I wish more than anything that I was one of those people - like my mom or grandfather - who just doesn't care about food. They only eat because they NEED to. Otherwise, they could care less.
I'm working on it, though. Since I've changed my intake and have set foods I'm allowed to have, etc, I've noticed that I'm becoming less and less concerned with what I'm eating (what - when - where), and just eating it when I'm hungry without too much thought. And that's exactly what I want.
I would love to be a skinny foodie-you know those people on top chef? even the contestants or food editors, they love food but they dont give into the urge (at least not as much as I do) to eat way more than what they burn.
I have a friend who's really tiny. She's 4'11" and very thin. The reason she's so thin is that she has some severe hyperthyroid issues and has, at times, been so underweight that it's been a serious medical concern; there were times when she had to eat huge numbers of calories every day, so much food that it made her sick, just to maintain her weight. Thankfully she has found the right medications and dosages so she is able to eat normally now, but her story always reminds me that health & weight issues cut both ways, and that I'm lucky to be a physically healthy person whose food/weight issues are mental rather than physical.
I think that's the key - slim/thin people don't think about food all the time. It's very much an afterthought for them and they take a bite, put it aside and go on with other things. Much like young kids who are too busy playing with their toys to eat.
I remember once when I was looking through some diet pills at a health store and I asked the lady at the counter whether they worked. She mentioned in an offhand manner (obviously can't say anything bad) that some customers reported good results on them but then turned around and said to me "just don't think about food, don't think about eating, that's all".
So true.
I'm 5'8'', 127lbs. From the age of 15 to 20 I weighed 150lbs. (68kg). I used to go on various diets all the time, tried not eating for days. I've read hundreds of articles on weight loss, exercise and healthy eating. I was a sports junkie and was doing soccer and karate at the same time.
Nothing ever worked. All the weight I ever lost, I gained back even faster. Eventually I just gave up on diets and decided to eat whatever I want, just in smaller amounts. I learned how to listen to my body and give it exactly what it wants, so it wouldn't ask me for more.
My weight dropped to 127lbs. and I never gained another pound again. Sometimes I lose a couple of pounds, but my weight never goes over 127lbs.
My best friend was always very skinny. I remember we were talking one day and she was showing me something on the computer and eating chips. She ate like one third of the bag and then just put it aside and kept talking and never took another bite. She looked like she wasn't even thinking about it...but I was. I was wondering how is she not eating anymore? Is she really going to leave those chips just like that? It would be impossible for me to eat a little bit and leave the rest lying there. Now after losing weight I do understand, because I do the same.
I feel so inspired by all the comments on this thread and this forum. When I read how people are having the exact same thoughts I used to have, and feel like I felt for 5 years. It makes me believe I can change the world, because now I have all the answers! I started a blog so I could share with everyone what to do to lose weight without diets, starving or extreme workouts. If anyone is interested, please visit it at the link below. I wish you all the best on your weight loss journey.
Well, my husband literally eats twice as much as me and often more; for example, if we get a breakfast from McDonald's, I'll have an oatmeal with no brown sugar and an unsweet tea, and he'll have 4-5 Egg & Sausage McMuffins with a large Sprite! If I'm making sandwiches for lunch I'll have one with a salad and he'll have 4 sandwiches with twice the meat and cheese on each one! But . . . he weighs 50 pounds less than me. And he does not get any exercise; figure that one out.
On the other hand, one of his sisters puts down her fork after just one or two bites of dessert since it's "too sweet" for her, and his brother is a super picky eater that barely touches his plate. Both are super skinny. I'm working hard on not focusing on food, to just let it be another part of my life rather than the constant preoccupation it seems to be.
Kaplods, can you write a book? Because I would totally buy it ))
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Originally Posted by Daimere
I second this. I sometimes think, "Wow, I should be actively losing weight. Hold on, I haven't gained weight. That counts for something." That sort of thoughts always makes me think of Kaplods because I think she mentioned that she may be losing slowly but it's better than gaining (if I remember it right).
LOL! I get that a lot, so I actually am writing a book. Well, actually sort of two books. I'm writing a YA werewolf novel, and also a book about my weight loss health journey.
My best friend was always very skinny. I remember we were talking one day and she was showing me something on the computer and eating chips. She ate like one third of the bag and then just put it aside and kept talking and never took another bite. She looked like she wasn't even thinking about it...but I was. I was wondering how is she not eating anymore? Is she really going to leave those chips just like that? It would be impossible for me to eat a little bit and leave the rest lying there.
I had a similar experience with my best friend as a child. I was visiting her house and she showed me some of her Halloween candy stashed away in a drawer -- six months after Halloween!! That's when I realized, "people really are different when it comes to food."
F.
Last edited by freelancemomma; 03-26-2012 at 04:25 PM.
Yes, those "lucky" people with super fast metabolisms are really just lucky in that they developed a way to maintain their weight naturally.
I didn't really see it until I started dating my fiance and thus, spent a lot of time with him. He's very tall and thin (although to be fair that's quite deceiving, he's pretty muscular) and never struggled with his weight. He just eats when he's hungry and therefore will sometimes only eat one GIANT meal a day and sometimes snacks in the evening. Granted, as a young and tall man he can just eat more than most people in general, but I noticed that he regulated himself this way without realizing it.
Additionally if we were planning to go out to eat he would eat little to nothing during the day to "save his appetite," whereas I would eat normally and then eat a horrible portion of restaurant food. Now it's quite nice though: I like doing my eating early in the day, he prefers to start later. We meet in the middle usually: my last meal is at the same time as his first (and sometimes only). So while he feels odd scarfing down a big meal while I eat something much smaller, we can at least enjoy one meal together.
I always wonder why some can regulate their body weights without a thought while others have such a tough time doing so.
Yes, those "lucky" people with super fast metabolisms are really just lucky in that they developed a way to maintain their weight naturally.
I didn't really see it until I started dating my fiance and thus, spent a lot of time with him. He's very tall and thin (although to be fair that's quite deceiving, he's pretty muscular) and never struggled with his weight. He just eats when he's hungry and therefore will sometimes only eat one GIANT meal a day and sometimes snacks in the evening. Granted, as a young and tall man he can just eat more than most people in general, but I noticed that he regulated himself this way without realizing it.
Additionally if we were planning to go out to eat he would eat little to nothing during the day to "save his appetite," whereas I would eat normally and then eat a horrible portion of restaurant food. Now it's quite nice though: I like doing my eating early in the day, he prefers to start later. We meet in the middle usually: my last meal is at the same time as his first (and sometimes only). So while he feels odd scarfing down a big meal while I eat something much smaller, we can at least enjoy one meal together.
I always wonder why some can regulate their body weights without a thought while others have such a tough time doing so.
This pretty much describes my husband and me. Lately, I've been eating nothing for dinner or something very small because I'm so much hungrier in the early part of the day. And I realized that a big part of the reason I got so fat was that I was always hungry earlier in the day when my husband was not. He saved most of his calories for the day for the evening. I would join in on a big dinner and a snack later on sometimes. It's wasn't like I "couldn't" eat more and eating is a social thing too, so joining the rest of the family for dinner was just something I did - after already eating a LOT for the day.
Well, I have stopped that. I now eat most of my calories before 3 pm and sometimes I have some left for later and sometimes I don't (tonight I don't). But I also don't get hungry either.
My mother in law (who lives with us) says I will have to adjust when I get a job (stay at home mom currently) and I told her that's crap (in nicer terms). I'll just bring my main meal for the middle of the day (lunch) and eat something small if anything at all in the evening. Waiting until dinner just meant I stuffed my face because I was so hungry and binging on things often during the day.
Fortunately, DH is totally on board with my switching when I eat. He sees I'm eating, the timing is just different. I will from now on eat when I am hungry - not when the clock or society tells me I should eat.
Yes, those "lucky" people with super fast metabolisms are really just lucky in that they developed a way to maintain their weight naturally.
This is true, but not the whole picture, I think.
I used to be a "naturally" thin person. Back then I was unconsciously IFing. If I ate a huge meal, I wouldn't eat again for hours and hours and hours because I wasn't hungry. But still, there were days when I would easily consume 2,000+ calories (a lot on my small frame) and not gain an ounce.
My body/metabolism changed with age and, possibly, childbirth. Anyway, I kept eating the same but the weight crept on.
So an individual's metabolism does come into play, I think. I can still eat way more than the average woman and not gain weight. But I can't eat the way I used to. Our individual bodies and our individual metabolisms are factors.
Most of my friends are complaining of the "middle-age spread" and I'm the only one who's not. I've had two kids and am 40 yo. To say that you get fatter as you get older is hogwash IMO. I'm living proof that you don't have to. I'm in better physical shape than I was in high school and feel way better too. Food is necessary to stay alive but it shouldn't be your sole focus. EAT TO LIVE not LIVE TO EAT.
Maybe someone already posted this but I believe that just as overweight people are overweight for a variety of different reasons so thin people are thin for a variety of different reasons. Yes some thin people unconciously intermittently fast, others eat smaller portions, but alot of thin people especially athletes consume large quantities of calories but can do so because they are very active physically. I think I saw that Michael Phelps, for instance, could consume upwards of 5000 calories a day when he is in training mode. Even though it's counterintuitive to up your calories when you work out alot athletic people seem to do so without even thinking about it. Funnily enough these athletic types may not even really be athletes. they just may be natural hikers or skiers etc as a hobby type thing.
I hate sweating. I hate it. From the time I was in preschool I hated sweating and getting dirty. Therefore anything that would cause me to be either of those things were to be avoided like the plague. In fact I satyed thin by fasting although I never made the connection. I was often aware of being hungry but was too disorganized and too busy to make sure I ate properly.
Yes, those "lucky" people with super fast metabolisms are really just lucky in that they developed a way to maintain their weight naturally.
I agree that this is is not the whole picture, because it's true only for some. There's far more diversity in both people's current weight, desired weight, and the effort they need to put in (or choose to) and whether their efforts become natural or always require superhuman effort. Some people struggle a lot, some people do not struggle or even pay attention to their weight at all.
There are overweight people of all sizes (just a little overweight to severely morbidly obese to the point of immobility) who don't try to maintain a healthy weight and eat whatever they want, whenever they want.
There are likewise underweight people (just a little underweight or severely, dangerously, skeletally underweight) who don't try to maintain a healthy weight and eat as little or as much as they want, whenever they want regardless of it's impact on their weight and health.
Then there are overweight AND underweight people trying to maintain a healthy weight who find sustainable, "natural" ways to maintain a healthy weight. They work at a goal and succeed at it easily enough for it to feel (and to others) look natural.
Then there are overweight and underweight people trying to maintain a healthy weight who have to work very hard to maintain a healthy weight. They may always have to work excessively (nothing natural about it) and still may fail or have only partial success.
And then there is everyone else in between.
The amount of effort taken and the amount of effort required vary tremendously. There are some who expend very little or no effort and succeed any way, and there are also some who put every ounce of effort they have to very unnatural degree, and still fail.
It doesn't matter what anyone else does, each of us is only left with our own circumstances. We may find a way to maintain "naturally" or we may have to use extraordinary efforts.
It takes what it takes, and what it takes for others really is immaterial. Virtually all of us can find people who have it easier than we do, and people who find it much more difficult - but in the scheme of things it doesn't matter a whit what other people have to do or don't have to do.
Most of my friends are complaining of the "middle-age spread" and I'm the only one who's not. I've had two kids and am 40 yo. To say that you get fatter as you get older is hogwash IMO. I'm living proof that you don't have to. I'm in better physical shape than I was in high school and feel way better too. Food is necessary to stay alive but it shouldn't be your sole focus. EAT TO LIVE not LIVE TO EAT.
Yeah, you don't HAVE to get fatter as you get older, but metabolisms DO change. Otherwise, I'd be able to eat the same (and not exercise) with no effect. For me, at least, it simply requires more work (exercise) and more dedication (diet) to stay the same size as I was when I was younger, now that I'm older.
Most of my friends are complaining of the "middle-age spread" and I'm the only one who's not. I've had two kids and am 40 yo. To say that you get fatter as you get older is hogwash IMO. I'm living proof that you don't have to. I'm in better physical shape than I was in high school and feel way better too. Food is necessary to stay alive but it shouldn't be your sole focus. EAT TO LIVE not LIVE TO EAT.
My mother in law's favorite excuse is, "It's my birth certificate" about why she gets so tired while walking. Why she has gotten fat, etc. No, it's not her birth certificate, it's her years of being unfit.
Yes, she's 76 years old, but I see 76 year olds at the gym and walking around the lake who are fit and trim and active.
I too am fitter and thinner than I was in high school and have WAY more energy. I don't use being 42 as an excuse to be heavier. Though, it does help me look more 'normal' sized as I have a large frame and always was so much bigger than other high schoolers mostly because I'm built so much bigger. Now they've plumped up a bit making us look more equal.
And, I have a tummy - always have - even before pregnancy. It's just something about my body - my mom and sister have the same thing - never a flat tummy, no matter how thin and fit. And again, that's more 'normal' at 42, so it doesn't stand out as much as it did in high school.
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Originally Posted by banananutmuffin
Yeah, you don't HAVE to get fatter as you get older, but metabolisms DO change. Otherwise, I'd be able to eat the same (and not exercise) with no effect. For me, at least, it simply requires more work (exercise) and more dedication (diet) to stay the same size as I was when I was younger, now that I'm older.
But I bet you were more active then too - you probably walked more, did more moving around than now that wasn't formal exercise, but was movement nonetheless.
And he does not get any exercise; figure that one out. 
))
