Why Are Thin People Not Fat? (Video)

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sugarandspice27
sugarandspice27 Posts: 521 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Think everything is as simple as calories in/ calories out? Think fat people are fat because they lack the control that thin people do or they're just lazy? Sure, could be... but there is a whole lot more at play. If only it were that easy to explain...

Some time back, I stumbled upon this BBC documentary called "Why Are Thin People Not Fat?". It involved an experiment where naturally thin people were intentionally overfed for a period of time and then measured the results. Not to spoil it, but some of the results were SHOCKING and UNEXPECTED!

This doc changed my perception of the human body. Check if out if you've got an hour to spare and then let me know what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeeFrcvt3KA
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Replies

  • Ron6098
    Ron6098 Posts: 31
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    Bump for later
  • hailzp
    hailzp Posts: 903 Member
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    I hope my body doesn't remember my obese weight and strive for it! It was helpful in understanding why it is a bit difficult for me to lose weight though.
  • bedot
    bedot Posts: 86 Member
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    bump for later!
  • sugarandspice27
    sugarandspice27 Posts: 521 Member
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    I hope my body doesn't remember my obese weight and strive for it! It was helpful in understanding why it is a bit difficult for me to lose weight though.

    I often think of this while losing weight. At one point in my life, I lost a lot of weight very quickly... and then gained it all back and went right back up to my start point. This made me think... when you lose weight quickly (like they did in the study), the body freaks out and tries to push you right back to your starting weight because it thinks you're starving or whatever survival mechanism is triggered. But what if you lost weight very slowly? A little bit at a time, so that your body has time to adjust? Maybe you could bypass that FREAK OUT trigger all together and fool your body into keep the weight off? Maybe go slow enough and your body doesn't realize you're actually losing weight? Well, this is what I'm trying this time around. I'm trying to lose the same amount of weight, but in 2-3 times as long.
  • abberwocky
    abberwocky Posts: 19
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    Wow, very interesting! What I found the most scary was the part about the virus. I had a cold a couple of weeks ago, and while I kept exercising and eating few calories, I gained weight at my last weigh-in and couldn't figure out why. Now I'm worried I have the chicken virus! :-/
  • sugarandspice27
    sugarandspice27 Posts: 521 Member
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    Wow, very interesting! What I found the most scary was the part about the virus. I had a cold a couple of weeks ago, and while I kept exercising and eating few calories, I gained weight at my last weigh-in and couldn't figure out why. Now I'm worried I have the chicken virus! :-/

    Yes! Why has this not hit the mainstream media over here??
  • amysteri
    amysteri Posts: 197 Member
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    This is the most interesting post ever! Thanks for sharing! :smile:

    I want to be part of a similar study... I wonder if there's one around here...Oooooh an MFP study!

    I'm surprised some people can lay in more muscle instead of fat when they overeat... that guy, Martin is really really lucky!
    And that other guy couldn't eat his calorie goal because his body increased it's "fullness" so he wouldn't overeat... I actually get that a lot and i'm unable to eat a full plate at a restaurant a lot and end up taking some food home coz i get full easily... so that was pretty cool info. Does anyone also have the same experience???

    But I seriously learned a lot from this! Very informative! :smile:
  • SneakyBat
    SneakyBat Posts: 55 Member
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    This looks very interesting..I'll be watching later! Thanks for posting!
  • sugarandspice27
    sugarandspice27 Posts: 521 Member
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    I'm surprised some people can lay in more muscle instead of fat when they overeat... that guy, Martin is really really lucky!
    A

    Yes!! I was very, very jealous! :)
  • RoseLady08
    RoseLady08 Posts: 22
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    I did not see the video and would be glad to if I knew where to access it. I think it is not that simple, my aunt had a gain weight issue over eating one med apple per day. I do not think this is so of all people. I have a huge problem with weight due to health, my sodium naturally meaning that I did not eat salt or drink it, is high resulting in high water retention that is not repairable with diuretics...meaning that everyone's biochemistry is not the same and therefore does not get the same result.

    If you do not eat regular meals I have been advised that the body will store food as fat as it goes on starvation mode. This was info from a dietician therefore, if you habits are not correct it could mean that what you consume is put into fat even if the calories in and out are in proportion.

    Naturally, the largest reason is probably calories in and out. But, I do not think there is a cookie cutter for everyone.
  • Losingthedamnweight
    Losingthedamnweight Posts: 535 Member
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    Most insightfulndocumentary I've ever seen. Basically, your body might want you to be fat and fighting it is hard. I found the part at the end the most interesting. Where the guy lost weight by starving and when given the proper amount of calories everyday, his brain still told him he was starving. No doubt in the real world, he would've gained all of it back.
  • 2essie
    2essie Posts: 2,867 Member
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    Bump to watch later
  • steffiejayne
    steffiejayne Posts: 7 Member
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    Look forward to watching, many thanks,
  • sugarandspice27
    sugarandspice27 Posts: 521 Member
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    Most insightfulndocumentary I've ever seen. Basically, your body might want you to be fat and fighting it is hard. I found the part at the end the most interesting. Where the guy lost weight by starving and when given the proper amount of calories everyday, his brain still told him he was starving. No doubt in the real world, he would've gained all of it back.

    Yes! Which is why I posted the comment above, about trying to lose weight slowly so to that my body doesn't really realize that it's losing weight and won't fight to get me back to my original weight.
  • Vailara
    Vailara Posts: 2,454 Member
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    I saw this a couple of years ago when it was on TV. I was interested as for most of my life I'd maintained a healthy weight without every having to watch what I ate. I think it helps to show that not all slim people are that way because they're careful about how much they eat. It just happens naturally, for them. What I was hoping was the programme would show how to recreate that state in fat people, but it didn't! Although personally speaking, I found that I could do the same thing when I was bigger - I maintained my weight within a few pounds, without thinking too much about what I was eating. The trouble was that that weight was far too high! But it was interesting that my maintenance of that weight was as easy and "natural" as maintaining my healthy weight had been a few years earlier.

    I remember that on the programme they had slim people eat extra calories, which was quite difficult for some of them. What stuck with me was that one of them didn't even gain fat - he gained muscle! It's fascinating how our bodies work differently.

    We never did hear much more about the chicken virus theory!
  • Jessel0001
    Jessel0001 Posts: 24 Member
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    bump to watch later
  • Cr01502
    Cr01502 Posts: 3,614 Member
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    Bump for later.

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