naturally thin people
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I have always been one of those "naturally thin" people who seemed to eat huge portions of calorie dense foods. Even pregnant, I'm right where I'm supposed to be weight-wise for a healthy pregnancy, just eating what I feel like when I'm hungry. I got sick of people telling me that if I continued to eat this way as I got older/had kids, etc, that I was going to suddenly pack on the pounds. So I started tracking what I ate, not changing the way I eat, just to see what it was I actually did eat.
Do you know what I found out?
It turns out that I eat a reasonable amount of food for my size and activity level. Crazy, huh?
ETA: some of us are better at intuitively eating the right amount of food.
Bingo!
You are how people SHOULD be naturally.
Food and what you eat should be background to the important things in your life.
I bet that when your stomach is empty, you do not necessarily run to the refrigerator, right?
And you snack during the day on whatever you want?
Of course you do.
Everyone can adjust themselves to behave and treat food the way you do.
The body is perfect like that.
It makes no sense that the end point of hundreds of millions of years of evolution are human beings who are slaves to their appetite and consistently eat far more calories than the body needs.
Bingo on all points except the not running straight to the refrigerator part. If I'm hungry, and I can get to food, I eat. This has been especially true while preggers, but even before, fast food or something less than appealing trumps no food. It's a rare occasion that I hold out for something better than what's available food-wise, and usually coincides with a planned dinner out when I know I will be eating well (read-"lots"). It's been worse since I've got this thing in my belly making demands on my caloric needs as well. The thought of being without food sort of makes me panic.0 -
Let's look at it on neutral prospective though. If 2 people were built exactly the same, ate exactly the same, and had the same exact physical activity, and not be related nor have any hormonal/health issues, it's unlikely one will have a higher metabolic rate than the other.But you do agree that some people have much faster metabolisms/higher TDEEs naturally, correct?
It always seems that people that look like they have higher metabolic rates are people that really move around alot and don't eat more than they need to (regardless of food choice). I was skinny because of this till I got out of high school.
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
I fidget all the time. The bouncing knee when sitting down. I just can't "stand" in one place, I pace. People at work describe me as being overly hyper. So yes, moving does count in calorie use.As far as being fidgety, well, you would have to fidget a lot to make up for the difference in energy usage. With exercise, you can burn up to 50 times your basal metabolic rate in 24 hours. Burning an extra 200 calories a day fidgeting is probably not going to make a lot of difference. And there are likely other factors in play.
Studies show it's more like 350 calories/day in fidgeting, which is pretty huge. That's more than I burn in a 4-mile walk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/28/health/28weight.html?_r=0
And I'm guessing you mean you can burn "50% more than" your BMR not 50 times your BMR in exercise, right?
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
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Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
The "naturally thin" people in my life have two common attributes - they snack less than average, and they are more active than average.
Both of those, over an extended period of time, would tend to decrease weight.0 -
I work with a guy who is naturally thin. I've known him for about 7 years and his eating habits have never changed. The guy can put away 10 pieces of pizza and he never gains a pound. He is a big fan of cheetos and lots of mayo on sandwiches. He is just as active as anyone else doing normal activity like yard work. He is not sporty at all. However, even though he is stick thin, he has a family history of diabetes and high cholesterol. He even told us that his parents never made him eat his veggies as a kid. Thin doesn't equal healthy.
are you with him 24/7?
back when i did IF i could easily put away a large pizza for my ONE MEAL of the day and still be at a deficit with my activity level. if people just assumed that i ate like that all the time, they might have thought that i have some kind of magical metabolism that allows me to eat 10 slices of pizza per meal and still lose weight
in reality you have no idea how this person eats all the time
maybe you see him eat 10 slices of pizza one day
but you don't see him not eat at all the next day because his body is intuitively trying to "make up" for the "overeating"
a lot of naturally thin family members of mine do this
after they have an unusually large meal one day, they just aren't hungry the next day, and they're not consciously restricting, they just end up eating half as much as they normally would, and it all balances out to allow them to maintain their weight0 -
Let's look at it on neutral prospective though. If 2 people were built exactly the same, ate exactly the same, and had the same exact physical activity, and not be related nor have any hormonal/health issues, it's unlikely one will have a higher metabolic rate than the other.But you do agree that some people have much faster metabolisms/higher TDEEs naturally, correct?
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Okay, I get what you are saying, and I guess we both just disagree.0 -
My one friend has always been tiny but insists she eats a lot. However "a lot" to her is 1 can of soup for lunch. She feels so full after it!
I agree with everyone saying "naturally thin" people just don't eat more than they burn. They seem to listen to their hunger cues more and eat slower, which has them eat less.0 -
Maybe you need to go educate the researchers linked above who couldn't explain the variances.So that is the story on basal metabolic rate and variances therein0 -
my brother is super thin, he eats a lot, never healthy, he drinks soda all day and he sits on his butt all day. we all call him lazy thats how little he moves.0
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People often say that I am naturally thin, or that I am "lucky". This is so far from the truth. It is very easy for me to gain weight and I could easily gain 60 pounds, I know it because I've almost done it before.
Then there's my husband who everyone says has a fast metabolism and can eat anything he wants without gaining weight. He eats steak and drinks beer and has big meals every day, so it looks like he's getting away with eating lots and not gaining weight. However, when I looked at his activity level and caloric intake, and calculated his TDEE, I saw that he is eating at or below his daily requirement. He's just very tall, very active, and doesn't snack.0 -
I was always a tall skinny kid. When I married at age 18 I weighed 105 pounds at 5'10". I couldn't tell you how many doctors I had as a child who wanted me to log calories or test my thyroid. Thing is, I ate like a horse. I did eat whatever I wanted. I could out-eat many men. I was fairly active and had good muscle tone, didn't look skeletal, and I could regularly eat huge plates of alfredo pasta without it making a dent in my weight.
I once got followed in a mall by a lady who would not stop harrassing me about having an eating disorder. I had to have security take care of her.
So, first baby comes, age 19, my body gains fifty pounds and then two months after I'm back down to 110 without changing my diet.
So, second baby comes, age 24, I gain seventy pounds and then five months later I'm down to around 125 without changing my diet. I looked good at that weight and stay there until...
Third baby comes, age 30, gain 80 lbs all the while craving leafy green vegetables and fish, and have a bear of a time getting it to come off. A year later I'm around 150. Also a weight I thought I looked good at.
Now I'm 39. I'm having hormone trouble. I got up to 171 at a doctor visit for my hormones and I didn't look good anymore. Except I had boobs. Those were OK....but I also had backfat and buttfat and neckfat. I used to be a person who could eat whatever and now I am not. Age and perimenopause have caught up with me.
So now I'm monitoring my diet because while carbs taste amazing, veggies help me keep my hormones in check. As of today, eating at a deficit to lose less than a pound a week, I'm at 158 pounds. Eight more pounds and we'll see how I look.0 -
Let's look at it on neutral prospective though. If 2 people were built exactly the same, ate exactly the same, and had the same exact physical activity, and not be related nor have any hormonal/health issues, it's unlikely one will have a higher metabolic rate than the other.But you do agree that some people have much faster metabolisms/higher TDEEs naturally, correct?
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Okay, I get what you are saying, and I guess we both just disagree.
Well, no.
The kickboxer is correct.
You can disagree on who to vote for in an election, but not on basic physiology.
Metabolic rates do vary, but the reason they do is because of heat concerns. People in cold climates need to slow their metabolism down a bit to conserve heat, and people in hot climates need to speed it up a bit to get rid of heat.
This is done through the thyroid hormones.
Everyone has a basic level of thyroid hormone, but those levels can be modified over days and weeks by exposure to a different external temperature.
Thyroid hormone works in the nucleus of the cell to set the level of protein production. A lower thyroid level means that protein production will decrease, a high level means that it will increase protein production.
Now, essentially what we are taking about are protein enzymes that are catalysts to reactions. They are usually rate-limiting, meaning that the rate of reaction depends on the levels of protein enzymes.
The heat we lose in calories all comes as a byproduct of these reactions.
Now, this is key, for any particular product of these reactions, there is another reaction to break it down.
These reactions occur simultaneously.
So when thyroid hormone beefs up the rates of reactions, the heat factor is increased, but the net effect on the concentration of any biochemical compound is neutral.
At any rate, assume a baseline thyroid concentration, very cold weather can increase the heat production by maybe 100 percent. Hot weather can maybe decrease the heat production by 50%.
So that is the story on basal metabolic rate and variances therein for the most part in the otherwise healthy individual.
Drugs can effect the body's metabolic set-point, but that is through stimulating the sympathetic nervous system, and there are side effects.
That's a lot of good stuff. I just don't believe that people are created that "equal". There are variances, and there are anomalies. So yes, I disagree with you as well. Not a big deal.0 -
I don't fidget. Bed rest for a broken clavicle and shoulder sort of prevents that. Loss of muscle, yes, I've got it. Weight? no. Has my eating changed? No, I order in more than trying to cook with one hand. And i don't believe in the set point theory, the author himself
debunked it long ago.0 -
in my opinion,the case for maternal inheritance , your genotype to get a methyl markup in you grandma is very direct. When a girl is born, she has the complete set of eggs she will have for life in her baby ovaries.
The egg you developed from, half your chromosomes was created in was created in your mother's ovaries while she was in still in your grandmother's womb.
When your grandmother passed epigenetic signals to your mother, she also passed the egg that provided half of your DNA.0 -
^everything hornsby said0
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Yes typically they are the ones with faster metabolism and it could be that they eat less, but genetics definitely takes play.
Also keep in mind that is not always healthy or good because those that dont exercise have a lot of visceral (inner body) fat that you cannot visibly see.0 -
I do wonder just how much BMR variance there is between individuals. It's not nearly as much as people here seem to assume though.0
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only my teenage boys, lol0
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my husband is very slim, 6ft2 and 154lbs, he is eating around 3000 cals per day and trying to eat more to gain a few pounds.
he is what i would call 'naturally thin'
If I were 6'2 my TDEE would be in that range as well...
I have been fat most of my life, because I can easily eat 6k in a day0 -
There was a BBC programme about two friends, one overweight, the other very slim (possibly underweight).
They claimed to eat the same amount and had put it down to genetics that the slimmer friend was like that.
They got them to log food. The overweight person only ate marginally more.
Then they got them to wear monitors. Turns out the overweight person was eating a lot more in between meals.
I cannot find the video on YT, though - anyone know what this programme was called?
Personally, I used to be naturally thin as a child. I ate 4 dinners plus snacks. But I used to play badminton and do kung fu. Plus other sports at school. At uni, I did the same plus went clubbing twice a week. Fast forward 10 years, and I did a lot of rock climbing plus kung fu. Then through injury did less. Guess what happened?0 -
My older son and I might have been considered "naturally thin" for a little while, anyway.
We continued to grow after high school. I stopped growing at about 20 and him at about 21.
I'm thinking that we were probably able to eat more than other people our age because we were still growing, but I could be wrong.0 -
I definitely agree with the posters that brought up the fact that you don''t know how these "naturally thin" people eat when you are not around.
I am not super thin, but I have never been overweight, and most people think I eat way more than I really do. I am not a big fan of food in general, so my meals tend to be very small and not totally consistent. I would say that on a normal day at home, I eat about 1300-1500 calories, though it ranges from 600-2000 depending on the day.
I do have a huge sweet tooth, though. I don't keep sweets in the house, because I know I will eat way too much if I do. When I am out somewhere and there are cookies or treats served, I will eat at least 2 or 3 times more than anyone else. But that is probably less than once a month. The thing is, that's all people see, and they probably think I am bingeing on sweets on a daily basis and just have a crazy metabolism.
I also live in a very walkable city, and walk probably a few miles a day at least, during the 8 or 9 months that it's not freezing outside. And because of my ADHD, I am always fidgeting and squirming, which adds up to a surprisingly high number of calories when it's 16 hours a day, 7 days a week.
I also don't drink alcohol at home, but if I go out clubbing I will have 3 or 4 drinks. I only go out once a month or so, so my total alcohol intake averages less than one per week, but I think a lot of people think I am an alcoholic, because I only run into them when I am at the bar. They don't see me at home or in restaurants drinking club soda.
They see: Eats 6 cookies, downs 4 drinks and eats 2 slices of pizza and a piece of cake after drinks ( maybe 10-15 times a year)
They don't see: Protein smoothie for breakfast; small lunch and dinner eaten from side plates, drinking water or club soda with meals ( the other 350 days)0 -
My husband eats 5000 calories a day and should eat more since he is trying to gain muscle. He has never been anywhere near the overweight category. He has always been a big eater, but he has also had the activity level needed so that he is still not over eating. When his activity level goes down he naturally eats less. I thought it was his "high metabolism" but really he is just active and he eats according to his activity levels.0
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Yes typically they are the ones with faster metabolism and it could be that they eat less, but genetics definitely takes play.
Also keep in mind that is not always healthy or good because those that dont exercise have a lot of visceral (inner body) fat that you cannot visibly see.
Sorry.
Fat and thin are not genetically determined, though a lot of people would like to think so.
Metabolism is metabolism, and it has evolved over 600 MILLION years and yours is just like mine.
I disagree. There's plenty of evidence that where our ancestors came from, how they adapted to manage their environment and where we live today have a significant impact on our health.
* and 600 million? In the right circumstances,heavy evolutionary pressure can breed a trait into - or out of - a poulation's gene pool in just a generation or two.0 -
From my knowledge of genetics, I think it entirely plausible that it may play a component in one's LBM. For instance, some women naturally produce more testosterone than others, which would lead them to carry more LBM and be able to build more easily with exercise raising their BMR. However, this does NOT mean that their metabolism itself functions any differently , it just means they burn more calories at rest than someone with less LBM.0
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My husband is like a rail. He eats far more than me at each meal, drinks sugary sodas and coffee drinks regularly and snacks a lot. He is almost half my weight. We have been together over 5 years with this difference in our eating styles and he never gains weight. I would say he is one of those naturally thin people. They exist.0
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Yes typically they are the ones with faster metabolism and it could be that they eat less, but genetics definitely takes play.
Also keep in mind that is not always healthy or good because those that dont exercise have a lot of visceral (inner body) fat that you cannot visibly see.
Sorry.
Fat and thin are not genetically determined, though a lot of people would like to think so.
Metabolism is metabolism, and it has evolved over 600 MILLION years and yours is just like mine.
I disagree. There's plenty of evidence that where our ancestors came from, how they adapted to manage their environment and where we live today have a significant impact on our health.
You are actually agreeing with that poster.0 -
My husband is like a rail. He eats far more than me at each meal, drinks sugary sodas and coffee drinks regularly and snacks a lot. He is almost half my weight. We have been together over 5 years with this difference in our eating styles and he never gains weight. I would say he is one of those naturally thin people. They exist.
He obviously has a much higher basal metabolic rate than you do, and eats to fuel it. He is probably more active than you as well (and not just in the traditional 'works out' kind of way).
If you ate only what you needed to fuel your metabolism, it would be much much less than what he needs. It doesn't mean that he is any more 'naturally' thin than you are.
It may seem unfair, but it really is just calories in and calories out.0 -
I gain weight sometimes, but my size don't increase that easily. (^_^) I don't know what do you call those people as! =P0
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My husband is like a rail. He eats far more than me at each meal, drinks sugary sodas and coffee drinks regularly and snacks a lot. He is almost half my weight. We have been together over 5 years with this difference in our eating styles and he never gains weight. I would say he is one of those naturally thin people. They exist.
I wholeheartedly agree with this. My husband is 6ft 1in and 160 pounds. A weekly diet for him consists of up to seven soda pops, four or five bags of candy, a bag of peanuts, a gallon of whole milk with added chocolate syrup, and food-wise he eats huge helpings of pasta, half a pizza, hot dogs/pigs in a blanket, chips galore, and other similar foods. The ONLY vegetable he eats is corn but that is VERY rare. He's been eating like this the entire 3 1/2 years we've been together. Excluding the past nine months, his job has been to sit on his butt up to ten hours a day just answering calls. He works hard labor now but, still, I don't understand how he does this without gaining weight.0
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