How people at a normal weight eat!

firstsip

Normal weight people (those who have always been) aren't likely to bother joining a site such as MFP.

Statistics? o_O I know way too many people who are using the site to bulk, monitor exercise, or just "eat healthier" who are a healthy weight. I would say nearly half of MFP is a normal weight here for other fitness purposes.

mnstrpc

I've been at a "normal" weight pretty much all my life but struggled to lose the last 10lbs of baby weight after my son, hence joining MFP. Have since lost it, just maintaining, don't even log all that religiously.

1. They eat small quantities of food. - Yup, usually true.

2. They don't finish everything on their plate. - Depends. Is it a portion I have given myself? I know about how much I want/need to eat and generally don't take more than that. Restaurant portions? Good lord, I almost never finish those; they're huge.

3. They talk while eating instead of stuffing their faces. - Sure, eating is a social event!

4. They move around more just because. - Probably, but I'm kind of type A / OCD person in general so I'm just fidgety.

5. They are able to save half their lunch (often times) as leftovers for the next day. - Again, depends on the portion size to start with, lunch from a restaurant I could probably get two meals out of.

6. They eat maybe one piece of candy, or a cookie, after a meal. Not 2, not 5, not 10. - True.

7. Food (as a couple explained to me) is not for pleasure, even tasty food. It's for energy. - NOT true! I love food. Seriously, seriously love good food!

8. Over indulgence just doesn't happen. - Not really true either. It happens from time to time but not that often. If I eat a really huge (for me) portion of something I just feel bloated and sick, so I try to avoid that, but nobody's perfect, it does happen sometimes.

9. They eat slowly. - Yes, probably. It takes me nearly twice as long to finish a meal as it does my husband. He scarfs it down.

10. No pigging out happens and if it does, it's not the overweight person's version of pigging out. - Well, I've been known to pig out on some favorite foods from time to time, but yeah, it might not be the same as someone else's "pigging out." See above about feeling bloated and ill.

jilliew

I did most of these things before I started losing weight, and trust me, 254 lbs on a 5'5'' frame is NOT normal. Ok, maybe I did #6 a lot. But I didn't get overweight by just eating 10 extra cookies a day. It was because I ate pasta and fast food for every meal (even if my meals were not that large), drank a ton of pop (soda, for you Americans), juice and alcohol with almost no water consumption whatsoever, and I was a huuuuuuge couch potato.

brevislux

I'm on the very low end of the normal weight scale and I always finish the food on my plate...
No need to waste food! Just don't put too much food in it...

lizziebeth1028

I'm at my normal weight and none of those is true for me
and number 7 is just sad

Agreed.

I triple it!! Food is pleasure! There is no shame in that!

quirkytizzy

How overweight people eat:

1. We horf it down so fast it looks to the average passerby like we're eating with a prison mentality
2. We want to finish eating as quickly as possible to as to get more food in before the 20-minute mark when we start feeling full
3. We eat so we can take a nap later- energy? Pffft.
4. If it's not tasty- well, we'll probably still eat it, but then eat something else to get the bad food taste out of our mouth.
5. #1 rule- when there is food on the table- NO TALKING.
6. We're disgusting, abnormal pigs who should probably be shipped off to an island with our own "kind" so as not to gross out the normies who delicately pick at their plates and declare fullness after three asparagus stalks and 2 oz of grilled salmon.

KK, off to go eat a donut hamburger! Peace out b!tches!!!!!!!!

I think I love you!

deksgrl

My best friend is "normal" and she eats like a pig...like it's the last meal she is ever going to have...ever....makes me crazy....I eat one piece of pizza she eats half a pizza. grrr...

This was me. Up until I was a certain age where I started gaining weight, I ate a lot of food. A Lot.

cubizzle

NocturnalGirl

Number 7 doesn't seem like a very good relationship with food... "normal" weight people with a normal relationship with food would enjoy what they eat.

Phaedra2014

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So 8 and 10 are true for me. I agree with those who said you are looking at a very small sample size that isn't very representative of "normal" weight people.
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Yup. It wasn't a research design project with a null hypothesis, a control group and an experimental group.

It was simply my observation based on the people I spend most of my day with: i.e. co-workers, friends, some family.

Arexxx

Well um, I know people at a "normal" weight that don't do any of the things you've mentioned.

And number 7 is sad.

Chinadorian

these "normal" kind of sound like robots to me....hmmm....

BelleHeart

I'd like to think I'm at a normal weight... and I eat chocolate almost every day (and usually not just 1-2 pieces). I always finish my meals... I eat for pleasure... I don't know who these people are that you're conversing with but they sound awful.

lol You go girl Even though I am losing weight I still eat for 'pleasure'. I love to cook and bake so that is probably why.

smantha32

6. They eat maybe one piece of candy, or a cookie, after a meal. Not 2, not 5, not 10.

Well sometimes the candy or the cookies ARE the meal, not what's after the meal. :laugh:
I'm sure naturally thin people don't do that either.

st3f4real

I'm definitely not normal.

But I guess its the reason I gained weight and now have to log my calories to keep it off, I eat for pleasure and I finish my food.....and if theres a 3rd, 4th or 5th cookie in sight I'll probably down that too

haha. That sounds like how I used to be. Mindlessly eating because it was fun, tasted good, and because I was stressed, unhappy or eating for pleasure.

BelleHeart

I know some people at a 'normal' weight and they eat more junk then I do! No, they don't workout either. Maybe it's just the way that their body reacts to food. Or they just have a faster metabolism.

michelejoann

7. Food (as a couple explained to me) is not for pleasure, even tasty food. It's for energy.

Um. No. Wrong. What about the sheer orgasmic joy a person gets from eating bacon?

Juliejustsaying

meh

ahahahahahahah

smantha32

Today she loses weight by going to Zumba 2x and cutting out 1 soda a day(5lbs in a week) while I workout multiple times and count every calorie to drop just 1-2 lbs a week.

I think age has a lot to do with this also. When I was in my 20's, I could drop 5 pounds by skipping a meal or two. Now, not even close.

00Melyanna00

I'll just sit here and quote Ellyn Satter.

"Normal eating is going to the table hungry and eating until you are satisfied. It is being able to choose food you like and eat it and truly get enough of it—not just stop eating because you think you should. Normal eating is being able to give some thought to your food selection so you get nutritious food, but not being so wary and restrictive that you miss out on enjoyable food. Normal eating is giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are happy, sad or bored, or just because it feels good. Normal eating is mostly three meals a day, or four or five, or it can be choosing to munch along the way. It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you know you can have some again tomorrow, or it is eating more now because they taste so wonderful. Normal eating is overeating at times, feeling stuffed and uncomfortable. And it can be undereating at times and wishing you had more. Normal eating is trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating. Normal eating takes up some of your time and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life.

In short, normal eating is flexible. It varies in response to your hunger, your schedule, your proximity to food and your feelings".