Documentary- Why Are Thin People Not Fat?

eig6

I like to watch documentaries about weight and health and this one is an interesting change from the usual, instead of studying people who are big and trying to find out why, they are studying naturally thin people and trying to find what is different. Haven't seen it all but the first two parts have been really interesting! Heres the link if anyone else finds this kind of stuff fascinating!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6-A0iHSdcA

leia_ophelia

Thanks. Watching!

Heyman09

Cool!!! My husband is 5'10 and 125 lbs so this may benefit us. Of course I'm on the losing weight end of the scale.

Fat_2_Fit_Mommy

Thanks for sharing this will be very interesting

michellelhartwig

Bump to read later

takingnameskickingbutt

thanks

Crochetluvr

I'll have to check out that link tomorrow...going to get to bed now. But one thing I remember from Jenny Craig years ago that is true is thin people eat till they are satisfied and stop....and have no problem leaving food on their plate. So we were told to always leave something on our plate. Its a hard thing to do when you have been conditioned from childhood to eat everything on your plate.

chlorisaann

Thanks!!

jcstanton

I'd like to know the answer to that question myself, as I know many very thin people who eat just as much if not more than I ever have, yet I am obese and they are not. My cousin, for one. I've never seen anyone who could put away so much junk food, soda, and syrupy sweet tea in my life, but he's always been gangly (and he's a gamer, so he's really sedentary for the most part). Although, since he's a little older now it's starting to catch up to him.

Sublog

I like to watch documentaries about weight and health and this one is an interesting change from the usual, instead of studying people who are big and trying to find out why, they are studying naturally thin people and trying to find what is different. Haven't seen it all but the first two parts have been really interesting! Heres the link if anyone else finds this kind of stuff fascinating!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6-A0iHSdcA

Every controlled study ever done basically said the same thing. Skinny people eat less calories or burn more.

jcstanton

I like to watch documentaries about weight and health and this one is an interesting change from the usual, instead of studying people who are big and trying to find out why, they are studying naturally thin people and trying to find what is different. Haven't seen it all but the first two parts have been really interesting! Heres the link if anyone else finds this kind of stuff fascinating!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6-A0iHSdcA

Every controlled study ever done basically said the same thing. Skinny people eat less calories or burn more.

Burn more how, though. Like I mentioned in my comment, my cousin eats huge quantities of high calorie junk all day long, then sits on his rear and plays video games for most of the day. He's certainly not eating less, and if he's burning more, it's not because he's more active. The only option is that he has a faster metabolism, but why? And I think that's really what their looking at. What makes some people's metabolism burn more efficiently than others when diet and exercise do not play a factor?

Romans624

bump

candice382

Bump. I can't wait to watch this. I'm only on my phone now and can't get to my computer for a few days.

Sidesteal

I like to watch documentaries about weight and health and this one is an interesting change from the usual, instead of studying people who are big and trying to find out why, they are studying naturally thin people and trying to find what is different. Haven't seen it all but the first two parts have been really interesting! Heres the link if anyone else finds this kind of stuff fascinating!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6-A0iHSdcA

Every controlled study ever done basically said the same thing. Skinny people eat less calories or burn more.

^ This.

Sidesteal

Burn more how, though. Like I mentioned in my comment, my cousin eats huge quantities of high calorie junk all day long, then sits on his rear and plays video games for most of the day. He's certainly not eating less, and if he's burning more, it's not because he's more active. The only option is that he has a faster metabolism, but why? And I think that's really what their looking at. What makes some people's metabolism burn more efficiently than others when diet and exercise do not play a factor?

^ This is not controlled. Chances are he eats less than you think and moves more than you think.

chlorisaann

I watched it and it was quite interesting some of the studies they have done, and the results that they have come up with...

eig6

I haven't seen the whole thing yet as I said before, but near the begging of the show they say a study was done on Vermont state prisoners where they asked participants to eat as much as they physically could and some topped out after gaining relatively little. It was an old study though and I haven't looked any further into it but still, its interesting to me. Even if all they find is what we already know, eat less move more, I find these documentaries about these studies interesting .

rusialeelee

Yea I saw this a while back and was a little skeptical.

A couple weeks later my boyfriend got inspired to join MFP to gain weight/muscle. And he seriously eats A LOT (2 or 3 extra helpings-- he's known to eat and eat and not gain weight by all our friends) and does a lot of sports as well.

He tracked his calories for a couple of days. Yes, he ate lots of helpings but only ate ~700 three times a day per meal and maybe some snacks. Plus he works most of it off which puts him at 1,600 cal.. when he should be at ~2,500 to maintain.

This made me believe that what this documentary was saying was true.

It may seem like someone is eating a lot but that's probably all they eat and they are probably very active. You really don't know the lifestyle of some one unless you're with them 24/7...

angelicasmommy

True. PLUS, like you said, men need more calories to maintain than women. So the guy who eats a lot and sits on his butt all day could be eating about 2500 cals a day (or whatever number he would need to maintain) and that's why he doesn't gain weight.

LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo

Burn more how, though. Like I mentioned in my comment, my cousin eats huge quantities of high calorie junk all day long, then sits on his rear and plays video games for most of the day. He's certainly not eating less, and if he's burning more, it's not because he's more active. The only option is that he has a faster metabolism, but why? And I think that's really what their looking at. What makes some people's metabolism burn more efficiently than others when diet and exercise do not play a factor?

^ This is not controlled. Chances are he eats less than you think and moves more than you think.

I agree... Junk foods alone don't make you fat. Its the calorie surplus. Also remember than thin people usually fidget more. Did you know that fidgetting also burns calories?

jenilla1

...But one thing I remember from Jenny Craig years ago that is true is thin people eat till they are satisfied and stop....and have no problem leaving food on their plate. So we were told to always leave something on our plate. Its a hard thing to do when you have been conditioned from childhood to eat everything on your plate.

I've always been a thin person and I always clean my plate - I don't like things to go to waste, so I do not like leaving food on my plate at all. And throwing away leftovers drives me crazy. I just take smaller helpings to begin with and go back for small seconds unless I'm full and then I stop. I find that NOT cooking huge amounts of food to begin with works well. If you only have a certain amount to eat, you have to stop when it's gone. :drinker:

wolveslovemee

I saw this a while ago it was a great watch! Highly recommend it.

Bobby_Clerici

So, we need a documentary to figure this one out?
How about they intake the amount of calories their body metabolizes.
HOLD THE PRESSES!
:noway:

DeckerDoll

I do think some people are genetically thinner and have the ability to eat more and not gain...still doesn't mean they're healthy though. My mom is 5'8 and has always been around 120-125lbs and can eat butter in everything and not gain (pretty sure I've seen potato chips dipped in butter before) but when we were tested, even though my BMI was higher than hers, my BF was significantly lower.

Eat healthy, move more is my mantra.

spectralmoon

I agree... Junk foods alone don't make you fat. Its the calorie surplus. Also remember than thin people usually fidget more. Did you know that fidgetting also burns calories?

^ This. On a personal note, I ate CRAP for years. In my teens I had an "ice cream diet" where I'd eat nothing but ice cream all day while playing videogames on a day off from school (or on a sick day if it was a cold where I could eat), and the scale would start kicking down the numbers; I was on the sliver of being underweight. It wasn't until I started boredom-eating later on that I began to have any issues. Then, 6 months of a full-time job and eating crap on breaks to fill in the awkward silences... hello, 30 insta-pounds.

purdieang

bump

neverstray

Growing up, I was always very thin. I remember in Jr High and High School, I would stay at a friends house overnight and it would astonish me how much food other families eat. My mom was always super health conscious, and that rubbed off. So, I guess as a family, we ate pretty light. I'd hang with my friend overnight or maybe a weekend and I just couldn't stand it, I thought I was going to burst at very meal. They just ate so much food. It really freaked me out. I realized in high school that most people are just pigs. That's all there isto it. They have no idea how to just eat enough to be full. They just eat and eat and eat, where eating is the activity, rather than the activity is something else and food just nourishes you from or for that activity. Weird. I think if you followed one of you skinny friends around all day everyday for a week, you'd see why they are skinny and you aren't.

AnvilHead

The way I ate when I was in high school was insane. Breakfast would be something like a six egg omelet and half a loaf of bread, washed down with a half-gallon of milk (weight gainer protein powder optional). If dad made biscuits and sausage gravy (one of his specialties), I was good for a couple of those on top of it. A steakhouse in our town had a meal called the "Mountain Man", which was 2 pounds of prime rib, a huge baked potato and a salad....I'd eat every bit of it, along with a basket or two of garlic bread, then finish what was left on mom or dad's plate. When mom made tacos or enchiladas, I was good for at least a dozen of either for dinner. When we barbecued, I ate no less than three hamburgers with all the fixings, along with chips and guacamole, a couple sodas and maybe a piece of pie for dessert. Looking back at it now, I don't know how my parents afforded to feed me!

I was 6'6", rail-thin at 175 lbs. and trying desperately (and unsuccessfully) to gain weight for football. I amazed people with how much I ate. But in retrospect, I was also *very* active - I played interscholastic sports (football, basketball and track), which involved 3-hour practice sessions each day plus game days. Some seasons would overlap, which would involve back-to-back consecutive practice sessions for each sport. I rode dirt bikes and raced BMX on the weekends. Basically, the only time I wasn't moving and doing something was when I slept. I took in a tremendous amount of calories on a daily basis, but also undoubtedly had an obscenely high calorie expenditure to counteract it. If I ate like that now (32 years later with a completely different lifestyle), I'm sure I'd weigh 400+ lbs. in a pretty short time. The laws of thermodynamics still applied to me back then, but both ends of the equation were at very high levels.

morgan_mfit

Just watched it. I wish I was like the asian man and put on muscle without exercising!

KuroNyankoSensei

Of course the Asian guy would gain muscle instead of fat. Y MAI ASIAN GENES NO WORK?

XP.

gooiyw

Bumping this for when I get home. Thanks!