What do you think of people who are naturally slim?
Replies
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WinoGelato wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »queenliz99 wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »
But HOW MUCH she eats matters. Unless you're with her 24 hours a day, you can't say she's slim just because when you see her she eats that way.RachelElser wrote: »Some people are naturally slim. My friend is just a little over 5 feet, 110 lbs soaking wet, near 40 years old with a kid. And I've seen what she eats. She's Italian and Sicilian so lots of pasta and she drinks regular soda. She also has great skin and looks 10 years younger then she is!
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
This is the usual cop out answer because nobody is with anybody 24 hours a day. Therefore you cannot "prove" there is such a thing as a naturally skinny person. Obviously, these people who you think are naturally skinny have this rare condition where they can only eat when other people are around, and cannot eat when nobody is looking.
Ridiculous. And I am speaking as someone who was skin and bones in college, did zero exercise, and ate more than most of my fraternity brothers.
And on that same note, are we supposed to believe you too? I don't believe you either.
Why would I lie? Am I trying to sell something?
There are naturally skinny people (usually under 25) who can eat and eat and eat and not gain weight. It is in an undeniable and irrefutable fact of life. It's called FAST METABOLISM. There bodies burn more calories than what is normal. How hard is this to understand?
Because as posts up thread have shown, the variations in the metabolism when studied and quantified, are not statistically significant. You've shown no counter studies which refute this, just your strong convictions and appeals to emotion that naturally skinny people exist who can eat and eat and eat and never gain weight.
Has nothing to do with emotions. It has everything to do with OBSERVATIONS.0 -
eveandqsmom wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »Wicked_Seraph wrote: »Over time, I've learned that these individuals who are naturally slim simply have better habits than I do. Their portion sizes are more reasonable, they don't eat excessively, they're more active, and so forth. My thinking was quite skewed in that women who fretted over gaining a pound or two, and exercised regularly, were "obsessed". I never thought to consider that their definition of eating "a lot" was probably very, very different than my definition of eating "a lot". For them, working out and eating conscientiously was THEIR normal - whereas mine was no exercise and unrestrained gluttony. I'm not "naturally fat", I just never bothered looking after my weight.
My sister gets frustrated when people accuse her of being "naturally thin" and "oh, you can just eat whatever you want!" They generally have no idea that she used to weigh about 220 lbs. They have no idea that despite happily chowing down on a generous slice of cake, she is otherwise very careful about how she eats.
So you are going to tell me with a straight face that if you took, say, 200 women who are 5'6" and 150 lbs., and gave them the exact same number of calories for two months, and they did the same amount of exercise in those two months, that at the end of two months they would have all lost the same weight?
You're not really saying that, are you?
IF you could control percentage of lean body mass, level of activity including fidgeting, waking hours, etc then yes...they would all be a remarkably similar weight at the end...but that's a big IF isn't it? And that's the point. When you add up all the variables you get an unlimited number of reasons why one person will gain weight while another won't.
Are you trying to tell me with a straight face that if you put two people in the same room with all variables accounted for that one person will be fat and another will be skinny?
So how many more calories to fidgeters burn than non-fidgeters?
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gonetothedogs19 wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »queenliz99 wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »
But HOW MUCH she eats matters. Unless you're with her 24 hours a day, you can't say she's slim just because when you see her she eats that way.RachelElser wrote: »Some people are naturally slim. My friend is just a little over 5 feet, 110 lbs soaking wet, near 40 years old with a kid. And I've seen what she eats. She's Italian and Sicilian so lots of pasta and she drinks regular soda. She also has great skin and looks 10 years younger then she is!
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
This is the usual cop out answer because nobody is with anybody 24 hours a day. Therefore you cannot "prove" there is such a thing as a naturally skinny person. Obviously, these people who you think are naturally skinny have this rare condition where they can only eat when other people are around, and cannot eat when nobody is looking.
Ridiculous. And I am speaking as someone who was skin and bones in college, did zero exercise, and ate more than most of my fraternity brothers.
And on that same note, are we supposed to believe you too? I don't believe you either.
Why would I lie? Am I trying to sell something?
There are naturally skinny people (usually under 25) who can eat and eat and eat and not gain weight. It is in an undeniable and irrefutable fact of life. It's called FAST METABOLISM. There bodies burn more calories than what is normal. How hard is this to understand?
Because as posts up thread have shown, the variations in the metabolism when studied and quantified, are not statistically significant. You've shown no counter studies which refute this, just your strong convictions and appeals to emotion that naturally skinny people exist who can eat and eat and eat and never gain weight.
Has nothing to do with emotions. It has everything to do with OBSERVATIONS.
Having given you multiple opportunities to expand on your diet and activity at said age and you've chosen not to, I don't believe you, either4 -
My theory about "naturally slim" people is that they don't think much about food other than at meal times, don't get hungry between meals, don't stress eat, and don't eat for comfort. They eat to live, and enjoy large quantities of food on occasion with celebrations but don't overindulge every day. They are aware of body signals of satiety and often eat less for several days after a special night out where they eat more than their norm... etc etc...12
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gonetothedogs19 wrote: »eveandqsmom wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »Wicked_Seraph wrote: »Over time, I've learned that these individuals who are naturally slim simply have better habits than I do. Their portion sizes are more reasonable, they don't eat excessively, they're more active, and so forth. My thinking was quite skewed in that women who fretted over gaining a pound or two, and exercised regularly, were "obsessed". I never thought to consider that their definition of eating "a lot" was probably very, very different than my definition of eating "a lot". For them, working out and eating conscientiously was THEIR normal - whereas mine was no exercise and unrestrained gluttony. I'm not "naturally fat", I just never bothered looking after my weight.
My sister gets frustrated when people accuse her of being "naturally thin" and "oh, you can just eat whatever you want!" They generally have no idea that she used to weigh about 220 lbs. They have no idea that despite happily chowing down on a generous slice of cake, she is otherwise very careful about how she eats.
So you are going to tell me with a straight face that if you took, say, 200 women who are 5'6" and 150 lbs., and gave them the exact same number of calories for two months, and they did the same amount of exercise in those two months, that at the end of two months they would have all lost the same weight?
You're not really saying that, are you?
IF you could control percentage of lean body mass, level of activity including fidgeting, waking hours, etc then yes...they would all be a remarkably similar weight at the end...but that's a big IF isn't it? And that's the point. When you add up all the variables you get an unlimited number of reasons why one person will gain weight while another won't.
Are you trying to tell me with a straight face that if you put two people in the same room with all variables accounted for that one person will be fat and another will be skinny?
So how many more calories to fidgeters burn than non-fidgeters?
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/you-are-not-different.html/
^^^^^Lyle McDonald has spent a lifetime analysing health and fitness related research.
http://m.ajcn.nutrition.org/content/72/6/1451.abstract
^^^^"Conclusions: There is marked variance between subjects in the energy expenditure associated with self-selected fidgeting-like activities. The thermogenic potential of fidgeting-like and low-grade activities is sufficiently great to substantively contribute to energy balance."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/9880251/
^^^^^"That is, in at least one subject, approximately 700 calories of the 1000 extra was burned off via NEAT. That’s in addition to the increase in BMR and TEF which would have burned off even more of the total calories. The researchers calculated that the increase in NEAT in the greatest responder would be the equivalent of strolling for 15 minutes per hour during waking hours." From Lyle McDonald article linked below.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/role-of-nonexercise-activity-thermogenesis-in-resistance-to-fat-gain-in-humans-research-review.html/4 -
My theory about "naturally slim" people is that they don't think much about food other than at meal times, don't get hungry between meals, don't stress eat, and don't eat for comfort. They eat to live, and enjoy large quantities of food on occasion with celebrations but don't overindulge every day. They are aware of body signals of satiety and often eat less for several days after a special night out where they eat more than their norm... etc etc...
That may indeed be the case for some ...
But speaking as someone who was "naturally slim" until her early 40s ... and who has been maintaining the slimness again for a little while now ...
I ate/eat all the time ... or at least it felt/feels that way. I've always been a grazer.
No breakfast
10 am snack
12 noon snack
1:30 pm lunch
3:00 pm snack
4:30 pm snack
6 pm snack
7:30 pm dinner
9:30 pm snack
11 pm snack
12:30 am snack
But I didn't (and don't) eat much each time. I'm munching down my 4:30 pm snack right now ... an apple worth about 80 cal. Next up at 6 pm will be a small bowl of cottage cheese and some raw veggies + maybe a couple crackers. If I recall correctly, that one comes in at about 160 cal.
Whether I eat large meals or not, I get ravenously hungry about 1.5 hours later. I can pack away a massive dinner, and be prowling around the kitchen 1.5 hours later. Therefore, I feel so much more comfortable if I just keep the food coming on a regular basis ... but keep everything on the small side.
However, as you say, I don't stress eat and don't eat for comfort. In fact, when I get really stressed, I stop eating. If the stress hasn't quite got to that point, I prefer going out and burning off the frustration with exercise. And I've been doing that since I was a teenager. I remember going out for long runs back then after particularly frustrating days at school.
And yes, large quantities of food are only for special occasions. But I have never eaten less than normal to compensate ... I'd rather exercise. So at Christmas, back in Canada where there was winter, while everyone else is lying around the living room groaning ... I'm out cross-country skiing. Or if it happened to be a warmer winter, I'd try to get a decent Christmas Day Celebration Bicycle Ride in.
In fact, rarely does a day go by when I'm not active.
So it's a combination of eating a reasonable amount of calories ... and keeping active.
I'll just toss this into the mix too ... right from whenever it was that I started buying my own food for meals (17 or 18 years old), I thought spending money on food was such a waste of money. I mean, you eat the food and it's gone and you're left with nothing. You've just spent a bunch of money and you've got nothing to show for it. So I've never been one to eat out much. It's bad enough you've got to fork money over for food in a grocery store ... but if you eat out, you're forking over 2 or 3 or more times the amount of money for basically the same food you could get in a grocery store.
So if I've got, say, $10 which I could spend on a coffee and one or two baked goods at the local bakery ... generally speaking, I'd rather spend that money on an apple + something "real" like some earrings or something which I could wear for years to come.
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gonetothedogs19 wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »queenliz99 wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »
But HOW MUCH she eats matters. Unless you're with her 24 hours a day, you can't say she's slim just because when you see her she eats that way.RachelElser wrote: »Some people are naturally slim. My friend is just a little over 5 feet, 110 lbs soaking wet, near 40 years old with a kid. And I've seen what she eats. She's Italian and Sicilian so lots of pasta and she drinks regular soda. She also has great skin and looks 10 years younger then she is!
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
This is the usual cop out answer because nobody is with anybody 24 hours a day. Therefore you cannot "prove" there is such a thing as a naturally skinny person. Obviously, these people who you think are naturally skinny have this rare condition where they can only eat when other people are around, and cannot eat when nobody is looking.
Ridiculous. And I am speaking as someone who was skin and bones in college, did zero exercise, and ate more than most of my fraternity brothers.
And on that same note, are we supposed to believe you too? I don't believe you either.
Why would I lie? Am I trying to sell something?
There are naturally skinny people (usually under 25) who can eat and eat and eat and not gain weight. It is in an undeniable and irrefutable fact of life. It's called FAST METABOLISM. There bodies burn more calories than what is normal. How hard is this to understand?
Because as posts up thread have shown, the variations in the metabolism when studied and quantified, are not statistically significant. You've shown no counter studies which refute this, just your strong convictions and appeals to emotion that naturally skinny people exist who can eat and eat and eat and never gain weight.
Has nothing to do with emotions. It has everything to do with OBSERVATIONS.
When I first started to lose weight I was inspired by the behaviour I observed of people/friends who have never had a problem with their weight. I didn't count calories for about 1/3 of my loss.
I had the opportunity because we regularly camped at that stage year to year with friends for 4 weeks at a time. I also looked after and in particular, grocery shopped for a friend that had broken both ankles. I learnt a lot from close observation.
Most of what I observed, the differences between my MO self and these friends are what others have offered in this thread. I harnessed those differences and I am mindful of them to this day. I can't unconsciously compensate like these friends do (increased NEAT when overeat, or decrease food intake days later) but I can absolutely consciously engage said behaviours.3 -
gonetothedogs19 wrote: »RachelElser wrote: »Some people are naturally slim. My friend is just a little over 5 feet, 110 lbs soaking wet, near 40 years old with a kid. And I've seen what she eats. She's Italian and Sicilian so lots of pasta and she drinks regular soda. She also has great skin and looks 10 years younger then she is!
Yes, another naturally slim person.
But here come the comments - "she's really not eating as much as you think she is eating," or, "she's secretly running five miles a day and not telling you," or, "you don't know how much running around she has to do with that kid."
Denial, denial, denial that there are naturally slim people because they have fast metabolisms.
Metabolism is the conversion of energy stores into useable energy. Generally the body only converts energy as required - for growth, movement, repair etc.
A fast metabolism is what - converting more energy than required? Whats all that extra energy doing?
Maybe these people just have greater energy demands. Thats a different thing imo. Its still cico.2 -
gonetothedogs19 wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »queenliz99 wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »
But HOW MUCH she eats matters. Unless you're with her 24 hours a day, you can't say she's slim just because when you see her she eats that way.RachelElser wrote: »Some people are naturally slim. My friend is just a little over 5 feet, 110 lbs soaking wet, near 40 years old with a kid. And I've seen what she eats. She's Italian and Sicilian so lots of pasta and she drinks regular soda. She also has great skin and looks 10 years younger then she is!
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
This is the usual cop out answer because nobody is with anybody 24 hours a day. Therefore you cannot "prove" there is such a thing as a naturally skinny person. Obviously, these people who you think are naturally skinny have this rare condition where they can only eat when other people are around, and cannot eat when nobody is looking.
Ridiculous. And I am speaking as someone who was skin and bones in college, did zero exercise, and ate more than most of my fraternity brothers.
And on that same note, are we supposed to believe you too? I don't believe you either.
Why would I lie? Am I trying to sell something?
There are naturally skinny people (usually under 25) who can eat and eat and eat and not gain weight. It is in an undeniable and irrefutable fact of life. It's called FAST METABOLISM. There bodies burn more calories than what is normal. How hard is this to understand?
Because as posts up thread have shown, the variations in the metabolism when studied and quantified, are not statistically significant. You've shown no counter studies which refute this, just your strong convictions and appeals to emotion that naturally skinny people exist who can eat and eat and eat and never gain weight.
Has nothing to do with emotions. It has everything to do with OBSERVATIONS.
You still haven't bothered to read the studies, and instead you're going with your own vast experience in observing people 24/7 and measuring their energy expenditures and intake? That must be exhausting and burn quite a few calories. Care to share your data?4 -
You could argue that everyone is naturally slim, but some people over eat / don't get enough exercise. Fat is not the default and doesn't happen without over eating.8
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You could argue that everyone is naturally slim, but some people over eat / don't get enough exercise. Fat is not the default and doesn't happen without over eating.
That is an interesting perspective. An overeating "naturally slim"person who doesn't get enough exercise won't be slim forever. It doesn't take many extra calories a day along with inactivity to see weight creep up over the years.
I think that some who were "once" naturally slim had things happen in life such as injury or sedentary jobs etc which changed way of life. People who lose weight and keep it off find the way to live and eat that supports long term weight loss.2 -
gonetothedogs19 wrote: »
But HOW MUCH she eats matters. Unless you're with her 24 hours a day, you can't say she's slim just because when you see her she eats that way.RachelElser wrote: »Some people are naturally slim. My friend is just a little over 5 feet, 110 lbs soaking wet, near 40 years old with a kid. And I've seen what she eats. She's Italian and Sicilian so lots of pasta and she drinks regular soda. She also has great skin and looks 10 years younger then she is!
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
This is the usual cop out answer because nobody is with anybody 24 hours a day. Therefore you cannot "prove" there is such a thing as a naturally skinny person. Obviously, these people who we think are naturally skinny have this rare condition where they can only eat when other people are around, and cannot eat when nobody is looking.
Ridiculous. And I am speaking as someone who was skin and bones in college, did zero exercise, and ate more than most of my fraternity brothers.
There is a way to prove it. Have people keep an accurate, long-term food diary. If only there was a website where people of that sort congregated...11 -
GirlonBliss wrote: »The reason why I asked is I find that with my clients, most women fear that if they get slim/attractive, people won't want to get to know them for who they are on the inside.
They could think something like "Gosh, that pretty girl can eat whatever she wants and still look good. But me? I can't do that, I have to work at it."
Or it could be something like, "Oh she looks so pretty!....b***h"
Then, when they start losing weight, subconsciously they think "Yay, I'm losing weight! Wait...will people also think I'm a b***h?"
It's not something you think of on a conscious level, but it's important to ask yourself what you really think of people who have the body you're going for because if there are any negative thoughts there (like admiration followed by jealously), you'll likely self-sabotage!
I've never really considered that perspective before. I do self-sabotage but it's not because I worry about what my life will be like when I am finally slim. It's more that I occasionally get down about my weight and don't believe it's possible I will ever be slim - and so then I think 'what's the point of trying' and eat a pack of crackers.
Yeah, I don't dislike slim people or resent their slenderness. I have a lovely friend who is tall and slim and has been for most of her adult life. We are both in the local theatre group and for one play she had to wear a mini-dress. Her legs looked amazing! I honestly felt no jealously, just admiration.
I think the only slender people I tend to dislike are the ones who say they have to lose weight when they obviously don't, or who make a big deal out of their latest diet and call themselves fat, but they already look lovely and svelte! If I ever do get down to a healthy weight, I'm going to try and not be like that. Sure, they may want to drop a few pounds, but please don't get in my face about it when I'm obviously the fattest person in the room!
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gonetothedogs19 wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »queenliz99 wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »
But HOW MUCH she eats matters. Unless you're with her 24 hours a day, you can't say she's slim just because when you see her she eats that way.RachelElser wrote: »Some people are naturally slim. My friend is just a little over 5 feet, 110 lbs soaking wet, near 40 years old with a kid. And I've seen what she eats. She's Italian and Sicilian so lots of pasta and she drinks regular soda. She also has great skin and looks 10 years younger then she is!
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
This is the usual cop out answer because nobody is with anybody 24 hours a day. Therefore you cannot "prove" there is such a thing as a naturally skinny person. Obviously, these people who you think are naturally skinny have this rare condition where they can only eat when other people are around, and cannot eat when nobody is looking.
Ridiculous. And I am speaking as someone who was skin and bones in college, did zero exercise, and ate more than most of my fraternity brothers.
And on that same note, are we supposed to believe you too? I don't believe you either.
Why would I lie? Am I trying to sell something?
There are naturally skinny people (usually under 25) who can eat and eat and eat and not gain weight. It is in an undeniable and irrefutable fact of life. It's called FAST METABOLISM. There bodies burn more calories than what is normal. How hard is this to understand?
Because as posts up thread have shown, the variations in the metabolism when studied and quantified, are not statistically significant. You've shown no counter studies which refute this, just your strong convictions and appeals to emotion that naturally skinny people exist who can eat and eat and eat and never gain weight.
Has nothing to do with emotions. It has everything to do with OBSERVATIONS.
Yeah I'm going to go with the published studies over "take my word for it, I have OBSERVATIONS". You keep saying you ate more than most in college, leading to your conclusion that your metabolism was exceptionally high, but if you are anything like me, my memories of college are a bit fuzzy these days, especially if I were to try to accurately recreate a weeks worth of eating to come up with a reasonable estimate of my calories in.
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When someone comments about how much a little girl like myself eats, I usually take it as a compliment. Although I've started replying that it just requires a lot of calories for this level of awesome, which is accurate.6
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People who say "I'm not fat, I'm big-boned" are the same as people who insist they have slow metabolisms, undiagnosed medical conditions, and genetic pre-dispositions. [/quote]
There is someone in my family like this. Always blames genetics, thyroid, etc. for weight. They have had tests run and nothing physically wrong. They were put on a stimulate/metabolism drug from doctor and lost weight due to loss in appetite, but gained weight back when came off the drug because no lifestyle changes were made. The real problem is they eat very calorie dense foods daily, hate vegetables and don't exercise enough to compensate. A lot of people in the family tip toe around it and feed into the victim attitude, which drives me crazy because it is not helping anything. This person also says things to me like, "you are so lucky that it is easy for your to lose weight." It is not any easier for me than it is for you, I get hungry sometimes and choose to eat chicken and salad instead of tasty pizza most days. I workout at the gym 4-5 days a week.
Anyway, sorry for the rant. Some people get annoyed by "naturally thin" people because they think it is not fair. Others get annoyed by people playing the victim that could be "naturally thin" if they just made different choices.3 -
My theory about "naturally slim" people is that they don't think much about food other than at meal times, don't get hungry between meals, don't stress eat, and don't eat for comfort. They eat to live, and enjoy large quantities of food on occasion with celebrations but don't overindulge every day. They are aware of body signals of satiety and often eat less for several days after a special night out where they eat more than their norm... etc etc...
I have to disagree with you just a little... My sister was always lighter than me (until very recently). We're both very food oriented. She's actually much worse about snacking than me and has a tendency to eat with she's stress or bored. She also eats slower than practically anyone I've ever met, but she will clean her plate.
When she graduated high school, she weighed all of 110 pounds, at about 5'5". She never went over 150 pounds until her activity level dropped, after she switched jobs. That's when all her bad eating habits caught up to her. Until then, she was "naturally thin". For her, he had nothing to do with her thoughts about food. It had everything to do with her activity level.0 -
bclarke1990 wrote: »No-one is "naturally slim". Some people eat less than others. Other people have a higher NEAT than others. It's a question of CI < CO
I really don't think it's this simple. Yea, CI CO, but I'm sure we've all had those friends who just don't gain weight.
One of my friends is stick thin, maybe 140 lbs, and he tried to gain weight by eating 5000-6000 calories a day without much activity (eating jars of hummus with bread, etc.) and he couldn't gain a pound. I'm not a geneticist so I can't speak to the genes behind metabolic adaptation but something has to give.
It probably has little to do with metabolic rate. It's much more likely that he either wasn't really eating that much or he simply wasn't absorbing a lot of the calories he ingested. Was his attempt to gain weight medically supervised? Has he talked to a doctor about it?
I know a 3 yo that was put on a medically supervised diet of 3000 calories a day (about twice the normal intake for his age) and still was labeled "failure to thrive" because his weight was so low. It was not because of an incredibly fast metabolic rate.0 -
My theory about "naturally slim" people is that they don't think much about food other than at meal times, don't get hungry between meals, don't stress eat, and don't eat for comfort. They eat to live, and enjoy large quantities of food on occasion with celebrations but don't overindulge every day. They are aware of body signals of satiety and often eat less for several days after a special night out where they eat more than their norm... etc etc...
I don't think I agree with this. I have been referred to as "naturally slim" all my life and I LOVE food. I do not just eat to live. I think about food constantly because I love food, I love eating, I love cooking and I love the social aspect of eating. My boyfriend and I went out for dinner last night and I spent the day repeatedly checking the pub menu deliberating between two different burgers, I was *that* excited.
I do agree however, that I am very aware of my satiety levels. I can't stand that over-full feeling and, even though I love the taste, if I'm full I'm happy to leave food on the plate uneaten. It's often pointed out to me too that my version of eating too much is different to others around me.
My sister is slim too, though not as slim as me and she would argue that she's not "naturally slim" in comparison to me and often bemoans the fact I eat all the food and stay skinny whereas she can't. But it quite simply comes down to CICO. When I was younger I was a dancer - she was not. We now both have fitbits and I consistently walk more than her (except when she went to Disney for 2 weeks and blasted me out the competition). I also go to the gym 3 times a week to lift and go running twice a week, she goes running once a week. She also has been diagnosed with PCOS which skews the equation, whereas I don't have it.
Oh, and when I first quit dancing? Yeah I gained 15lbs. Realised I didn't like that, got more active again with a slight calorie deficit and lost it slowly, just like everybody else. And now I'm in maintenance, loving every bite of food I can have and just keeping up that activity level. Because science.4 -
gonetothedogs19 wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »queenliz99 wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »
But HOW MUCH she eats matters. Unless you're with her 24 hours a day, you can't say she's slim just because when you see her she eats that way.RachelElser wrote: »Some people are naturally slim. My friend is just a little over 5 feet, 110 lbs soaking wet, near 40 years old with a kid. And I've seen what she eats. She's Italian and Sicilian so lots of pasta and she drinks regular soda. She also has great skin and looks 10 years younger then she is!
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
This is the usual cop out answer because nobody is with anybody 24 hours a day. Therefore you cannot "prove" there is such a thing as a naturally skinny person. Obviously, these people who you think are naturally skinny have this rare condition where they can only eat when other people are around, and cannot eat when nobody is looking.
Ridiculous. And I am speaking as someone who was skin and bones in college, did zero exercise, and ate more than most of my fraternity brothers.
And on that same note, are we supposed to believe you too? I don't believe you either.
Why would I lie? Am I trying to sell something?
There are naturally skinny people (usually under 25) who can eat and eat and eat and not gain weight. It is in an undeniable and irrefutable fact of life. It's called FAST METABOLISM. There bodies burn more calories than what is normal. How hard is this to understand?
Because as posts up thread have shown, the variations in the metabolism when studied and quantified, are not statistically significant. You've shown no counter studies which refute this, just your strong convictions and appeals to emotion that naturally skinny people exist who can eat and eat and eat and never gain weight.
Has nothing to do with emotions. It has everything to do with OBSERVATIONS.
How exactly do you observe metabolism?3 -
People who say "I'm not fat, I'm big-boned" are the same as people who insist they have slow metabolisms, undiagnosed medical conditions, and genetic pre-dispositions.
There is someone in my family like this. Always blames genetics, thyroid, etc. for weight. They have had tests run and nothing physically wrong. They were put on a stimulate/metabolism drug from doctor and lost weight due to loss in appetite, but gained weight back when came off the drug because no lifestyle changes were made. The real problem is they eat very calorie dense foods daily, hate vegetables and don't exercise enough to compensate. A lot of people in the family tip toe around it and feed into the victim attitude, which drives me crazy because it is not helping anything. This person also says things to me like, "you are so lucky that it is easy for your to lose weight." It is not any easier for me than it is for you, I get hungry sometimes and choose to eat chicken and salad instead of tasty pizza most days. I workout at the gym 4-5 days a week.
Anyway, sorry for the rant. Some people get annoyed by "naturally thin" people because they think it is not fair. Others get annoyed by people playing the victim that could be "naturally thin" if they just made different choices.
This is a good point that I want to expand upon. Aside from my highest weight of 190 pounds in high school, I have never ever went above 140 pounds. I have been between 111 and 140 pounds since the age of 19 and only get as high as 140 if my activity level drops. I'm talking to the point of never getting out of bed which only happened a few times in my life where I was dealing with a large amount of stress. Other than that, I sit around 115, even if I don't watch my intake too closely.
I'm 5'3" and 108 pounds now. People consider me naturally slim and make comments about what I probably do or don't eat or how much exercise I probably do each day to maintain my weight. They never believe I was ever 190 pounds. The only reason I was ever that weight is because even though I still didn't eat a lot, I ate calorie dense foods whenever I did. My mother didn't cook meals or send me to school with lunch, so lunch would be Skittles and M&M's from the vending machine or sausage biscuits from McDonald's because they were 2 for $1. Then when she'd get home from work, she didn't want to be bothered and throw money at us to order fast food. I'd be so hungry at that point it was easy to polish off a large pizza, supersize meal, or a Chinese food combo meal by myself. The only things stocked in the house were things like soda, ice cream, chips, etc. My mother has always been and probably always will be overweight due to her habits, denial, and excuses. Once I turned 18 and was able to take responsibility for my own food choices, I immediately went from 190 to 115 in a bit over one year. I even ate more frequently, but gravitated toward more nutrient dense and less calorie dense food and the weight came right off.2 -
That is great Maxematics! Plus you have a set point and don't have to calorie count. A lot of naturally thin people know when they have gained a bit intuituvely. I could know in my "knower" exactly what I weighed to the pound before I even got in the scale. I'm not sure how, but it was true.
When I started "over-riding" my knower for my normal weight, then my body got used to eating bigger portions and dealt with the extra calories by storing them as fat. I don't know if I can get down as low as I used to be, but my goal is to prevent health issues in the future. I feel like I have time to turn things around to live a thinner and more fit lifestyle for my later years.
Edited for typo0 -
dragon_girl26 wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »RachelElser wrote: »Some people are naturally slim. My friend is just a little over 5 feet, 110 lbs soaking wet, near 40 years old with a kid. And I've seen what she eats. She's Italian and Sicilian so lots of pasta and she drinks regular soda. She also has great skin and looks 10 years younger then she is!
Yes, another naturally slim person.
But here come the comments - "she's really not eating as much as you think she is eating," or, "she's secretly running five miles a day and not telling you," or, "you don't know how much running around she has to do with that kid."
Denial, denial, denial that there are naturally slim people because they have fast metabolisms.
Metabolisms do vary, but not greatly given same size and body composition. Often people who eat a lot without gaining as much as expected simply aren't absorbing as much of what they eat as others. While metabolic rates don't vary greatly, guts do.
Right, plus, as already been established, "lots of" pasta means different things to different people. I've lost weight eating while still eating lots of pasta. My definition of lots of pasta has also changed over the years. Pasta in and of itself doesn't make overweight unless you consume too many calories.
Additionally, we can't glean from the original comment how this person eats the rest of the time when not with company, how active they are, etc... if she follows something like the Mediterranean diet, the basis for being able to eat that way is also to be as active as possible.
To look at this one offhand example and make the blanket statement "see, this person is naturally slim" without also having this info to examine is jumping the gun a bit.
Her mom makes the pasta. It's SO FREAKEN GOOD!! Way better then store bought. Although when she cooks she will use Barille or whatever is on sale. We worked nights at a hospital so we saw each other 12 hours a day for three years. We actually talked about her weight- not meanly or anything! She said she's always been little, and if she ever gets fat her relatives will throw a party to celebrate. She didn't gain anything extra when she had her baby and quickly lost it after he was born.
When I say she is naturally slim, I mean that she eats what she wants when she wants without measuring, worrying about calories, has no eating disorders and is slim.0 -
My theory about "naturally slim" people is that they don't think much about food other than at meal times, don't get hungry between meals, don't stress eat, and don't eat for comfort. They eat to live, and enjoy large quantities of food on occasion with celebrations but don't overindulge every day. They are aware of body signals of satiety and often eat less for several days after a special night out where they eat more than their norm... etc etc...
I have to disagree with you just a little... My sister was always lighter than me (until very recently). We're both very food oriented. She's actually much worse about snacking than me and has a tendency to eat with she's stress or bored. She also eats slower than practically anyone I've ever met, but she will clean her plate.
When she graduated high school, she weighed all of 110 pounds, at about 5'5". She never went over 150 pounds until her activity level dropped, after she switched jobs. That's when all her bad eating habits caught up to her. Until then, she was "naturally thin". For her, he had nothing to do with her thoughts about food. It had everything to do with her activity level.
Yep ... from my experience, every single time I gained some weight it had everything to do with my activity level.
Summer would come to an end, I'd take a light activity month or 6 weeks in order to give myself a break from a very active summer season ... and I'd gain some weight (but not enough to put me into the overweight range). In those days, I didn't mind a bit of a weight gain because as soon as I started training again, I'd lose it.
But then, in 2009, my activity level dropped right off because of DVT and I struggled to get it back again ... and that was the beginning of why I ended up here on MFP.
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RachelElser wrote: »dragon_girl26 wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »RachelElser wrote: »Some people are naturally slim. My friend is just a little over 5 feet, 110 lbs soaking wet, near 40 years old with a kid. And I've seen what she eats. She's Italian and Sicilian so lots of pasta and she drinks regular soda. She also has great skin and looks 10 years younger then she is!
Yes, another naturally slim person.
But here come the comments - "she's really not eating as much as you think she is eating," or, "she's secretly running five miles a day and not telling you," or, "you don't know how much running around she has to do with that kid."
Denial, denial, denial that there are naturally slim people because they have fast metabolisms.
Metabolisms do vary, but not greatly given same size and body composition. Often people who eat a lot without gaining as much as expected simply aren't absorbing as much of what they eat as others. While metabolic rates don't vary greatly, guts do.
Right, plus, as already been established, "lots of" pasta means different things to different people. I've lost weight eating while still eating lots of pasta. My definition of lots of pasta has also changed over the years. Pasta in and of itself doesn't make overweight unless you consume too many calories.
Additionally, we can't glean from the original comment how this person eats the rest of the time when not with company, how active they are, etc... if she follows something like the Mediterranean diet, the basis for being able to eat that way is also to be as active as possible.
To look at this one offhand example and make the blanket statement "see, this person is naturally slim" without also having this info to examine is jumping the gun a bit.
Her mom makes the pasta. It's SO FREAKEN GOOD!! Way better then store bought. Although when she cooks she will use Barille or whatever is on sale. We worked nights at a hospital so we saw each other 12 hours a day for three years. We actually talked about her weight- not meanly or anything! She said she's always been little, and if she ever gets fat her relatives will throw a party to celebrate. She didn't gain anything extra when she had her baby and quickly lost it after he was born.
When I say she is naturally slim, I mean that she eats what she wants when she wants without measuring, worrying about calories, has no eating disorders and is slim.
This would describe me for about 40 years including all my pregnancies (I did gain weight but quickly lost it without much effort). But, when I began to overeat I gained weight. If your friend begins to overeat, so will she.0 -
I'm not sure why it's so hard to believe the notion that those under 25 have significantly faster metabolisms. Human growth hormone, a major component of metabolism, is twice as high at age 20 as compared to age 35.
http://www.vrp.com/amino-acids/amino-acids/growth-hormone-amino-acids-as-gh-secretagogues-a-review-of-the-literature
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ForecasterJason wrote: »I'm not sure why it's so hard to believe the notion that those under 25 have significantly faster metabolisms. Human growth hormone, a major component of metabolism, is twice as high at age 20 as compared to age 35.
http://www.vrp.com/amino-acids/amino-acids/growth-hormone-amino-acids-as-gh-secretagogues-a-review-of-the-literature
Because we don't have "significantly faster metabolisms", or else I wouldn't have been 50 pounds heavier until 2 years ago when I started counting calories.0 -
Whitezombiegirl wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »RachelElser wrote: »Some people are naturally slim. My friend is just a little over 5 feet, 110 lbs soaking wet, near 40 years old with a kid. And I've seen what she eats. She's Italian and Sicilian so lots of pasta and she drinks regular soda. She also has great skin and looks 10 years younger then she is!
Yes, another naturally slim person.
But here come the comments - "she's really not eating as much as you think she is eating," or, "she's secretly running five miles a day and not telling you," or, "you don't know how much running around she has to do with that kid."
Denial, denial, denial that there are naturally slim people because they have fast metabolisms.
Metabolism is the conversion of energy stores into useable energy. Generally the body only converts energy as required - for growth, movement, repair etc.
A fast metabolism is what - converting more energy than required? Whats all that extra energy doing?
Maybe these people just have greater energy demands. Thats a different thing imo. Its still cico.
"It's still CICO."
Right. Two people of the same height and the same weight. One can eat 1,500 calories a day, do X amount of exercise and not gain weight. The other can eat 1,900 calories a day, do X amount of exercise, and not gain weight. Calories in, calories out. But the second person can eat more calories than the first person.
This is not rocket science.0 -
gonetothedogs19 wrote: »Whitezombiegirl wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »RachelElser wrote: »Some people are naturally slim. My friend is just a little over 5 feet, 110 lbs soaking wet, near 40 years old with a kid. And I've seen what she eats. She's Italian and Sicilian so lots of pasta and she drinks regular soda. She also has great skin and looks 10 years younger then she is!
Yes, another naturally slim person.
But here come the comments - "she's really not eating as much as you think she is eating," or, "she's secretly running five miles a day and not telling you," or, "you don't know how much running around she has to do with that kid."
Denial, denial, denial that there are naturally slim people because they have fast metabolisms.
Metabolism is the conversion of energy stores into useable energy. Generally the body only converts energy as required - for growth, movement, repair etc.
A fast metabolism is what - converting more energy than required? Whats all that extra energy doing?
Maybe these people just have greater energy demands. Thats a different thing imo. Its still cico.
"It's still CICO."
Right. Two people of the same height and the same weight. One can eat 1,500 calories a day, do X amount of exercise and not gain weight. The other can eat 1,900 calories a day, do X amount of exercise, and not gain weight. Calories in, calories out. But the second person can eat more calories than the first person.
This is not rocket science.
Understanding that in probability, the further off the average you go in a normal distribution, it becomes exponentially less likely to find someone this applies to seems to be rocket science.2 -
Ok, it may be an exaggeration. But someone in their early 20s will still be able to eat more than in their early 40s, assuming the same weight and activity level.stevencloser wrote: »ForecasterJason wrote: »I'm not sure why it's so hard to believe the notion that those under 25 have significantly faster metabolisms. Human growth hormone, a major component of metabolism, is twice as high at age 20 as compared to age 35.
http://www.vrp.com/amino-acids/amino-acids/growth-hormone-amino-acids-as-gh-secretagogues-a-review-of-the-literature
Because we don't have "significantly faster metabolisms", or else I wouldn't have been 50 pounds heavier until 2 years ago when I started counting calories.
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