Naturally slim people to post

I do find eating carbs early in the day to be good. Porridge does not cause me weight gain.

Penelope perhaps you are not eating enough and your metabolism is sluggish.
I don't know what the answer is but perhaps a nutritionist could advise or joining one of the slimming clubs would help.

Certainly I think some medications can cause weight retention or changes in metabolism.

I notice some of us have ignored the 'naturally slim people to post' OP!!

Isn't it about input and output? If you want to lose weight your calorie intake should be less than what you burn up in exercise. It usually works. Always exceptions of course, medications, illnesses can cause weight gain.

It is actually quite complicated. I was listening to an episode of 'The Life Scientific' in January, where Jim Al-Khalili was talking to Sadaf Farooqi about what makes us fat and the story she had to tell was a lot more complicated than simply eat more calories, get fatter; eat fewer calories, get thinner and the exceptions were not just medication and illness.

I'm not "naturally" slim, because I could eat a horse, but I'm "normal" weight and have been for years. I'm 5ft11 and just under 11 stone. My height means I can probably eat more than most females.

Breakfast: usually eggy - scrambled on toast, boiled with soldiers, fried with bacon. Sausage and baked beans. Piece of fruit.

Lunch: Salad with cheese, ham or fish. Fruit. In Winter, soup.

Evening: Chicken, fish, veggie main and salad/veg. No potatoes, rice or pasta. Yoghurt and fruit.

I don't drink alcohol, but I do snack. Snacks are usually a thimbleful of nuts, fruit or veg. Sometimes eat olives and cheese as a snack.

I hardly ever eat cake, sweets, chocolate or biscuits. Never drink fruit juice or smoothies.

I think to sum up all the slim posters really stick to an eating plan that suits them. The do not over eat. They do not gorge on chocolate or cake and for them this is a normal habit. Therefore it is a bit of a myth that slim people stuff themselves but never put on weight.

The following is long, so you may just wish to skip to the last paragraph.......!
I have been a health nut for a good 35 years, and a fitness instructor, mostly Pilates, for most of them, and have always been slim. I also have a serious interest in nutrition, particularly as we age, so I start from focusing on eating healthily, in moderate quantities, and moving a lot.
Breakfast:
Fruit, 4 T full fat yoghurt, 1-2 T cracked linseed, and gradually cutting down on the honey to sweeten. If I am going to do some heavy exercise I will add 2 T oatmeal or muesli. 3 mugs fennel tea to hydrate.
Mid morning:
2 mugs earl grey tea with skim milk (prefer skim to full fat in tea)
Lunch:
Leftover veggies from cooking the evening meal the night before; tomatoes, home made cooked beetroot in red wine vinegar, home-made coleslaw type salad; rocket (dark green leaves of cabbage family); hummus which I use as salad dressing instead of mayonnaise. 2 pieces fruit, and finish with 1-2 oz cheese, preferably hard, and 1-2 oatcakes.
Mid-afternoon:
2 mugs earl grey with skim milk
Snack:
Olives, not in oil; peanuts roasted in the oven with reduced salt soy sauce; oatcakes; cheese; nuts.
Supper:
Frequently avocados; at least two other vegetables, one of which will be a high protein vegetable such as (dried) beans from a can, with lots of spices and handfuls of herbs; may be sprinkled with hard cheese if I feel there is insufficient first-class protein in the meal; or eggs. 2 pieces fruit. I am vegetarian, but my husband is not, so I throw on a grilled chop, piece of chicken or fish for him: he is also slim.
Sleep-inducing herb tea to drink before bed, one mug, which will sometimes make me go to the loo in the night. I can avoid getting up in the night if I drink alcohol, but then usually suffer leg cramps instead, so take a magnesium supplement for this.
All my food is made from scratch, except hummus and oatcakes. I try to cook something different every day, as I am easily bored, so go the library to take out cook books, as well as use the internet. The Government request for us to eat at least 5 portions of vegetables and fruit, I double, at least. This increases fibre in my diet, and hugely increases the proportion of anti-oxidants and plant hormones that are beneficial.
Alcohol:
I try to restrict alcohol to weekends, except when I go out in the evenings. And will drink most things, but usually stick with red wine. The younger generation tell me of a cocktail called “Skinny Bitch” which is vodka with soda water, so acquiring the taste for this may take time! Vodka is the purest alcohol, with fewest congeners, etc, and the mixer has no calories.
Salt:
I avoid adding salt to any food as there is plenty in the hummus, cheese and soysauce, etc. However, I need salt on eggs. So by adding spices, herbs and lemon juice, and by adding chilli – not too much - to almost everything, I usually avoid adding salt.
Complex Carbohydrates – and fibre:
I avoid the usual carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, quinoa etc as they just add bulk and calories, which I can no longer afford to eat at the age of 66. My carbohydrates come from fruit and vegetables - loads of fibre - oatmeal and oatcakes. I avoid wheat, as we eat a lot of wheat products over our lives, and try to find crispy oatbran, which the supermarkets have stopped supplying. (Horse) oatbran just doesn’t cut the mustard, and I need the bran. Wheat bran is not water soluble, so doesn’t linger in the digestive track for long, taking vitamins and minerals with it, as it is evacuated speedily. Oatbran is water soluble, so stays in the intestine for longer, allowing for time to bulk. Linseed is mucilaginous, which means it bulks up in contact with fluid, forming a gel, so slowing evacuation.
Protein:
The need for protein is maintained as we age, so it is important not to fill up on bread and potatoes, and find you cannot be bothered with the meat. However, don’t forget that combinations, such as beans on toast make a complete protein, as do beans and rice, so don’t discount all complex carbohydrates.
Fats:
Don’t touch processed fats such as margarine, which have been shown to contribute to heart disease because of their transfat contents. Always use butter and oils in moderate quantities. Most slimming diets encourage avoiding fats as far as possible, but this does not necessarily lead to weight loss, and the fat in nuts, seeds, avocados are all healthy fats. Don’t avoid full fat milk as the fat levels are not high, and some fats are essential for optimum health. Nut butters are highly nutritious.
Simple Carbohydrates (sugar):
Sugar is the latest Number One enemy for optimum health. So ideally no jam, desserts, biscuits, cakes, sweets, or chocolate. If you have a choice, choose (to make) desserts and cakes with a good proportion of fruit, such as carrot cake, fruit salad etc. Chocolate is high in antioxidants, and the fat that accompanies is a vegetable fat, but the sugar to make the chocolate appetising………..!
Fruit and many vegetables are also high in natural sugars – unfortunately sugar is sugar is sugar – So I avoid fruit drinks of all kinds. BUT fruit and vegetables are high in necessary fibre, anti-oxidants, plant hormones etc, and the darker the colour, the higher the nutritional value.
Calcium:
Calcium is needed at fairly high levels as we age to help maintain bone density, and as we age, our system finds calcium difficult to absorb, particularly from supplements. Ideally calcium should come from the diet as much as possible, which means plenty of milk – skim milk is marginally higher in calcium - which may be drunk as a nutritious drink even though we are no longer children. And I eat a lot of plain yoghurt (never sweetened) and hard cheese as these dairy foods contain the most absorbable levels of calcium. Dark leafy greens contain calcium, but large quantities need to be eaten compared to cheese. Spinach contains oxalates which prevent absorption of the calcium present, which is an example of why we need to eat a wide range of vegetables and fruits.
Yoghurt is essential for maintaining our gut flora: those little costly pots are no better than simple, plain yoghurt.
Texture and Flavour:
So, although iceberg lettuce is pale, it is really eaten for its contribution as texture. Babyfood is highly nutritious, for babies, but due to its lack of texture, it is exceedingly uninteresting. Be aware of this when feeding the elderly, particularly in nursing homes. If they really do not need all their food to be blended, even without teeth, try to encourage some texture. Food is not all about flavour, especially as we age and lose our finer ability to taste.
However, I am really disappointed that the supermarkets are only supplying mueslis in large format oat and wheat flakes, along with great chunks of nuts and dried fruit. There used to be an organic muesli that flaked the grains finely, with small chunks of nuts, seeds and fruit. In the meantime, oat flakes on their own are less fattening than with all the added bits. If the flakes require a lot of chewing, soak the grains in milk – or fruit juice if you are dairy intolerant - overnight or for about half an hour before you are due to eat.
Glycaemic Index:
If you are diabetic or told that you have metabolic disorder, you will know a lot about the GI value of foodstuffs. More commonly secondary diabetes strikes fatter people, and as we age, even skinny people are afflicted. For some of us, our blood sugar levels are more difficult to manage as we age. This does not mean that we will become diabetic, but it is useful knowledge for all of us to know how to manage blood sugar levels. Lack of sufficient blood sugar – or it may be a simple case of de-hydration - leaves the individual irritable, tired and sometimes feeling spaced out. This happens to me if I exercise fairly vigorously, so I have oat flakes for breakfast, as the GI value of oats is a lot lower than any other cereal.
Foods are attributed a GI value according to how efficiently they raise blood sugar levels on digestion. White sugar, white bread and bananas all have the level of 100, which means that these foodstuffs will quickly raise your blood sugar levels. However, it is not a good thing to raise blood sugar levels rapidly, as there is a consequent collapse of blood sugar levels to a level below that before ingesting the food, leaving you more tired and irritable once again. This means eating foods attributed with a low GI number, which slowly raise the blood sugar levels to prevent moodiness and fatigue. The foods with the lowest GI values are dried beans, which is where peanuts come in, preferably raw, when you can taste their beany flavour. Trail mix is a combination mixture of dried fruit - which will boost your blood sugar levels quickly - and nuts, which will slowly boost your blood sugar levels. People don’t enthuse over (dried) beans whilst exercising, but hummus on an oatcake would be a good snack at the beginning of a long walk.
Eating Out:
Try to avoid eating out too often, and when you do, consider all of the above, and moderation, moderation, moderation. Luckily for me, I really enjoy eating as above, and have a great interest in good food, which may, or may not, have something to do with slimness.
To maintain slimness, firstly choose your parents: genes have a lot to do with it. Slim people are inefficient metabolisers, which is why we can eat more, and fat people just have to look at food to get fatter! As we age our metabolism slows, so we have to eat less, but also means that we need to exercise more, to maintain optimum health. Well done, if you are still reading!

Eat well, not too much, most of it plants. If it is made from a plant eat it, if it is made in a plant (factory) don't.

Short and sweet and simple to follow, nothing banned, no complicated lists of approved and non-approved foods or foods for specific activities. This mantra has got me to my mid-70s physically fit with my weight well within my BMI and no medical problems in need of medication or any treatment.

If I have any carbs like rice or potatoes with my meal or bread for breakfast I either remain the same weight or put on a lb or two. It's absolutely ridiculous!!! I am 11/2 stone above my highest healthy weight. But honestly it is such a struggle.

Blimey he ctor I've just seen your post!!! I totally lack that sort of discipline. Clearly that's where I'm going wrong!!

"firstly choose your parents" That is the secret of success in all kinds of things in life!

Food is food, a pleasurable activity, that feeds the senses as well as the body.

The biggest mistake that has been made in recent years is to replace food with nutrition so that we now we are expected to eat not for pleasure but only to maintain our health and fitness.

Well, I am going against that trend. I love food, I love eating as wider range as foods as possible in all sorts of combinations. I am not interested in food as fuel and medication. So I will continue to eat a pleasurable mixed diet with no regard for what food is good, bad or indifferent for me, within the very simple parameters mentioned above.

It may well be the difference between slim & overweight: some eat to live, some live to eat.

I cook and I eat enough to live, eating bores me to bits.

Not really 'Eat well, not too much'. It all lies in portion size.

This is a brilliant thread! Thank you, very helpful.
I too struggle,especially since giving up smoking.

I was brought up to finish what was on my plate,waste was considered the worst sin. Even now I struggle to leave food on my plate even when I am full.

There are some very good ideas here though and I am going to try some of them.

M0nica, I would agree if food is a liked part to life. Some people don't like to eat.

Leeds could you put less on your plate or use a smaller plate?you have to trick your eyes first , Overhill , I know this is bad advice but try to eat when you don't have much time , good luck

Sorry I meant Leesa

whitewave and Elegran


I have been very careful this week, lost half a pound but just been to an excellent pub for a meal but did not over indulge compared to what I could eat years ago!
My DM was barely more than six and a half stone for years then put on weight at the menopause - I wasn't that thin but did put on weight after taking essential medication.

daphned I am really nearly 6 foot as well, just the mirror tells me I am only 5' 4"" - and a half!

The smaller plate idea is good, norose, recommended by Weightwatchers too.

In the last couple of weeks we've had visitors and I'v eaten cakes and other fattening foods so today I weighed myself and I've put on 3lb .

If I don't cut back now I will just keep the weight on.

So I believe the best way is to keep an eye on your weight and cut back on the fattening stuff as soon as the pounds go on. Don't just ignore it, easier to have to lose 3lb to 3 stone !

I know 3lb doesn't sound much but for me it is as I'm only 5ft.

I am curious about this big plate/ small plate issue. I cook to a portion size, which is decided before the plates even come out of the cupboard. I cannot put more food on a plate because it is large as there is no more food to serve out.

It is the same when one eats out, the restaurant presents you with a plate of food of a given portion size. Certainly there are situations where food is served as a buffet serve yourself meal, but looking back on my life, buffet meals probably account for less than one meal a week of the meals I have eaten.

I weigh every day. If I go up, I cut back. Simple!( but I do like my food!!)

3 meals a day, no 2nd helpings, no snacks between meals (cakes are snacks - sorry)