Dinner with the girls

[AnneWonders]

I went to a friend's birthday dinner last week with a bunch of women. We are all in the same triathlon club and so have in common that we are all very active/athletic. We have a wide range of body types from the very thin stereotypical triathlete, to muscular, to a little, hmm, rubenesque?? Ages ranged from mid twenties to maybe early 40s. It would be fair to say some of us are watching our weight closely and some are doing Ironman training and eating anything they feel like. Some of us are naturally thin, and some of us aren't. There were common threads.

• No one ordered red meat. Chicken, seafood, & vegetarian only.
• We all ate carbs & lots of 'em. Split about 50/50 on steamed vs fried rice (it was a Japanese place).
• Drinks were split about 50/50 for water and diet coke. Maybe one tea. No one had sugary soda.
• Everyone ate their vegetables. Lots of them.
• Most of us did not eat all the food that was served.
• About half of us refused the free dessert. Really seriously free (because of the b'day).

This is a very different experience than I have when I go out with family, or my other girlfriends who are not athletic. This is one night with one group of women (about 10 of us). I'm not sure I have a point here, but I found it to be an interesting observation, especially in light of the "naturally thin" discussions that are going on right now in several of our threads. I suppose one could argue a group of triathletes are as unique a group as a group of weight loss maintainers.

I find our conversations of how we are different and how we are similar to other people, fat and always thin fascinating, perhaps because most of the thin people I do know are triathletes/runners/etc, and they eat like me. More similar than different, and I know this is not the normal experience here.

Anybody have any thoughts on this?

Anne

[midwife]

I think that those of us who are very active and who incorporate exercise can and do eat differently. I see that the women you were with chose healthy foods, but also ate. I'm a fan of eating as much as one can/needs to to lose or maintain weight. I don't get the philosophy of squeaking by on 1200 calories instead of 1800 when 1800 can be the correct amount.

Food is not the enemy. We need calories to function and those calories should come from a variety of common sense, healthy food sources.

PS I probably would have had a bite of dessert.

[paperclippy]

LOL midwife, I would have had dessert too.

That's interesting how everyone ate the same way. My eating habits are pretty similar to that too, except for my addiction to dessert, and even though I happen to be getting into triathlon, I haven't changed my diet at all because of it.

I do think in general it seems like women are less likely to eat red meat than men. (I say this after having had beef and lamb last week. ) That probably would be similar with non-triathletes too.

[JulieJ08]

I think it's very interesting.

But about the dessert, it would depend. Some restaurants have some good desserts, but what I've gotten for free in the past for birthdays has never been fabulous, just OK.

I also wonder how much people eat differently when in a group a health-minded girlfriends vs. with their family.