Naturally Non Overweight People - What do you eat?

Anoneemoose

A.Penny.Saved wrote: »

Thyroid testing is useless with fibro/cfs because the hypothalamus dysfunction affects things so much. There is always some degree of hypothalamus dysfunction AND pituitary dysfunction which tends to affect the thyroid as well as many of the bodies hormones.

I suggest that you try and keep your stress levels as low as possible and NEVER eat when stressed! Avoid eating when your cortisol levels are high ie stressed because it will increase the problems. There are times of day when cortisol levels are highest, I suggest that you find out about this and try and avoid eating at those times. Cortisol increases aspects which work against you in a very big way.

They are still some years away ATM. I estimate it could be 8+ years before anyone else works it out. Taking into account current research should stop too much progress until the results of the Digestive permeability research at East Anglia University become available in a couple of years time. Then research should move in a different direction and should start to investigate where the cause lies.

The digestive system disturbances that occur because of fibro/cfs will take a lot of overcoming. The bacteria balance changes which can affect many things including weight gain. When the bacteria in the gut changes, they produce a lot of fatty acids which increases the calorie intake and resulting problems losing weight. This effect has been shown in animals, mice or rats I think it was.

Thanks for all of this.

I meant that I am getting my thyroid checked with a view to getting that diagnosed as the problem and not Fibro, if that makes sense. The thyroid uk website says that a lot of people are wrongly diagnosed with fibro when in fact, it is 'just' hypothyroidism.

Obviously I accept that this may not be the case but as my docs are pretty useless, I thought it was an option to explore. At least if nothing comes of it, it is another possibility ticked off the list.

The information you have given is really interesting. Society often blames the obese for just being lazy and greedy but it is things like this that prove it's not all that easy to maintain a healthy weight. That's not to say I haven't previously overeaten (a lot at times) but until this diagnosis, I was a size 12/14 and stayed that way easily. All of this only started after the birth of my youngest son. I had PND as well which meant I constantly struggled against the "it's all in your head" mentality but even when I am well in relation to my mental health, my physical symptoms are still present.

Anoneemoose

lexbubbles wrote: »

I was just about to suggest this. Tracking is the best way to go about things. Most people will underestimate the amount they eat and overestimate the amount they burn exercising. Be as honest as you can be.

MFP will calculate a calorie goal for you (which doesn't include exercise - any cals burned in exercise you can eat back but always leave wiggle room for errors)

Or you can also use a TDEE calculator to work out how much you should be burning/eating a day if you're not seeing results with the number you get after 4 weeks, alter it. But it's a good starting point.

I can't post a link to one (yet) but there's loads on google.


*Unless you have a metabolic disorder or something, such calculators will be a good rough guide and you'll be "in and around there somewhere". If you do and your numbers are skewed, afraid you'll have to start there and fiddle about until you find out how much they're skewed by. Trial and error, and all that.

saveallmymoney wrote: »

Nobody has mentioned MyFitnessPal in this thread yet I think.

No magic, just eat within the recommended calorie and nutritional levels, enter it all in. Pure science, no weird diet, Free.

I've lost a stone and honestly its been pretty easy.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com

I have tried this but calorie counting did not work for me. I lost a pound in 2 months! I have PCOS as well so I think that would be classed as a metabolic disorder.

saveallmymoney

Anoneemoose wrote: »

I have tried this but calorie counting did not work for me. I lost a pound in 2 months! I have PCOS as well so I think that would be classed as a metabolic disorder.

I think that just means your calorie goal was wrong, or you weren't accurately counting!

Anoneemoose

saveallmymoney wrote: »

I think that just means your calorie goal was wrong, or you weren't accurately counting!

My calorie goal was 1500 ish and I religiously recorded everything for those 2 months. I also did exercise which I didn't log because I knew a lot of the 'calories burned' were inaccurate. Calories in/out doesn't always work. If it did, I wouldn't be asking these questions.

As I was exercising at that time, I made myself ill but kept telling myself I would get used to it. I didn't and after tests ruling out everything else, my fibro diagnosis was given.

lexbubbles

Anoneemoose wrote: »

I have tried this but calorie counting did not work for me. I lost a pound in 2 months! I have PCOS as well so I think that would be classed as a metabolic disorder.

I have similar, but more complex and weird in that they don't even understand what's wrong just that it doesn't work right so they put me in medically induced menopause to make it shut up / stop me dying (as well as rheumatoid arthritis which proper puts a spanner in the works with exercise)

I've lost 13lb this year. Well, actually I lost 20 before April, gained 10 during a stressful house move, maintained for a few months whilst my arthritis was having a fit, then lost 3 last month. So I lost more than 13 in total.

Your numbers, like, mine, will be skewed away from the norm. They will be lower. Since your numbers will be lower, losing weight will be slower because there's only *so* low you can reasonably go. You can't eat the same amount a healthy person does and expect to lose weight because, like me, your body burns less than theirs by existing.

I don't lose weight until I net less than 1,200 after exercise, and even then not very fast. The "average" and "normal" basal metabolic rate (what you'd burn in a coma) for someone my size is 1,800 and my TDEE should be well over 2,000 given my activity level.

If I netted even 1,800 I'd gain weight. But there you go. What can you do. My body burns a LOT less than a regular healthy person with no metabolic issues.

Calorie counting works if you get the numbers right. If you're not normal, you can't rely on calculators to give you the right data, and have to work it out for yourself. It took me a YEAR of trial-and-error to get it right because I'm that far off of the average numbers and thought I must just be "doing it wrong" and that it "didn't work" and that I would "be fat forever".

There are also groups on MFP specifically for people with stuff like PCOS, who can help and support you.

Also: A pound in 2 months is still a loss. You were counting. You lost weight. Want to lose more? Drop the numbers.

Just to re-iterate: calories in/out DOES ALWAYS WORK. ALWAYS. But due to your PCOS the 'out' part of that equation is lower than you'd expect because you burn less naturally. As a result, you have to tweak the 'in' part.

Normal healthy person: burns 2,000 in an average day
Normal person: needs to have about 1,650 to lose 1lb/week

Me: burns 1,500 in an average day
Me: needs to have about 1,200 to lose

That's a difference of 400-500 calories compared with a healthy person.

If I ate 1,650 and either gained weight or lost it very slowly I'd was also tempted to exclaim "See! Cal in v cal out doesn't work!" until I realised that I had the "equation" all wrong.

Watto30

^^^^ this :T

Sorry to hear of your health troubles Anonemoose and hope that you can get a diagnosis if it is your thyroid that is the problem not fibro and hope that medication will help.

What Lex said above I totally agree with , you very much remind me of myself, like you I have the pcos, this does not help with weight, yes there are slim pcos sufferers out there but I can imagine for every slim one there are 3 or 4 overweight, no eat less move more will work when your hormones are haywire and your bodies insulin systems are up the creek!

I am now 32 years old, have had spells of being slimmer and spells of being bigger since age of 16 have been every stone from 9-14! my weight fluctuates but something that I discovered this year is that like Lexbubbles above, my numbers are skewed, tried calorie counting before was given 1500 a day, did not work for me at all even 1400 a day is that little bit too much.

I resorted to a spell on diet chef this summer before a friends wedding alongside another blast at calorie counting basically in desperation to knock off half a stone on the quick and not be the fattest person there! I stuck to the food provided just added lots of salad and averaged 1200 cals a day, low and behold the weight started coming off and quick too to my suprise, 4lbs first week then a steady 2lbs a week which is what a normal person would lose on say 1500 or so.

I stuck to this for a bit and managed to knock off a stone in around 6 weeks, I have never in my life lost weight like that and I really don't believe it was the diet chef food (cardboard!) it was the fact that my calories were lower. Since then I have kind of eaten normally in the respect of whatever I fancy and somehow that weight has stayed off, this I cannot explain but I really do think that when your metabolism is not that of a normal person, a normal intake will not work.

Something I will add though is that I have had spells where I really have eaten whatever I fancied for months on end and not gained weight, the only thing I can put this down to is eating only when physically hungry rather than mentally hungry, diets on the whole just mess with my head.

I do wish you well and hope that you can find something that works for you

purpleshoes_2

My fitness pal has its limitations. I dont use it, it is a good way to log calories and exercise but a lot of the exercise and the cals are estimated. Cals in and out also may work, but all calories aren't equal, someone could lose weight eating 1200 of cheese sandwiches but they wouldnt be very well nourished.

1500 cals for people on a diet, 1600, is very low. But because a lot of diet companies set a figure of 1200 cals in times gone by you get people on a diet panicking if they eat over 1500 cals a day.

Its also possible to exercise and be in calorie deficit and still struggle, as has been said elsewhere in the thread, we are all unique, what works for one person wont work for another, counting points, syns or cals isnt for everyone, neither is low carb. Its also possible to do low carb and get stuck in the middle ground of eating not a lot of carbs but too many to help lose weight, mainly due to people eating a lot of fruit which depending on what type you eat can be quite high in carbs.

Anoneemoose

lexbubbles wrote: »

I have similar, but more complex and weird in that they don't even understand what's wrong just that it doesn't work right so they put me in medically induced menopause to make it shut up / stop me dying (as well as rheumatoid arthritis which proper puts a spanner in the works with exercise)

I've lost 13lb this year. Well, actually I lost 20 before April, gained 10 during a stressful house move, maintained for a few months whilst my arthritis was having a fit, then lost 3 last month. So I lost more than 13 in total.

Your numbers, like, mine, will be skewed away from the norm. They will be lower. Since your numbers will be lower, losing weight will be slower because there's only *so* low you can reasonably go. You can't eat the same amount a healthy person does and expect to lose weight because, like me, your body burns less than theirs by existing.

I don't lose weight until I net less than 1,200 after exercise, and even then not very fast. The "average" and "normal" basal metabolic rate (what you'd burn in a coma) for someone my size is 1,800 and my TDEE should be well over 2,000 given my activity level.

If I netted even 1,800 I'd gain weight. But there you go. What can you do. My body burns a LOT less than a regular healthy person with no metabolic issues.

Calorie counting works if you get the numbers right. If you're not normal, you can't rely on calculators to give you the right data, and have to work it out for yourself. It took me a YEAR of trial-and-error to get it right because I'm that far off of the average numbers and thought I must just be "doing it wrong" and that it "didn't work" and that I would "be fat forever".

There are also groups on MFP specifically for people with stuff like PCOS, who can help and support you.

Also: A pound in 2 months is still a loss. You were counting. You lost weight. Want to lose more? Drop the numbers.

Just to re-iterate: calories in/out DOES ALWAYS WORK. ALWAYS. But due to your PCOS the 'out' part of that equation is lower than you'd expect because you burn less naturally. As a result, you have to tweak the 'in' part.

Normal healthy person: burns 2,000 in an average day
Normal person: needs to have about 1,650 to lose 1lb/week

Me: burns 1,500 in an average day
Me: needs to have about 1,200 to lose

That's a difference of 400-500 calories compared with a healthy person.

If I ate 1,650 and either gained weight or lost it very slowly I'd was also tempted to exclaim "See! Cal in v cal out doesn't work!" until I realised that I had the "equation" all wrong.

I totally get what you're saying in that some equations mean calories in/out does work - I did a vlcd once and lost a lot of weight. I also put it back on just as fast as I lost it.

The point you are making is good one but I believe a bit skewed. Yes, if you get low enough cals wise, you will lost weight, but I imagine you will be damaging your body in the process. Surely 1200 cals of even decent food, cannot provide enough nourishment for your body.

In addition, from all of the books I've read (which I appreciate may all be codswallop although there are a fair few) say that if you 'starve' your body like this, you will make you metabolic issues even worse, meaning you will need to eat less and less to sustain the weight loss.

I have, over the past week,done really well. No diet pop apart from 1 small glass on Friday night.

I have been drinking water, snacking on fresh fruit and nuts (not loads, just an average portion). I have been eating colourful salad and feta, prawns or chicken. Dinner has been my m&s meals for the most part apart from Saturday when my mum did a roast. I definitely feel better and less bloated. I have also not experienced as many of the fatigue slumps and I put this down to eating things that don't spike my blood sugars.

I am extremely tired today because my youngest has had me up for the past 2 nights as he is poorly. Have managed a flyer at work so just resting.

Ben84

purpleshoes wrote: »

I think the fast metabolism is a myth to be honest. Ive seen Tv programmes where two people were tracked, they drank some v expensive water that could track the cals that they consumed. The overweight person claimed to eat hardly anything and the underweight person claimed to stuff her face but when the results came in, the girl who needed to put on weight was well under what she needed calorie wise for the day and the overweight girl was massively underestimating her calorie intake.

All calories arent equal and Ive said this before, its about trying to maximise the nutrition you eat for the calories you consume as well.

I'm starting to think more like this too. I used to consider myself someone who stuffs their face, after all I never think about calories or hold back on anything I want, but I'm still quite thin. When friends are spending so much energy doing stuff and monitoring what they eat, it could look like I have some magic metabolism that's behind my ability to do nothing and be thin.

More objectively, much as I like rich food, I seem to be satisfied pretty quickly by it and don't need that much. When I do indulge in a large portion I don't forget it too soon either. I can eat a whole big slice of chocolate cake or blue cheese sometimes, but then I don't want anything like that again for a couple of days after.

I have few calories from drinks. Mostly I drink water, soda water or coffee with a pretty insignificant amount of milk in it.

I do eat lots of fruit and vegetables, just because I like them. Never liked fast food or meat however, so I don't eat them.

The portions I serve are reasonable, but not huge. I don't worry it won't be enough, it almost always is enough and I can always make a snack later if I need to.

I'm not perfect, but I'm starting to see I'm fortunate, because I just seem to have a relatively balanced way of eating because it's what I like. I enjoy low calorie and high calorie food equally and that affects how much I eat of both. I don't know if there's an easy way to transfer this to other people. However, even as someone who quite often chooses very healthy food because I like it, most specifically diet food I've tried bores me and I'd struggle to stick with it for long. It's a hazard with actively trying to eat healthy I think that the choice of what to eat becomes very occupied with calories and health claims to the detriment of what you actually like. You can stop enjoying the whole making food process and stop enjoying the taste too when you're adding food because it's supposed to be good for you and not because you want it. Focusing more on what fruit and vegetables I like and how I like to cook them, and not worrying about adding some butter here and there seems to work for me.

Maybe the "you should eat this and not that" mindset is getting in the way of enjoying all kinds of food for some people. Vegetables become a chore and cake becomes wonderful, but guilty. My immediate family never had any food hang-ups, but had it been different, perhaps I'd be different and so would my weight. I remember once visiting some relatives who asked me to pick something as a treat and I picked a jar of olives. They thought I was from Mars I think, they tried to talk me in to cake, but I just wasn't in the mood for cake (sometimes I am however!). Odd as it sounds, perhaps the focus on healthy eating is taking the fun out of healthy food?

Anoneemoose

Ben84 wrote: »

I'm starting to think more like this too. I used to consider myself someone who stuffs their face, after all I never think about calories or hold back on anything I want, but I'm still quite thin. When friends are spending so much energy doing stuff and monitoring what they eat, it could look like I have some magic metabolism that's behind my ability to do nothing and be thin.

More objectively, much as I like rich food, I seem to be satisfied pretty quickly by it and don't need that much. When I do indulge in a large portion I don't forget it too soon either. I can eat a whole big slice of chocolate cake or blue cheese sometimes, but then I don't want anything like that again for a couple of days after.

I have few calories from drinks. Mostly I drink water, soda water or coffee with a pretty insignificant amount of milk in it.

I do eat lots of fruit and vegetables, just because I like them. Never liked fast food or meat however, so I don't eat them.

The portions I serve are reasonable, but not huge. I don't worry it won't be enough, it almost always is enough and I can always make a snack later if I need to.

I'm not perfect, but I'm starting to see I'm fortunate, because I just seem to have a relatively balanced way of eating because it's what I like. I enjoy low calorie and high calorie food equally and that affects how much I eat of both. I don't know if there's an easy way to transfer this to other people. However, even as someone who quite often chooses very healthy food because I like it, most specifically diet food I've tried bores me and I'd struggle to stick with it for long. It's a hazard with actively trying to eat healthy I think that the choice of what to eat becomes very occupied with calories and health claims to the detriment of what you actually like. You can stop enjoying the whole making food process and stop enjoying the taste too when you're adding food because it's supposed to be good for you and not because you want it. Focusing more on what fruit and vegetables I like and how I like to cook them, and not worrying about adding some butter here and there seems to work for me.

Maybe the "you should eat this and not that" mindset is getting in the way of enjoying all kinds of food for some people. Vegetables become a chore and cake becomes wonderful, but guilty. My immediate family never had any food hang-ups, but had it been different, perhaps I'd be different and so would my weight. I remember once visiting some relatives who asked me to pick something as a treat and I picked a jar of olives. They thought I was from Mars I think, they tried to talk me in to cake, but I just wasn't in the mood for cake (sometimes I am however!). Odd as it sounds, perhaps the focus on healthy eating is taking the fun out of healthy food?

Wonderfully put. You are obviously an example of how it should be. Eat a good variety of foods, feeling satisfied physically and mentally when you do.

You are totally right - as soon as I have to count ANYTHING, I automatically want what I 'shouldn't' have. And ironically, until I started dieting, I was always a healthy weight.

My parents are like you. Healthy weights too - they eat 'normal' home cooked meals and a few treats now and again but like you, know when they've had enough. They've never been on diets in their lives!

I wish I could get back to being like that but the fact that I have to think about being that way means I will never be normal lol!