naturally thin people

DamePiglet

is there anybody who can eat a lot & still not gain weight?

Yes, but she has irritible bowel and doesn't properly absorb food/nutrients in her digestive tract... So, I hardly think that counts.

If you have a tapeworm, that is entirely possible as well.

Also, darkly, people with widespread cancer also are burning a lot of calories as those cells divide.

moon moon

rawhidenadz

The people who are "naturally thin" are the ones that picked up good eating habits or eat less meals (consuming less calories overall). There really is no such thing as naturally thin as you can't be the law of thermodynamics. Now, genetics can determine BMR to a certain extend but it's not going to be much greater than few hundred points.

I disagree. I know people who can eat as much as they want of whatever they want and never gain. I used to be one of those people

because "as much of whatever they want" is still less than their/your TDEE
i don't understand why this is so hard for people to understand

ninerbuff

I'm not saying that. I'm saying that my metabolism at the time allowed me to burn massive amounts of calories with little effort. It has since changed.

Of course you will gain/not lose if you eat more than you burn or the same amount that you burn. I'm saying I was burning a lot of calories without trying, thus it was pretty much impossible at that time to out-eat my metabolism.

My fiance looks just like his mother, who is also tiny. She actually has hypothyroid. His daughter is 5'6" and weighs 90 pounds.

So what you're actually saying is that as you age your metabolic rate slows?

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canonlygetbetter

I'm naturally pretty skinny, but I have fatty deposits as well ))
I recently started to eat more healthy and working out: I really want to get fitter!

Hornsby

awtume9

I always assumed that my dad was naturally thin (as was the rest of his family) but once I really paid attention to his habits, I noticed he never eats very much at one time. The man eats nothing but chocolate and fried food but he eats really small portions. He will take a bite of a brownie and put the rest away. It seems like he is always eating but it's always just a few bites.

smittybuilt19

I hope I can work hard enough to be naturally thin one day...

LINIA

Everyone is not exactly the same, i weigh more than i have ever weighed but much less than many, many people. I do believe my body efficiency or my metabolism is a little better than most.

The funny thing is, from time to time, people who are overweight give me " eating" advice.

Yes, i'd like to be smaller/thinner but am and always have been within my normal BMI -- unlike in other areas, here people don't ask the experts.
The first thing i would tell someone is, "don't eat if you're not hungry".

The world is a different place for those of us who have never been overweight.

QuietBloom

Interesting topic. I think body weight is influenced by genetics, diet, and lifestyle. While we know a great deal of things about the human body I'd argue that this is so much more left to be discovered. Things such as thyroid conditions are areas where I could see significant knowledge gains down the line.

^^Good post.

BinaryPulsar

Everyone is not exactly the same, i weigh more than i have ever weighed but much less than many, many people. I do believe my body efficiency or my metabolism is a little better than most.

The funny thing is, from time to time, people who are overweight give me " eating" advice.

Yes, i'd like to be smaller/thinner but am and always have been within my normal BMI -- unlike in other areas, here people don't ask the experts.
The first thing i would tell someone is, "don't eat if you're not hungry".

The world is a different place for those of us who have never been overweight.

Yeah, I do agree that this could be true. Our metabolism may be higher because we never had an extreme calorie restriction (or not in a very long time or not for a long period of time).

QuietBloom

I used to be like that. I was the kid at the birthday party who always wanted more food, an extra slice of cake, six pancakes even if my stomach was stuffed, and all that stuff. And yet growing up I was referred to as a stick or a twig because I was so skinny.

So sure I stuffed my face and it was okay, but the key to it was what happened the next day. The next day I skipped breakfast because I didn't feel like it and then completely forgot about lunch. So I was sort of following a modern diet plan without even knowing it. I ate like a beast one day then the next I probably managed about 600 calories.

I hate to think of what I did to my system back then....

My eating habits didn't really become a problem until I started to eat more consistently and I didn't know when enough was enough.

Your system was probably just fine. It was doing exactly what it was designed to do!

toutmonpossible

The people who are "naturally thin" are the ones that picked up good eating habits or eat less meals (consuming less calories overall). There really is no such thing as naturally thin as you can't be the law of thermodynamics. Now, genetics can determine BMR to a certain extend but it's not going to be much greater than few hundred points.

Not true. I've known people who in their 40s and 50s could eat whatever they wanted and stay rail-thin. Their genetics gave them a huge advantage over the ordinary person. One needed to eat extra desserts to keep up his weight. I've never been overweight, but my weight has crept up steadily over the years and I have maintained my weight by watching what I eat.

JaniePapageorgio

I've known two people with hyperthyroidism who have to eat ungodly amounts of food to stay a healthy weight... but I wouldn't trade some of the other effects of hyperthyroidism just for that (insomnia, restlessness, weakened immune system).

PeteWhoLikesToRunAlot

Naturally thin people disgust me.

Because I wish I was one

34blast

okay this is from my experience and not scientific or linked, just personal experience

I don't think very many are naturally thin, but I know 2 circumstances in my own family that are true. My wife and youngest son are naturally thin. My wife has gained some weight. She is 5'3 and 125 at 49. Most of her life she has been about 110. She always eats very large amounts of unhealthy foods for her size. She makes sweats. She eats tons of hamburgers, pizza, steak, Mexican food. She never eats fruits or vegetables. My youngest is the same as her. The youngest drinks a ton of whole milk and eats more than his peers. He is 12 and has a six pack. He is thin enough we had the doctors look him over concerned. They tested thyroid and a few other things and he is perfectly normal. Doctors wrote it off to genetics.

So think there is something genetically in some people that don't tell them to store fat like others even when they over eat

JaniePapageorgio

So think there is something genetically in some people that don't tell them to store fat like others even when they over eat

No. Your son obviously exercises a lot; no matter how fast someone's metabolism is, you won't end up with a six-pack without it. He can eat so much because he a) exercises and b) has muscle from exercise which helps metabolize calories.

Mr_Excitement

I don't see why it's so hard to believe that some people might have unusually inefficient digestion. The other way around doesn't make any sense, of course-- a 400 lb. person can't run their body on 1200 calories/day, no matter what they say-- but I don't see any reason why some people shouldn't be particularly *bad* at gaining weight.

j6o4

If I never forced feed myself I would be naturally thin. I can only get a gut if I tried, which I did because someone told me I wasn't bulk untill I had a gut, scrawny boy mentality. But yes, I think people who are naturally skinny just don't eat much, even if they think they do.

ninerbuff

okay this is from my experience and not scientific or linked, just personal experience

I don't think very many are naturally thin, but I know 2 circumstances in my own family that are true. My wife and youngest son are naturally thin. My wife has gained some weight. She is 5'3 and 125 at 49. Most of her life she has been about 110. She always eats very large amounts of unhealthy foods for her size. She makes sweats. She eats tons of hamburgers, pizza, steak, Mexican food. She never eats fruits or vegetables. My youngest is the same as her. The youngest drinks a ton of whole milk and eats more than his peers. He is 12 and has a six pack. He is thin enough we had the doctors look him over concerned. They tested thyroid and a few other things and he is perfectly normal. Doctors wrote it off to genetics.

So think there is something genetically in some people that don't tell them to store fat like others even when they over eat

Sorry, but you don't store fat unless you overeat. People's prospective of seeing their friends or family "always eating" doesn't comply when you apply basic mathematics to the equation. BBC and some others have done studies on this "naturally thin" myth, and the main conclusion reached is that these people aren't consuming more than they burn.

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ninerbuff

Let's look at perception on this matter. There are some here who believe in it because they perceive that their family or friend eats a lot.
I've had LOTS of clients telling me they "bust their *kitten*" and "are on point" and can't lose weight. Then I work them out and the response is "good lord are you trying to kill me?" when in truth, I just have them working out at about a third of the intensity I use for myself.
What people perceive is what they are basing their judgements on. When actually tracking and programs are instituted, the truth really comes out.

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