How can some people eat so much junk and gain no weight?
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I wonder how that guy feels hearing stuff like this from others. I'm THAT coworker at my job. "How are you SO skinny when you eat SO much?!" I'm 5'3" and 111 pounds. I maintain my weight on 2000+ calories on most days. The other night at my cousin's surprise party at a BBQ restaurant I easily had twice as much food as anyone and received similar questions; one 300 pound guy said I ate as much as he does in four days (he's obviously underestimating his consumption). That particular day I was very hungry as I walked 44,411 steps the day before and didn't eat as much as I should have because I was too busy all day.
I try to roll with it but it gets annoying. I workout every morning, I get 15K+ steps per day, I have a good amount of muscle, and to top it off I'm very fidgety. Sometimes I eat several small meals per day, sometimes a few large ones; after that huge BBQ meal I could only consume 660 calories the next day.
If you're so certain he really does nothing at all, maybe he's got hyperthyroidism and doesn't know it or want anyone else to know about it. Either way, comparing yourself to others is not a good look. You want to eat more? Move more.
That many steps in one day? Wow, how did you manage that? On vacation earlier this year we had one day where we walked ALL day long, all over the city. That was 28,000+ steps and I thought my legs were going to fall off. Kudos to you!0 -
What I heard (and what I think is likely true) is that skinny people who eat a lot, they are compensating somehow most every time.
So I feel like I ate more when I was skinnier, I ate bigger meals, but really what would happen is I would eat a lot at one sitting then not be hungry for hours and hours and hours. This still happens, I can see it happen - we go out to breakfast at Denny's on Sundays, just me and the man, and we eat a big fry-up. Lotsa calories. That's around 8am usually. Then it will be 4pm and he's asking about supper and I am not hungry yet!
So even back in my 20s, I was usually around 125lb, yes - but after a semester abroad, with someone handing me breakfast, lunch, and dinner, free, I was up to ten stone. I had not realized until then, that I did not usually eat 3x a day, every day, full meals. Both because I couldn't afford it and because I didn't need it. Came back to the US, once again couldn't afford to eat like that, shrunk back.
And as an office worker, I've always had massive looking lunches, I'm a slim person so people would get confused. But I was happy to skip supper, my co-workers didn't see that, I only ate supper if I was hungry, usually wasn't so would just pack mine up for lunch the next day. Also I am fidgety... Now I work at a sports concern so there are a lot of people who look skinny eating a lot, they are distance runners and have to eat more than you'd think just to maintain.
I do think there are outliers, people whose bodies don't digest right and people who burn too many calories for their size just living, but mostly I think we are adjusting.6 -
I wonder how that guy feels hearing stuff like this from others. I'm THAT coworker at my job. "How are you SO skinny when you eat SO much?!" I'm 5'3" and 111 pounds. I maintain my weight on 2000+ calories on most days. The other night at my cousin's surprise party at a BBQ restaurant I easily had twice as much food as anyone and received similar questions; one 300 pound guy said I ate as much as he does in four days (he's obviously underestimating his consumption). That particular day I was very hungry as I walked 44,411 steps the day before and didn't eat as much as I should have because I was too busy all day.
I try to roll with it but it gets annoying. I workout every morning, I get 15K+ steps per day, I have a good amount of muscle, and to top it off I'm very fidgety. Sometimes I eat several small meals per day, sometimes a few large ones; after that huge BBQ meal I could only consume 660 calories the next day.
If you're so certain he really does nothing at all, maybe he's got hyperthyroidism and doesn't know it or want anyone else to know about it. Either way, comparing yourself to others is not a good look. You want to eat more? Move more.
That many steps in one day? Wow, how did you manage that? On vacation earlier this year we had one day where we walked ALL day long, all over the city. That was 28,000+ steps and I thought my legs were going to fall off. Kudos to you!
I was pretty much on my feet from 5am to midnight. I'm surprised you only got 28,000 from walking all day long, though. A five mile walk to or from work takes me an hour and 15 minutes and gets me around 8,500ish steps with my Fitbit.1 -
Just curious OP, why are you only eating 1500 cals/day? As a male, this would be the lowest recommended calorie intake, and that would not include any exercise cals, you said you average 15K steps/day and go to the gym 5-6 days/week?
Perhaps instead of worrying about what your colleague eats, you should make sure you are indeed getting enough fuel for your activity level and that your weight loss is not sacrificing lean body mass?
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but still, I get your point. It's not fair when one does everything right, follows drs orders to the letter, when the personal trainer says jump off a cliff the go running off the nearest one while their friend/spouse barely gives 50% pigs out on mostly junk and they loose 25 pounds like nothing and your the one gaining 10 pounds.0
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singingflutelady wrote: »Anyone have the link to the British show where there were 2 friends, one thin and one obese where the obese friend was so sure her friend had a high metabolism and could eat whatever she wanted? they tested them and in fact the obese friend's metabolism was higher than the thin one
Is it this one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA9AdlhB18o 10 -
Bluejedi79 wrote: »but still, I get your point. It's not fair when one does everything right, follows drs orders to the letter, when the personal trainer says jump off a cliff the go running off the nearest one while their friend/spouse barely gives 50% pigs out on mostly junk and they loose 25 pounds like nothing and your the one gaining 10 pounds.
This doesn't happen in reality...perceptions maybe but in reality the person losing 25lbs is doing something right...and the person not losing is doing something not right.3 -
maybe he's T1 diabetic. Why do you care what this guy eats?3
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You'd think the same if you observed my uncle. He's ~5'4", 70 yrs old, weighs probably 130 lbs. Eats like a horse whenever he's out (often fast food burgers), usually has a HungryMan TV dinner and a slice or two of pie if he's eating at home (pumpkin in the fall, Marie Callendars' banana cream lately
).
But, he also exercises on his cross-country ski machine twice a day, and fixes/modifies race cars as a hobby (lots of lifting of parts, etc). The man is always working at something, and it's usually something physical, like construction work.
Funny thing, he recently had a scare that landed him in the hospital (turned out to be severe gas pains). By the time he left, all of the nurses were calling him 'Mr. Fit' based on the results of his stress tests, EKGs, and blood tests. Guess all the 'junk' isn't treating him too badly!3 -
WinoGelato wrote: »Just curious OP, why are you only eating 1500 cals/day? As a male, this would be the lowest recommended calorie intake, and that would not include any exercise cals, you said you average 15K steps/day and go to the gym 5-6 days/week?
Perhaps instead of worrying about what your colleague eats, you should make sure you are indeed getting enough fuel for your activity level and that your weight loss is not sacrificing lean body mass?
I eat the same amount of calories as OP. It's easy to get good nutrition if you stick to nutritiously dense foods. I'm not sure how much our maintenance calories differ though.
Edit: for better wording.0 -
People who look like Robert Downey Jr.
ETA: never mind. Wasn't familiar with the movie and didn't realize that IS Robert Downey Jr. lol3 -
AmandaIsherwood3 wrote: »
This is my nephew on the left age 21 weights 8st 6lb. This is the massive food potions he eats everyday, he bakes cakes, breads at least 3 times a week and eats it all to himself, he enjoys going to eating places where they have plate challenges you finish in the allotted time you get the meal for free. The only exercise he does is a hour swim once a week and a 15 mile walk once a week, he can't seem to put any weight on. Some people say they can't believe how little I eat except I'm 4 stone overweight. Everyone is different.
He *can't* put weight on? He needs a doctor. He could have a medical condition like hyperthyroid that is untreated.
(I walk 20 miles per week in the gym. That's 70 sweaty minutes on the treadmill, five days per week. That's not an insignificant amount of exercise, by the way, nor would five miles less be.)
Everyone could possibly be different with certain medical issues, but scientifically speaking, without ruling these in things are not all that different. If you're four stone overweight, you are probably eating more than you think. I'm not trying to be mean. The use of a food scale and very strict logging for everything you eat or drink for a week would likely be eye opening.3 -
Easy. That's why I continue to log on MFP
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My fiancee is like that he is about 5'10" and weighs about 160 pounds. He has lean muscle on his arms and legs. He can go a week or two and eat like a horse. For breakfast alone 5 pieces of sausage, 3 eggs, two pieces of toast, and jelly. That's close to 1500 calories for breakfast. But that is only on the weekends. Through the week he won't eat breakfast. Will have leftovers for dinner at work for lunch then dinner when he gets home. He will also snack on cakes, candy, and chips after dinner. He will easily eat 2500-3000 calories a day.
Me on the other hand only eats max 1500 a day.
The difference besides the fact men burn faster than women. Is he works in a warehouse in a freezer. He is constantly lifting on boxes that are 50-100 pounds 8 hours a day. I stay at home work out 30 minutes a day, clean and walk with the kids. He burns way more calories than I do. I use to try to eat as much as he did and I blew up.0 -
leejoyce31 wrote: »You people are so mean.
Care to explain. I haven't read one thing mean or ill mannered.5 -
I wouldn't worry about it... just focus on doing what you need to get your own results.
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leejoyce31 wrote: »You people are so mean.
You have a strange perception of what is 'mean'. After all, you did call the OP a girl.
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My late husband was one of those people who ate massive amounts and never gained an ounce. People used to comment on it all the time. What they did not see was that he was on some incredibly strong painkillers that made him very ill, so he rarely kept it down. He didn't want to share this with the world, of course, so everyone always assumed he had some kind of magical metabolism.4
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