Why do some people stay slim, and never gain weight?

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  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
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    Dr. Beck talks a lot about how "naturally thin" people think about food in The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person, which was available in my library system.

    Can thinking and eating like a thin person be learned, similar to learning to drive or use a computer? Beck (Cognitive Therapy for Challenging Problems) contends so, based on decades of work with patients who have lost pounds and maintained weight through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Beck's six-week program adapts CBT, a therapeutic system developed by Beck's father, Aaron, in the 1960s, to specific challenges faced by yo-yo dieters, including negative thinking, bargaining, emotional eating, bingeing, and eating out. Beck counsels readers day-by-day, introducing new elements (creating advantage response cards, choosing a diet, enlisting a diet coach, making a weight-loss graph) progressively and offering tools to help readers stay focused (writing exercises, to-do lists, ways to counter negative thoughts). There are no eating plans, calorie counts, recipes or exercises; according to Beck, any healthy diet will work if readers learn to think differently about eating and food. Beck's book is like an extended therapy session with a diet coach. (Apr.)
  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
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    mrsnattybulking wrote: »
    Some people must naturally just stop eating when they've had adequate calories for their activity levels (obviously, there are tons of thin, fit people that have never counted a calorie)
    Not sure why I don't anymore but I definitely did as a teenager/child

    Yeah, this was me in my teens and twenties (and then I went to law school and I discovered drunk stress eating and Bite Squad). I don't like to drive and didn't have a car until my 30s, so I took transit and walked all the time. I had time to take long walks on weekends and after work because I lived alone and didn't have to work two jobs to make ends meet. I didn't eat much fast food as a kid so I never really developed a taste for it, and have always lived in places where healthy food is available and within my budget. I didn't hang out with people who liked to drink so I didn't drink much either. And I don't really like the taste of very sweet foods, so I very rarely consumed sodas or candy. It wasn't willpower, I didn't make an effort to stay the same weight from age 12 to 30, it was genetics and privilege and circumstances. There were choices involved, but largely unrelated to weight.

    It's amusing looking back now, but I was always about 5 lbs over BMI and would go through periods of hating myself for it. Little did I know how much I'd want to get back to 5 lbs over BMI one day!
  • VioletRojo
    VioletRojo Posts: 596 Member
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    Other than after my first pregnancy, I've never been overweight. I did gain ~8lbs over the course of a couple of years, but it turned out that I had thyroid cancer which was messing with my metabolism a bit. I managed to lose the weight before I was diagnosed.

    I love food and I love to cook, but I'm also very active. While I have a sedentary job, and I tend to be sedentary outside of purposeful exercise, I love to exercise. I run 20-35 miles per week depending on the time of year, I lift weights, I paddleboard, and hike. And I usually walk at least 1 mile on each of my breaks at work every day. I garden and run after the chickens...
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    My own reasons are that I feel a lot better at a healthy weight. I also find that physical performance is improved. But I can't discount wanting to look better in pictures and not wanting people to think I am a big tub of lard.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
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    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    Some people deliberately keep slim because they think that perpetually restricting calories will directly cause them to live an extra 30% of lifespan. That works for mice and worms.

    Not 30% but 8 years of life and more importantly 11 to 19 years of lower quality life

    A study has estimated very obese men aged 20 to 39, with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or above, have a reduced life expectancy of eight years. This is as a result of their higher risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. For women of this age, the life expectancy is six years less. What is also worrying is the much larger number of healthy years of life lost because of the chronic illness caused by these two conditions, which are obesity related.

    Obesity in this age group is estimated to cause 11 to 19 fewer years of healthy life, which could have a considerable negative impact on a person's quality of life.

    http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/12December/Pages/Obesity-could-rob-you-of-20-years-of-health.aspx
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
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    Packerjohn wrote: »
    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    Some people deliberately keep slim because they think that perpetually restricting calories will directly cause them to live an extra 30% of lifespan. That works for mice and worms.

    Not 30% but 8 years of life and more importantly 11 to 19 years of lower quality life

    A study has estimated very obese men aged 20 to 39, with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or above, have a reduced life expectancy of eight years. This is as a result of their higher risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. For women of this age, the life expectancy is six years less. What is also worrying is the much larger number of healthy years of life lost because of the chronic illness caused by these two conditions, which are obesity related.

    Obesity in this age group is estimated to cause 11 to 19 fewer years of healthy life, which could have a considerable negative impact on a person's quality of life.

    http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/12December/Pages/Obesity-could-rob-you-of-20-years-of-health.aspx

    I think @Packerjohn is talking more about the idea of starvation-level diets extending lifespans, not living longer by avoiding premature death from obesity-related causes. Stuff like this:

    http://gizmodo.com/how-living-near-the-starvation-point-can-extend-lifespa-1791290101

    http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/29/want-to-live-longer-dont-try-caloric-restriction/

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-hunger-gains-extreme-calorie-restriction-diet-shows-anti-aging-results/

  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,483 Member
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    I was just sat wondering how to condense a really long train of thought regarding my own personal experience into a short story when @CattOfTheGarage did the post above.
    That sums me and my family(mum and 2 sisters) up to a T.

    Up until recently, we are all post menopause, I was always the heaviest at 105 lbs (average), now, after losing 30, I am the lightest at 105 lbs.

    None of us have ever been over normal BMI (my mum at 90 is a tad over, but there again she has shrunk about 4 in), weighed ourselves often, or worried about what we are eating.

    We all love our food and drink, but hate the stuffed feeling, and eat when we are hungry.

    I don't know whether having a happy childhood, and still being happy giggly women has anything to do with it. B)

    Cheers, h.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    I was slim my whole life until i hit around the age of 40. I have always been a big eater, never worried about calories or weight gain, i just maintained the same weight throughout without any thought or effort.

    Then slowly but surely I started packing it on, i got up to around 180lbs/5'8.

    My theories:

    -My kids moved out, so my healthy, veggie packed cooking was no longer a priority.
    -My activity level must of dropped dramatically, although i never exercised purposefully in my life!
    -My metabolism slowed with age??
    -I started snacking more and eating way more junk food than i ever had.

    Other than that, I got nothin'.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,843 Member
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    xfc1 wrote: »
    I'm not talking about biological factors where there is some factor preventing them from gaining. I'm talking about when they have made a decision to keep slim. I have my own theory as to why they want to do that (at least for some people), but I'm curious as to why you think that they do that. Let's exclude people who are in the business of being seen (models, acting) where being slim is part of their job.

    I was slim from the time I started walking at age 1 (or so) until my early 40s. Then I gained a bit of weight and edged up into the overweight category. I wasn't there long before I lost it again and have maintained for the last 2 years.

    I remained slim all that time because my mother, a nurse, made some attempt to teach nutrition to my brother and me, and to feed us a reasonably healthy diet with small portions. My diet has changed somewhat since then, but that basic pattern of eating still sticks with me most of the time.

    I remained slim all that time because both my parents were active. We walked and cycled everywhere. I continued to be active when I became an adult, and even when I did gain a bit of weight a few years ago, I was still active ... just not quite as much as I had been. For me, walking and cycling is a normal part of life. I can't imagine life without it.

    After being overweight briefly, I've also discovered how uncomfortable that is!!! I don't want to feel that uncomfortable again if I can help it.
  • AliNouveau
    AliNouveau Posts: 36,287 Member
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    I grew up an athlete. I grain weight and got lazy after having a baby. I eventually lost the baby weight 6 years after the baby was born and remembered how much I love being active and exercising and challenging my body and myself.

    I think it's a mindset. I feel alive when my heart is active and my muscles are on fire. Maybe it's the endorphin rush I crave I don't know. Maybe it's adhd? I just like being active and luckily it keeps me slim
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,389 Member
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    I think being happily active with anything compared to being bored plays a big role. What I don't mean with that is working out every day but doing something one enjoys doing. The opposite is sitting behind the telly or computer with a big bowl of snacks. If you keep yourself busy you might be less likely to get the big bowl of snacks in the first place, or also to just take one instead of continue eating. I'm guilty of that myself. Keeping my fingers and brains busy keeps me from snacking. I even have a fairly big snack stash in the kitchen at the moment, and don't feel like taking anything.

    In the end I think the reason is very individual. Some people don't value food, others enjoy it so much that they only want something special every now and then, others are super active, others aren't bored. Quite likely it's a combination of all those things.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,843 Member
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    xfc1 wrote: »
    I'm not talking about biological factors where there is some factor preventing them from gaining. I'm talking about when they have made a decision to keep slim. I have my own theory as to why they want to do that (at least for some people), but I'm curious as to why you think that they do that. Let's exclude people who are in the business of being seen (models, acting) where being slim is part of their job.

    So, @xfc1 ... what's your theory?
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,843 Member
    edited July 2017
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    gradchica27 wrote: »
    He will also bring a full bag of Oreos to the couch and eat 3. Then leave the open bag next to him for an hour and not touch it, whereas I would eat 12 without blinking and need to hide the bag, brush my teeth, or empty it into the trash. He enjoys food but just doesn't care about it much.

    I've never understood why a person would eat a whole bag of cookies.

    I grew up with 1 cookie for an after school snack and that really stuck with me. Having even 2 is a bit of an indulgence. But my husband will down the entire collection in one sitting ... and that's just baffling to me. Fortunately for him, he has an active job so he remains relatively slender too.

    But more recently it has dawned on me that I'm a food hoarder. I would rather know that there's a bag of cookies in the cupboard that will keep me going at the rate of 1-2 cookies a day until the next grocery day than to eat them all in one sitting.

    What ends up happening to me is that food goes stale in the back of the cupboard because my desire to know that I've got food in there just in case is stronger than my desire to eat it.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
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    Because I care about myself and don't want the plethora of chronic health conditions associated with obesity. And because as I age I want my quality of life to be as good as it can.

    Having had family members die of heart disease, heart attack, stroke, I know that's not a path I want to take. And most living relatives currently have diabetes; I never want to have to rely on medication to live normally.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
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    Machka9 wrote: »
    it has dawned on me that I'm a food hoarder. I would rather know that there's a bag of cookies in the cupboard that will keep me going at the rate of 1-2 cookies a day until the next grocery day than to eat them all in one sitting.

    What ends up happening to me is that food goes stale in the back of the cupboard because my desire to know that I've got food in there just in case is stronger than my desire to eat it.

    Interestingly, I have a touch of this as well. I actively enjoy the feeling that I have food stored. For me, it's in direct tension with my desire to start eating and just keep going, as I know I'll be sad when it's all gone.

    I've found I can play the two impulses off against one another to achieve the result I want - not "don't eat all of that, it's bad for you" but "don't eat all of that because then it'll all be gone and you'll be sad".

    It works particularly well with ice cream for some reason - I can quite easily squash the desire to have another scoop with the thought that I'll be happier if there's still some left for another day.

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