"Naturally slim" people - curious!

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  • fatbegone85
    fatbegone85 Posts: 70
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    I doubt your metabolism is slow, but if you really think that you should go have your RMR tested.

    How is that tested? Like a fitness tracker?
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
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    I doubt your metabolism is slow, but if you really think that you should go have your RMR tested.

    How is that tested? Like a fitness tracker?

    Do a google search for RMR or metabolic testing centers in your area.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    Oh, and FWIW...

    I was one of those 'naturally skinny' people.

    Until I wasn't anymore.

    My activity level (which I didn't think was very high at all) changed, and guess what? Gained weight.
    Same here. My activity level makes a huge difference. When I moved from one state to another and adopted a different (inactive) lifestyle but kept the same eating habits, I gained about 40-50 lbs of fat and became prediabetic.
  • laynerich15
    laynerich15 Posts: 1,918 Member
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    Up until I was 29 this was me.


    Lived off a diet of meat pies (Australia), pizza, burgers and around 10 sodas a day and weighed 49kg (108lbs) as a 5"9 male.

    was mildly active, then my 30s hit hard.
  • steve1686
    steve1686 Posts: 346 Member
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    anyone can gain weight if they eat enough, unless they have a rare disorder . i used to think i was one of these people until i started logging my calories
  • laynerich15
    laynerich15 Posts: 1,918 Member
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    That said I never ate all of my meals (ate until I was full), went from a job of being on my feet to an office.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    I doubt your metabolism is slow, but if you really think that you should go have your RMR tested.

    How is that tested? Like a fitness tracker?
    Weigh/measure/log your food. Weigh in regularly. After a month or two you will find out how much food you are eating and how it relates to how much weight you gain or lose and thus tell you how much you need to eat to gain/lose/maintain.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    The thing is, what one person "should" eat is individual. If a person is eating at what they think is maintenance but are losing weight, they are eating at a deficit. Calculators online are just estimators and you have to play with your numbers to get the right number.

    It really is that simple. If your calories consumed exceed your calories burned, then you gain weight. There are factors that affect your nutrient breakdown, metabolism, etc., but when it comes down to it metabolism is not to blame, as larger people have faster metabolisms than slimmer ones. For whatever reason, slimmer people are just more in tune with their hunger/don't eat emotionally/learned proper portion control/etc.

    Quite frankly, i don't understand why everybody thinks that those whom are slim are naturally such since it's dependent upon our calories in versus our calories out (obviously excluding the exceptions made with illnesses).

    I am assuming you are just elaborating on what I said, correct?
  • mank32
    mank32 Posts: 1,323 Member
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    It might seem like they are eating a lot if you just have one meal with them, but often they make up for it at other meals by eating less. They might eat a 1200 calorie burger for lunch, but had almost nothing for breakfast, skipped the fries, drank water instead of soda, had salad for dinner. Some of them eat lots of fruits and vegetables with a bit of lean meat, which tends to be more filling and fewer calories.

    ^^ this, for me.

    i was a skinnyfat 125, with 0 exercise, eating whatever i wanted, and my diet was not that great. i've never liked feeling "full". i never overate.

    fast forward to about 4 years ago, i start running and taking my diet seriously: i started eating (more of) the kind of items bolded above, because it's what i like and makes me feel best. i'm now 5 lbs and 1 size down, exercising daily, and with the help of MFP starting to understand that if i'm ever going to gain weight/muscle, i've got to eat more than i want to. :grumble: did i mention i hate feeling "full"?
  • FranceyPants
    FranceyPants Posts: 98 Member
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    Thanks everyone for your replies. You have all pretty much confirmed what I thought - that people who are slim or skinny are simply people who don't eat above their TDEE (whatever that number might be) and likely eat less than they think/say they do.
    (Excluding people with medical conditions).

    There are so many people who claim they "eat so much" but still manage to have tiny bodies. I was just wondering if that was really true!
  • FranceyPants
    FranceyPants Posts: 98 Member
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    EDIT** Oops sorry double posted.
  • pgstormblade
    pgstormblade Posts: 1
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    Like some of the other folks here, I used to be really skinny. I had to get a waiver to join the Marine Corps because I was too skinny. At 5'9" I weight about 115lbs. I went to boot camp and was "made" to eat double everything for every meal. When I finished boot camp I weighed about 121lbs.

    For many, many years after that I could eat and drink anything and everything and never gain an ounce. Then one day I hit the scales and topped 150. At that time I was about 35 years old. Since that time I have had to struggle to keep weight off. I am not sure what changed, but now I have to lose about 50lbs. Currently I am at about 220 and it is not a good thing.
  • ForecasterJason
    ForecasterJason Posts: 2,577 Member
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    Like some of the other folks here, I used to be really skinny. I had to get a waiver to join the Marine Corps because I was too skinny. At 5'9" I weight about 115lbs. I went to boot camp and was "made" to eat double everything for every meal. When I finished boot camp I weighed about 121lbs.

    For many, many years after that I could eat and drink anything and everything and never gain an ounce. Then one day I hit the scales and topped 150. At that time I was about 35 years old. Since that time I have had to struggle to keep weight off. I am not sure what changed, but now I have to lose about 50lbs. Currently I am at about 220 and it is not a good thing.
    Did your calorie intake or activity level change that much? I find it odd that you were able to stay skinny for a good while and then the weight came on that dramatically, unless you were eating/drinking that much of an excess before and somehow your body burned it off.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,704 Member
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    Most people only eat till their full and believe that they eat all the time. I used to think that way when I was trying to gain weight. Then I acutally counted how many calories I was eating and it was about 1600 calories a day. Lol, no wonder I wasn't gaining weight. So I figured out how to eat 3500 calories a day and voila! I started to gain weight. I ate 6-7 times a day and ALWAYS felt like I was stuffing myself. You pretty much feel full ALL the time. Not just after you eat 3-4 meals a day.......................till I added pizza. Then it was much easier to gain on less meals!!!!!! I went from 126lbs (at 19) to my current weight of 195lbs.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • trojan_bb
    trojan_bb Posts: 699 Member
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    Fast Metabolism (lose weight at under 4,200 Calories a day) + weak appetite (I'm perfectly content at 3000 Calories on average). Been slowly trying to gain weight for 6 years now (13 years actually, but didn't get serious until I was 19)

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