Attention thin women

[Anonymous]

And please define "thin" however you wish, because I am no arbiter of size.

How many carbs do you eat in a day? Are they veggies mostly? Legumes? Fruit?

I have about eighty pounds to lose and the more I read, the more I think a lower carb diet is most likely to get and keep me at a healthy weight. So how many do you eat a day, if you tally them?

[Anonymous]

When I used to be skinny, I never thought about food. I ate what I wanted, but ate very little processed food. I never ate diet products, used butter, sour cream, whole milk, etc instead of light products, and very little soda. I had time to eat meals instead of wolfing them down, so I think I ate less and enjoyed my food more. Cooking food was fun, so I experiemented with many different healthy options that actually tasted good.

Now that I have kids I graze, eat fast food and processed food, and drink coffee or soda daily. When I eat a nice meal I wolf it down and don't taste what I am eating. Cooking is a hassle when a 2 year old is crying and wrapped around your ankles. I am now about 20 lbs overweight.

I think my skinny, childless eating habits were much more effective because I was able to maintain my weight without even thinking about it. I think about what/how I am eating much more now that I am overweight.

[Anonymous]

I'm 5'6 and 115 lbs - I'd say I'm slim, maybe not thin. Anyway, I'm a vegetarian and eat LOADS of carbs. Everything - pasta, vegetables, rice, bread, cake, ... I could be really fat on the inside, though.

[Anonymous]

I am 5'4" and about 125 lbs. I am pretty slim, but very muscular. I have a toddler and a full time job. I work out 2-3x a day in a very intense, isometric workout. I also walk a lot partly out of necessity because my daycare and home are far from the metro (in DC) and the bus is unreliable.

I agree re processed foods. We try to avoid them, and cook from scratch, but with 2 working parents with stressful jobs, it is not always possible. I don't believe in eating "diet" foods, and was raised that a little butter is a good thing. Always. And, when I was trying to lose weight, I found that the more I obsessed about what I ate, and counted calories, the harder it was to lose the weight.

I drink tons of water, and don't drink soda (way too sweet for me).

Here is what I eat:

Bfast:

oatmeal with maple syrup or whole wheat toast/bagel with either hummus or peanut butter. But sometimes my toddler wants my breakfast or part of it after eating hers.
Also, sometimes I eat a high protein yogurt like Siggis.
Coffee/lattes, sometimes grapefruit juice

Snack at work:
pistachios or almonds

Lunch:
leftovers--usually some sort of soup, lentils and whole wheat pita, rice and beans, maybe whole wheat pasta and sauce, or occasionally a microwave thing (one of the healthier options at WF). Sometimes I go out and grab an arugula salad. I hate eating the microwave meals, but I work out at lunch so I really cannot go and grab lunch if I want to leave at a reasonable time. I work at my desk.

Dinner
Maybe a beer or glass of wine while I get dinner prepped/talk to my husband. I don't always finish it. If dinner is taking a while, I might snack on a few whole grain chips or a chunk of parmiaganno.
Homemade soup, or whole wheat pasta with veggies, sauce, or dark green veggie, protein
a couple pieces of high quality dark chocolate
Lately, I have been eating ice cream, because it is dark at 5pm, damnit. But, with the holidays, I will probably stop.

[Anonymous]

PP, Oops, I work out 2-3x a week, not a day! As if...

[Anonymous]

My biggest tip would be to eat fiber, fiber, fiber. I eat all the "bad" stuff in moderation but I always eat high fiber foods at virtually every meal. Not only does it fill you up but it also keeps things moving so to speak (and lowers my risk of colon cancer). I don't buy low-fat foods. I tend to think they are flavorless and end up eating more. The second biggest tip is drink water or tea with your meals. I rarely get any calories from my drinks unless I'm drinking milk. If you are mindlessly drinking soda or juice, the calories really add up over time.

[Anonymous]

My diet's mostly a lot of vegetables and fruits. Also: beans, nuts, seeds, oatmeal, yogurt, eggs and meat. No dinner, just a cup of tea.

I used to be able to eat a lot and stay thin because I ran a lot and had a regular office job. Then I moved on to an intensive research (sitting in front of a computer 14-16 hours a day) one, I became very sedentary (almost no time for running), so have to watch my eating habits now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My biggest tip would be to eat fiber, fiber, fiber. I eat all the "bad" stuff in moderation but I always eat high fiber foods at virtually every meal. Not only does it fill you up but it also keeps things moving so to speak (and lowers my risk of colon cancer). I don't buy low-fat foods. I tend to think they are flavorless and end up eating more. The second biggest tip is drink water or tea with your meals. I rarely get any calories from my drinks unless I'm drinking milk. If you are mindlessly drinking soda or juice, the calories really add up over time.

pp, what is in your high fiber diet? is it oatmeal?

[Anonymous]

Rather than think about limiting carbs, I focus on eating protein and fat (lots of yogurt, legumes, some meat, and I don't avoid butter or other fats). They are much more satisfying and keep me from getting that desperately hungry feeling.

Also, I have about 1/4 cup of Haagan Daz or a tablespoon of almond butter every night right before bed. This keeps my blood sugar up overnight so that I don't wake up starving.

I'm not thin, but I am a healthy and consistent weight. My bmi is about 20.

[Anonymous]

I lost my weight on Weight Watchers, so I never really looked at carbs per se.

However, I can tell you that I limit my carbs to mainly brown rice and whole wheat and get most of my carbs via fruits and veggies.

I also eat a TON of beans and lentils. I eat meat in moderation and like many other posters focus on eating a lot of protien.

Since I've lost 40lbs and work out 6xs a week, I'm at the point where I can pretty much relax my eating, as my body is really good now at burning excess calories. However, I REALLY feel like wht when I eat a shitty meal.so I stay away.

FWIW, I never eat processed foor and never have drank soda. I drink water 90% of the time and milk the rest of the time.

My drinking is limited,but that is because I'm not a big drinker, not for weight purposes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, Oops, I work out 2-3x a week, not a day! As if...

Oh, thank God, because then you said you walked a lot, too. I thought you were completely nuts

[Anonymous]

When I'm thin, there is no stress eating or boredom eating.

[Anonymous]

I think the easiest way to lose weight is to cut out processed food and sugar altogether. If that still doesn't work you may want to go lower carb and cut out even wholemeal bread, wholemeal pasta etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My biggest tip would be to eat fiber, fiber, fiber. I eat all the "bad" stuff in moderation but I always eat high fiber foods at virtually every meal. Not only does it fill you up but it also keeps things moving so to speak (and lowers my risk of colon cancer). I don't buy low-fat foods. I tend to think they are flavorless and end up eating more. The second biggest tip is drink water or tea with your meals. I rarely get any calories from my drinks unless I'm drinking milk. If you are mindlessly drinking soda or juice, the calories really add up over time.

pp, what is in your high fiber diet? is it oatmeal?

high fiber bread/toast for breakfast almost every day (with a glass of milk)
any high fiber breakfast cereal
lentils
pinto beans, black beans
high fiber pasta
hummus
brown rice/quinoa/whole wheat couscous
almonds
avocado
salads of any kind

[Anonymous]

I second the fiber recommendation. I eat whatever foods I want (no restrictions on any category of food!), but I limit my intake to about 1500 calories a day and take a teaspoon of psyllium fiber (aka Metamucial, but Costco's Kirkland brand is a good value) in water twice a day with a meal, and it not only keeps me feeling full longer but has brought my cholesterol levels down to superhuman levels since I started this three years ago. I even travel with a vial of psyllium fiber. It's so easy, you've got to give this a try.