Naturally thin people...what do you eat in a day?

BinaryPulsar

My husband is lean, but of course he can eat more than me because he weighs 75 pounds more than I do and he is 9 inches taller than me.

Fit_Chef_NE

I think "naturally thin" is a thing heavy people make up in their minds because they'd rather believe that they were dealt an unfair hand in life rather than admit that it's because they eat a lot more than other people. I used to think people were naturally thin too, but they just eat less. If you judge your friends eating habits based on what they eat during a day our with you or at a party, you can't really go by that. I save calories before or after a day out so I can eat "normally" with friends. Then I eat less the days before and after or don't eat more when I go home.

I have never known a slender person who eats more that I did while I was gaining weight. They all either skip meals or eat very lightly and if they do decide to snack, it's FAR healthier than what I used to have as a snack.

littlecrystal

My husband is what you call “naturally thin”. His eating habits are very monotonous so let me tell you what he eats. Breakfast: 1 fried egg, 2 pieces of bacon, 1-2 slices of buttered bread and a banana. Lunch chicken wings or leftover from dinner. Dinner: rice and meat stew, or rice and fish stew. There is always a glass of coke with lunch and dinner. An exotic fruit after dinner. Sometimes a glass of sour milk. He does not snack and he could even skip lunch if there is nothing that he fancies. Basically if there is nothing that he wants he does not eat at all. He does not like desserts and the only odd snack is a glass of sour milk or a bit of cheese. No surprise that he stays thin.

My sister who was always petite (half of my weight!) loves salad, soup and does not like sweets. Only now in her 40ies she put a little bit of weight (slower metabolism I guess).

I am, on the other hand………………. (like all my food and I am always up for eating).

MissLeelooDallas

I'm in a agreement with the majority of the posters here. There's no such thing as 'naturally thin'. There are factors such as height, age, gender, and medical conditions that affect a person's metabolism. My best friend and my husband are both very thin and have been most of their lives. I've had my friend stay with us for a week and you do see why she is thin. She doesn't eat breakfast, hardly ever has lunch and her snacks (if she has them) are constant black coffee, beef jerky, and not much else. She doesn't like seasonings and is a very picky eater. Yes, in the evening she'll eat a burger and fries and have high calorie beer, but that's a once a day type of event. She also has a fairly active job, though she never works out or does active things outside of work. As for my husband, he does workout (weight training twice a week) and is active outside of his desk job to about the degree I am. He eats all the time and very, very, very high calorie and huge meals (2 doughnuts and a bagel every morning, huge carb-loaded lunch, protein shakes, huge carb-loaded dinner, and desserts like cake every night). The reason he stays very thin is that he suffers from Crohn's disease, so much of what he eats doesn't get fully absorbed.

I never considered myself naturally thin, though I know some people would have said that. I was around 118 throughout high school and college, got up to 137 by my late 20s and I'm now around 100-103. The reason I put on weight was because I went from a fairly active lifestyle to a very sedentary lifestyle. By becoming aware of that, I became active again and lost the weight.

SillyC2

thank you. I know. That's exactly my point. Fat people think that skinny people "eat whatever they want". It's a very skewed view of the issue. They don't "eat whatever they want". It's very modified and they stop when full. Fat people don't stop. But, it's confusing to someone that doesn't have moderation as an option.

I'm one of those too. But, I learned something. When I hung out with my fat friends, I couldn't believe how much they would eat. Maybe in HS or so, I stayed with a friend for about 3 or 4 days. I couldn't wait to get out of that house. The amount of food they ate just blew my mind. I was so happy to get home and just get back to my normal eating. But, in my own world view, "I ate whatever I wanted", but when you compare that with someone who is overweight, you will see that the two points of view are very different.

This has been my experience, too. In my 20s, I had a "working group" of maybe six people that I would see for three days at a time, and we'd work on a project together. We stayed together 24/7, ate together, slept in the same house. Then see each other again four months later for the same thing.

About half of them were obese. Two of us were "naturally thin" and a couple of people were in-between.

The two of us who were "naturally thin" quite literally ate about half the amount that the obese people did. AND we got up in the morning and went running before we started work. Also, when we took a break, the "thin" and "medium" people went outside for a walk to get some fresh air (or we'd go walk to the coffee shot and bring it back), while the obese crowd stayed on the couches.

Anyhow, I've been accused many times of being naturally thin. You can check my diary if you like.

NewLIFEstyle4ME

thank you. I know. That's exactly my point. Fat people think that skinny people "eat whatever they want". It's a very skewed view of the issue. They don't "eat whatever they want". It's very modified and they stop when full. Fat people don't stop. But, it's confusing to someone that doesn't have moderation as an option.

I'm one of those too. But, I learned something. When I hung out with my fat friends, I couldn't believe how much they would eat. Maybe in HS or so, I stayed with a friend for about 3 or 4 days. I couldn't wait to get out of that house. The amount of food they ate just blew my mind. I was so happy to get home and just get back to my normal eating. But, in my own world view, "I ate whatever I wanted", but when you compare that with someone who is overweight, you will see that the two points of view are very different.

This has been my experience, too. In my 20s, I had a "working group" of maybe six people that I would see for three days at a time, and we'd work on a project together. We stayed together 24/7, ate together, slept in the same house. Then see each other again four months later for the same thing.

About half of them were obese. Two of us were "naturally thin" and a couple of people were in-between.

The two of us who were "naturally thin" quite literally ate about half the amount that the obese people did. AND we got up in the morning and went running before we started work. Also, when we took a break, the "thin" and "medium" people went outside for a walk to get some fresh air (or we'd go walk to the coffee shot and bring it back), while the obese crowd stayed on the couches.

Anyhow, I've been accused many times of being naturally thin. You can check my diary if you like.

Thanks for posting this! :flowerforyou:

temsabi

Ok, well I've never been "fat." I've weighed 130 pounds one time, which I was not at all happy with. I normally weigh between 118-124 pounds. I'm 5'6". Anything above that and I start to feel it weigh me down. I guess that mindset of "feeling" the extra weight and immediately doing something about it is what keeps me from getting overweight. I don't want to say I'm naturally thin, because if I overeat I gain weight. But I guess, unlike some people, I have an easier time of stopping myself from overeating, and I haven't been a fan of your traditional junk foods since I was a sophomore in high school.

Anyway, I'm not the diet and exercise type at all, in that I'm rubbish at following strict diet and exercise plans. That being said, I have gone through times when I was exercising a lot (running five miles a day four to five days a week) and while this exercise didn't change my weight, it DID make me look significantly more toned and healthier.

In my younger days--and I'm not proud of this and WOULD NOT recommend it--here's what I would eat:

Breakfast: Latte (who milk or low fat), sometimes with a pastry (pain au chocolat or similar) or biscotti, sometimes without the pastry if I was feeling "healthy"

Lunch: Coffee freddo made with whole milk? Or another latte with a muffin or bagel? Or a super veggie burrito? Or a sandwich and lemonade? The point is, I would get ONE super calorie-dense thing and eat it.

Snack: Sometimes I'd have a cocktail and cheese, or iced coffee and biscuits, sometimes I'd make it to dinner without a snack depending on how busy I was.

Dinner: Normally I'd go out to eat, accompanied by a glass of wine. At home it would be a glass or two of wine, and then I'd be sure to have a veggie dish (be it salad or steamed veggies or vegetable soup), a protein (I'm a vegetarian so it would normally be bean-based), a grain (bread or pasta, normally) and follow this with dessert.

Now that I'm older I'm becoming more concerned with my health and energy levels, so I've been trying to get myself to live by the rule "always make the healthy choice," so that when you go out for drinks or have a slice of cake for a friend's birthday you don't feel guilty about having eaten nothing but sugar all day.

So now:

For breakfast I still have the large whole milk latte, accompanied with either a couple biscuits or muesli with almond milk.

Lunch includes WHOLE grains, whole milk yogurt made with real sugar (Trader Joe's and Stoneybrook YoBaby are good options), another protein of some sort, and one or two servings of fruits and veggies. I have started eating the Sprouts compote packets, which have 1.5 servings of fruit and veg which are super convenient and taste good!

Snack: Tea and biscuits or a handful of nuts if I need it during weekdays. Maybe soft serve ice cream on the weekend or if I'm out and about a small latte for the added energy until dinner.

Dinner is often still out, but if I feel like I've got a pound or two I want to get rid of I'll choose the healthier options (either a salad or veggie-heavy dish) and get champagne or wine instead of a sugar-laden cocktail. I also tend to make lunch the heaviest meal of the day and then do raw veggies and a protein (hummus or similar) for dinner on the weekdays when I'm not at a restaurant.

On weekends I have a very light lunch because I know I'll be eating out for dinner and I tend not to restrict myself at restaurants, especially where dessert is involved.

I don't feel guilty about indulging, but if I indulge every day it DOES start to catch up.

As tempting as it is to say "one extra bag of chips with lunch won't kill me," what if you grabbed the mixed nuts instead? Nuts are dense in calories but also nutrients. They'll fill you up, and when you go out later for dinner with friends you'll be full on something healthy instead of hungry having eaten calories that did nothing for you. When you're full on healthy, you eat less junk. This is what I mean by "always make the healthy choice."

Notice I did NOT say "always make the low calorie choice." I don't believe in low calorie "diet" foods. They just make me hungrier. I do believe in healthy v. unhealthy, and it's usually easy to spot the difference. For example: I never feel guilty eating through three servings of muesli, even though that stuff is 220 calories for HALF A CUP. That's such a small serving size!! But it's full of nuts, dried fruits and whole oats. So I figure if my body wants to eat it, it must be because I'm lacking the nutrients it has. But ice cream? If you eat three servings of that in one sitting you'll get fat and no nutrients in return. I eat a serving of ice cream a week instead, and I don't get fat.

If I'm starving in between meals, I grab the healthiest item near me and eat it--preferably not a processed one. If I need to snack because I'm starving then I choose raw veggies or nuts to get me through. If I'm desperately craving a certain food, I give into that craving because I've realized over the years that if I deny myself it doesn't go away. But when I eat a balanced diet, cravings are rare. Like, only happen every few months rare.

In terms of exercise: I wish I did more because it helps my confidence, not my weight. It does make me toned and I'm sure if I were overweight, it would make me lose. However, I DO WALK *AT LEAST* 45 MINUTES A DAY. I sit at my desk constantly for work. But after hours, I walk everywhere I need to go. And I live in a city with a lot of hills, so this helps a lot. I'm constantly active. I don't stay in bed watching tv if it's nice out. I'm outside. Even if it's just a walk to grab a cup of coffee with friends, I walk to the cafe, I walk back--or at least I walk to the bus and I never say no to a place because it's "too far of a walk." On the weekend I'm on my feet for a good five hours. Not sitting, but actually on my feet, whether that be shopping, dancing, hanging out in the park, or going for a hike.

I also NEVER SNACK. Well, not "never"--obviously I eat between lunch and dinner and if I get starved. When I do, it's something small, and normally with caffeine to give me that jolt I need to get me to dinner. Other than that, I never feel satisfied on snacking, so why do it? I made the commitment eight years ago to never snack. It was hard, but I don't regret it. I'm so much happier and healthier and have a better relationship with food when I rely on complete meals rather than snacks. Obviously, people with blood sugar level imbalances or other health issues *need* to snack. Luckily I don't suffer from those issues.

I stay away from diet foods and corn syrup. Mostly because I feel the chemicals in them give me bad skin, bad hair, and might cause cancer. But if I have junk food (you know, cake or M&Ms at a girls' night or whatever) I don't care what's in it because I know it's a special occasion. No need to obsess over everything.

I have diet sodas once every three months or so, and that is the only time I have artificial sweeteners, except with gum since there's no way around that. I always choose a latte or black tea or kombucha for mid-afternboon caffeine instead if I can, or Mexican Coke if I need the jolt since it's got real sugar.

I never drink juice. It's either water or coffee or drinks out with friends. Mostly water. I very, very rarely have soft drinks and I only really have them if I need the caffeine late at night, which very rarely happens. The exception to this is on hot days when I get sparkling lemonade with lunch because really there's nothing better than lemonade on a hot day.

I use MyFitnessPal as a guide, not a rule. I don't obsess over everything I track. Some days I eat more than I put on there because I know that at least for the first part of the day, I was healthy and balanced. Every now and again I need it to put my consumption into perspective. I really have a sweet tooth and I really worry about getting enough nutrients that I need. MFP helps me have a reality check with how much sugar I'm consuming, which is my biggest downfall. And as someone with a potential heart condition, sugar--no matter how much you weigh--is something that really needs to be kept in check.

On holidays, I eat whatever is there (besides the meat). It's a holiday and I never allow myself to feel guilty. It happens only a few times a year. Enjoy it. But I never buy candy to keep in the house. I save the gorging for the day itself. Leading up to the holiday, I eat as normal. There are plenty of holiday parties to make me feel like I haven't missed out even if I don't have Christmas chocolates in the pantry.

I listen to my hunger. If I'm not hungry and someone offers me food, I say no. I eat very, very fast, so chewing more slowly is something I'm working on. It does help make you feel satisfied faster.

The best advice I can give to someone who wants to lose weight without dieting? Keep busy. It doesn't have to be exercise, but keep on your feet with a group of people or your favorite hobby. Boredom makes you hungry, depressed and ultimately just plain unhealthy. To be honest, when I get super busy I can easily drop down to 114 without even trying.

Also, I don't follow this advice to a "t", but she has some good points here that basically state what every healthily-thin woman already knows: if you eat healthy most of the time, tackle your cravings in a healthy way, and don't eat unless you're actually physically hungry, then you will eventually get to a weight you're happy with: http://www.thelondoner.me/2012/01/anti-diet.html

That was probably the most boring mini-novel of all time I just wrote there, sorry!