A Group For People Who Have Never Been Overweight?

toutmonpossible
toutmonpossible Posts: 1,580 Member
in Motivation and Support
Are there people here who have always been normal weight but who find it useful to track their calories and other information?

Perhaps as you've grown older, you've found your metabolism has slowed and paying attention to what you eat is more of a necessity in our food-oriented, activity-indifferent culture? If so, would you be interested in forming a group? I really don't think our issues are that different from those of people who are overweight, but some people with a lot of weight to lose don't seem to take us seriously.

Having said that, everyone would be welcome, but I get tired of the attitude that maintaining a healthy weight all one's life does not take effort.

Replies

  • mmddwechanged
    mmddwechanged Posts: 1,687 Member
    It does take a lot of effort. I have to bite my tongue when people tell me how lucky I am or how "it's not fair". I come from a family where all the women have weight issues so I hear this lots! I'm not really interested in a group though.:flowerforyou:
  • toutmonpossible
    toutmonpossible Posts: 1,580 Member
    It does take a lot of effort. I have to bite my tongue when people tell me how lucky I am or how "it's not fair". I come from a family where all the women have weight issues so I hear this lots! I'm not really interested in a group though.:flowerforyou:

    Thanks for your response. :smile:

    I don't know if a group is necessary is either, but I was thinking it would be nice to have a place to go to where the members have had a similar experience and have already figured out how to count calories, if they track rigorously, what kind of exercise they need to maintain their weight, etc.
  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
    There is a group called "Not That Heavy Girls"
  • 5n0wbal1
    5n0wbal1 Posts: 429 Member
    Hey, there! I'm used to being on the low side of the scale considered "normal weight"; I got to the higher side of the scale after I had my kids, but I've never been overweight. I still think that I look better smaller, so that's why I'm here.

    EDIT: Mission statement for Not That Heavy Girls: "Females who are not obese, maybe within their ideal weight range but working on losing body fat, toning up or dropping the last few, stubborn pounds."
  • cdjs77
    cdjs77 Posts: 176 Member
    I have to bite my tongue when people tell me how lucky I am or how "it's not fair".
    This! Growing up I was super skinny and had a couple of heavier friends who were constantly telling me how lucky I was that my family and I were thin. Then, one of them came to stay at my house for a week and said, "This is what you guys eat?! No wonder you're all thin!" I think the problem is that friends and extended family usually only see you in abnormal circumstances such as holidays, birthdays, eating out, etc., all times when most people eat a lot of bad food no matter what there size. When people are mostly seeing you at times when you are packing your plate, it's easy for them to think "s/he is eating what I am, how can s/he stay so thin?" It's not until they see your day to day life filled with activities, fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats and few snacks that they really understand where you are coming from.
    That being said, I definitely have to agree that I am lucky, not because I was blessed with some sort of magic genes which let me eat endlessly and still stay thin, but because my parents instilled healthy habits in me from a young age. Even when I went to college and gained the "Freshman 15" with my new junk food diet, it didn't stick long because I wasn't used to it and got sick of eating junk food all the time. I missed my old diet of fresh fruit and vegetables. Even now that I find myself a few pounds heavier than I'd like to be, I had no problem switching to healthier, low-calorie foods because its what I ate growing up. I realize that not all people are lucky enough to have been raised to enjoy these types of foods and eschew less healthy snacks, so it may be more challenging to give up the snack foods in exchange for some fruits.
  • WillUAre
    WillUAre Posts: 81 Member
    Oh, good. Thanks.

    Thanks op for bringing it up.
  • Steveburg123
    Steveburg123 Posts: 23
    Feeling good to hear you all. The world is affected by an obesity epidemic, at this point such stories are inspiring. I also knew few people whose diet has no restriction, still they have normal weight. Yes, lucky men.
  • toutmonpossible
    toutmonpossible Posts: 1,580 Member
    There is a group called "Not That Heavy Girls"

    Thank you. But I've never been heavy. I also don't like to use the term "girls" for females over the age of 18. It's self-infantilizing.
  • toutmonpossible
    toutmonpossible Posts: 1,580 Member
    Feeling good to hear you all. The world is affected by an obesity epidemic, at this point such stories are inspiring. I also knew few people whose diet has no restriction, still they have normal weight. Yes, lucky men.

    They are lucky, but I'm thinking more about people who have had to watch what they eat to maintain their weight. Maybe they could eat whatever they wanted into their 20s, but at some point, as happens, they got sedentary, their metabolisms slowed, perhaps they were able to eat better food, and they realized they had to put in some effort not to become overweight.
  • toutmonpossible
    toutmonpossible Posts: 1,580 Member
    Oh, good. Thanks.

    Thanks op for bringing it up.


    Thank you. BTW, I've never met anyone who worked to his maintain his or her weight who thought it was easy to lose a lot of weight. In fact, realizing how hard it must be motivated them to keep their weight under control. Some overweight and obese people think that normal weight people have no empathy. I don't think that's generally the case, especially if you are past the point where you can eat anything without thinking about it.
  • toutmonpossible
    toutmonpossible Posts: 1,580 Member
    I have to bite my tongue when people tell me how lucky I am or how "it's not fair".
    This! Growing up I was super skinny and had a couple of heavier friends who were constantly telling me how lucky I was that my family and I were thin. Then, one of them came to stay at my house for a week and said, "This is what you guys eat?! No wonder you're all thin!" I think the problem is that friends and extended family usually only see you in abnormal circumstances such as holidays, birthdays, eating out, etc., all times when most people eat a lot of bad food no matter what there size. When people are mostly seeing you at times when you are packing your plate, it's easy for them to think "s/he is eating what I am, how can s/he stay so thin?" It's not until they see your day to day life filled with activities, fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats and few snacks that they really understand where you are coming from.
    That being said, I definitely have to agree that I am lucky, not because I was blessed with some sort of magic genes which let me eat endlessly and still stay thin, but because my parents instilled healthy habits in me from a young age. Even when I went to college and gained the "Freshman 15" with my new junk food diet, it didn't stick long because I wasn't used to it and got sick of eating junk food all the time. I missed my old diet of fresh fruit and vegetables. Even now that I find myself a few pounds heavier than I'd like to be, I had no problem switching to healthier, low-calorie foods because its what I ate growing up. I realize that not all people are lucky enough to have been raised to enjoy these types of foods and eschew less healthy snacks, so it may be more challenging to give up the snack foods in exchange for some fruits.

    When I was in college, eating in the dining hall, people sometimes used to joke:

    She stops eating when she's hungry. THAT'S how it's done! Or,
    She doesn't feel the need to finish everything on her plate. That's the answer.

    I wasn't even thinking about it then. And I did pig out sometimes. Once I ate an entire jar of cashew butter in a day or a weekend.

    My luck is not physical. I'm short and small and the older I get the less I can eat because my metabolism has slowed down. That sucks. But for some reason, compared to my family, I am less able to tolerate being even a little overweight (by my standards) and usually respond. For that quality I feel very lucky. I hope that sensitivity never changes.
  • toutmonpossible
    toutmonpossible Posts: 1,580 Member
    Hey, there! I'm used to being on the low side of the scale considered "normal weight"; I got to the higher side of the scale after I had my kids, but I've never been overweight. I still think that I look better smaller, so that's why I'm here.

    EDIT: Mission statement for Not That Heavy Girls: "Females who are not obese, maybe within their ideal weight range but working on losing body fat, toning up or dropping the last few, stubborn pounds."

    Thank you for telling me about the group.
  • LINIA
    LINIA Posts: 1,161 Member
    Yes, i too have always been within normal weight ranges for my height. On the chart that comes out to 105-125. Presently, at 120, near the top end, i feel a bit too heavy for my comfortzone.
    Am suffering from arthritis and a few other things so the less i weigh the better it is on my knees, hips, back etc. last summer, got down to about 116 and just losing those four pounds helped quite a bit with the result of increased mobility.

    Like one post above, i don't really like the title of the group " Not That Heavy Girls" ....but may take a look anyhow. Even though i remain within normal BMI, i am not young and it seems harder each year to reach, or maintain my goals.

    I weighed 105 until i hit 40, then was 114 for many years....during that time i rarely, rarely went to the gym. As a busy person, maybe i just burned the calories by daily activities and dancing.

    The beauty of MFP is the level of awareness of needing to increase our intake of fresh healthy vegetables and trying to avoid the unhealthy fats...so i now eat much less chocolate ice cream.

    Thanks for posting this topic OP!
  • asdelmonte
    asdelmonte Posts: 171 Member
    I fall in this category as well. The heaviest I ever was, post partum, was still within the healthy range for my height. I don't consider myself lucky; I am dedicated. My father has always had extremely poor eating and exercising habits and they caught up to him at a pretty young age. I decided early on that I was given only one body and I better take care of it. There's no trading it in for a newer or better model. As such, I eat a healthy variety of foods, keep low nutrition foods to a minimum, and exercise almost daily. I like feeling good. I like looking good too, but that is just a really nice benefit of my lifestyle, not the reason I do it.

    .

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