How can some people eat so much junk and gain no weight?
Replies
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dave_in_ni wrote: »How exactly does this work? I have lost quite a lot of weight in this past 6 months, over 3 stone. But even when at my fattest I never ate as much as 1 little skinny guy I work with.
I am eating 1500 cals per day at the moment, this is one meal I count over 1000 cals roughly in 1 meal. For lunch he a burger and several bars of chocolate, chips/crips washed down with a bottle of coke, and this is every day. I'm sure the guy easily eats double what I do. French fries and burgers are a daily thing for him. Even at my fattest I never ate anywhere near that amount.
How exactly can he do this? He's not active at all, never does any exercise either.
I see a lot of posts from people telling you this isn't possible and negating your feelings on the subject. I have never enjoyed that attitude like because I'm overweight, everything I say and do is wrong. So I'm going to be honest with you, you're right. People can do this, it does happen, and you obviously are fully aware of the truth. Here's what you don't know about people like him, hope it helps!
My husband, at his heaviest, weighed 140 lbs. When I met him, he was 116. He can eat whatever he wants, and never gain weight. He hardly ever actually DOES want to eat, because of the number of people who have spent his entire life trying to shove food down his throat.
His metabolism, genetically, runs at a higher rate than yours or mine. We could achieve the same effect by taking speed. In fact, there used to be a drug that did this: ephedrine. It was banned because people's hearts kept exploding.
Your metabolism is the speed at which your body processes....process. My husband's body runs fast. What does that mean for his life?
1. He has had ongoing heart problems since the day he was born. He has had four heart attacks, and he is 27 years old. His sister, who has the same "wonderful metabolism", keeled over in class at the age of sixteen and was rushed to a hospital. The doctors said three more minutes, and she would have been dead.
2. He's nervous all the time. He's constantly flapping his hands or tapping his feet. Our doctor says that sitting still is like running a marathon for him. Doing the slightest chore leaves him exhausted.
3. He craves sugar and fat, even though it makes him sick. A human stomach was not designed to handle the 4500 calories PER DAY he has to take in, in order to avoid losing weight. When I met him, he had stopped eating 4500 calories a day and as a result, he was dying.
You or I are not going to die if we skip a meal, or even two. I can go on any restrictive diet I want, and so far, I haven't lost an ounce on most of them. I experimented with not eating at all, and ate zero calories a day for two weeks. Nothing. I've adjusted my calories from 2000 to 1500 to 800 and never lost one pound. I've eaten paleo and atkins and everything else on the planet, and zip. I feel your pain.
But his condition is worse. I'm whining that I look ugly. I'm whining that when I get on the bus, maybe people have to move over. But at my check-ups, all of my bloodwork comes back perfect. My heart is running like a purring engine. I'm strong, I work out constantly, I do yoga. My hair and nails are strong, my teeth are amazing. I'm healthy.
My husband is starving to death. That is his life. Constantly starving to death no matter how much food he shoves in his mouth. He's had eight cavities filled and four root canals in the past year. His hair is thin, his eyes are often discolored. His skin sags where mine glows, and he's forever exhausted although I have energy. At any moment, if he over exerts himself, he could die of a heart attack. Because his heart is over-stressed from sustaining him. He nearly lost his baby sister at the age of sixteen.
All of his physical symptoms are (medically confirmed to be) because his body can not absorb nutrients fast enough to nourish him.
When I met him, I was just as skinny without trying. Then my stomach started to swell and only recently, after a 40 lb weight loss and several hospital admissions, did I find out that I am allergic to wheat gluten and have scarring on my intestine. Much of my weight gain was fat growing up, I think, to protect injured areas.
Anyway I know it sucks. I come from a skinny family: my kids, my husband, even my mom is skinnier than me. That's just how the good lord made them. I'll always have to work harder, eat less.....but I'm not going to die if i don't eat for a couple of days.
If it helps, the reason why there are more of us than of them is because people like my husband generally wouldn't survive any difficult conditions. They couldn't sustain themselves through a war, famine, or natural disaster, whereas we have plenty of food stored up for winter
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I wonder how that guy feels hearing stuff like this from others. I'm THAT coworker at my job. "How are you SO skinny when you eat SO much?!" I'm 5'3" and 111 pounds. I maintain my weight on 2000+ calories on most days. The other night at my cousin's surprise party at a BBQ restaurant I easily had twice as much food as anyone and received similar questions; one 300 pound guy said I ate as much as he does in four days (he's obviously underestimating his consumption). That particular day I was very hungry as I walked 44,411 steps the day before and didn't eat as much as I should have because I was too busy all day.
I try to roll with it but it gets annoying. I workout every morning, I get 15K+ steps per day, I have a good amount of muscle, and to top it off I'm very fidgety. Sometimes I eat several small meals per day, sometimes a few large ones; after that huge BBQ meal I could only consume 660 calories the next day.
If you're so certain he really does nothing at all, maybe he's got hyperthyroidism and doesn't know it or want anyone else to know about it. Either way, comparing yourself to others is not a good look. You want to eat more? Move more.
That many steps in one day? Wow, how did you manage that? On vacation earlier this year we had one day where we walked ALL day long, all over the city. That was 28,000+ steps and I thought my legs were going to fall off. Kudos to you!
I was pretty much on my feet from 5am to midnight. I'm surprised you only got 28,000 from walking all day long, though. A five mile walk to or from work takes me an hour and 15 minutes and gets me around 8,500ish steps with my Fitbit.
Ah, makes sense. Well, we were sight-seeing and in large crowds of people, so getting in steps or miles wasn't my goal at all. It was to see and do as many things as I could in one day.
On my early morning weekend walks I do 7 miles, but I walk at a track and count laps so I have no idea how many steps it is as I never track my steps otherwise.0 -
violajunerose wrote: »dave_in_ni wrote: »How exactly does this work? I have lost quite a lot of weight in this past 6 months, over 3 stone. But even when at my fattest I never ate as much as 1 little skinny guy I work with.
I am eating 1500 cals per day at the moment, this is one meal I count over 1000 cals roughly in 1 meal. For lunch he a burger and several bars of chocolate, chips/crips washed down with a bottle of coke, and this is every day. I'm sure the guy easily eats double what I do. French fries and burgers are a daily thing for him. Even at my fattest I never ate anywhere near that amount.
How exactly can he do this? He's not active at all, never does any exercise either.
I see a lot of posts from people telling you this isn't possible and negating your feelings on the subject. I have never enjoyed that attitude like because I'm overweight, everything I say and do is wrong. So I'm going to be honest with you, you're right. People can do this, it does happen, and you obviously are fully aware of the truth. Here's what you don't know about people like him, hope it helps!
My husband, at his heaviest, weighed 140 lbs. When I met him, he was 116. He can eat whatever he wants, and never gain weight. He hardly ever actually DOES want to eat, because of the number of people who have spent his entire life trying to shove food down his throat.
His metabolism, genetically, runs at a higher rate than yours or mine. We could achieve the same effect by taking speed. In fact, there used to be a drug that did this: ephedrine. It was banned because people's hearts kept exploding.
Your metabolism is the speed at which your body processes....process. My husband's body runs fast. What does that mean for his life?
1. He has had ongoing heart problems since the day he was born. He has had four heart attacks, and he is 27 years old. His sister, who has the same "wonderful metabolism", keeled over in class at the age of sixteen and was rushed to a hospital. The doctors said three more minutes, and she would have been dead.
2. He's nervous all the time. He's constantly flapping his hands or tapping his feet. Our doctor says that sitting still is like running a marathon for him. Doing the slightest chore leaves him exhausted.
3. He craves sugar and fat, even though it makes him sick. A human stomach was not designed to handle the 4500 calories PER DAY he has to take in, in order to avoid losing weight. When I met him, he had stopped eating 4500 calories a day and as a result, he was dying.
You or I are not going to die if we skip a meal, or even two. I can go on any restrictive diet I want, and so far, I haven't lost an ounce on most of them. I experimented with not eating at all, and ate zero calories a day for two weeks. Nothing. I've adjusted my calories from 2000 to 1500 to 800 and never lost one pound. I've eaten paleo and atkins and everything else on the planet, and zip. I feel your pain.
But his condition is worse. I'm whining that I look ugly. I'm whining that when I get on the bus, maybe people have to move over. But at my check-ups, all of my bloodwork comes back perfect. My heart is running like a purring engine. I'm strong, I work out constantly, I do yoga. My hair and nails are strong, my teeth are amazing. I'm healthy.
My husband is starving to death. That is his life. Constantly starving to death no matter how much food he shoves in his mouth. He's had eight cavities filled and four root canals in the past year. His hair is thin, his eyes are often discolored. His skin sags where mine glows, and he's forever exhausted although I have energy. At any moment, if he over exerts himself, he could die of a heart attack. Because his heart is over-stressed from sustaining him. He nearly lost his baby sister at the age of sixteen.
All of his physical symptoms are (medically confirmed to be) because his body can not absorb nutrients fast enough to nourish him.
When I met him, I was just as skinny without trying. Then my stomach started to swell and only recently, after a 40 lb weight loss and several hospital admissions, did I find out that I am allergic to wheat gluten and have scarring on my intestine. Much of my weight gain was fat growing up, I think, to protect injured areas.
Anyway I know it sucks. I come from a skinny family: my kids, my husband, even my mom is skinnier than me. That's just how the good lord made them. I'll always have to work harder, eat less.....but I'm not going to die if i don't eat for a couple of days.
If it helps, the reason why there are more of us than of them is because people like my husband generally wouldn't survive any difficult conditions. They couldn't sustain themselves through a war, famine, or natural disaster, whereas we have plenty of food stored up for winter
If this is true...the is a medical oddity and it and shouldn't be applied to just anyone esp random people on the internet...this wouldn't happen often...and if it is true there are meds for it and why isn't your husband on them?
My husband is slim...and a lot of his uncles and aunts died of heart attacks too...
He seemingly eats whatever he wants...but what people don't notice is he eats intuitively and knows when he has had enough and can tell when he is gaining because he is over eating...so he stops over eating gets a bit more active and it's gone...
People often say "it isn't fair he can eat whatever he wants"...well guess what so can I as long as I am active enough and chances are this is exactly what the case is here...
He isn't eating as much as buddy thinks and he is more active than buddy knows...3 -
I have an uncle who just recently turned 60, and eats like there is no tomorrow. I mean, makes a full dish that normally feeds 2-4 people, and eats every bit of it. He's extremely thin even though he eats so much, but that's because he stays active. He does yard work for elderly people in town, and he rides his bicycle or walks when he needs to get somewhere. (Doesn't drive, hasn't driven in years) He could be more active than what you see when you're around him, so it would make sense that he could eat large amounts and stay thin. Just my 2 cents, though.3
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skinnyforhi wrote: »I know someone who used to brag about only eating fast food. Once I started watching this person, I realized they always got a small cheeseburger, fed half to the dog, and often did not order fries or only had a few of them. He may not be eating everything he says he is.
Incidentally, on the rare occasion I get a fast food burger, now I'll often skip the fries too. I like to watch skinny people for tips and tricks
I wouldn't do what this guy does though LOL.
My mom was skinny and would say, "I eat anything I want and don't gain weight. " But she would "forget" to eat lunch. I'd hear her ask herself, "Did I eat lunch?" And if we went to eat fast food for dinner, for example, she would get a child's size cheeseburger, small fries, and a small vanilla shake. She didn't eat much in spite of her claims. Breakfast would be a piece of cinnamon toast. She rarely ate more than two pieces of pizza or chicken. Mom only weighed 109 pounds and was 5'3". Her lunch might be banana and peanut butter. She often shared her food with someone also.5 -
Work from a top-down/ Occam's razor approach
Does magic exist? no
What about UFOs? that is not relevant
That must mean they're.. yes, you'll get there by yourself eventually but it must mean they're not eating as much as you think or are averaging their calories over a week or whatever or are burning more than you think.
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Made a deal with Satan? I tried to but he said he didn't want mine *sigh*6
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violajunerose wrote: »dave_in_ni wrote: »How exactly does this work? I have lost quite a lot of weight in this past 6 months, over 3 stone. But even when at my fattest I never ate as much as 1 little skinny guy I work with.
I am eating 1500 cals per day at the moment, this is one meal I count over 1000 cals roughly in 1 meal. For lunch he a burger and several bars of chocolate, chips/crips washed down with a bottle of coke, and this is every day. I'm sure the guy easily eats double what I do. French fries and burgers are a daily thing for him. Even at my fattest I never ate anywhere near that amount.
How exactly can he do this? He's not active at all, never does any exercise either.
I see a lot of posts from people telling you this isn't possible and negating your feelings on the subject. I have never enjoyed that attitude like because I'm overweight, everything I say and do is wrong. So I'm going to be honest with you, you're right. People can do this, it does happen, and you obviously are fully aware of the truth. Here's what you don't know about people like him, hope it helps!
My husband, at his heaviest, weighed 140 lbs. When I met him, he was 116. He can eat whatever he wants, and never gain weight. He hardly ever actually DOES want to eat, because of the number of people who have spent his entire life trying to shove food down his throat.
His metabolism, genetically, runs at a higher rate than yours or mine. We could achieve the same effect by taking speed. In fact, there used to be a drug that did this: ephedrine. It was banned because people's hearts kept exploding.
Your metabolism is the speed at which your body processes....process. My husband's body runs fast. What does that mean for his life?
1. He has had ongoing heart problems since the day he was born. He has had four heart attacks, and he is 27 years old. His sister, who has the same "wonderful metabolism", keeled over in class at the age of sixteen and was rushed to a hospital. The doctors said three more minutes, and she would have been dead.
2. He's nervous all the time. He's constantly flapping his hands or tapping his feet. Our doctor says that sitting still is like running a marathon for him. Doing the slightest chore leaves him exhausted.
3. He craves sugar and fat, even though it makes him sick. A human stomach was not designed to handle the 4500 calories PER DAY he has to take in, in order to avoid losing weight. When I met him, he had stopped eating 4500 calories a day and as a result, he was dying.
You or I are not going to die if we skip a meal, or even two. I can go on any restrictive diet I want, and so far, I haven't lost an ounce on most of them. I experimented with not eating at all, and ate zero calories a day for two weeks. Nothing. I've adjusted my calories from 2000 to 1500 to 800 and never lost one pound. I've eaten paleo and atkins and everything else on the planet, and zip. I feel your pain.
But his condition is worse. I'm whining that I look ugly. I'm whining that when I get on the bus, maybe people have to move over. But at my check-ups, all of my bloodwork comes back perfect. My heart is running like a purring engine. I'm strong, I work out constantly, I do yoga. My hair and nails are strong, my teeth are amazing. I'm healthy.
My husband is starving to death. That is his life. Constantly starving to death no matter how much food he shoves in his mouth. He's had eight cavities filled and four root canals in the past year. His hair is thin, his eyes are often discolored. His skin sags where mine glows, and he's forever exhausted although I have energy. At any moment, if he over exerts himself, he could die of a heart attack. Because his heart is over-stressed from sustaining him. He nearly lost his baby sister at the age of sixteen.
All of his physical symptoms are (medically confirmed to be) because his body can not absorb nutrients fast enough to nourish him.
When I met him, I was just as skinny without trying. Then my stomach started to swell and only recently, after a 40 lb weight loss and several hospital admissions, did I find out that I am allergic to wheat gluten and have scarring on my intestine. Much of my weight gain was fat growing up, I think, to protect injured areas.
Anyway I know it sucks. I come from a skinny family: my kids, my husband, even my mom is skinnier than me. That's just how the good lord made them. I'll always have to work harder, eat less.....but I'm not going to die if i don't eat for a couple of days.
If it helps, the reason why there are more of us than of them is because people like my husband generally wouldn't survive any difficult conditions. They couldn't sustain themselves through a war, famine, or natural disaster, whereas we have plenty of food stored up for winter
If this is true...the is a medical oddity and it and shouldn't be applied to just anyone esp random people on the internet...this wouldn't happen often...and if it is true there are meds for it and why isn't your husband on them?
My husband is slim...and a lot of his uncles and aunts died of heart attacks too...
He seemingly eats whatever he wants...but what people don't notice is he eats intuitively and knows when he has had enough and can tell when he is gaining because he is over eating...so he stops over eating gets a bit more active and it's gone...
People often say "it isn't fair he can eat whatever he wants"...well guess what so can I as long as I am active enough and chances are this is exactly what the case is here...
He isn't eating as much as buddy thinks and he is more active than buddy knows...
Agreed and I'm a bit offended at the implication that the OP's feelings were negated by most just because he's overweight so we assume everything he says or does is wrong. People responded to the OP the way they did because, to be quite frank, "X person eats waaaaaaay more than I do and they don't do anything/as much as I do. It's not fair!" is a misconception that is mentioned all the damn time. It's nothing new. Furthermore, it sucks what your husband is going through, as well as his sister, but they are statistical anomalies; this is not what is usually happening when people compare themselves to their thinner friends.9 -
Honestly tho, there are people who have very fast metabolisms and have to eat a lot of calories a day just do they don't lose weight, could this guy be one of them? Probably not and it will probably catch up to him when hes in his 50s.3
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I have an 17 year son, he's very tall and skinny, slightly under weight, he can put down large pizza no problem, but then he hardly eats anything for the next couple of days afterwards.
OP unless your with him 24/7 you have no ideal what he does or eats.8 -
dave_in_ni wrote: »How exactly does this work? I have lost quite a lot of weight in this past 6 months, over 3 stone. But even when at my fattest I never ate as much as 1 little skinny guy I work with.
I am eating 1500 cals per day at the moment, this is one meal I count over 1000 cals roughly in 1 meal. For lunch he a burger and several bars of chocolate, chips/crips washed down with a bottle of coke, and this is every day. I'm sure the guy easily eats double what I do. French fries and burgers are a daily thing for him. Even at my fattest I never ate anywhere near that amount.
How exactly can he do this? He's not active at all, never does any exercise either.
I used to wonder about this too. And people on MFP pointed out that there is more to "naturally skinny" people than we think. Or less, depending on what you think I guess lol. So, after that bit of enlightenment, when I caught myself thinking "that person is just naturally skinny..." I would pay closer attention.
I noticed one of three things. Either the person ate less at each meal than I originally thought (would order a large portion but only eat a fraction of it, or just eat smaller portions throughout the day), or the person was more active than I originally knew (had several children, or a lifestyle that one wouldn't immediately think of as active, but it turned out they were always moving or doing something), or there was a medical issue and they were actually self-conscious about being so thin.
People can say "you do you" but it is human nature to be curious about "why does this seem so hard for me and not for other people". It is a relevant question. Especially in a forum about health and fitness.2 -
leejoyce31 wrote: »You people are so mean.
Who was mean??? Please quote them. I saw nobody being mean.
In this day and age, if you disagree now means your "mean", "judging", etc. etc.
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SassyMommasaurus wrote: »Honestly tho, there are people who have very fast metabolisms and have to eat a lot of calories a day just do they don't lose weight, could this guy be one of them? Probably not and it will probably catch up to him when hes in his 50s.
But even if he is, it has no bearing on the OP's path to weight loss... OP just needs to focus on the things he needs to do to get where he wants to go... everything else is just a distraction, and frankly, isn't helping.4 -
Yep either skipping other meals/fasting. OR bodybuilding but usually they are better at nutrition than that with their high calories. And some people just have great metabolisms or some other disorder that doesn't allow them to gain. My ex was pretty short and probably 110 on a good day he could eat massive amounts of calories and never gained weight. But he often did only eat dinner too.0
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sashayoung72 wrote: »singingflutelady wrote: »sashayoung72 wrote: »my brother in law is a fidgety type, adhd, constantly moving and up until a recent injury that keeps him way more sedentary he was as skinny as a rail, it's just the luck of the draw I suppose!
Luck of the draw? Nah, he was active and not eating more than he burnt. That's how it works
I mean he "drew" the faster metabolism, the fidgety helps with that (is part of that) but if you saw the amount of beer this man consumed while staying rail thin you'd be amazed.
fidgety? Yeah if someone is fidgety from ADD and takes adderall or others they may not gain weight. My friends two boys that take that never gain weight. One is so underweight I worry about him. He's turning 11 later this month and is the size of a 6-7 year old and can still fit 5T clothing but pants would be a little short.
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Calories out is always the unknown without some serious tracking over an extended period. Many of these people who seem like they can eat anything they want have higher activity than you know and faster metabolisms than average. Luck of the draw.2
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bennettinfinity wrote: »SassyMommasaurus wrote: »Honestly tho, there are people who have very fast metabolisms and have to eat a lot of calories a day just do they don't lose weight, could this guy be one of them? Probably not and it will probably catch up to him when hes in his 50s.
But even if he is, it has no bearing on the OP's path to weight loss... OP just needs to focus on the things he needs to do to get where he wants to go... everything else is just a distraction, and frankly, isn't helping.
I don't see anything wrong with the OP being concerned about these things. This is a forum. It's specifically here as a place for people to focus on other people.4 -
bennettinfinity wrote: »SassyMommasaurus wrote: »Honestly tho, there are people who have very fast metabolisms and have to eat a lot of calories a day just do they don't lose weight, could this guy be one of them? Probably not and it will probably catch up to him when hes in his 50s.
But even if he is, it has no bearing on the OP's path to weight loss... OP just needs to focus on the things he needs to do to get where he wants to go... everything else is just a distraction, and frankly, isn't helping.
I don't see anything wrong with the OP being concerned about these things. This is a forum. It's specifically here as a place for people to focus on other people.
That makes no sense.6 -
bennettinfinity wrote: »SassyMommasaurus wrote: »Honestly tho, there are people who have very fast metabolisms and have to eat a lot of calories a day just do they don't lose weight, could this guy be one of them? Probably not and it will probably catch up to him when hes in his 50s.
But even if he is, it has no bearing on the OP's path to weight loss... OP just needs to focus on the things he needs to do to get where he wants to go... everything else is just a distraction, and frankly, isn't helping.
I don't see anything wrong with the OP being concerned about these things. This is a forum. It's specifically here as a place for people to focus on other people.
That makes no sense.
Okay then. Why are you here?1 -
bennettinfinity wrote: »SassyMommasaurus wrote: »Honestly tho, there are people who have very fast metabolisms and have to eat a lot of calories a day just do they don't lose weight, could this guy be one of them? Probably not and it will probably catch up to him when hes in his 50s.
But even if he is, it has no bearing on the OP's path to weight loss... OP just needs to focus on the things he needs to do to get where he wants to go... everything else is just a distraction, and frankly, isn't helping.
I don't see anything wrong with the OP being concerned about these things. This is a forum. It's specifically here as a place for people to focus on other people.
That makes no sense.
It makes sense to me. This is a "community". If it wasn't then there wouldn't be other people to bounce questions and ideas off of. Sometimes people ask rhetorical questions.3
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