Normal weight people?

dutchandkiwi

Before I started this journey I spent a lot of time thinking through what my life looked like when I was not overweight - That part of my life was a few years in total but I managed to do that 3 times in my life. So my question was why could I do it then, but not now

My findings for me (so no generalisation)
I walked and cycled everywhere. Generally because I did not have a car so I had to.
I was more active and generally a lot less at home One of my friends referred to me as unreachable, never at home one. This was before mobile phones
My hands were often kept busy. Lots of things to do with my hands meant no room for food.
I really managed to get fully engrossed in stuff so I'd forget food
I did not care for sweet stuff at all and ate lots and lots of veggies by choice and was flextarian.
I drank water, nothing much else.

So a large part of my journey was stepping back into a modus that seemed to work before. The only one that is really diffrence is that I am now reachable (mobile) and home more often. But still watch incredibly little TV I am always busy!

kwtilbury

ugofatcat wrote: »

This is a really interesting question. Nutrition researchers are starting to look at why some people remain thin despite the fact many people are getting fat. Here are some things they have learned:

1. Obese and lean people do not eat the same amounts of food. At a restaurant, obese people will clean their plate. Lean people will not.
2. Lean people "compensate" when they eat a lot, weather or not they realize it. For example, if they have a large meal, they may not eat the rest of the day or they may not eat much the next day. Obese people do not do this.
3. Obese people will get the medium or large, lean people get the small.
4. Lean people move around more, get up more throughout the day. Obese people do not.
5. Obese people will eat food if you put it in front of them. Lean people will not.

So, the conclusion is that lean people eat less and exercise more than obese people. Brilliant!

StarBrightStarBright

I nudged into the BMI "overweight" range for the first time in my life last month (which is why I'm here). and I'm in my late 30s.

After growing up with a yo-yo dieter I spent my college years slowly developing what I think of as my personal food culture.

Since my mid 20s I've cooked from scratch (pizza dough, pasta, baked goods - if I take the time to bake it from scratch I allow myself to eat it). We almost never eat out. I eat VERY slowly. We all sit at the dinner table together every night and make an effort to have a conversation/talk about our days while eating. A third of my dinner plate is always filled with veggies, fruit or salad. We take after dinner walks as a family. I aim for nutritional diversity (lots of colors, I try not to repeat proteins at dinner, if I have an orange at breakfast, I eat an apple for a snack). I don't "exercise", but I am active (ie. take a bikeride when I'm bored, taking walks after dinner or when I need to run errands). I found that doing those things meant I stayed in a 5 pound range for almost 15 years without calorie counting.

My current gain has been from a super stressful time at work which has meant a lot of take out for the first time in my life as well as nightly cocktails to wind down. It is clearly not working for me but since I'm doing convenient meals for the foreseeable future I'm on MFP because I need to figure out how to eat convenience food (the portions are totally different than my usual food).