naturally skinny !
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There are a lot of people who see me enjoying yummy meals all the time. They don’t understand how I’ve lost 50 pounds.
It’s because I plan for those meals. They don’t know that I practice IF before and after those meals and that I eat very carefully on other days plus run about 15 miles a week.
I bet your skinny friends are similar.3 -
I wouldnt say i'm naturally "skinny" but i've always been on the thin side. Whenever I'm with my friends I eat WAY more than them. Weird thing is, some of my friends are overweight and eat super healthy whenever I see them...I guess that's the opposite side of this conversation! I dunno what they eat when I'm not around them and they don't know what I eat/exercise when they're not around me.1
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I used to think I had skinny genes until I got a desk job and gained 40lbs in 2 years.1
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I think it’s a lot to do with genetics and a little bit with your food habits. I’ve been naturally skinny my whole life, but so is the rest of my family. Honestly, I don’t need that much food to feel full. I have three meals a day but have to plan when to have snacks or I won’t be hungry for them. So yeah, even if I eat “whatever I want” it’s still only to the point where I feel full, and I think that’s different for everyone.5
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I also find it interesting that sometimes when I'm eating with coworkers (some of who are overweight), I will eat just as much if not even more than them. But yet, in the end I maintain my weight/BMI far lower than them.Kimblesnbits13 wrote: »I wouldnt say i'm naturally "skinny" but i've always been on the thin side. Whenever I'm with my friends I eat WAY more than them. Weird thing is, some of my friends are overweight and eat super healthy whenever I see them...I guess that's the opposite side of this conversation! I dunno what they eat when I'm not around them and they don't know what I eat/exercise when they're not around me.
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I was very sickly till I was 10 & would hardly eat, then it started. I had a massive appetite. In high school they called my "paper weight" I was so thin. I ate a lot!! I would visit my friend who moved & her mom would buy extra food when I came. One time she counted i ate 12 chicken legs. On my 21st B day, we ate at "fat Ed's" in San Fransisco, where if you could eat a whole steak, it was free. It was free for me. I couldn't get enough food. My mom cooked from scratch every day & I loved to eat. I never gained any weight till I got pregnant at 22yrs old. I gained 70lbs & never lost it all. I gained about 60 with the next 3 & never lost all of it & have had weight problems ever since, however I lost 48lbs with mfp. I always wondered why some ppl who eat larger amounts don't gain weight (like my oldest son) & some gain weight from not eating much at all. There has to be other factors involved besides calories. I never thought I could lose wt because for years I mostly ate chicken, veggies, rice, ate twice a day, don't drink soda, don't snack, hardly ever have fast food but never counted calories before mfp, so I must have been eating higher calories in the rice, or pasta I sometime had with my meals. oh, & went to the gym, played racquetball 4-5 days/wk & had a job being on my feet & moving all day. Everyone said I should be thin with all the activity & healthy eating. I never understood4
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ForecasterJason wrote: »
I also find it interesting that sometimes when I'm eating with coworkers (some of who are overweight), I will eat just as much if not even more than them. But yet, in the end I maintain my weight/BMI far lower than them.Kimblesnbits13 wrote: »I wouldnt say i'm naturally "skinny" but i've always been on the thin side. Whenever I'm with my friends I eat WAY more than them. Weird thing is, some of my friends are overweight and eat super healthy whenever I see them...I guess that's the opposite side of this conversation! I dunno what they eat when I'm not around them and they don't know what I eat/exercise when they're not around me.
I think sometimes overweight people don't eat the same portions around others at they do in private. Much like the 'naturally skinny' person that eats more than normal when eating in groups. I see this in our office a lot. It's the /overweight/obese people that eat 'diet meals' for lunch more often than those that are not overweight.2 -
Years ago, I had a friend who struggled with his weight, as I did. He commented about another naturally skinny friend of ours that he would take a cookie from a plate and nibble at it, putting it down between bites, whereas my fat friend and I would have half a box apiece during the same time period.
Skinny people don't eat emotionally or compulsively; they eat when they're hungry or to be sociable, and they don't eat if they are satisfied. They also seem to have a better sense of their hunger and satiety cues.
Naturally skinny people also "fidget" and move a lot more than fat people, which can mean hundreds of calories more burnt off in a day:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12468415
These things come naturally to skinny people, those of us who struggle with our weight need to make a conscious effort to do them: know our hunger cues, don't eat emotionally, move more.2 -
Years ago, I had a friend who struggled with his weight, as I did. He commented about another naturally skinny friend of ours that he would take a cookie from a plate and nibble at it, putting it down between bites, whereas my fat friend and I would have half a box apiece during the same time period.
Skinny people don't eat emotionally or compulsively; they eat when they're hungry or to be sociable, and they don't eat if they are satisfied. They also seem to have a better sense of their hunger and satiety cues.
This isn't always true. There really are no universal truths when it comes to eating. When I was thin for decades I would have (and did) eaten several cookies from the plate.2 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »This isn't always true. There really are no universal truths when it comes to eating. When I was thin for decades I would have (and did) eaten several cookies from the plate.
Then I'll wager you were active, and/or didn't eat emotionally.1 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »This isn't always true. There really are no universal truths when it comes to eating. When I was thin for decades I would have (and did) eaten several cookies from the plate.
Then I'll wager you were active, and/or didn't eat emotionally.
I was active. I was active when I was overweight too. We live on a farm. Active is a way of life. I simply didn't eat from a plate of cookies on a regular basis. I got called "naturally skinny" a lot back then. I wasn't. I thought about what I was eating and made a mindful choice to not get fat. I was never once of those that just "naturally" stopped eating when full. I often ate until I was stuffed. I still do. I really like to overeat. But I also often purposely went hungry or stopped before I was full to counteract it. That's also how I ate to lose weight and now maintain the loss. I would never be successful if I had to only eat until full every time I ate something.3 -
Deviations exist. In both directions. Being a low end outier (maintain 155 at 1450 net calories, 15k steps a day & 5'9") can really look harsh in sharp relief to someone who is as far above the mean in calorie needs as I am below.3
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Deviations exist. In both directions. Being a low end outier (maintain 155 at 1450 net calories, 15k steps a day & 5'9") can really look harsh in sharp relief to someone who is as far above the mean in calorie needs as I am below.
Indeed.
There are a bunch of different ways to get fat, and a bunch of different ways to stay thin. Some people do have outlier TDEEs in either direction, but the low TDEE folks (like you) may stay thin, and the high TDEE folks (like me) may get fat.
We tend to want things to be simple. Mostly, they aren't.
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ForecasterJason wrote: »
I also find it interesting that sometimes when I'm eating with coworkers (some of who are overweight), I will eat just as much if not even more than them. But yet, in the end I maintain my weight/BMI far lower than them.Kimblesnbits13 wrote: »I wouldnt say i'm naturally "skinny" but i've always been on the thin side. Whenever I'm with my friends I eat WAY more than them. Weird thing is, some of my friends are overweight and eat super healthy whenever I see them...I guess that's the opposite side of this conversation! I dunno what they eat when I'm not around them and they don't know what I eat/exercise when they're not around me.
But do you eat the same way all the time in private? OOOOR if you do, maybe they eat even MORE when you're not around them...?1 -
Given that many of us have Fitbits, I think a big part of it is activity level. So even though their TDEE should be a lot higher given the weight difference, mine and theirs are probably pretty close.Kimblesnbits13 wrote: »ForecasterJason wrote: »
I also find it interesting that sometimes when I'm eating with coworkers (some of who are overweight), I will eat just as much if not even more than them. But yet, in the end I maintain my weight/BMI far lower than them.Kimblesnbits13 wrote: »I wouldnt say i'm naturally "skinny" but i've always been on the thin side. Whenever I'm with my friends I eat WAY more than them. Weird thing is, some of my friends are overweight and eat super healthy whenever I see them...I guess that's the opposite side of this conversation! I dunno what they eat when I'm not around them and they don't know what I eat/exercise when they're not around me.
But do you eat the same way all the time in private? OOOOR if you do, maybe they eat even MORE when you're not around them...?
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Family friends/relatives who eat with my mother think she is "naturally skinny" or has a "high metabolism." They don't realize she often skips meals. They are aware that she is very active, but I guess it doesn't register that that means she gets more calories.1
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Deviations exist. In both directions. Being a low end outier (maintain 155 at 1450 net calories, 15k steps a day & 5'9") can really look harsh in sharp relief to someone who is as far above the mean in calorie needs as I am below.
exactly! I said upthread that I think my DH and I are outliers in opposite directions (me low, him high) so in additional to the usual man/woman differences, I think we have about 5-600 calories on top of that. That is like he gets to eat an extra pint of Ben and Jerry's every night, on top of the regular "more for men". And I've never seen him even start to gain. Whereas I fight not to gain ALL OF THE TIME.
It feels like he's naturally skinny when he eats what he wants and is never hungry. Whereas I often feel physical hunger even after I've hit my calories for the day.
Also - that would suck to be 5'9" and able to eat so little. I'm right around the same calories and activity level and I'm 5'6" and I thought THAT was bad. Good for you for being on maintenance - you kick *kitten*!3 -
Years ago, I had a friend who struggled with his weight, as I did. He commented about another naturally skinny friend of ours that he would take a cookie from a plate and nibble at it, putting it down between bites, whereas my fat friend and I would have half a box apiece during the same time period.
Skinny people don't eat emotionally or compulsively; they eat when they're hungry or to be sociable, and they don't eat if they are satisfied. They also seem to have a better sense of their hunger and satiety cues.
Naturally skinny people also "fidget" and move a lot more than fat people, which can mean hundreds of calories more burnt off in a day:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12468415
These things come naturally to skinny people, those of us who struggle with our weight need to make a conscious effort to do them: know our hunger cues, don't eat emotionally, move more.
Skinny people are just that, people. They're not all the same. I was skinny without effort. If I liked the biscuits, I'd have eaten the plateful. I often ate emotionally, I sometimes ate compulsively. I had terrible hunger cues (which actually is one thing that kept me thin because it meant that I didn't realise I should be hungry and skipped meals a lot). I did have very good satiety cues. I did fidget a bit. (Not sure about a lot. It's a bit hard to measure that one. And I still do now and I'm overweight.) So for me, two of your assumptions would be correct.0 -
I went to two over eaters anonymous meetings a few years back and I *kitten* you not everyone there was more or less a normal weight. I was the biggest one there. I was really self conscious and taken aback by the lack of other fat folks.1
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StarBrightStarBright wrote: »Deviations exist. In both directions. Being a low end outier (maintain 155 at 1450 net calories, 15k steps a day & 5'9") can really look harsh in sharp relief to someone who is as far above the mean in calorie needs as I am below.
exactly! I said upthread that I think my DH and I are outliers in opposite directions (me low, him high) so in additional to the usual man/woman differences, I think we have about 5-600 calories on top of that. That is like he gets to eat an extra pint of Ben and Jerry's every night, on top of the regular "more for men". And I've never seen him even start to gain. Whereas I fight not to gain ALL OF THE TIME.
It feels like he's naturally skinny when he eats what he wants and is never hungry. Whereas I often feel physical hunger even after I've hit my calories for the day.
Also - that would suck to be 5'9" and able to eat so little. I'm right around the same calories and activity level and I'm 5'6" and I thought THAT was bad. Good for you for being on maintenance - you kick *kitten*!
Yup, I know that feeling of eating maintenance calories and still having hunger pains. I have sympathy for you. (I’ve found many MFP’ers don’t believe in this tho.) CICO seems to be the start of the answer, and for some it can be seen like clockwork in their diaries. But when you are at the low (but still within statistical norms) end of the calorie estimates it can be a huge struggle.
That poster who said it’s just 200 or so calories doesn’t take into account that is a 400-600 or so difference between low end and high end. And 400 calories a day is huge to those of us with maintenance calorie allotments if <1400. Probably the difference between feeling hungry most days most of the time and feeling satisfied.
I wish you luck! It is really difficult and not many are sympathetic to the struggle.3
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