Are they just lucky?

yoovie

Yeah they are SO lucky that they never have to learn self discipline, what their true colors are in a struggle, how to push themselves to overcome real obstacles, how to make wise decisions and understand health and nutrition and how their body works. So freaking lucky.

what the hell - people will think of ANYTHING to complain about when procrastinating.

Well some days I didn't eat because I didn't have food. That can be real obstacle at times.

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaave you met the interwebs?

fun_b

I know where you are coming from. I wish I could have had the experience of eating whatever I wanted even for a short period of time. As a child I always knew I was fat and needed to lose weight. I can't remember a time when I enjoyed food without worrying about the scales. I also remember a moment in school when the teacher talked about nutrition (I might have been 10) and how fatty butter was. After the session everyone kept telling me how I needed to stop eating butter. Nobody would even believe me when I said I didn't eat butter! I think a lot of the kids ate worse than me but unfortunaty due to my weight, I was an easy target.
However I believe everything happens for a reason so maybe this is now my moment to shine.

obsidianwings

I always wondered about tiny/skinny people who can eat whatever they want and not gain an ounce. I understand in this world(mfp) that cals in being less than cals out makes you lose weight, doesn't matter how that happens really...it's just the science of it. But what about someone who eats whatever they want....say pizza, ice cream, bacon, etc etc. and never gains weight. Does it mean they just have a high metabolism? They are just lucky?? lol What is it?!

I see friends and family that don't have to try, they eat what they want and don't have to worry about counting cals and here I am stuck counting everything I eat for the rest of my life just to maintain a decent weight. They eat whatever and stay skinny as rails. Grrrr.

Ok, I am done with the pity party now.

I have always been thin and ate what I wanted to. I think the thing is though although I was eating rubbish food, I was eating little enough that I was still burning more than I put in. I was skinny fat anyway, so still looked awful naked.
As far as losing weight goes (forgetting about flabbiness or health issues) it really is calories in versus calories out, so to be staying thin they are obviously doing something right in that respect.

rebeccap13

Nope, you see such a tiny fraction of the "skinny" person's day most likely. And if you see skinny people at a restaurant then of course they're enjoying their food! You just don't see either a) the workouts they put in the other 75% of the day b) how active their job is c) how much they eat at other meals. Seeing just a snippet of someone's life makes it hard to determine their actual lifestyle.

PS I'm losing and still eat ice cream and bacon, nearly everyday. Crazy right?! I eat whatever I want, just in reasonable amounts. You can do it too!

Oishii

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPsKpnu0-X4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

^ Link for the BBC programme. Basically, they took a bunch of 'naturally skinny' college students and had them over eat. You may want to just go to the end to find the results, which were basically:

1) Some gained more than others.
2) Some found it really physically/emotionally hard to over eat, so gained less.
3) Only one participant failed to gain much at all.

None of the my skinny colleagues eat very much, and they all fuss about their weight. Two of them often mention they were chubby kids. One of them has behaviour verging on disordered. I do not want to be them.

On the other hand, I, despite being bigger, am lucky. I can maintain my current weight on 2500ish kcal a day AND a don't feel the need to be skinny to be happy with my body. Now THAT IS LUCKY.

On the other hand, if the zombies do come, I'm scared I'll waste away. Then again, my NEAT drops in direct relation to my incoming calories, so I'd probably just lie very still in an attic somewhere :laugh:

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPsKpnu0-X4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

^ Link for the BBC programme. Basically, they took a bunch of 'naturally skinny' college students and had them over eat. You may want to just go to the end to find the results, which were basically:

1) Some gained more than others.
2) Some found it really physically/emotionally hard to over eat, so gained less.
3) Only one participant failed to gain much at all.

None of the my skinny colleagues eat very much, and they all fuss about their weight. Two of them often mention they were chubby kids. One of them has behaviour verging on disordered. I do not want to be them.

On the other hand, I, despite being bigger, am lucky. I can maintain my current weight on 2500ish kcal a day AND a don't feel the need to be skinny to be happy with my body. Now THAT IS LUCKY.

On the other hand, if the zombies do come, I'm scared I'll waste away. Then again, my NEAT drops in direct relation to my incoming calories, so I'd probably just lie very still in an attic somewhere :laugh:

Positive side to zombies-- more cardio means you can have more chocolate.

BinaryPulsar

Just watched a documentary about this on youtube "Why thin people are not fat" it is about an hour long.

Interesting, thanks for sharing that!

BinaryPulsar

Small study but:

http://www.endo-society.org/media/ENDO-08/research/Why-dont-thin-people-gain-weight.cfm



"This finding does not support the idea that the increased metabolic rate after overeating protects thin individuals from weight gain.

“This suggests that differences in hunger, fullness, food intake and physical activity may be more important factors in why some people are thin..."

Yeah, this all makes a lot of sense with my own experience as well.

Graelwyn75

My bf is 6 foot and rarely goes over 154Ibs, and is often less.
He can get through 2 loaves of fig and hazelnut bread, a packet of biscuits(cookies) and a dinner and still remain the same.
He drops weight very easily, only takes a flu virus for the pounds to fall off.
Whereas myself, although never overweight, I would probably max out at about 140 (I am 5'10) if I ate as he does, and was on my feet as much. And I have hit 150Ibs before, when not exercising and eating whatever I wanted.
I don't know if everyone has a set weight their body is comfortable at, but I seriously am starting to believe this is the case, as when I go too much below that 140, my body seemingly takes offence and tries every tactic to impel me to eat more and get the weight back on.

I don't know if it is his metabolism that enables him to eat so much sometimes, or just that he tends to be up and about a lot.

darleyschroeder

I think most thin people who eat like that have an active life and don't over do it all the time.
However, there are some people who have freakish metabolism. My ex used to drink a 2 liter of mtn dew and down sweets and junk food all the time. He ate like crap and often. He was always underweight though and never gained weight.