Thoughts on people who eat so much yet stay skinny

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  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
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    People's metabolism (well, actually TDEE) is the main variable in the equation of how much someone can eat and not gain weight. People's RMR is impacted by siize, age, LBM and certain metabolic idiosyncrasies - but its not really by that much in the scheme of things. What does vary A LOT is NEAT. How active people are day to day. There are so many things that can increase someone's NEAT that you would not really think about - walking round the mall, playing sports, doing household chores etc etc etc. The other thing is the energy intake. We may see people eating a lot, but do they eat a lot at home or do they snack?

    Unless you monitor someones activity for 24 hours a day and log their calorie intake, the premise that they can 'eat what they want and stay skinny' and not be active by some form of wizardry is a false one.
    ^See this is what I was thinking but I suck at words and thought it would come out a lot longer then that :P
  • oosaah
    oosaah Posts: 53 Member
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    My boyfriend is like this. It's infuriating. I've been trying to use his appetite (and ridiculously quick metabolism) to my benefit. When we go out to eat, I eat half my meal and give him the rest. Then I can pretty much order whatever I want, he gets to eat more, and I get to work on portion control. Works for us :wink:
  • LINIA
    LINIA Posts: 1,046 Member
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    There was a program in Uk about it and it's to do with your NEAT, how much you move about naturally (fidgeting etc).

    I have under active thyroid which I was born with. When I was young and active I was not overweight. When my thyroid went wrong in my 30's causing mobility problems I piled weight on. (reached 16st in 2003)

    I was later diagnosed with a neurological condition that as it progressed I developed involuntary muscle movements. I've lost all that extra weight and weighed in at 9st 2 last week after my last period ended. I started here at 12st 7 last august (2011) still with 48" tummy, its now only 2" off my waist measurement! (now 30")

    I'm a wheelchair user and mostly housebound so the only real energy expenditure, other than going on my passive trainer bike (pedals legs for me) are the involuntary movements.
    ****************************
    This is the most interesting reply and it is proof that everything isn't "calories in" and "calories out"---other factors (some unknown) may be relevant.
  • LINIA
    LINIA Posts: 1,046 Member
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    I believe I fall into this category now. I tend to eat multiple plate fulls when I go out to eat. Even though I work a cubicle job, what keeps me 'skinny' is a) I am very active (6 mile daily run/walk, sometimes more on the weekends), b) my protein is very lean (greek yogurt, egg whites, etc.), c) my oils come from eating nuts, and d) my main plate is usually filled with non-starchy vegetables (cabbage, kraut, carrots, salads, squash, etc.). I love this my new lifestyle and eating this way, so it works for me.
    ****************************************************************
    KUDOS 2 u for working hard to reach and maintain GOAL weight!!!! :happy: :smile: :wink: :wink:
  • pkw58
    pkw58 Posts: 2,039 Member
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    That's not me! This time around I only think about my journey to health and am not jealous of anyone. I am done with that.
    I only see-- me. It's a waste of time for me to ponder someone else's situation. Everyone is different. I love to see and read other people's work outs and imagine myself doing them someday. I cheer everyone's milestones because if someone else can do it, I can.

    I am so in this zone now! I am interested in hearing what others do just to see if it is something to add to my tool kit and to hear new ways to get healthier!
  • violet976
    violet976 Posts: 310 Member
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    These people definitely do exist. I was/am one of them myself and have been eating that way since my teenage years (I'm 30 now). At 5ft5, I weighed about 118 in my teenage years, then dropped to 108 and held. I was vegetarian until about 5 years ago, so perhaps that influenced things, but I ate complete crap until about 5 years ago as well. Canned/packaged meals, taco bell/little Caesars almost daily, & lots, and lots, and lots of junk food. I was a complete emotional eater, eating when I was bored, sad, happy... always eating until I was stuffed, and then eating more simply because I was then craving another form of junk food. Lunches consisted of 2-3 items from taco bell, dinners could be half a little caesars pizza followed by little debbies, junk food cereals, & bags of candy. I would usually eat til the I hit the point of wanting to sleep it off, lather, rinse, repeat.

    I was "lucky" enough to have come from two parents with very fast metabolisms, and I can say that I truly did enjoy the lifestyle. Now however, it's time to pay the piper. All through my twenties people would tell me... just wait until you're older, the weight will come your way. I shrugged it off. & while I may still have the last laugh about not being able to put on weight, my poor diet & fitness choices still managed to catch up to me in the form of lack of muscle definition &, quite frankly, a droopy bum (my prized body part). It never even dawned on me that it would happen that way, and now I'm working like a mad woman to earn it back. I still don't regret it, but I definitely wouldn't want to go back to my old eating habits, and at least it's forced me to finally work towards a healthy lifestyle.

    So yes... there are definitely individuals who can eat, and eat, and eat, and not gain weight, and while it's nice to enjoy that lifestyle, just remember that it will catch up to us one way or another. It may not catch up to us in weight, which is nice, but it certainly takes a toll on our overall health, energy &, eventually, muscle definition (or lack thereof). It may not happen right away, but it certainly is a bummer when it does.
  • happilyeveractive
    happilyeveractive Posts: 167 Member
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    I have a few friends (some of whom I lived with) who can eat junk all day and drink all night and are a 00. I was very much so overweight and ate healthy all the time. It used to, and still, drives me insane! I workout daily and eat healthy and would be happy being a size 4. Uggghhh.
  • YaGigi
    YaGigi Posts: 817 Member
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    Most of the slim people I know eat smaaaaaaaaal portions. They eat 1/4 of what I eat.

    But there's one girl I know from school, she's like 90 pounds now and she eats like 3 adults. She had breakfast at home, then rushing to school to have a breakfast during a break, then asking other people for snacks, then having lunch at the school cafeteria, eating half of other people food, buying some candies and ice cream on her way home and rushing home so she can get food.


    I seriously thought she had some worms in her belly, that much she was eating. It was scary to have food around net, she'd eat it.
  • TakinSexyBack
    TakinSexyBack Posts: 300 Member
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    Disagree with the people saying that they either are eating less than it appears or are highly active. Some cases.......sure, but not in all. My husband can eat like a pig all day every day and not gain an ounce and he does NOTHING but sit at a computer all day. He hates veggies and he says if its green, it was meant for a cow. He is NOT on a health kick! Eats mostly eggs, red meat, cheese and bread. (His blood work always comes back spectacular). The most exercise he gets is when I make him go out back to get the dog before she does to the neighbors! Hes SLIM!!!!! There ARE those evil, crazy metabolic people who really DO eat all they want and don't gain!
  • TakinSexyBack
    TakinSexyBack Posts: 300 Member
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    I forgot beer...........he drinks beer almost every night...........lol
  • ggsmamma
    ggsmamma Posts: 117 Member
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    K...but what about my husband, who can easily eat McDonald's (or similar) every day (and sometimes does), snacks like crazy on chips, chocolate and at LEAST a can of Coke a day....and has a sit down at a desk/in his car job......but is still super skinny! I KNOW he eats plenty, and that it's not healthy (because he is so boring to cook for...hates almost all veggies and he's so stubborn he won't try new study). I wish I had his metabolism or whatever it is....but I would still take care of myself and keep healthy.

    Have him track his intake every day for a month. Until then, you don't know his caloric intake.
    He's too lazy to do that :laugh: Last night before bed, he ate half a CLUB bag of doritos, a can of coke, and 4 mini chocolate bars.....but asked me first if it was okay to eat that sitting beside me lol

    I have one of these husbands too (and he is 52 years old!!!). An average day:

    Breakfast -- 6+ scrambled eggs eggs drowning in butter, homemade deer sausage, and sauteed spinach (again drowning in oil) with a 2-3 cups of coffee with heavy whipping cream.
    Snack -- more coffee with whipping cream, and a homemade goodie (he bakes 2-3x a week -- pie, cin rolls, etc)
    Lunch -- 2-3 fried egg sandwiches with a crap-load of mayo and spinach or left overs from dinner all with more coffee with whipping cream
    Dinner -- 2-3 servings of meat/fish/chicken, starch, veggies and more coffee with whipping cream AND for dessert more coffee with whipping cream and more goodies and then, usually more goodies before bed.

    He is a commercial fisherman so he does work his *kitten* off 5-6 months a year but he cooks and watches movies the other 1/2 of the year (with the exception of the occasional snow shoveling). And, he is all muscles (big guns, six pack). VERY LOW body fat. He is a mystery and he eats A LOT less then when we first met 14 years ago. For instance, back then we would regularly go to Chinatown and he would eat a huge fried rice, TWO (2!!!) whole roasted ducks, and some veggies. Of course, he would grab coffee (with heavy whipping cream) and a sweet or a tub of ice cream on the way home!

    On the docks in the small town that he fishes out of, everyone will describe him as the "dude on the f/v Legacy that can eat a F*&kload" and everyone knows exactly who they are talking about...it was a sight to behold when he was younger. He even won a few of those eating contests (eat this 12 egg omelett a loaf of toast and get this meal free sort of thing...)

    The poster above me reminded me to add that my guy also drinks micro brew or martinis a lot of evenings...

    UUUUUGHGHG! It makes me sick. I would weigh 2x what I do if I followed him around and ate what he does...
  • LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo
    LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo Posts: 3,634 Member
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    People who seem to eat what they want without gaining are either:
    1. Very, very active
    2. Not eating as much as you think

    Example for #1 - my dad eats tons. But he never sits down. He has a physical job, is constantly moving, working on projects until it's bedtime, etc. He can eat a lot because his TDEE is high.

    Example for #2 - A friend that packs away the food when we are out to dinner. But what I don't see is that she eats salad for lunch and yogurt for breakfast and very rarely snacks. She can eat what she wants in certain situations because she eats in moderation the rest of the time.
    I agree with this one especially example #2. When I was fat, I used to envy these people but then what I didn't realized is that while they can eat every junk food they want, they don't overeat them. My mom & sister are both skinny although for the most part is due to their small frame (I'm medium frame) but also I observe that they don't eat as much especially my sister who always eat leaving some unfinished plate on the table.

    Add to that, when you do heavy weight training & focus on maintaining or building muscle mass, your BMR will increase which means you can eat more without gaining fat as we all know muscles require calories just to maintain itself & after every weight lifting session, your metabolism also increases for up to 72 hours even without exercising after. I'm currently in this situation & I will never stop it coz I also love eating more food.
  • Thokiz
    Thokiz Posts: 55 Member
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    Facebook is a wonderful thing, ALL the people I knew who were skinny and could eat anything, ya...not anymore
  • osualex
    osualex Posts: 409 Member
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    I have said this before and will say it again - skinny people eat as much as THEY want, not as much as YOU want. They may eat cookies, chips, etc. but not in crazy quantities, and even if in crazy quantities, they stop when they are full.

    A poster above posted that she is trying to gain and struggles to eat 2000 calories - when I wasn't paying attention to my diet, I could easily eat double that in a day. I've seen the way my skinny friends and my overweight friends eat - it's usually the same food, but in MUCH different quantities.

    There is no hocus-pocus that goes on in skinny people's bodies that makes them that way. If you feed someone whose TDEE is 2000 calories, 4000 calories, they will gain weight.
  • its_betty
    its_betty Posts: 104 Member
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    I didn't read all the comments, but there are people who have medical reasons for a super-high metabolism. For example, my sister-in-law had Grave's Disease, or hypERthyroid. She had to eat a lot to keep weight on, plus she was hungry all the time. She also likes to exercise, so she had to eat even more. She was the person ordering pizza at 10pm, and eating a lot of it. And she was a size 2 or so. Grave's can cause a lot of other health problems, so it's not like a fun, get-out-of-dieting card.

    When she had surgery to remove her thyroid she suddenly became hypOthyroid. She is still very slim and fit, but she has had to work on changing her "eat all the time because I have to" habits. She concentrates on eating healthy foods, not snacking, and continues to exercise every day.
  • Mintyhairlust
    Mintyhairlust Posts: 8
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    but do you feel jealous of them? Do you wish you can just eat and eat and eat without gaining a single pound (which, of course, does not translate to being healthy)?

    SO jealous haha but I'll never be them so....
  • skinnyforhi
    skinnyforhi Posts: 340 Member
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    People who seem to eat what they want without gaining are either:
    1. Very, very active
    2. Not eating as much as you think

    ^ This, exactly.

    I second this. Except for maybe a miniscule percentage of the population, everyone is subject to the same math. That's what I think anyway--I know some would disagree.
  • etoiles_argentees
    etoiles_argentees Posts: 2,827 Member
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    I'm not active at all. Might be because I've never dieted for weight loss?
  • SurfyFriend
    SurfyFriend Posts: 362 Member
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    How does my boyfriend stay so lean when he only plays soccer once a week and only goes surfing when the waves are massive? His meals are three times the size of mine and he always seems to be eating icing covered donuts and chips!

    Answer: he only eats a bowl of cereal, a couple sandwiches and occasionally dinner if its convenient. And I happen to come home when he is having his one snack for the day. The rest of the day he eats nothing. But because when he eats, he eats a hell of a lot, everyone we know seems to think he eats like that all day long! Not true.
  • rizzod206
    rizzod206 Posts: 18
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    I'd like to share the results of an interesting study I did on my husband. So my husband is fairly muscular and does not attend the gym (ever). 5 foot 11 and about 170lbs. 26 year old man who according to his doctor is in perfect health. He spends half his work day walking around and some lifting, the other half in a car driving. I have struggled with weight since we moved in together because he eats approximately 2500-4000 calories per day and mostly burgers, pizza, chips and cheese and things of that nature. So we did a two week vacation and I decided that in addition to tracking all of MY calories, I was going to track all of his. What I discovered was pretty damn amazing. In a single meal he would often eat well over 2000 calories. Here is an example of one day:

    Breakfast 1480 Calories
    2 sausage Egg McMuffins
    2 Hash Browns
    1 Large Coke

    Lunch 800 Calories
    No Lunch but he did drink an entire 2-liter of coke.

    Dinner (the fun part) 2240 Calories
    1 Bacon Double Cheese Burger
    1 Large Fry
    1 Large Malt

    4520 in a single day... this was a bit high, most of the days I tracked were around 3000 but several times he got over 4000, a few times only 2500. The average of the two weeks was about 3600. This vacation we had was somewhat active, we walked around the Las Vegas strip but it was also marked with lots of shows and gamble time sitting. There were a few days I had to throw out of calorie counting as outliers because he'd go to the damn buffets and eat 4-5 plates of food, it was just too hard to try and measure. Anyway at the end of my little experiment we weighed in to see how we had done. I of course managed to gain a few lbs and I expected he gained maybe 5lbs that he would quickly lose.. no of course not. He was almost exactly 1lbs lighter than when he started.

    I'd also like to add that he brushes his teeth in the morning only 2-4 times per week. Never before bed and rarely do I see him floss unless there's a demanding reason like something is stuck. Hes never had a cavity in his life and his dentist commends him for his health teeth and gums. I myself brush, floss, and oil pull 2x per day... but I've had two cavities. Can someone explain me this ****?!

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