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Naturally thin
Replies
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I've been called "naturally thin" ... but there was nothing "natural" about it.
If I also exercised lots, I ate more. When I exercised less, I would eat less.
I've been following the CICO principle since I was about 16 or 17 years old because it made sense.
So if people at work saw me having 2 or 3 dessert choices at a morning tea ... well, chances are I would be going for a brisk walk at lunch and a bicycle ride after work and so I would figure I could afford the 2 or 3 dessert choices that day.
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ContraryMaryMary wrote: »Another characteristic of 'naturally thin' people is they tend to be active even when sedentary - they wriggle, fidget, and make hundreds of small movements while the overweight person sitting next to them is completely still. Start watching your 'naturally thin' friends while they're watching TV - How many times do they change position? Do they wave their arms about when they talk? Are they jiggling their foot? Do they get up often to make tea or grab something? Over the course of a day, 'naturally thin' people unconsciously burn hundreds of extra calories over 'naturally heavy' people, and can therefore eat the same amounts of food as an overweight person without gaining weight themselves.
Yes ...
I cannot sit and watch TV for hours on end. I hear people at work saying that they curled up on the sofa under a blanket and binge-watched some program for 4 or 5 hours on a Saturday. Nope ... can't do it. I get bored too easily.
I will, of course, watch TV, but I'm up just about every commercial break to do the laundry, clean the kitchen, tidy the bathroom or whatever. I'm up and down making cups of tea ... and then going to the toilet. Something about the light outside will catch my fancy so I'll go grab my camera and take photos of the flowers in that light. Or I'm studying and will be organising my papers and moving my books and computer around.
At work, I'm up and down to the toilet, kitchen, photocopier, stairs etc. all day long.
I don't count any of that in my calorie count ... I don't count those steps or anything. I figure they're just bonus steps. If I happen to have something a little higher in calories on occasion ... chances are my bonus steps will cover it.
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I was "naturally thin" and never had to think about what I ate. Back then I was pretty active (I walked a lot and generally had a lot going on). I also tended to miss meals because I was busy. I also hated being full and stopped eating when I was pleasantly comfortable. These days I'm not well so I'm pretty sedentary and I do a lot less. I was eating a similar amount but I'm not burning it as much. I'm also a lot less likely to skip meals because I'm not nearly as busy. So now I'm overweight and having to think about kilojoules. (I still hate being full so that helps a bit.)1
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I was a thin child, a chubby adolescent, and of and off overweight adult. Now I'm again a naturally thin person.
My eating habits, how, why and how much I move, and my attitudes towards food and eating, exercise and body weight and shape, has changed through the years, along with my weight.
As a child, food just was. For the most part, it was a necessary evil, something that interfered with work or play. My parents always encouraged/pressured me to eat more at meals. Snacks and treats were rare and to be treated with awe. As I got older, I started to sneak. Food fright started to afflict me, and I kept on overeating food in addition to junk. I have never been a fan of exercise, but now I hated how my body felt, and deliberately avoided movement. Funnily enough, holidays and resturants had me eat like a normal person - I would eat just what I needed of anything I wanted. A few times I lost weight through dieting, but regained because I had just learnt to lose weight, not to maintain normal weight.
At 43, I decided, again, that I'd had it, and set out to tighten up and lose weight. Luckily, I was exposed to many "new" ideas, at once, and in a way that made me change how I looked at a lot of things. I realized that being able to eat so much didn't mean I was a freak, my need for good taste didn't make me a glutton, I don't have to exercise, I don't have to say yes to every offering of food, getting hungry isn't dangerous, and lots of other small and big things that were part self-evident, part mindblowing.
My body works the same way it always have. I'm normal weight now because I eat, move and think like a normal weight person.3 -
I have an honest question that I am not able to find an answer I trust online and I am really curious. Could part of the reason some people seem to be "naturally thin" be because their bodies process calories differently?
I know for a fact that overeating put me where I am, I am not questioning that but I have always questioned if they do process calories differently and burn slightly more.
For an example: if me and a "naturally thin" person both ate a chicken sandwich that has 1000 calories in it and my body absorbed 950 calories of it could the other person possibly absorb 800?
Sometimes yes. Most often though these people will also be sick a lot because if they aren't fully absorbing the calories then they also aren't fully absorbing nutrients, which can lead to poor health.
But more often it's because they don't overeat. Either because they simply don't enjoy food as much or because they want to stay thin. People used to call me naturally thin. And I guess I was. I purposely did not overeat which, naturally, made me thin.
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Observe people you deem to be naturally thin and I think you'll see that they properly moderate calories, rather than process them differently. They are able to walk away from the plate when satisfied, not stuffed.
This isn't always true unless you are with them 24/7. I was thin for most of my adult life. When others saw me eat they would often remark on how thin I was when I ate so much. Even though I told them I didn't always eat that way, they would still comment about how lucky I was to be naturally thin. At parties, gatherings, etc. I usually go all out and don't give calories a thought. Always have. It's a special occasion! But depending on how much I overindulged I would diet for a few days after or maybe even fast the next day. I was purposely thin.4 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »I have an honest question that I am not able to find an answer I trust online and I am really curious. Could part of the reason some people seem to be "naturally thin" be because their bodies process calories differently?
I know for a fact that overeating put me where I am, I am not questioning that but I have always questioned if they do process calories differently and burn slightly more.
For an example: if me and a "naturally thin" person both ate a chicken sandwich that has 1000 calories in it and my body absorbed 950 calories of it could the other person possibly absorb 800?
Sometimes yes. Most often though these people will also be sick a lot because if they aren't fully absorbing the calories then they also aren't fully absorbing nutrients, which can lead to poor health.
But more often it's because they don't overeat. Either because they simply don't enjoy food as much or because they want to stay thin. People used to call me naturally thin. And I guess I was. I purposely did not overeat which, naturally, made me thin.
And this is precisely why I like to read entire threads before replying. The bolded is nearly word for word what I was going to say.
So, yes, theoretically it's possible that some people don't absorb/process all the nutrients properly. That's not a good thing, though.4 -
Nykkismommy21 wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »Nykkismommy21 wrote: »It has to do with their metabolism, and how fast they can get rid of their food. I can give an example. My ex, the father of my children tall and naturally thin yet muscular. Eats and poops within a few hours after he eats. Sorry if TMI. Just being honest. When my sister n law was younger she was adorably chubby ,like in her pre teen years, she ended up getting scarlett fever, she got through that ,after that for some reason her metabolism got turned up.She eats and poops within a few hours after eating. My other ex, the same thing,naturally thin ,eats and poops right away.their bodies process food very quickly and get rid of it.. Me, im always constipated, and I unlike them ,who eat steak,and chips and junk foods, eat fruit ,veggies, drink water,no soda,and poop every other day if im lucky. But then again, im on a medication that leaves me constipated all the time.Anyway thats been my experience. They arent the only ones like this that I know of. But yeah,metabolism is truly like a furnace it burns and stays burning so long as your giving it something to burn, if you give it the wrong things id imagine it to be a nasty ,smokey smelly toxic fire.(sorry i was imagine a fire burning plastic or Styrofoam, kinda like the junky foods,versus clean wood ,orvhealthy foods ) anyway, rambling now. That's my little input .lol. Have a great day.
You know that it's a different meal that they are moving out a few hours later, right? Not the same one they just ate. Maybe look up some information on digestive transit time. It might change your theory here.
It really doesn't matter what meal they're moving the point is they're constantly moving it. They go several times a day.
Its the type of foods we eat which helps us go to loo more often.. junk food definately would stop me from going, but I only eat it occasionally... so, I eat and poop too lol .... but then again, now I am one of those 'thin' people *shrugs*
(edit to add, I am not naturally thin, I have to work darn hard to stay like this, but I'm in year 4 of maintenance)3 -
My Dad will be 65 on Friday. He just retired this year and previously worked as a car salesman for the last 40 years. He's 6'4" and I don't believe he's ever been over 200 lbs his whole life. He'll gain some weight in the winter when he's not as active, but in the summer it just comes off naturally. He eats 3 squares a day, but doesn't eat any veggies or fruits. He eats dessert, he drinks w, but he smokes and drinks beer every day. I truly believe that thin people just move more.
He's just as active now as he was in his 20's. I think the only thing he doesn't do now that he did then was run regularly. He's constantly outside mowing grass, garden improvements, house improvements, etc in the summer. He doesn't stop all day other than to eat. He'll stop around 8pm and watch TV until bed.
Now, my Mom and I aren't as active naturally and struggle keeping our weight stable. We aren't overweight now but have been in the past. We've never been obese. I think our heighest BMI has been 28.
I see that if I keep moving, my weight stabalizes. If I start being lazy, I eat more and my weight goes up.
There is no such thing as "naturally thin" people.2 -
I'm very skeptical of personal anecdotes supporting or refuting a broad claim like 'some people are naturally thin'. These experiences say a lot about the individuals involved, but are they more broadly applicable? (especially if the anecdotes are about genetically related individuals).
Personally, I expect the truth of the matter is much more complex. My opinion is that genetics, activity level, personal happiness, good and healthy eating habits, personal experience of not being able to afford food in the individual's past, societal norms, etc all play a part in how much an individual differs (+-) from normal weight.
Starting at CICO and then figuring out your particular variables that can be manipulated for the better is all you can do. And what is true for you might not be true for the next person. And what is true and works for 'Betty' might not work for 'Veronica' IMHO.2 -
Most of the times when someone's naturally thin it turned out they are just naturally active.8
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kristen8000 wrote: »There is no such thing as "naturally thin" people.
I think that whenever this topic comes up people mean different things by "naturally thin."
I do think some people have more trouble gaining weight (probably in part but not only due to the natural increase in NEAT when they eat more). There are some studies about them discussed in Alan Aragon and Lou Schuler's Lean Muscle Diet (and many other places).
I also think a number of people (declining with age) naturally (as in not thinking about it) eat and move in a way that leaves them thin, and never having to think about weight. I also think that if you are heavier than you like it's easy to assume that MORE people are in this category than actually are -- my sister, who has always been thin and seems never to diet, for example, definitely thinks about it to some extent, even if a lot of what she does just seems like things she enjoys. As I get older, I notice that a higher percentage of always thin people are in this category.
On the other hand, I have known some who just never think about it and even want to gain weight. They simply don't care about food that much or are naturally very active or have longstanding, ingrained, healthy habits that have served them well.
I thought when I was a teen/early 20s that I could eat whatever and not gain, since I did eat whatever I wanted and was one of my few friends who had never dieted, and I was physically lazy (or so I thought). But looking back, I was actually quite active and although I ate whatever I wanted the amounts I actually ate were not super high. When I was in my late 20s and much less active throughout the day (even though I would go through periods where I'd try to run regularly for a while) and had the ability to eat tons of restaurant food (nice restaurants, work related, but still), yes, I started gaining. Under different conditions I can be "naturally thin" even now, but I'm definitely not in reality (or in my actual environment) -- I have to think about it and adopt strategies.1 -
ContraryMaryMary wrote: »Another characteristic of 'naturally thin' people is they tend to be active even when sedentary - they wriggle, fidget, and make hundreds of small movements while the overweight person sitting next to them is completely still. Start watching your 'naturally thin' friends while they're watching TV - How many times do they change position? Do they wave their arms about when they talk? Are they jiggling their foot? Do they get up often to make tea or grab something? Over the course of a day, 'naturally thin' people unconsciously burn hundreds of extra calories over 'naturally heavy' people, and can therefore eat the same amounts of food as an overweight person without gaining weight themselves.
Yup...I'm a twitchy, fidgety person and can't sit still for long...I'm always moving and twitching and fiddling with something. I have difficulty spending anymore than about 30 minutes watching television or something which is one of the reasons I don't do movies that often...sitting in a theater for a couple hours can feel like torture. Even when I am sitting there, I'm fidgeting and moving around a lot...drives my wife nuts sometimes that I can't just sit still. I'm also a "hand talker."
I have a sedentary job and mostly sit for about 10 hrs daily, but I have a rather high TDEE.1 -
Weight management is an output of behavior.
Every large population study on metabolic activity shows very little variation (<5% REE) outside of established algorithms.
People successful at weight management acknowledge this - learn and adapt.
People unsuccessful at weight management continue to try and rage against the body of evidence and blame genetics, hormones, or whatever is in fashion that moment.9 -
I've had acquaintances and co-workers assume that I'm naturally thin. Nope, it's the result of my behaviors, including some that are quite artificial (like weighing food).8
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I am "naturally thin". All the men in my family are very lean, naturally cut and defined. My grandfather all the way down to my brothers and I. My 90 year old Grandfather has bicep "egg" and has never touched a weight in his life. At 10 years old I had a Bicep "egg". Its part of the reason I started weight training at that age. I believe it has alot to do with genetics, which would determine your Metabolism and everything about you. I have a high speed metabolism where I can eat and eat and eat anything and everything and not gain an ounce. I have to eat well above the recommended amount of calories/Protein/carbs to gain weight. I quite working out several years back up until a year ago. During that time, I lost muscle mass but was still the same Body fat and tone. People that dont know me, would have guessed I was still hitting the gym everyday. I have friends that pick with me that I "walk into the gym skinny and walk out swoll". I have good genetics, fortunately. My point is that I believe alot of factors can come into play. People say that sometimes being over weight is a "genetic thing" or "predisposed", so why not being "naturally thin"?
Do you know how many calories you maintain at?0 -
Back in high school, I refused to count a calorie, and my 5’5” frame consistently hovered at an average 125 all through high school (and some college) without even trying.
If you would have told me I was an active teenager, I would have scoffed at the idea. However, in hindsight, I was pretty darn active, just not in the “routine gym exercise” sense. My high school was huge and I would walk to different ends of school every day. I also played on the golf team, and do you think they gave us youngsters carts to get around in?? Heck no! We walked with the clubs on our back and played 9 holes a day when we weren’t at tournaments; 18-hole tournaments were at least once a month. Plus, we packed way more stuff in those bags than just clubs, balls, and tees. All this with no beer too! The nerve…
I also remember how emotionally removed from food I was, not to mention, how picky of an eater I was. I believe my limited preference in food really facilitated my perspective of eating as something that is simply necessary, not enjoyed, thus helped in keeping my figure back then; I would not eat anything with whole tomatoes, mayonnaise, sausage, nuts, jelly, peppers… if it even *looked* spicy I didn’t touch it. My staples tended to be soup, crackers, cereal, peanut butter sandwiches, boiled eggs, and chicken when my mom made it. I rarely ate what the school cafeteria offered because I figured I wouldn’t like anything they served. And when my parents or friends wanted to go out to eat, cool! I love me some steak and a baked potato, or some combination fajitas with flour tortillas. I could even put away an average of 5 bread sticks at Olive Garden in one sitting before my chicken fettuccine alfredo came out. But how often did I actually go out to eat in general? Once, or twice a week at most during the weekend. And then it was back to good ol’ PB sandwiches 5 days a week and 9 holes a day.
If you only saw me at a restaurant on weekends back then, you would have been dumbfounded at how I maintained such a thin figure. AND I EVEN THOUGHT I WAS FAT BACK THEN!!!!!2 -
Medical fact that people have different metabolic rates therefore will burn calories at different rates. Look at any medical site. And yes the way your body process calories can be different which is why things such as diabetes exist and why if your blood sugar runs high you will loose weight because there is not insulin to process it and you pee more because your body is trying to get rid of the excess sugar7
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I was underweight throughout my childhood and adolescence but I couldn't understand why. I thought I ate loads and just assumed that I had a fast metabolism. However, looking back I realise that I didn't eat very much at all. On a normal school day I would have a plain slice of toast for breakfast, a packet of crisps at break, a sandwich and a chocolate bar at lunch and a meat casserole with vegetables and potatoes for tea. I remember not being able to sleep at night because I was hungry and having to eat a banana or cereal in the middle of the night so I could sleep.
However, if I went to a party or buffet I would gorge and eat everything in sight. Which is probably why I thought I ate loads.
I'm still quite thin but I struggle to reach my calorie target because I just can't be bothered to eat sometimes.0 -
meganmluitjens wrote: »Medical fact that people have different metabolic rates therefore will burn calories at different rates. Look at any medical site. And yes the way your body process calories can be different which is why things such as diabetes exist and why if your blood sugar runs high you will loose weight because there is not insulin to process it and you pee more because your body is trying to get rid of the excess sugar
There may be some small differences in metabolic rates but at the end of the day the big harry gorilla in the room is then amount of food consumed and the amount (or lack) of movement.6 -
Packerjohn wrote: »meganmluitjens wrote: »Medical fact that people have different metabolic rates therefore will burn calories at different rates. Look at any medical site. And yes the way your body process calories can be different which is why things such as diabetes exist and why if your blood sugar runs high you will loose weight because there is not insulin to process it and you pee more because your body is trying to get rid of the excess sugar
There may be some small differences in metabolic rates but at the end of the day the big harry gorilla in the room is then amount of food consumed and the amount (or lack) of movement.
Plus, all else equal, size.
But of course -- no one claims that people 5'1 and 6'3 will have the same TDEE (if both are equally active), so I never know why people try to rebut this as if it were disputed.6 -
I think it's a whole host of contributions. It seems a lot is attributed to that they just don't eat that much, but that's not the case in every situation. Rates of absorption, higher metabolism, genetic disposition can all offer small contributions and for the right person & combination make them "naturally thin". My college roommate drank nothing but mtn dew, ate copious amounts of food, especially junk food and was the leanest person I've ever known. There was no mistaking how much he ate. I also think the "fidget factor" is often overlooked. Given a person is awake 16-18 hours a day, one who sits still, truly still for a significant portion of that time, versus someone who is constantly twitching, moving, fidgeting, shaking their leg, and such is going to burn a lot more calories .
Added-my roommate was into body building so he was forever in bulk mode, so it's not like he wasn't trying.1 -
"Naturally thin" people have common traits. They just don't eat more than they need to.
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"Naturally thin" people have common traits. They just don't eat more than they need to.
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
Well, obviously they don't eat more than need to. I don't think anyone is questioning that. The question was, do some people eat more than should need to and not gain weight. Do they eat more than would make the majority of other people of the same size, shape, sex, everything gain weight.
The answer is yes. Absolutely yes. But not commonly yes.0 -
There was a very interesting thread on reddit about this once. I saw a story there that stuck with me, but of course I can't find it now. Here's a paraphrase.
The poster was a woman who was heavier than her boyfriend, who was a "naturally thin" person. One day she discovered a package of candy bars in his cupboard. After several subsequent visits over many weeks, she noticed that the candy bars were untouched. Perhaps one had been removed from the packaging.
Unable to understand what was going on, she finally asked him about it. "Don't you like those candy bars?", she asked. They've been sitting there for weeks. "They're my absolute favorite," said the boyfriend.
The poster had an epiphany. The boyfriend didn't feel compelled to eat all of the candy bars, as she would have been. He liked the candy, and ate it on occasion, but didn't desire to eat all of them up right away. The poster felt that, if she had a package of her favorite candy bars in her house, that they would be gone in a very short time. She realized that he was "naturally thin" in part not because he never ate candy, but because he didn't feel compelled to eat it all the time.15 -
Love that story above. That is the behavior of a naturally thin person. It is not luck, it is a lifestyle.5
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Cherimoose wrote: »
You have to put this in context. There's much we don't yet know and the body of knowledge is continually adapting, testing, and modifying accordingly.
Does this mean that someone with 30% body fat or greater processes food differently? No.1 -
Cherimoose wrote: »
I have a different thought/spin on this.
There's a lot about human psychology we don't fully understand yet. "Naturally" thin people don't have the same relationship with food compared to their counterpart. What the body does with the calories is the same across the board. Why the mind of the naturally thin person is different than the fat person about eating and exercise habits....well that is a draw.2 -
GemstoneofHeart wrote: »Cherimoose wrote: »
I have a different thought/spin on this.
There's a lot about human psychology we don't fully understand yet. "Naturally" thin people don't have the same relationship with food compared to their counterpart. What the body does with the calories is the same across the board. Why the mind of the naturally thin person is different than the fat person about eating and exercise habits....well that is a draw.
The bolded is not always true.3
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