It's not just metabolism and exercise, it's age. I am almost 50, very muscular, size 6, exercise cardio/weights 7 days a week, and here's what i eat daily (about 1350 calories):

Breakfast: Tea with skim milk
Lunch: Greek non-fat plain yogurt, tsp. of sugar
Fruit (apple, peach, pear)
Small handful of almonds
raw carrots/celery
Snack: More fruit, tea, few more nuts or little bit of cheese
Dinner: Large vegetable salad, with low-fat dressing
Protein w/ roasted green vegetable
Slice of Ezekiel bread/roasted squash
Dessert: Dark chocolate or small amount of baked goods
Decaf tea
If still hungry, apple

Sadly, this is the way I have to eat for the most part if I don't want to have a huge belly. Very few carbs. It sucks!

Anonymous wrote:People who struggle with weight need to stop asking people who don’t how to eat. They have no guidance for you.

You mean stop asking people who don't know how to diet or calorie restrict. All humans know how to eat. You put food in your mouth. It is actually an extremely straightforward process.

Anonymous wrote:These posts are always so depressing. Food is yummy.

That's kind of the thing - I don't love or hate food. I am not dieting, not restricting myself, I just don't think about it. I don't ever crave anything, not even when during my pregnancies.

These posts are always so depressing. Food is yummy.

No breakfast, just one cup of coffee. I do put sugar and half and half in the coffee so it's calorie heavy. But I'm just not hungry for food in the mornings.

Lunch: turkey and swiss on wheat, with lettuce, tomato, and pickles.

Snack: seedless green grapes.

Dinner: last night we had roasted chicken thighs with asparagus and brown rice. Water to drink.

Tonight we are ordering Chinese and I may have a glass of red wine. I'm not a big drinker.

I'm in my early 40s, 5'3" and weigh about 110.

5’3.5’’, 104lbs, HITT exercise every other day for 30 mins
Breakfast: protein bar, tea with soy
Lunch: 1cup of low-fat vanilla yogurt plus 1 cup of granola
Dinner: depends- fish/rice/veggies, pasta and veggies, pizza and salad are examples
Snack: trail mix (individual pack) or fruit
Dessert: serving of milk chocolate
Wine only on weekends

37. Size 2-4

Breakfast: whole wheat english muffin with almond butter. Big bowl of berries, coffee with cream.

Mid morning: 1 oz dark chocolate.

Lunch: salad topped with roasted veggies, or a tofu/ egg scramble with leftover veggies, or a whole wheat hummous and veg wrap
- always an apple

Snack: depending how big lunch was, sometimes nothing, sometimes a greek yogurt

Dinner:
whatever protein I make for the family and vegetables, i don't eat grains at dinner. I will have a small amount of beans/lentils if those are part of dinner. Sometimes I add to a bed of spinach or arugula. We eat a lot of fish and vegetarian dinners. Occasionally chicken, never red meat or pork

Nothing after dinner. If we go to a restaurant, I order whatever sounds good without a thought to calories and eat about half.

Yesterday:
2 cups - 8oz coffee & creamer
1 boiled egg
salad without dressing; sardines in a tin with crackers
1 yellow bell pepper
salad w/ grilled chicken breast
1 c whole milk Greek yogurt & berries

So far today:
handful spinach & 1 cup milk, 1 cup whole milk vanilla yogurt
8oz coffee & 2 tablespoon of Dunkin creamer
2 cups of Korean stir-fry noodles
a mini cucumber
an apple

I have to starve (fast) most of the day to keep slim. It sucks and I miss out on social things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Breakfast: pastry (donut or croissant) or toast with butter, and a banana. Plus tea most mornings.
Morning snack: chocolate, usually. sometimes trail mix or just nuts, or more fruit.
Lunch: Burrito bowl, salad, tacos, pizza, or often leftovers from previous night. Sometimes a turkey sandwich. A cheese quesadilla if I'm feeling really lazy and there's nothing else.
Afternoon snack: popcorn or potato chips
Dinner: casseroles, burgers, tacos, ramen (like good ramen from a take out place or that we make at home properly, not the little packets that college kids eat), and lots of pasta
Dessert: always! I love to bake -- cheesecake bars, snack cakes, cookies, etc. If I don't have a baked good around, more chocolate.

I also usually drink at least one Coke a day, sometimes two. Plus water the rest of the time. I almost never drink alcohol, maybe once a week if that. Also no coffee.

I used to be you, and then I turned 39. I miss the days of eating junk and being skinny while not working out.

I used to be this person, plus a ton of alcohol (no soda though), but then I turned 45 and realized I'd be fat within the year if I kept it up. I still eat the same way, but in very small portions. I was so miserable eating only lean protein and vegetables, I decided to continue to eat what I love, just less of it. I do eat more veggies now though.

I grew up in a country where most of us ate the same food and exercised about the same. We were all thin, but some of us where simply skinnier than others. The born skinny people simply needed to eat less. Even when they said they were hungry, they we happy full with one portion. When I was hungry, I could eat 1.5 portions. I just feel like they way their body processes food is different from mine. They get their vitamins and nutrient and feel full. I eat and I'm full, but some of the bread and starch still goes on my stomach. Let's make one thing clear- I ran around a lot more than they did because my parents allowed such freedom.
I remember when we all got to eat our first bananas- all had about 5. My stomach was bloated and I had diarrhea while my born-skinny girlfriends had no problem with such an exotic fruit.
I don't overeat and I have had a job where 25k steps a day was the norm. I still can't get rid of the belly fat. I also put on 50 pounds with 2 of my pregnancies as if my body was getting ready to make milk. I never had any milk and then was stuck with the 50 pound. My skinny friend went on breast-feeding for 2 years.

Anonymous wrote:What’s considered “skinny”? I’m fairly thin at 5’8 and 127 but not super skinny (more athletic build).

I usually eat oatmeal for breakfast. Lunch varies but it often eggs with bagel/toast/baguette or a sandwich. Dinner is usually some kind of meat, potatoes and green veggie. I mostly drink water but do have a latte most days and alcohol on weekends. I eat some sort of dessert every day and probably twice a week have a takeout meal. I don’t snack a ton but eat bites of my kids food, and exercise regularly.

^^^ 127 is as low as the BMI goes, you need therapy

Here is what I ate yesterday:
Breakfast: oatmeal with blueberries and half a slice of avocado toast, water
Snack: Banana slices with almond butter, water
Lunch: big salad (quinoa, tofu, romaine, tomatoes, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, lentils, etc.), water
Snack: handful of almonds and cashews, water
Dinner: pasta with vegetables, water

I have a fast metabolism. Lunch is my biggest meal of the day. I only drink water. At a wedding or something I'll take a sip of champagne during a toast, but otherwise just water.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Breakfast: pastry (donut or croissant) or toast with butter, and a banana. Plus tea most mornings.
Morning snack: chocolate, usually. sometimes trail mix or just nuts, or more fruit.
Lunch: Burrito bowl, salad, tacos, pizza, or often leftovers from previous night. Sometimes a turkey sandwich. A cheese quesadilla if I'm feeling really lazy and there's nothing else.
Afternoon snack: popcorn or potato chips
Dinner: casseroles, burgers, tacos, ramen (like good ramen from a take out place or that we make at home properly, not the little packets that college kids eat), and lots of pasta
Dessert: always! I love to bake -- cheesecake bars, snack cakes, cookies, etc. If I don't have a baked good around, more chocolate.

I also usually drink at least one Coke a day, sometimes two. Plus water the rest of the time. I almost never drink alcohol, maybe once a week if that. Also no coffee.

I used to be you, and then I turned 39. I miss the days of eating junk and being skinny while not working out.

Didn't say I don't work out -- I work out about 60 minutes daily and one of the reasons I consume a lot of calories is because I need fuel for that. If I don't think that are kind of heavy, I just feel empty all the time. And I'm mid-40s. I just have an extremely high metabolism. I also would rather have a small serving of something rich than eat a lot of something low-cal.

People who struggle with weight need to stop asking people who don’t how to eat. They have no guidance for you.