Naturally thin people...what do you eat in a day?

rml_16

People who are naturally thin can eat whatever they want. My roommate has weighed 120 pounds since we graduated high school nearly 11 years ago and eats nothing but junk food. I swear she lives on Totinos Party Pizzas, Oreo cookis, and Mountain Dew and never gains a pound.

OK. We'll just chalk it up to medical miracles of science. Someone should seriously call a research facility. I'm sure they would be interested in this marvel that defies all laws of thermodynamics.

I think it's an excuse and scapegoat for those that struggle with their weight.

Actually, it's just a matter of metabolism. Some people have metabolisms that burn faster than others. There was a study years ago on brown fat and they used identical twins. The more brown fat a person had, the faster that person's metabolism. Eating the same diet, some people (and it was consistent within the twin groups) gained weight, some stayed the same and some lost.

As I said earlier in the thread, I used to live on a diet of fast food. I ate whatever I wanted and as much as I wanted. Since I started having to watch what I eat, I have discovered I was putting away 3,000-4,000 calories in one restaurant meal alone. A brownie sundae at The Ale House is 2,400 calories alone and I ate those all the time. One slice of the Cheesecake Factory's Godiva Chocolate cheesecake is 700-800 calories and I used to eat that a couple times a week. And I didn't gain weight and I was less active then than I am now.

Metabolism never varies to the extent which you are dreaming up about and overweight people have higher metabolism. The MFP calorie counter would fully support this statement as your calorie allowance decreases the lighter you are.

So explain why I could maintain 120 pounds (5'3") eating thousands of calories and now I eat less than half of that and not only can I not lose weight, but I'm gaining.

I don't care what the MFP calorie counter does. I know what my body does.

rml_16

Im not really overweight even now (5'5, 129 pounds) but I am USED to be being thin, I was all my life. And I could eat 4 slices of pizza in one sitting, wouldn't gain a pound, at times i even tried hard to gain, no luck ... those days are long gone : (

It makes me sad that you think that 5'5, 129 pounds is even close to overweight.

She doesn't.

jonnythan

I just ate two slices of pizza and a bottle of Diet Coke for breakfast. Yesterday I had Taco Bell and cookies, but I went over my calorie goal. Oh, and a donut.

I'm naturally thin. Or so I've been told.

evileen99

Besides the points made by others explaining why some are "naturally thin," studies have been done that show that yes, on some days, they consume huge amounts of calories. The next few days, however, these "naturally thin" people have been shown to consume less than normal calories and/or move around more, thus negating the day of overeating. One day of surplus followed by days of negative caloric intake to balance everything out. In general, they also fidget more, increasing their NEAT by as much as 400 calories a day.

I used to do metabolic testing in a hospital, and we'd get those people who claimed they ate a ton of food and couldn't lose weight. Did they have super fast metabolisms? Nope. They thought they were eating a lot because they ate until they were full. However, it took very little food to make them feel full. Sometimes it was hard to get these people to be still for the duration of the test because they were such fidgeters.

rybo

For the majority of my life i was "naturally thin". I ate everything in sight. I was a pure glutton and never met an AYCE buffet I didnt like. But I was also incredibly active. Running track, basketball, weight lifting, etc. I just did what I did, and ate without any concerns. People say you can't out exercise a bad diet, well I beg to differ. Even up thru my early 30's hard weight lifting was enough to keep me in check. But these days, I have to be a little bit mindful, although I still dont have to track foods. But I probably eat 1/2 to 2/3 of what I used to.

lovelyMYlovely

I am naturally thin... even after 2 kids ... I eat whatever I want... junk... junk... and more junk... but although I eat like that I feel really crappy afterwards...

I don't know why im thin? I am noticing myself gaining though that's why im here to TRY to change

perseverance14

My husband is an ectomorph and pretty much eats whatever he wants all night long and keeps his 35" waist, but he does skip breakfast usually and eats smaller portions at meals.

A lot does depend on your body type, even if you can get your metabolism in gear, you have limits to what your body type can be. A short torso person may want to look like a long torso person, but it is not going to happen, they can't have a 17 or 18" waist. Your body needs enough room to fit all your organs, etc., so you must have a certain amout of room. I am a combination torso (in the middle) and the smallest my waist can be (know because I was there a lot of my life) is about 22". Short torsos are more like 27" at best.

You can't change your bone structure, no matter how many weights you lift.

It has been my observation in life that the long torso people I know have an easier time not gaining weight, or if they do losing it easily, and I see very few obese ones. They have the ectomorph body type and I definitely do think they just naturally have an easier time of it. That doesn't mean they can eat cake 24/7 and not gain weight, it just means they have an easier time staying a healthy weight.

jonnythan

Every time someone appeals to somatotypes and bone structure, a thin person gets fat.

FYI: the terms ectomorph, endomorph, and mesomorph are crazy BS made up by a 1940s psychologist who spent all his time looking at pictures of naked people. They don't actually correspond to anything in reality. Endomorphs magically become ectomorphs when they get their diet and exercise in check.

UsedToBeHusky

Surely you'd need to know how active they are and how they compare with others? "Naturally" thin in my friends translates as more active than the fatter ones quite often.

This.

It may seem like some people are "naturally" thin, but the reality is that they are very active.

ninav1980

Back in the day when I could claim this, my diet consisted of ice ceam, pizza, chicken wings, Little Debbie snacks and 3,000-plus calorie restaurant meals.

I know people don't think it's possible to eat that much and be thin, but I did. I had no idea how many calories I was even eating back then because I didn't track and I ate smaller amounts of food (by volume) that was VERY calorie dense. And, no, I didn't exercise much at all.

But when I turned 28, my metabolism decided to take a nosedive and now I eat a fraction of the calories and can't lose for trying. :-(

28 was my magic age as well! all down hill from there. My diet sounded a lot like yours fast food morning noon and night, no exercise

cwolfman13

He struggles to gain and has to eat about 3500 calories while lifting in order to put on weight VERY slowly, and his TDEE is 2500. Must be nice...

If he isn't gaining on 3,500 then his TDEE isn't 2,500. He should gain about 2 Lb per week if that were the case and he was consistently eating 3500 calories.

Also, 2500 TDEE isn't crazy high or anything...that's pretty much the average males TDEE with little in the way of deliberate exercise. I'm oldish and not particularly tall or anything and my TDEE is around 2800 calories and I lift 3x weekly and get out on my bike for about an hour 3-4 other days...it's not like I'm doing crazy exercise or anything.

I've noticed a bit of a trend in this thread...at least a few posts have been women talking about there SOs and talking about how they can eat whatever they want, etc...and it would appear that they don't understand that males in general burn far more calories per day just existing than females do...we can't eat whatever we want...we can just eat more and often a lot more. An average female cannot compare her caloric requirements to her male counterpart and suggest that their male counterpart somehow defies science just because he can eat a lot more than her...that actually is the science part.

jofjltncb6

He struggles to gain and has to eat about 3500 calories while lifting in order to put on weight VERY slowly, and his TDEE is 2500. Must be nice...

If he isn't gaining on 3,500 then his TDEE isn't 2,500. He should gain about 2 Lb per week if that were the case and he was consistently eating 3500 calories.

Also, 2500 TDEE isn't crazy high or anything...that's pretty much the average males TDEE with little in the way of deliberate exercise. I'm oldish and not particularly tall or anything and my TDEE is around 2800 calories and I lift 3x weekly and get out on my bike for about an hour 3-4 other days...it's not like I'm doing crazy exercise or anything.

I've noticed a bit of a trend in this thread...at least a few posts have been women talking about there SOs and talking about how they can eat whatever they want, etc...and it would appear that they don't understand that males in general burn far more calories per day just existing than females do...we can't eat whatever we want...we can just eat more and often a lot more. An average female cannot compare her caloric requirements to her male counterpart and suggest that their male counterpart somehow defies science just because he can eat a lot more than her...that actually is the science part.

Preach.

And also, I'm curious if many of those touting TDEE numbers actually have solid data backing them up...as in, a consistent food and exercise log where they have calculated their theoretical TDEE over a sufficiently long enough period of time...or if they're just using a one-week stint where their weight didn't change but they ate X calories so they assumed that *must* be maintenance TDEE. While both are admittedly estimates, one of them is far more likely to be accurate.

absentmindedhousewife

I'm 5'10" and was quite naturally thin up until after I had baby #3 when I was 30. Then my hormones went wonky.

I could eat what I wanted before. The difference is, what I wanted before was always savory food. Not to say that savory foods weren't calorie dense, but perhaps the things I was craving weren't so devoid of nutrients. I craved lots of cheese, pastas with good tomato sauce, steak.

Hormones went wonky and I fell in love with all things cake. Little Debbies Oatmeal Creme Pies? Give me three or four of those at once.

I never did get too heavy. 171 at my heaviest non-pregnant, but because I've always been willowy it was quite the difference. Before #3 I weighed around 135 to 140. I think that's a good weight for me as opposed to when I started having babies and I was 110. Eight more pounds to go! And yeah, I'm craving savories again.

eldamiano

People who are naturally thin can eat whatever they want. My roommate has weighed 120 pounds since we graduated high school nearly 11 years ago and eats nothing but junk food. I swear she lives on Totinos Party Pizzas, Oreo cookis, and Mountain Dew and never gains a pound.

OK. We'll just chalk it up to medical miracles of science. Someone should seriously call a research facility. I'm sure they would be interested in this marvel that defies all laws of thermodynamics.

I think it's an excuse and scapegoat for those that struggle with their weight.

Actually, it's just a matter of metabolism. Some people have metabolisms that burn faster than others. There was a study years ago on brown fat and they used identical twins. The more brown fat a person had, the faster that person's metabolism. Eating the same diet, some people (and it was consistent within the twin groups) gained weight, some stayed the same and some lost.

As I said earlier in the thread, I used to live on a diet of fast food. I ate whatever I wanted and as much as I wanted. Since I started having to watch what I eat, I have discovered I was putting away 3,000-4,000 calories in one restaurant meal alone. A brownie sundae at The Ale House is 2,400 calories alone and I ate those all the time. One slice of the Cheesecake Factory's Godiva Chocolate cheesecake is 700-800 calories and I used to eat that a couple times a week. And I didn't gain weight and I was less active then than I am now.

Metabolism never varies to the extent which you are dreaming up about and overweight people have higher metabolism. The MFP calorie counter would fully support this statement as your calorie allowance decreases the lighter you are.

So explain why I could maintain 120 pounds (5'3") eating thousands of calories and now I eat less than half of that and not only can I not lose weight, but I'm gaining.

I don't care what the MFP calorie counter does. I know what my body does.

It seems a shame but you actually dont know.... or just made that up.

jonnythan

So explain why I could maintain 120 pounds (5'3") eating thousands of calories and now I eat less than half of that and not only can I not lose weight, but I'm gaining.

I don't care what the MFP calorie counter does. I know what my body does.

You weren't eating as much as you think you were.

Jestinia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAQr77QMJiw

There is one freak of nature in this documentary who ate and ate and ate and didn't get fat. There is one woman who simply could not eat the required amounts of food no matter how hard she tried. That is two of ten who didn't get fat in a month of deliberate gorging.

S3r3knitty

I don't think "Naturally thin" exists. I knew two people in my life who really could eat "whatever they wanted" but they were both diagnosed with hyperthoroidism. It wasn't severe enough for medication but enough to be a hassle, nonetheless. Both had to eat to keep their weight and if they couldn't due to sickness or other reasons they looked quickly malnourished. I remember that both said they wished they didn't have to eat all the time.

I wasn't skinny but never overweight and I know that I can't eat what I want. If I do, I gain simpe as that. I also thing that a lot of people lie to themselve on how much they really eat. For example despite being almost the same height my cousin always weighed more than I did as a teenager. I was always told that I am so lucky being naturally thin but when I was at my aunts place I saw the reason. She ate about double as much. Her portions were always bigger than mine and she ate everything with tons of ketchup. So it didn't come from nowhere.

Bety_1989

Well, I never had a problem with gaining weight, what I lost now is pure vanity weight. Two and half months ago I hit my highest BMI ever which was 19,8 (54 kg). It took me about 3 years to get from 49kg (which is my ideal weight for me) to 54kg and I currently weight 50kg after 82 days of counting calories. So I can't say I ever had problems with weight.

To lose weight I pretty much eat the same things, but in smaller amounts and with some adjustments. I limited my soda drinking and I decreased my alcohol intake. Before I would have every day or 750 ml of coca cola or two beers or half a bottle of wine, additionally when I would go out some extra cocktails or hard liquor (usually 3-4 more glasses). My snacks are also way smaller than before I started with MFP, now I take one handful of nuts where before I would eat half a bag. I also introduced more protein to keep me longer full. All in all what keeps me lean is moderation and what gets me bigger is excessive eating, simple as that.

NewLIFEstyle4ME

I am a so-called "naturally thin" person...but I'm fat now. Everyone in my family is skinny (except for me). I eat almost exactly the same way I did when I was skinny, and couldn't gain weight to save my life back then--I even went to doctors to try to gain and many doctors told me I'd NEVER gain, because my metabolism was so high. Again, I eat almost the same way I did when I was stick skinny...maybe even better. The difference for me is once I had children later on life AND developed "sitting disease" A.K.A. a sedentary lifestyle as well as not sleeping as much as I did when I was skinny (staying up late surfing the web and being a couch potato for years on end)--that's when the ugly excess pounds and ounces started piling on big time over the years. Just as I had a hard time gaining weight when I was skinny (and super active and getting a good night's sleep on a regular basis)...I'm having a hard time getting this yucky flab and fat off and keeping it off.

So...for me, it's not so much the food I'm eating---as my not being as active/my sitting on my tush more than being active, as well as not getting a good night's sleep on a regular basis... that's what helps keeping me fat. :indifferent:

BinaryPulsar

Every time someone appeals to somatotypes and bone structure, a thin person gets fat.

FYI: the terms ectomorph, endomorph, and mesomorph are crazy BS made up by a 1940s psychologist who spent all his time looking at pictures of naked people. They don't actually correspond to anything in reality. Endomorphs magically become ectomorphs when they get their diet and exercise in check.

I understand that somatotypes aren't real. Bone structure is. It does not mean I can eat more with less activity. It simply means I am healthy at a lower weight than someone with a bigger bone structure. It is true that my shoulders are 34 inches, rib cage 26, waist 23, hips 34. It doesn't matter how much someone diets down, they won't make their bone structure smaller. Of course bone structure is a real thing. It's even just common sense. I am small like that and I'm curvy and healthy and not emaciated.

jonnythan

Every time someone appeals to somatotypes and bone structure, a thin person gets fat.

FYI: the terms ectomorph, endomorph, and mesomorph are crazy BS made up by a 1940s psychologist who spent all his time looking at pictures of naked people. They don't actually correspond to anything in reality. Endomorphs magically become ectomorphs when they get their diet and exercise in check.

I understand that somatotypes aren't real. Bone structure is. It does not mean I can eat more with less activity. It simply means I am healthy at a lower weight than someone with a bigger bone structure. It is true that my shoulders are 34 inches, rib cage 26, waist 23, hips 34. It doesn't matter how much someone diets down, they won't make their bone structure smaller. Of course bone structure is a real thing. It's even just common sense. I am small like that and I'm curvy and healthy and not emaciated.

Bone structure is real, but no one is fat or has a high body fat % or looks fat because of "bone structure." It's an excuse, just like somatotypes.

cwsreddy

3,000+ calories of meat, veggies, fruits, nuts, etc, often times in pizza or fried chicken form.

BinaryPulsar

Every time someone appeals to somatotypes and bone structure, a thin person gets fat.

FYI: the terms ectomorph, endomorph, and mesomorph are crazy BS made up by a 1940s psychologist who spent all his time looking at pictures of naked people. They don't actually correspond to anything in reality. Endomorphs magically become ectomorphs when they get their diet and exercise in check.

I understand that somatotypes aren't real. Bone structure is. It does not mean I can eat more with less activity. It simply means I am healthy at a lower weight than someone with a bigger bone structure. It is true that my shoulders are 34 inches, rib cage 26, waist 23, hips 34. It doesn't matter how much someone diets down, they won't make their bone structure smaller. Of course bone structure is a real thing. It's even just common sense. I am small like that and I'm curvy and healthy and not emaciated.

Bone structure is real, but no one is fat or has a high body fat % or looks fat because of "bone structure." It's an excuse, just like somatotypes.

Yeah, if a person is fit they will look fit whether they have a small, medium, or large bone structure. Their weight numbers and clothing sizes will just be different. And they still need to eat within their tdee and activity level.

I will always mention my bone structure being small, so people don't freak out about me weighing 100 pounds.

QuietBloom

It's a fallacy. They SEEM like they eat whatever. But, if you follow them around all day for a week, you'll find that 1) they never ever snack. When they eat, they eat, but they don't eat a lot in a day. They might eat one big meal, and then the other meals are small or they skip them. For instance, maybe no brekky, a huge lunch with people at work, no snacks all day, then they go home and have a small nibble for dinner and that's it. You really don't know unless you are with them all day and night for at least several days.

While there might be a few cases of this, it's not that common, and I think mostly it's BS. It is CICO and that's all it is. They only SEEM like they eat whatever they want, but they don't eat a lot of calories at the end of the day.

I have a friend like this. And, it bugged me forever. When we would be out and about, she would eat like a friggin horse, but she was skinny as hell. This went on for years. Finally, I just asked her, because all of us behind her back were talking about it, and I'm just not like that. So, I asked. She just said that she only eats one meal a day and doesn't snack. So, when we were all going out for dinner with friends, she would not eat all day, as that was her meal. That's why she would eat like a horse. But, then that would be it. So, while it seemed like a lot of food, I ate everything she ate in terms of quantity, but I also had breakfast, lunch, and probably some snacks. All she had was the one meal.

Since at my heaviest, I was only 10 lbs overweight, I *think* I might qualify as 'naturally thin'. I am the opposite of your friend. I snack like hell (you know, you've seen my diary) but I don't like feeling full. I never finish my plate - it looks weird to me to not leave something on my plate. I'm just not really that big of an eater, unless I've been exercising like crazy.

alpine1994

I always thought my mom was "naturally thin". She had 3 kids and now at 49 years old, she's still a size 2-4 and doesn't work out very often nor has an active job. I didn't realize until a couple years ago when I started watching what I ate, that she eats like a BIRD. We'll go out to dinner and she'll skip the bread/appetizer, eat 3 bites of her meal, and claim to be "stuffed". Ummm...interesting. My appetite is so much bigger than hers, and so is my body

MireyGal76

I guess I am what you call "naturally thin", as I was never really significantly overweight.

But... as a child.. we never drank pop and never had desserts. We never had ice cream in the house, and my mom struggled with her weight, so treats were rarely there either. If they came in the house, she'd eat them.

I played softball, and spent my summer at the lake swimming and running and playing and not stopping until sundown.

I rode my bike and played on my climbing structure.
I played some volleyball, and basket ball.

My dad is a celiac, so he was allergic to gluten. No flour in our foods for the most part - so our meals were often chicken, veggie, potato. No pasta, no pastries... etc.

We never had chips in the house either. Nor did we have a computer, or any gaming systems til I was into my double digits (and the time on there was monitored).


All those treats I rapidly embraced when I struck out on my own... and surprise... all of a sudden I wasn't so naturally thin anymore. I had 25 pounds to lose.

Physical issues aside... I think as children, as adults... healthy eating vs non healthy eating; active living vs sedentary... The odds of someone being "Naturally thin" and "eating all they want" is usually tied to also being "incredibly active" and/or eating "healthy foods".

I also think that patterns we set as children also impact how our bodies respond as we age. But that is purely conjecture on my part.

LKArgh

I have never been overweight as an adult, or even close to. I am counting calories right now because I was not happy for the extra 5 -7 kilos that have slowly crept on me, but I was still not overweight. I used to eat a lot (for one meal) when I was younger and also very thin. But this happened maybe once a day and it was practically my one meal for the day plus I used to move a lot. People being "naturally" thin and eating "all they want" means either they are burning insane amount of calories (I have seen professional athletes eat 2000 calories per meal, but they were training 5-8 hours per day) or their definition of "whatever they want" is not the same as the definition of an overweight person. If I eat 2 slices of pizza this is a meal for me, I really feel full, I doubt this is the case for everyone, I have friends who will eat the entire pizza to feel satisfied. I have a cousin who is skinny (officially underweight) and eats constantly, but it is mostly constant snacking on vegetables and fruit, because this is what she likes. You could not pay her to eat bread, potatoes or meat. I doubt there are people who sit all day in front of their tv, eating pizza and chocolate and stay thin. Would be convenient, but it is not happening.

Nmt100

I was asked this question today by people at work- not that I particularly view myself as skinny just a normal healthy bmi of 23. I have my main meal at midday so I'm quite often eating pasta or some kind of casserole, with salad and bread followed by a pudding (today was chocolate hazelnut brownie) which is a lot of food compared to everyone else's sandwiches. It emerged that they thought I had something similar in the evening when I actually only eat about 400cals. I also cycle to work, run 3 times a week and do bodyweight training 3 times a week so I'm pretty active. Turns out I eat a lot less than they do!

jofjltncb6

I drank 6-9 sodas daily through most of my childhood...and drank chocolate milk a half gallon at a time. Candy bars? Yes, please. Fried food, pastas, bread...all the time. I loved butter and jelly sandwiches. (Hated peanut butter. Still do.) Was still really skinny/scrawny. I stopped those habits for health, not for weight reasons.

That said, while I wasn't measuring then, I was still consistently eating no more than my TDEE. That's still the "secret". Everyone's TDEE is their own, and eating below, at or above it will dictate their weight trend.

freemystery

I was tempted to say "ahh I used to be naturally thin!" and then I had a really solid think about it.

When was I thin? Before I moved out of my parents house.

What did my diet look like?
No desserts, no cookies or cakes lying around. Dinners would be basic and usually vegetarian, made from scratch by my mother. No in-between snacks. Smaller plates. Walking to school and back home, playing outside with my friends in my lunch break. No food to pick at when I was bored. If I was hungry when I got home I was told in no uncertain terms to wait for dinner. If there was too much food I just wouldn't eat it.

So I'm going to say that this extra 30lbs is the result of eating bigger portions of more calorie laden meals, snacking and picking at food when I'm bored or just feel like having something tasty. It's clearing my plate every time. It's the condiments and the sauces and the tasting from the pan, it's red wine and good gin. It's 30lbs of public transport and desserts and eating out more in the average month than I used to in the average year.

I think it's the little things. They add up.