk, just had bacon butty (two streaky rashers, one thick slice homemade bread, plenty butter, marrow chutney), mug of tea.

There's half a small can of baked beans that needs eating up so I might have that for lunch on toast or with the other two rashers of bacon that also need using up.

I usually have something like a flapjack for elevenses and in the afternoon at about four o'clock. Both with more tea.

Last night's dinner was a fillet of baked salmon (minus about a quarter of it that I gave to DH), boiled spuds in their skins a bit squashed on the plate and smeared. with loads of butter, green peas and sweetcorn.

That's standard over a day. I'm 161cm (5'3") all and weigh 52kg (8st,3lb), which is what I weighed when I was fifteen. I put on nearly a stone when I was prescribed steroids for asthma but lost it again, and I lost a bit more than half a stone during a stressful part of my life. Then I had Minibags and although I put on more than the recommended 28lb during that pregnancy, as I had with my other two as well, I weighed 55kg after I'd had her.

I've noticed over the years that most people can eat a lot more at one sitting than I can. A three course meal forced onto me (it'd have to be forced) would be torture. I'm happy with a bowl of hearty soup and a hunk of bread for dinner or small helpings of whatever.

I am naturally slim but I do check my weight night and morning. That way I can check which foods have actually made me put on weight.

I could have a roast dinner or a pie and the weight does not go up. However, if I have bread, particularly a sandwich, it rockets.

By weighing each day I balance out my meals over the week. If I indulge in something fattening I just try to avoid having that same meal within the next three days. Sandwiches are the thing I avoid most.

I don't believe in being hungry or depriving myself of treats, but I do eat healthy meals. When I was younger I could not face breakfast but now I cannot eat in the evenings. I have a very large breakfast at about 10am quite often a fry up. No bread but I do have potato products. This sustains me until about 3pm whenI have lunch. If. On the rare occasions when I want a snack in the evening I go for a high protein no carb. Some cheese, a boiled egg, tinned salmon or some slices of ham. I do have a biscuit when I feel like it or a piece of cake.

I think the not getting too hungry is really important. Otherwise I would obsess about food and laziness would make me choose a quick, high carb option.

I'm 5'4 and weigh 10 stone. Most of my life I've been around 9/9.5 stones. I take a size 12-14 and because I exercise a lot I look slimmer than I weigh, if you see what I mean.

Breakfast - small bowl of muesli with yoghurt or small bowl of porridge made with half milk/water and one teaspoon of sugar.
Lunch - cheese sandwich or soup or omelette followed by fruit
Supper - things like veggie stir fry, veggie version of meat and two veg subsituting tofu.
NO biscuits in the house now. I'll occasionally buy an apple pie or we'll have yoghurt.

In the last year my metabolism has definitely slowed and now I almost never eat bread, I snack on fruit and if desperate I'll have a flatbread (seedy ones from Sainsbury are lovely) with a couple of teaspoons of nut butter (200 calories!).

A free way of working out what you're eating and how you can change is to use the app My Fitness Pal. It lets you work out your daily calorie total for your weight/height/age and has an enormous database of foods and their calorific content and a daily diary where you fill in your food intake. It will send you little reminders to do this. I only did it for a couple of months but it made me stop and think what I was eating and I've lost half a stone since.

Last thought is that lots of posters are saying they get very hungry. There is a hormone called leptin that tells your body whether you are fat or not and I have read that this varies throughout the day and between people. Here is the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article about it:

Leptin (from Greek λεπτός leptos, "thin"), the "satiety hormone",[a] is a hormone made by adipose cells that helps to regulate energy balance by inhibiting hunger. Leptin is opposed by the actions of the hormone ghrelin, the "hunger hormone". Both hormones act on the hypothalamus to regulate appetite to achieve energy homeostasis. In obesity, a decreased sensitivity to leptin occurs, resulting in an inability to detect satiety despite high energy stores.

So genes and biochemistry certainly play a role in whether we are naturally slim or not. I hate having to watch what I eat but I feel better at a lower weight and my blood pressure is better as are my knees so that has to be the reward for avoiding cake! (Dammit!)

Breakfast, oats with yoghurt, chopped nuts and raisins. (rasins help to make me 'go' as advised by colorectal doctor ) Cup of coffee.

Lunch none or a slice of toast (home made bread, no salt) with marg and cup of peppermint tea.

Dinner small piece of chicken, carrots, cauliflower and one small boiled potato (no gravy). Handful of grapes and a pear followed by coffee and 4 squares of dark chocolate.

I could eat so much more (sigh). Would love packet of crisps, soup, marmite, anything with loads of salt in.....but can't.