How normal, thin people eat.

From observing the so-called "naturally thin" people I know, I've noticed several distinct differences about how they eat compared to how I have for most of my life (during which my weight has yoyo-ed back and forth between 102 and 130 pounds), and how most chronic dieters eat.

1. They don't count calories or even pay attention to them. One of my skinny girl friends (who I used to think just had a "really fast metabolism & ate whatever she wanted" until I started actually paying attention to her habits) looked over my shoulder one day while I was punching in my calories for lunch & said "ew, why are you counting calories". I actually felt pretty stupid, because here's someone who's as thin as I could only dream to be, & she doesn't even go to the extents that I do in order to have the body she does. It also got me thinking about BMR's and TDEE's, and how lots of people on here say "NEVER GO BELOW BMR" etc etc. But I know for a sure fact that many thin people I know go days where they don't eat even up to that much. & they also have days they eat more, so I'm sure it balances out. But to exactly their TDEE or even close? I'd doubt that for some of my friends. They just don't pay attention to numbers. & some of my especially tiny Asian friends seem perfectly content eating small amounts pretty much daily.

2. They only eat when they're hungry & they know when to stop. They naturally eat small portions. I used to never be able to understand how my friends & I could go to Burger King & they could get a whopper & medium fries and throw it away after eating just a little more than half. I was raised to never throw food away, and that I was only finished eating when my plate was empty. For that reason, I've often been known to finish off entire plates of restaurant entrees (which we all know could serve 2 or 3 people) or as much as I could stomach, literally eating till I felt sick. I've been known to eat entire packages of cookies in a night, or 6 slices of pizza. Thin people know when to stop, even when they've eaten just a fourth of their meal. Two slices of pizza is always enough, or even one and a half. Throwing food away, or taking the rest to go & eating the leftovers over the next few days is pretty much second nature for them. Even with sweets, somehow its so easy for them to eat half a candy bar and put the rest away for later. For most of my life, sweets have been something I was never able to just enjoy in small quantities.

3. They don't place any moral labels on food, & they seem to lack any emotional attachment to it. As in, they won't say things like "omg this is so bad for me" when having pizza or something. They'll just enjoy it. They'll eat ice-cream with no guilt. And they don't use food as a way to cope with emotions or eat purely for fun. If they're hungry, they eat. If they're not, they don't. They'll eat sweets but they won't eat them till they're sick, nor will they lock themselves in their room with a box of oreos & not leave until they're finished.

Basically, they don't obsess over food. Food is nourishment for them, that's it. Even when its something decadent, they know when to stop. They don't stuff themselves till discomfort. & now that I actually think about it, that's completely different from how I've eaten for like the past 10 years. I frequently stuff myself just because its there & I feel inclined to eat it. I have a huge emotional attachment to food at times, & I do eat out of stress or boredom. I also label some foods as "bad" or "good" & even feel scared of events where there's "bad" food that may "tempt" me.

I'm obsessed with calorie counts & food labels & although that stuff is important, I'm starting to feel like it's not necessary to actively count and monitor them just to lose weight. I feel like if I would just stop eating for any reason besides hunger, & learn to start controlling my portion sizes & enjoying my food instead of obsessing over every calorie, I could become & stay thin without putting in nearly as much effort as I do now.

Excellent post. Very insightful. These are habits that I want to form as well. I've noticed there are days I'm just not hungry, and it doesn't make sense to me to forcefeed myself to get in the minimum required calories. I also have days where I naturally want more, and I think it all balanced out in the end. I want to listen to my body more, and still log the calories to see how many I wind up eating for the day.

Thanks Angie,

I enjoyed reading your article. It was very informative. I have noticed since I started seriously working out again I don't crave those "bad foods" to eat. Instead I want healthy stuff. I don't even have a desire for them. I love sweets by the way :-)
Maybe that goes along with the active lifestyle