Thin Women: How Do You Do It

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:for me it's a struggle. I am 32, 5'2", and my weight now fluctuates between 104 and 107. At my prime I weighed 100 (iv'e been skinnier too.. but I wouldn't call it my prime bc i don't think it was healthy) .. It's hard... I have to count calories, and exercise about 4-5 times a week. If I fall off my routine I very quickly gain weight, and it takes a lot more work to get back to ideal weight. I often don't drink alcohol because of the calories. I don't think I will ever be happy with my weight.. I know it will always be a struggle to stay fit.

You may need to see someone. 104 is very small, even at 5'2". A healthier weight would be at least 115. Muscle is important.

Meow

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:for me it's a struggle. I am 32, 5'2", and my weight now fluctuates between 104 and 107. At my prime I weighed 100 (iv'e been skinnier too.. but I wouldn't call it my prime bc i don't think it was healthy) .. It's hard... I have to count calories, and exercise about 4-5 times a week. If I fall off my routine I very quickly gain weight, and it takes a lot more work to get back to ideal weight. I often don't drink alcohol because of the calories. I don't think I will ever be happy with my weight.. I know it will always be a struggle to stay fit.

You may need to see someone. 104 is very small, even at 5'2". A healthier weight would be at least 115. Muscle is important.

Meow

No meow needed - - I too find the original comment probably reveals some type of body/eating issue. A fluctuation of 3 lbs, the highly specific very low weight, a prime of 100... counting cals and never being happy with weight. I hope the original commenter has support and can find some relief from this stress.

[Anonymous]

I used my MYFitness Pal app for a couple months to lose some weight. It's very eye-opening to see how many calories I was actually eating. Once I lost a few pounds, I kind of got into a routine and could figure out how much I could eat to lose weight without the app. I've maintained my weight loss for a couple years now (I'm 5'2" and usually around 113 pounds). I workout about three days a week (very hard workouts). I'm 49 years old.

[Anonymous]

Switching to a plant-based diet with low/no oil helped boost my metabolism and lose my pregnancy weight. Read Forks Over Knives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used my MYFitness Pal app for a couple months to lose some weight. It's very eye-opening to see how many calories I was actually eating. Once I lost a few pounds, I kind of got into a routine and could figure out how much I could eat to lose weight without the app. I've maintained my weight loss for a couple years now (I'm 5'2" and usually around 113 pounds). I workout about three days a week (very hard workouts). I'm 49 years old.

I'm honestly curious how this works for so many people. Every time I try to track my calories I just end up being discouraged and quiting because it's nearly impossible to do. Unless you eat mostly foods that come out of packages, how do you know how many calories are exactly in your chicken salad? Or how much oatmeal you ended up eating from your serving (was it 1/2 cup or really 1/3 cup)? Are you actually measuring with cups and spoons all your food, even for a few weeks in the beginning? Are you making pretty much all your own food and not eating out ever?

It just seems so daunting and impossible but then again I'm still overweight and maybe that is just my excuse for actually being accountable.

[Anonymous]

I'm 5'7 and want to be 120. Struggle city to maintain there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used my MYFitness Pal app for a couple months to lose some weight. It's very eye-opening to see how many calories I was actually eating. Once I lost a few pounds, I kind of got into a routine and could figure out how much I could eat to lose weight without the app. I've maintained my weight loss for a couple years now (I'm 5'2" and usually around 113 pounds). I workout about three days a week (very hard workouts). I'm 49 years old.

I'm honestly curious how this works for so many people. Every time I try to track my calories I just end up being discouraged and quiting because it's nearly impossible to do. Unless you eat mostly foods that come out of packages, how do you know how many calories are exactly in your chicken salad? Or how much oatmeal you ended up eating from your serving (was it 1/2 cup or really 1/3 cup)? Are you actually measuring with cups and spoons all your food, even for a few weeks in the beginning? Are you making pretty much all your own food and not eating out ever?

It just seems so daunting and impossible but then again I'm still overweight and maybe that is just my excuse for actually being accountable.

I totally understand and feel the same exact way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used my MYFitness Pal app for a couple months to lose some weight. It's very eye-opening to see how many calories I was actually eating. Once I lost a few pounds, I kind of got into a routine and could figure out how much I could eat to lose weight without the app. I've maintained my weight loss for a couple years now (I'm 5'2" and usually around 113 pounds). I workout about three days a week (very hard workouts). I'm 49 years old.

I'm honestly curious how this works for so many people. Every time I try to track my calories I just end up being discouraged and quiting because it's nearly impossible to do. Unless you eat mostly foods that come out of packages, how do you know how many calories are exactly in your chicken salad? Or how much oatmeal you ended up eating from your serving (was it 1/2 cup or really 1/3 cup)? Are you actually measuring with cups and spoons all your food, even for a few weeks in the beginning? Are you making pretty much all your own food and not eating out ever?

It just seems so daunting and impossible but then again I'm still overweight and maybe that is just my excuse for actually being accountable.

I totally understand and feel the same exact way.

I'm 5'6' and 130 lbs, so not really thin, but healthy. I lost two lbs this week by counting calories. I'm lazy about exercise, so it's the easiest way for me to lose a few pounds. I get out my measuring cups and spoons and actually measure my food. However, I pretty much eat the same thing everyday, so you learn what two cups of salad looks like in your bowl or how many servings your "handful" of nuts looks like. If you keep your foods really simple and measure your foods once and create a "menu" that lists the ingredients and the calories, then the task of tracking calories becomes less daunting. I'm a single mom of two kids in a competitive school, so I get not wanting to add any extra tasks to my life.

In the morning, I alternate between oatmeal or toast for my breakfast carb (the packages tell you the calories) and hard-boiled eggs and turkey bacon for my protein. For lunch and dinner, it's romaine lettuce or mixed greens with one tablespoon of dressing. (This is all you really need to coat the lettuce really well!) Then, I throw in an apple, a protein (usually hard-boiled eggs or turkey bacon, but that's because these are the easiest for me to cook well and I know the calories by heart now), cherry tomatoes and other random veggies. You seriously can't mess up with too many veggies! Two cups of romaine lettuce is about 20 calories! If you double that, it's only 40 calories!! However, this is only when I'm trying to lose weight.

In the chicken salad example mentioned by the pp, I know that two cups of romain lettuce is about 40 calories. (Side note: I always round the calories up to the next ten to keep it simpler in my head. Google says there is 8 calories in a cup of romaine, so that's written as 10 calories on my menu.) I would then change the chicken salad portion to a different protein altogether because I'm too lazy to break down all of the ingredients and count the calories. I wouldn't even choose plain chicken because I would then have to cut and weigh it and I'm lazy like that. I like hard-boiled eggs and turkey bacon for that reason. If I'm getting food on the way home, I always get the southwest chicken salad at McDonalds with grilled chicken. It tastes good even without the dressing and it's only 340 calories! If the pp meant chicken salad that's similar to egg salad, then no...the same "lazy" logic applies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used my MYFitness Pal app for a couple months to lose some weight. It's very eye-opening to see how many calories I was actually eating. Once I lost a few pounds, I kind of got into a routine and could figure out how much I could eat to lose weight without the app. I've maintained my weight loss for a couple years now (I'm 5'2" and usually around 113 pounds). I workout about three days a week (very hard workouts). I'm 49 years old.

I'm honestly curious how this works for so many people. Every time I try to track my calories I just end up being discouraged and quiting because it's nearly impossible to do. Unless you eat mostly foods that come out of packages, how do you know how many calories are exactly in your chicken salad? Or how much oatmeal you ended up eating from your serving (was it 1/2 cup or really 1/3 cup)? Are you actually measuring with cups and spoons all your food, even for a few weeks in the beginning? Are you making pretty much all your own food and not eating out ever?

It just seems so daunting and impossible but then again I'm still overweight and maybe that is just my excuse for actually being accountable.

I totally understand and feel the same exact way.

Don't even think of home made food. Near impossible to figure that out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used my MYFitness Pal app for a couple months to lose some weight. It's very eye-opening to see how many calories I was actually eating. Once I lost a few pounds, I kind of got into a routine and could figure out how much I could eat to lose weight without the app. I've maintained my weight loss for a couple years now (I'm 5'2" and usually around 113 pounds). I workout about three days a week (very hard workouts). I'm 49 years old.

I'm honestly curious how this works for so many people. Every time I try to track my calories I just end up being discouraged and quiting because it's nearly impossible to do. Unless you eat mostly foods that come out of packages, how do you know how many calories are exactly in your chicken salad? Or how much oatmeal you ended up eating from your serving (was it 1/2 cup or really 1/3 cup)? Are you actually measuring with cups and spoons all your food, even for a few weeks in the beginning? Are you making pretty much all your own food and not eating out ever?

It just seems so daunting and impossible but then again I'm still overweight and maybe that is just my excuse for actually being accountable.

I totally understand and feel the same exact way.

Don't even think of home made food. Near impossible to figure that out

It is not impossible to figure out-- it just takes time and effort. There are tons of calorie lists you can consult. You can buy a book of foods that shows calories. Buy yourself a food scale, measuring cups and measuring spoons. If you commit to take the time to figure out the calories, you will see how easy it really is. My guess is it wouldn't take you more than a week or two to get the hang of it. One very important aspect of counting calories is to make sure you know what portion sizes are for particular foods. If calorie counting seems too daunting to you right now, start by filling half of your plate at lunch and dinner with non-starchy vegetables and filling the rest with lean protein and a smidge (or none) of complex carbohydrates, e.g., brown rice, quinoa, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used my MYFitness Pal app for a couple months to lose some weight. It's very eye-opening to see how many calories I was actually eating. Once I lost a few pounds, I kind of got into a routine and could figure out how much I could eat to lose weight without the app. I've maintained my weight loss for a couple years now (I'm 5'2" and usually around 113 pounds). I workout about three days a week (very hard workouts). I'm 49 years old.

I'm honestly curious how this works for so many people. Every time I try to track my calories I just end up being discouraged and quiting because it's nearly impossible to do. Unless you eat mostly foods that come out of packages, how do you know how many calories are exactly in your chicken salad? Or how much oatmeal you ended up eating from your serving (was it 1/2 cup or really 1/3 cup)? Are you actually measuring with cups and spoons all your food, even for a few weeks in the beginning? Are you making pretty much all your own food and not eating out ever?

It just seems so daunting and impossible but then again I'm still overweight and maybe that is just my excuse for actually being accountable.

I totally understand and feel the same exact way.

I'm 5'6' and 130 lbs, so not really thin, but healthy. I lost two lbs this week by counting calories. I'm lazy about exercise, so it's the easiest way for me to lose a few pounds. I get out my measuring cups and spoons and actually measure my food. However, I pretty much eat the same thing everyday, so you learn what two cups of salad looks like in your bowl or how many servings your "handful" of nuts looks like. If you keep your foods really simple and measure your foods once and create a "menu" that lists the ingredients and the calories, then the task of tracking calories becomes less daunting. I'm a single mom of two kids in a competitive school, so I get not wanting to add any extra tasks to my life.

In the morning, I alternate between oatmeal or toast for my breakfast carb (the packages tell you the calories) and hard-boiled eggs and turkey bacon for my protein. For lunch and dinner, it's romaine lettuce or mixed greens with one tablespoon of dressing. (This is all you really need to coat the lettuce really well!) Then, I throw in an apple, a protein (usually hard-boiled eggs or turkey bacon, but that's because these are the easiest for me to cook well and I know the calories by heart now), cherry tomatoes and other random veggies. You seriously can't mess up with too many veggies! Two cups of romaine lettuce is about 20 calories! If you double that, it's only 40 calories!! However, this is only when I'm trying to lose weight.

In the chicken salad example mentioned by the pp, I know that two cups of romain lettuce is about 40 calories. (Side note: I always round the calories up to the next ten to keep it simpler in my head. Google says there is 8 calories in a cup of romaine, so that's written as 10 calories on my menu.) I would then change the chicken salad portion to a different protein altogether because I'm too lazy to break down all of the ingredients and count the calories. I wouldn't even choose plain chicken because I would then have to cut and weigh it and I'm lazy like that. I like hard-boiled eggs and turkey bacon for that reason. If I'm getting food on the way home, I always get the southwest chicken salad at McDonalds with grilled chicken. It tastes good even without the dressing and it's only 340 calories! If the pp meant chicken salad that's similar to egg salad, then no...the same "lazy" logic applies.

5'6" and weighing 130 is thin. I'm not sure why you think that isn't thin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used my MYFitness Pal app for a couple months to lose some weight. It's very eye-opening to see how many calories I was actually eating. Once I lost a few pounds, I kind of got into a routine and could figure out how much I could eat to lose weight without the app. I've maintained my weight loss for a couple years now (I'm 5'2" and usually around 113 pounds). I workout about three days a week (very hard workouts). I'm 49 years old.

I'm honestly curious how this works for so many people. Every time I try to track my calories I just end up being discouraged and quiting because it's nearly impossible to do. Unless you eat mostly foods that come out of packages, how do you know how many calories are exactly in your chicken salad? Or how much oatmeal you ended up eating from your serving (was it 1/2 cup or really 1/3 cup)? Are you actually measuring with cups and spoons all your food, even for a few weeks in the beginning? Are you making pretty much all your own food and not eating out ever?

It just seems so daunting and impossible but then again I'm still overweight and maybe that is just my excuse for actually being accountable.

I totally understand and feel the same exact way.

Don't even think of home made food. Near impossible to figure that out

MFP has a really easy to use tool that lets you import recipes from a website or type in the ingredients. The program figures out the caloric and macro content of each ingredient (you double-check to be sure it's imported the right thing), and then calculates the caloric and nutritional information for your portion size. It then saves the info, so when you make that dish/meal again, you can look it up in your account. It's a relatively new update to the app, and it's been invaluable since I make almost all of my meals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Switching to a plant-based diet with low/no oil helped boost my metabolism and lose my pregnancy weight. Read Forks Over Knives.

I would sooner try intermittent fasting for the rest of my life than eat such a joyless diet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Switching to a plant-based diet with low/no oil helped boost my metabolism and lose my pregnancy weight. Read Forks Over Knives.

I would sooner try intermittent fasting for the rest of my life than eat such a joyless diet.

Agreed. Plus it would be far better for your health. Hate that vegan fad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used my MYFitness Pal app for a couple months to lose some weight. It's very eye-opening to see how many calories I was actually eating. Once I lost a few pounds, I kind of got into a routine and could figure out how much I could eat to lose weight without the app. I've maintained my weight loss for a couple years now (I'm 5'2" and usually around 113 pounds). I workout about three days a week (very hard workouts). I'm 49 years old.

I'm honestly curious how this works for so many people. Every time I try to track my calories I just end up being discouraged and quiting because it's nearly impossible to do. Unless you eat mostly foods that come out of packages, how do you know how many calories are exactly in your chicken salad? Or how much oatmeal you ended up eating from your serving (was it 1/2 cup or really 1/3 cup)? Are you actually measuring with cups and spoons all your food, even for a few weeks in the beginning? Are you making pretty much all your own food and not eating out ever?

It just seems so daunting and impossible but then again I'm still overweight and maybe that is just my excuse for actually being accountable.

For home cooked foods it is easy if you make recipes with calorie counts, like from Cooking Light, so you would know how many calories are in the portion of lasagna or meatballs or soup. That usually takes care of dinner and then I eat simpler foods the rest of the day -- breakfast is Greek yogurt, chia seeds and berries, lunch is a really big salad with lots of veggies, a protein like tuna or eggs, and snacks are things like walnuts, Apple with peanut butter, a baby bel cheese, carrots and hommus