What do you think of people who are naturally slim?
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Whitezombiegirl wrote: »Ive said before on here that my sister and I were 'naturally' skinny. We didn't realise until we were in young adulthood that when our friends said they had 'pigged out' - it was totally different to what we meant.
We didn't grow up with much 'junk' food or soda in the house (no take-aways as we were not well-off). a 'pig out' for us was a large volume of low cal fruit and veg e.g. a huge basket of plums freshly picked from our tree, or a slice of mums home made cake, perhaps 5 small cookies. Plus we were very active. (plus anything treat like was always shared between the family- seriously - a mid week 'dessert' could have been 3 slices of tinned peach each, maybe with a tiny scoop of low cal vanilla ice cream)
Our friends idea was a Chinese take-away, whole pizzas, several bars of chocolate at once, sodas etc. I was totally surprised when I learnt this as I genuinely didn't know people ate this way. More than one bar of chocolate? Wow! A take-away- and its not a special occasion? Pop? and none of it was shared? Wow!
My whole world of eating opened up at university when I started to eat like my peers e.g. take out pizza after drinking! I ended up gaining the freshman 12- and when I moved back home mums home cooking etc. soon got it all back off me. I was kinda fun while I was eating that way- but also kinda gross at the same time. (i missed fresh plums!)
I grew up the same way.
Dessert was maybe a small jello or a bit of tinned fruit or something. We were allowed 1 cookie and a glass of milk when we came home from school. To this day two cookies at once seems a little indulgent. Chocolate bars were only for rare special occasions, and I would have been in my late teens before I had a whole one to myself ... prior to that I had to share with my brother.
Saturdays were our special food day ... when one of my parents would make pizza or lasagne or Chinese food or something from scratch. The rest of the time it was the basic meat and three veg.
My mom monitored us as kids. She would say, "You can have 2 pieces of candy." My brother and I would have to split things. If we got Hostess HoHos where two came in a package then we would each get one. My mom even split the Popsicles that had two sticks in half and we each would get one half of it. We didn't eat a lot of sweets growing up though. Those were occasional treats that were nice surprises. We would occasionally go to the ice cream place and get to pick out the flavor we wanted for one scoop on a cone. That was a big deal!
Yep ... we split the popsicles too.
And we'd get a Kit Kat occasionally ... which we'd split so we'd have two "bars" each.
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I'm a 5'7" guy who weighs only 146. I have a small build. The heaviest I've ever been was 158. Generally I eat whatever I want but it was only when I started counting calories that I noticed that it's not that much. A pig out day for me is maybe 2600-2700 calories.0
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Hungry_Shopgirl wrote: »Hungry_Shopgirl wrote: »Conclusion: "naturally thin people" just less or exactly what their body needs, so they don't gain weight. Agreed!
But now, I have a question to add: why do so many of those people SAY that they do otherwise?
I ask because I was an overweight teenager in a world full of "naturally thin people" who would say things like: "Oh man, I could eat a horse! Let's gorge ourselves on pizza and cake" (ok, not verbatim, but you get the idea). We would then proceed to buy massive amounts of food. I, being the chubster I was/am totally took them at their word and would then eat way above my calorie needs. I guess I never really noticed whether they were actually doing what they claimed to do or not, but I was overweight and they weren't, so I guess not.
I'm not blaming anyone for my weight issues. I'm just pointing out that if people said they ate all the time, massive amounts of junk food, etc., I believed them, and then assumed that my weight gain was due to genetics and hypothyridism.
I always said I could "eat whatever I want" and would eat what to ME was a huge portion of pizza, Oreos, etc. I would be stuffed and feel horrible. However, if I eat donuts, I eat one and maybe a bite of another until I feel full and the sweetness is sickening. If I eat pizza with all the toppings, I feel stuffed after 3 pieces. If I go to a restaurant and order pasta with cream sauce on it, I never finish it. However, to me, I just ate pizza, donuts, pasta with cream sauce, felt stuffed, and didn't gain weight.
Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to explain that. When I first understood CICO and compared that to what slim people said they were eating, I assumed they were lying. But what you said here helps me understand that they weren't necessarily lying; they were eating what THEY considered a truckload, which was just less than what I felt stuffed with. This makes so much sense lol
Exactly ... when I came here I read a thread where people talked about how many calories they used to eat in one sitting and nearly fell off my chair in surprise.
I thought I had a huge appetite. I thought there were times when I was consuming absolutely massive amounts of food. But my upper limit is about 3000 calories on really high calorie occasions, and that was usually spread out over several hours ... cheesy garlic bread as an appetizer, pizza maybe half an hour later, dessert an hour or two later, or something like that. And for me, that was a truckload ... something I didn't do very often.
But in that thread, people were claiming to eat twice that amount and more, and not just occasionally.
I actually thought some of them were stretching the truth with their claims because I couldn't conceive how it would be possible to eat as much as they were claiming.
I recently saw someone who though pizza had more than double the amount of calories it actually does.
People suck balls at estimating.0 -
So am I to understand that if you eat 2,500 calories a day and do X amount of exercise at age 20, your results will be exactly the same as if you eat 2,500 calories a day and do X amount of exercise at age 60? Does anyone really believe that?0
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gonetothedogs19 wrote: »So am I to understand that if you eat 2,500 calories a day and do X amount of exercise at age 20, your results will be exactly the same as if you eat 2,500 calories a day and do X amount of exercise at age 60? Does anyone really believe that?
There will be a difference, but that difference isn't as much as people think it is. Most of the slowdown and loss of muscle mass is due to a lack of exercise. After age 60 it does get worse. The point is to not throw up your hands and blame aging but to get up and move.14 -
Yes, I agree with what everyone is saying. I would have always described myself as naturally thin. Same as my mother. And the reason is that I don't really have hunger cues. I would eat little snacks throughout the day and never get hungry. I would really only eat one meal a day. Sometimes I would go all day without eating and not think about it. And I was very active. I worked out, I went to school, I had physical jobs. So I could eat whatever I wanted and whatever amount I wanted, but that was probably less than most people. When I eat chips, I take 2-3 bites from a single chip. My husband shoves a handful in his mouth.
So I think it's safe to say that 'naturally slim' people just tend to automatically listen to their bodies and not overeat. I gained weight when I stopped listening to my body and ate out of boredom and stopped moving as much.5 -
Getting back to an earlier post of mine, I ate more than most of my college friends, I did zero exercise (which was common back on the late 70's and early 80'), and never weighed more than 145 lbs at almost 6' 1" with a 29" waist. I have no reason to make this up.
And I am not some sort of freak of nature. There are plenty of people just like me. And friends who ate less than me and did zero exercise were overweight (but not obese).0 -
One other thing I'll mention is this ... all the "little extras".
Personally, I don't like sauces and dressings and things. So I'll eat salad without dressing ... or if I do use dressing a small dab of light Caesar dressing will do me. I will not put sour cream on my baked potato or burrito or anything. I really don't like sour cream. I don't care much for cheesy sauces on my veggies. I will use a cheesy sauce occasionally, like maybe once every 6 months, just for something different, but that's enough. I'm not that keen on gravy. I will use dips once in a while for my raw veggies, but raw veggies are good on their own, so dip is not something I go out of my way to get. I'm not even all that excited about margarine or butter.
When they make my burrito at Zambrero's or my tuna sub at Subway, and they ask if I want sauce, I just get a little bit ... less than half what they normally put on.
But the calories in all those sauces and things do add up. And while two meals might look similar, one might have significantly fewer calories because it has no sauces.
Another category of "little extras" are lollies ... the candy bowl at work. Those are about 30 calories each. It can be really easy to eat lots of those because they're so small. Perhaps the "naturally slim" person only has one or two ...
And then there's what a person might put into their coffee or tea. I've been drinking mind black (no milk or sugar) since I was about 17 years old. But two people could go out for coffee and one could be drinking a whole lot more calories than the other.
Even though two people might appear to be doing the same things and eating roughly the same things ... all these "little extras" add up.
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gonetothedogs19 wrote: »queenliz99 wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »There is no such thing as naturally thin people.
Well I was one until I was 25. Ate like a horse, did not exercise, could not gain weight. Just short of 6' 1", and was under 150 lbs. Both my parents were bean-poles in their 20's, as was my uncle, and my first cousins. To flat-out state that there are not naturally skinny people flies in the face of reality.
Oh, and as we all got older, we all got heavier. And it wasn't because we were eating more and exercising less. Guess there is this thing called metabolism.
CICO We get heavier because we don't move as much and are still eating the same amount of food or more. CICO my friend.
From the day my track team ended senior year in HS, I essentially stopped doing anything physical. So I didn't move any less at age 30 than I did at age 19. And I did not eat more at 30 than I did at 19.
It's very simple. My metabolism slowed. There is no other reason. Certainly you are aware of the concept of metabolism. I could not eat the same number of calories at 30 that I ate at 19.
Were you at your full height by the end of HS? Seems you could have been in the middle of a last growth spurt during that time. So you got done with HS and track and for example, all your activity was to drive to a sedentary job and then come back home and sit down and read a book or watch TV? Same meals, quantity, snacking, drinking, same everything? Same person cooking, too, no moving out in that time frame?
Or that you slowly lost muscle mass as you aged because you were no longer using it? That's usually what most people refer to as their metabolism...the rate they burn calories at rest, which is largely dependant on how much muscle they have.0 -
There is no such thing as natural thin people. Larger people think there are...but they just have their CI/CO figured out. When I was 40lbs heavier I thought it was so easy for my thin friends, but when I think back, they ate less and moved more than I did.3
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The below are worth perusing. On a personal note, I experienced my fastest weight gain when I went from college to graduate school. I worked jobs through college that required me to be on my feet all day 5-6 days a week, but I did no intentional exercise. When I went to graduate school I exercised a little, but I spent the vast majority of my time sitting and studying. I gained 5 inches around my waist in 4 years. It got worse when started working and eating more (better income, more and richer foods). I'm now in my mid 40s and have the best body composition that I've had since high school and, in reality, it's better due to the increase in muscle mass from several years of lifting. Yes, there is a small decline over the years due to aging but it is very minor when compared to the effects of sitting on my hind end.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9329340
“Our results are consistent with the concept that the age-related decline in RMR in sedentary women is not observed in women who regularly perform endurance exercise. The elevated level of RMR observed in middle-aged and older exercising women may play a role in their lower levels of body weight and fatness compared to those in sedentary women”
http://ajpendo.physiology.org/content/281/3/E633.short
“These results indicate that1) RMR, per unit FFM, declines with age in highly physically active men; and 2) this decline is related to age-associated reductions in exercise volume and energy intake and does not occur in men who maintain exercise volume and/or energy intake at a level similar to that of young physically active men.”
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To add some additional perspective on metabolic rates.
https://examine.com/faq/does-metabolism-vary-between-two-people/Extending this into practical terms and assuming an average expenditure of 2000kcal a day, 68% of the population falls into the range of 1840-2160kcal daily while 96% of the population is in the range of 1680-2320kcal daily. Comparing somebody at or below the 5th percentile with somebody at or above the 95th percentile would yield a difference of possibly 600kcal daily, and the chance of this occurring (comparing the self to a friend) is 0.50%, assuming two completely random persons.
Essentially, 96% of people fall within 1 standard deviation of the mean. So while there are some gifted people, it's a lot few than we think. The problem with personal observtion, its we only recognize that big meals. We don't see all of the small or skipping of meals or no snacking. We don't see all of the activity (even outside of exercise) and we don't look at the diet in context (meals over the whole week).
Interestingly enough, I see this all the time in the gaining weight section. So many people are "hard gainers", only to discover, they just don't eat enough calories. For many, that is because they gravitate towards low calorie food, only eat a few meals a day, or don't eat high quantities. When they actually start tracking calories, it's quickly discovered they fall around the mean caloric intake as others.
And in the 7 years I have been on this forum, there have been 2 outliers; 1 had hyperthyroidism, and 1 had a malabsorption issue.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10326769/are-you-a-hard-gainer-please-read/p1
Now, there are some people who are very active or have active jobs, which gives them a higher than average TDEE, but it's not their metabolism.6 -
A lot of my friends are "naturally slim" and were accustomed to eating whatever they wanted and not working out. I have been chubby since childhood and have ALWAYS had to work at it. Now that we're hitting 30, some of the girls that are "naturally thin" are starting to see their metabolisms aren't so great anymore and are gaining weight....none of them know a thing about working out. me however, I've got muscles from years of exercise...knowledge on nutrition and how to work out.......so I'm no longer jealous.2
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When asked why her son was so skinny, the mother responded, "I don't understand. He's eating me out of house and home, and he can't put on a pound." The other mother said, "He eats like a horse. I've never seen anything like it. Can't figure it out."
It is beyond my comprehension that most of the posters here cannot acknowledge the obvious - there are naturally skinny people, particularly those under the age of 25. The word metabolism is in the dictionary for a reason. And for most of us, our metabolism slows as we get older.
You just can't consume the same number of calories at 50 that you consumed at 21 (assuming similar amounts of exercise) without the consequence of weight gain. This is sky is blue and grass is green stuff.0 -
gonetothedogs19 wrote: »When asked why her son was so skinny, the mother responded, "I don't understand. He's eating me out of house and home, and he can't put on a pound." The other mother said, "He eats like a horse. I've never seen anything like it. Can't figure it out."
It is beyond my comprehension that most of the posters here cannot acknowledge the obvious - there are naturally skinny people, particularly those under the age of 25. The word metabolism is in the dictionary for a reason. And for most of us, our metabolism slows as we get older.
You just can't consume the same number of calories at 50 that you consumed at 21 (assuming similar amounts of exercise) without the consequence of weight gain. This is sky is blue and grass is green stuff.
Go back and read the studies posted. I'm eating the same at 43 as I did at 17. It's not magic. It's exercise.2 -
gonetothedogs19 wrote: »When asked why her son was so skinny, the mother responded, "I don't understand. He's eating me out of house and home, and he can't put on a pound." The other mother said, "He eats like a horse. I've never seen anything like it. Can't figure it out."
It is beyond my comprehension that most of the posters here cannot acknowledge the obvious - there are naturally skinny people, particularly those under the age of 25. The word metabolism is in the dictionary for a reason. And for most of us, our metabolism slows as we get older.
You just can't consume the same number of calories at 50 that you consumed at 21 (assuming similar amounts of exercise) without the consequence of weight gain. This is sky is blue and grass is green stuff.
It's beyond my comprehension as well that people can't acknowledge that young adults are often much more active than adults even if they aren't doing intentional exercise.
And as mentioned many times in this thread, yes, metabolism slows as you age, but not to the degree that people here seem to think. The far bigger factor is becoming less active as you age.8 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Hungry_Shopgirl wrote: »Conclusion: "naturally thin people" just less or exactly what their body needs, so they don't gain weight. Agreed!
But now, I have a question to add: why do so many of those people SAY that they do otherwise?
I ask because I was an overweight teenager in a world full of "naturally thin people" who would say things like: "Oh man, I could eat a horse! Let's gorge ourselves on pizza and cake" (ok, not verbatim, but you get the idea). We would then proceed to buy massive amounts of food. I, being the chubster I was/am totally took them at their word and would then eat way above my calorie needs. I guess I never really noticed whether they were actually doing what they claimed to do or not, but I was overweight and they weren't, so I guess not.
I'm not blaming anyone for my weight issues. I'm just pointing out that if people said they ate all the time, massive amounts of junk food, etc., I believed them, and then assumed that my weight gain was due to genetics and hypothyridism.
I always said I could "eat whatever I want" and would eat what to ME was a huge portion of pizza, Oreos, etc. I would be stuffed and feel horrible. However, if I eat donuts, I eat one and maybe a bite of another until I feel full and the sweetness is sickening. If I eat pizza with all the toppings, I feel stuffed after 3 pieces. If I go to a restaurant and order pasta with cream sauce on it, I never finish it. However, to me, I just ate pizza, donuts, pasta with cream sauce, felt stuffed, and didn't gain weight.
Yeah, this was me as a teenager and into my early 20s. I thought I ate a ton, but looking back I really didn't. I did eat as much as I wanted without thinking about it, and I maintained my reasonably thin weight, because what I wanted lined up with what I needed to do that at my level of activity (inconsistent when it comes to intentional exercise, but I walked a lot because that was a necessary part of my daily life running around a campus or, later, a city)...
From observing and talking to people I know who have always been thin (including my sister), some are naturally thin in that they never have to think about it (most of the ones I know are either extremely active or ]not interested in food much), but most do think about it some or have intentionally cultivated helpful habits. They just realized the need to do this before getting fat.
People who are "naturally thin" sometimes don't even think about food. My mom said she ate whatever she wanted and didn't gain weight. But she didn't think or care about food much and often forgot whether or not she ate or missed a meal. She was full on small amounts and would eat a child sized cheeseburger and small fries, for instance. Or she would have 1 cinnamon toast or 1 waffle for breakfast. I do think perceptions of portion sizes and the definition of eating "all you want" is way different from one person to the other.
Yeah, agreed. My sister dated this really thin guy for a while (she's thin and pretty much eats what she wants, but she is somewhat conscious about it and also works out a lot, so it's not quite the same, and she doesn't really like sweets at all). What I recall about him is he genuinely didn't seem to care or think about food. She'd remind him that he hadn't eaten anything and he'd go grab a bowl of rice and be fine with it, if that's what was around. It was just to fill up. (And along the same lines, he was thin, but hardly ate a super nutritious diet.)0 -
mom23mangos wrote: »Yes, I agree with what everyone is saying. I would have always described myself as naturally thin...
...When I eat chips, I take 2-3 bites from a single chip. My husband shoves a handful in his mouth.
So I think it's safe to say that 'naturally slim' people just tend to automatically listen to their bodies and not overeat. I gained weight when I stopped listening to my body and ate out of boredom and stopped moving as much.
That is a key point. Naturally thin people often eat slower and take smaller portions. Plus their stomach capacity is smaller, and they feel uncomfortable when it stretches.
Sometimes people who overeat "wolf" down food like they will never see it again. My husband had to rush when eating due to a short lunch break. He can eat a half sandwich in two bites and be almost done by the time I sit down to take one bite. Lol
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3dogsrunning wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »When asked why her son was so skinny, the mother responded, "I don't understand. He's eating me out of house and home, and he can't put on a pound." The other mother said, "He eats like a horse. I've never seen anything like it. Can't figure it out."
It is beyond my comprehension that most of the posters here cannot acknowledge the obvious - there are naturally skinny people, particularly those under the age of 25. The word metabolism is in the dictionary for a reason. And for most of us, our metabolism slows as we get older.
You just can't consume the same number of calories at 50 that you consumed at 21 (assuming similar amounts of exercise) without the consequence of weight gain. This is sky is blue and grass is green stuff.
It's beyond my comprehension as well that people can't acknowledge that young adults are often much more active than adults even if they aren't doing intentional exercise.
And as mentioned many times in this thread, yes, metabolism slows as you age, but not to the degree that people here seem to think. The far bigger factor is becoming less active as you age.
Yep. Also, if they are growing, they will have higher metabolisms. Nothing surprising. And there's some degree of muscle loss on average -- that's why the calculators that estimate TDEE without BF% ask age, and the one that uses BF% doesn't need age.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »3dogsrunning wrote: »gonetothedogs19 wrote: »When asked why her son was so skinny, the mother responded, "I don't understand. He's eating me out of house and home, and he can't put on a pound." The other mother said, "He eats like a horse. I've never seen anything like it. Can't figure it out."
It is beyond my comprehension that most of the posters here cannot acknowledge the obvious - there are naturally skinny people, particularly those under the age of 25. The word metabolism is in the dictionary for a reason. And for most of us, our metabolism slows as we get older.
You just can't consume the same number of calories at 50 that you consumed at 21 (assuming similar amounts of exercise) without the consequence of weight gain. This is sky is blue and grass is green stuff.
It's beyond my comprehension as well that people can't acknowledge that young adults are often much more active than adults even if they aren't doing intentional exercise.
And as mentioned many times in this thread, yes, metabolism slows as you age, but not to the degree that people here seem to think. The far bigger factor is becoming less active as you age.
Yep. Also, if they are growing, they will have higher metabolisms. Nothing surprising. And there's some degree of muscle loss on average -- that's why the calculators that estimate TDEE without BF% ask age, and the one that uses BF% doesn't need age.
In the late 70's and early 80's, the only people that went to gyms were muscle heads. Running/jogging was not common. Bicycles were for kids.
My assumption is the average 55-year-old does more exercise today than he or she did when they were 20. Been to a gym lately and see the older people?
And they don't eat more at 55 than they ate at 20. Yet, if you ask most of them, they probably say they can't eat what they ate when they were 20.1
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