Do naturally thin people actually think different?
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alwaysbloated wrote: »alwaysbloated wrote: »
This was long, and a but repetitive (seemingly multiple episodes tacked together), but very on point and interesting. Thanks for bringing it in.
I thought the start was very boring, but it got better as it got on. I'm surprised the participants thought they should be huge, when they were doing lots of walking, fasting and playing sports for 2 hours a week. Seems obvious to us?
I liked the high-speed video of the woman at her desk job (would've been fun to have equivalent of her disbelieving colleague for comparison, maybe ). Also, the snack/meal research findings were interesting. I think I can see some of that effect in myself.
Yes, this. My husband has a good friend who is similarly tiny and super energetic, it's what I picked up on immediately.
I on the other hand am Statue Woman and need a Fitbit to nag me! So it goes
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I used to work with people who would complain that they were fat and that I was one of the lucky ones who could eat whatever they want and not gain weight. They saw me eat breakfast (serving of bran flakes, 1/2 cup 2% milk, fruit--200 to 250 calories), whatever I wanted for lunch, which could have been pizza, a cheeseburger and fries, etc, but generally in the 1100-1300 calorie range. I may or may not have some candy, cookie, cake, etc. as a snack. What they didn't see was what I did when I got home (cut my grass with a push mower, or do a 1 hour exercise video, or garden, and take my two dogs on a 1+ mile walk. Dinner was also smaller--oatmeal, soup, maybe a sandwich. So a total intake of 2000-2300 or so calories and enough movement to use all those calories up.kshama2001 wrote: »change4char wrote: »I think peoples answers will be different based on how they classify "naturally thin." When I hear this phrase I think of people who have high metabolisms. Two people could be the same height/sex/activity level and think about food the same. They may equally enjoy food and eat the same meals, but one could end up larger than the other.
Our guests at Thanksgiving often talk about my skinny mother's "high metabolism." I tell them they should follow her around for a day. She is VERY active.
I used to invite them all the time to spend a week with me and eat what I eat and do what I do and then tell me how lucky I am, but no one ever took me up on it. They would rather blame their metabolisms than take responsibility for how much they ate.
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5738_Cassiel wrote: »5738_Cassiel wrote: »I was "naturally thin" until I wasn't. People aren't magically one or the other.
How does this answer my question? I never said people are magically one or the other. My question was this:
Is there an actual difference between the way naturally thin people and overweight people think?
The implication is that there may or may not be an actual difference. The implication is also that people are of different sizes. I am simply asking if there is a comparison between 2 of the hundreds of variations of generalized body types/sizes.
There wasn't any change in my thinking, just in my lifestyle.
And how do you decide a "naturally thin" person? Someone who's thin at that moment? Someone who used to be overweight but isn't anymore? If someone is like me and stopped being "naturally" thin, does their data point get removed?
Okay, thank you for answering my question. To me, I would define naturally thin people by those who are able, like another person posted, to maintain a weight without a ton of conscious effort. As for you, do you feel like maintaining your current lifestyle (and subsequent body weight) is a lot of effort? If not, then I would say you're unconsciously (naturally) thin (:
I've been within my normal BMI range almost my whole life (I edged into "overweight" 3 times for very short periods of time.) And I've been in the low end of my normal BMI range most of my life.
Much of the time I have been able to maintain that without a lot of conscious effort because ...
-- I grew up in a family where we were served small, but adequate meals. They were fairly basic, but my mother tried to follow the Canadian Food Guide, so throughout the day we had vegetables, fruit, grains, meat, and dairy. If we had dessert, it was usually something like a very small bowl of pudding, or maybe a fruit salad, or something like that. When we came home from school, we had a small glass of milk and 1 cookie. To this day, having more than 1 cookie in a sitting seems really decadent to me.
So, having that way of eating ingrained in me from Day 1 means that's "normal" for me. It's normal for me to have small-ish meals and small snacks.
-- I grew up in a family where we did not eat at restaurants or take-away/fast food places ... unless we were on holidays. 47 weeks out of the year, we ate as described above, but during the 5 weeks of holidays we might go out to eat every other day or so.
Therefore, going out to eat isn't part of my "normal".
-- I grew up in a very active family. We were always walking, hiking, cycling and doing other activities.
So again, it's "normal" for me to exercise every day.
And thus, yes, I suppose I have been able to remain within my normal BMI range "unconsciously" because I'm just doing what I've always done ... what I grew up doing.
However, that said, I have been an avid cyclist for almost 30 years now, and have raced and participated in many long distance cycling events. Training for those (including both the nutritional training and the exercise part of the training) involves quite a bit of "conscious" effort. A by-product of all that training is that I remain within my normal BMI range ... "consciously" ... in a way. Although my goal is to be fit enough to do the events, and hopefully do them well, without any particular or specific focus on my weight.
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5738_Cassiel wrote: »5738_Cassiel wrote: »I was "naturally thin" until I wasn't. People aren't magically one or the other.
How does this answer my question? I never said people are magically one or the other. My question was this:
Is there an actual difference between the way naturally thin people and overweight people think?
The implication is that there may or may not be an actual difference. The implication is also that people are of different sizes. I am simply asking if there is a comparison between 2 of the hundreds of variations of generalized body types/sizes.
There wasn't any change in my thinking, just in my lifestyle.
And how do you decide a "naturally thin" person? Someone who's thin at that moment? Someone who used to be overweight but isn't anymore? If someone is like me and stopped being "naturally" thin, does their data point get removed?
Okay, thank you for answering my question. To me, I would define naturally thin people by those who are able, like another person posted, to maintain a weight without a ton of conscious effort. As for you, do you feel like maintaining your current lifestyle (and subsequent body weight) is a lot of effort? If not, then I would say you're unconsciously (naturally) thin (:
I've been within my normal BMI range almost my whole life (I edged into "overweight" 3 times for very short periods of time.) And I've been in the low end of my normal BMI range most of my life.
Much of the time I have been able to maintain that without a lot of conscious effort because ...
-- I grew up in a family where we were served small, but adequate meals. They were fairly basic, but my mother tried to follow the Canadian Food Guide, so throughout the day we had vegetables, fruit, grains, meat, and dairy. If we had dessert, it was usually something like a very small bowl of pudding, or maybe a fruit salad, or something like that. When we came home from school, we had a small glass of milk and 1 cookie. To this day, having more than 1 cookie in a sitting seems really decadent to me.
So, having that way of eating ingrained in me from Day 1 means that's "normal" for me. It's normal for me to have small-ish meals and small snacks.
-- I grew up in a family where we did not eat at restaurants or take-away/fast food places ... unless we were on holidays. 47 weeks out of the year, we ate as described above, but during the 5 weeks of holidays we might go out to eat every other day or so.
Therefore, going out to eat isn't part of my "normal".
-- I grew up in a very active family. We were always walking, hiking, cycling and doing other activities.
So again, it's "normal" for me to exercise every day.
And thus, yes, I suppose I have been able to remain within my normal BMI range "unconsciously" because I'm just doing what I've always done ... what I grew up doing.
However, that said, I have been an avid cyclist for almost 30 years now, and have raced and participated in many long distance cycling events. Training for those (including both the nutritional training and the exercise part of the training) involves quite a bit of "conscious" effort. A by-product of all that training is that I remain within my normal BMI range ... "consciously" ... in a way. Although my goal is to be fit enough to do the events, and hopefully do them well, without any particular or specific focus on my weight.
I think small portions make a difference but what about families where some are skinny, even underweight, and some are fat? That's how it is in my family. Same exact environment but I became almost obese at a young age and my sister's were low on the bmi scale or underweight. I hate how some people, not you, make it seem like people are more virtuous or better if they are thin. That isn't true. Fat people aren't really that different from thin people. They just tend to eat more and have bigger bodies. They can be normal, just like everyone else, in every other respect.8 -
WillingtoLose1001984 wrote: »5738_Cassiel wrote: »5738_Cassiel wrote: »I was "naturally thin" until I wasn't. People aren't magically one or the other.
How does this answer my question? I never said people are magically one or the other. My question was this:
Is there an actual difference between the way naturally thin people and overweight people think?
The implication is that there may or may not be an actual difference. The implication is also that people are of different sizes. I am simply asking if there is a comparison between 2 of the hundreds of variations of generalized body types/sizes.
There wasn't any change in my thinking, just in my lifestyle.
And how do you decide a "naturally thin" person? Someone who's thin at that moment? Someone who used to be overweight but isn't anymore? If someone is like me and stopped being "naturally" thin, does their data point get removed?
Okay, thank you for answering my question. To me, I would define naturally thin people by those who are able, like another person posted, to maintain a weight without a ton of conscious effort. As for you, do you feel like maintaining your current lifestyle (and subsequent body weight) is a lot of effort? If not, then I would say you're unconsciously (naturally) thin (:
I've been within my normal BMI range almost my whole life (I edged into "overweight" 3 times for very short periods of time.) And I've been in the low end of my normal BMI range most of my life.
Much of the time I have been able to maintain that without a lot of conscious effort because ...
-- I grew up in a family where we were served small, but adequate meals. They were fairly basic, but my mother tried to follow the Canadian Food Guide, so throughout the day we had vegetables, fruit, grains, meat, and dairy. If we had dessert, it was usually something like a very small bowl of pudding, or maybe a fruit salad, or something like that. When we came home from school, we had a small glass of milk and 1 cookie. To this day, having more than 1 cookie in a sitting seems really decadent to me.
So, having that way of eating ingrained in me from Day 1 means that's "normal" for me. It's normal for me to have small-ish meals and small snacks.
-- I grew up in a family where we did not eat at restaurants or take-away/fast food places ... unless we were on holidays. 47 weeks out of the year, we ate as described above, but during the 5 weeks of holidays we might go out to eat every other day or so.
Therefore, going out to eat isn't part of my "normal".
-- I grew up in a very active family. We were always walking, hiking, cycling and doing other activities.
So again, it's "normal" for me to exercise every day.
And thus, yes, I suppose I have been able to remain within my normal BMI range "unconsciously" because I'm just doing what I've always done ... what I grew up doing.
However, that said, I have been an avid cyclist for almost 30 years now, and have raced and participated in many long distance cycling events. Training for those (including both the nutritional training and the exercise part of the training) involves quite a bit of "conscious" effort. A by-product of all that training is that I remain within my normal BMI range ... "consciously" ... in a way. Although my goal is to be fit enough to do the events, and hopefully do them well, without any particular or specific focus on my weight.
I think small portions make a difference but what about families where some are skinny, even underweight, and some are fat? That's how it is in my family. Same exact environment but I became almost obese at a young age and my sister's were low on the bmi scale or underweight. I hate how some people, not you, make it seem like people are more virtuous or better if they are thin. That isn't true. Fat people aren't really that different from thin people. They just tend to eat more and have bigger bodies. They can be normal, just like everyone else, in every other respect.
My sister was born a year after me (same birthday) so our upbringing was about as similar as you get without being twins. If you look at pictures going back to infancy, she has chubby cheeks and limbs and I’m a string bean. We did absolutely everything together in those early years, very active, not much tv, and a fairly healthy, moderate diet, but I was always close to underweight and she was close to, and then over, the line into overweight.
At a certain point, maybe around 7 or 8, she became aware of the fact that she was “fat” and I think it just spiraled after that. Dad would make her go on a diet, she’d hate it and rebel by sneaking food, and she just got heavier. She always loved sports but when exercise didn’t help her lose weight, I think she decided that she’d always be overweight and just to lean into it. In the meantime, I hit puberty and went from borderline underweight to borderline overweight, but I never gained past there, even if I spent most of my time locked in my bedroom writing fan fiction (but not eating) while she played soccer (and kept bags of treats in her room). It’s not a mystery in hindsight, but it certainly was to us at the time.
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Search the video - The Truth About Slim People 2017 on youtube. It's a documentary that might answer this question.2
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I consider myself a naturally thin person, and am on the far low end of the healthy BMI range. I look at it as being "natural" in the sense that I have always been thin this since early childhood. Unlike a lot of other naturally thin people, however, I certainly do enjoy eating and think about food probably more often than I should. Even a coworker of mine (who is overweight) was surprised by how much I can eat. The thing is though, there is plenty of low calorie foods in my diet along with more caloric dense ones. And while I do have a desk job, outside of that I do meet the physical activity guidelines. I do also think I do a good bit of fidgeting too.
I will also add that while I don't mind being somewhat full, eating to the point of getting stuffed is not something I do on a regular basis.0 -
As part of my “lifestyle change” — an expression I despise— I made a point to observe those around me at a healthy weight. As others have said, the differences between them and me are how fast (or slow) they eat and how much (or little) is left on the plate.
I always woof down my food and clean my plate. Not an easy habit to break.
That's interesting. I'm one of those thin people. And I do eat slowly and savor my food. I'm almost always the last one finished. But I pretty much clean my plate - if I'm at a restaurant I might get a to-go box if it's too much. I hate wasting food. But I don't take a ton of food to start off and often end up having seconds of the yummiest things because I had room left after the first round.1 -
Why are so many "naturally thin" people on a calorie counting website? My thought was "naturally thin" means someone who has never had to diet or really think about food. They just naturally and without conscious effort maintain a slim figure. (I have never been overweight, but I am conscious of my intake. I count calories, always have thought about food a lot and could never forget to eat like they do, so I would never call myself naturally thin.)
I always find it so interesting how two children can grow up in the same house and yet one be underweight and the other overweight. It really shows there are other factors at play that predispose someone to overeat or under eat. The naturally thin one doesn't inherently burn more calories, but they have genetic differences that affect their behavior leading them to either eat less, exercise more, or be have better unconscious regulation over their CI vs CO expenditure.2 -
Iwantahealthierme30 wrote: »Search the video - The Truth About Slim People 2017 on youtube. It's a documentary that might answer this question.
That video was linked 2-3 pages earlier in this thread, for those interested. And i think whoever "woo"-ed your post might want to watch it before "woo"-ing. I think most around here would find the video generally factual.
Short summary: They pick 2 people whom others (colleagues, family) view as being "naturally thin", in the sense of this thread, follow them around to see what they eat and how much they move, have the video evidence evaluated by a dietician and academic expert on movement/exercise, test their gut microbiome, and more. It's a little "gee whiz" in spots, but generally interesting and level-headed.3 -
Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »Why are so many "naturally thin" people on a calorie counting website? My thought was "naturally thin" means someone who has never had to diet or really think about food. They just naturally and without conscious effort maintain a slim figure. (I have never been overweight, but I am conscious of my intake. I count calories, always have thought about food a lot and could never forget to eat like they do, so I would never call myself naturally thin.)
I always find it so interesting how two children can grow up in the same house and yet one be underweight and the other overweight. It really shows there are other factors at play that predispose someone to overeat or under eat. The naturally thin one doesn't inherently burn more calories, but they have genetic differences that affect their behavior leading them to either eat less, exercise more, or be have better unconscious regulation over their CI vs CO expenditure.
I never had to think about food and was always lean...I was also always pretty active in that I played sports growing up and later in my 20s I always had active jobs and didn't own a car so I walked and biked everywhere.
That changed when I hit 30 and took a desk job...my issue wasn't really food in as much as it was a lack of movement. I never dwelled on food...I just ate my breakfast, lunch, and dinner and sometimes a snack like I always did and still do.
Over 8 years sitting behind a desk I put on 40 Lbs...about 5 Lbs per year...a little less the .5 Lbs per month. I'm a bean counter (accountant), so this site appealed to me and seemed logical...and I was also becoming more interested in nutrition and was curious as to what my diet looked like overall.
I've been in maintenance going on 5 years in April and haven't counted calories or logged in that time. I'm here mostly for the entertainment and to help here and there where I can...
I think a lot of naturally lean people are naturally lean until they're not due to some life event. In my case it was a substantial decrease in activity.3 -
Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »Why are so many "naturally thin" people on a calorie counting website? My thought was "naturally thin" means someone who has never had to diet or really think about food. They just naturally and without conscious effort maintain a slim figure. (I have never been overweight, but I am conscious of my intake. I count calories, always have thought about food a lot and could never forget to eat like they do, so I would never call myself naturally thin.)
I always find it so interesting how two children can grow up in the same house and yet one be underweight and the other overweight. It really shows there are other factors at play that predispose someone to overeat or under eat. The naturally thin one doesn't inherently burn more calories, but they have genetic differences that affect their behavior leading them to either eat less, exercise more, or be have better unconscious regulation over their CI vs CO expenditure.
Maybe because some people don't want to be "skinny".... especially guys. There are people here who are trying to gain weight for one reason or another.
Personally, I use this app for bulking and cutting. Counting calories is extremely important for both.
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When I was younger I could have put away an entire large pizza away for dinner and not gain a lb. I wore small waist sizes, and didn't excercise at all. I was in college so I was active enough, walking to class or waiting tables, but the AMT of burgers and beers and pizza and whatnot I ate and drank was very highly caloric. That came to a stop years after when I was working, and now if I eat out a few nights I put on weight easily. So I've noticed a huge difference in how my own body reacts to food. I know my activity is less than it was, but even when I am super active like in the summer, my metabolism is nothing like it used to be.
So to those saying it's only calories in vs calories out and no difference in metabolism, my body disagrees.
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It is true that past the early 20s, anabolic hormones like HGH decline unless one maintains an active lifestyle. So lower HGH levels can partly explain that situation.jbrown2339 wrote: »When I was younger I could have put away an entire large pizza away for dinner and not gain a lb. I wore small waist sizes, and didn't excercise at all. I was in college so I was active enough, walking to class or waiting tables, but the AMT of burgers and beers and pizza and whatnot I ate and drank was very highly caloric. That came to a stop years after when I was working, and now if I eat out a few nights I put on weight easily. So I've noticed a huge difference in how my own body reacts to food. I know my activity is less than it was, but even when I am super active like in the summer, my metabolism is nothing like it used to be.
So to those saying it's only calories in vs calories out and no difference in metabolism, my body disagrees.
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jbrown2339 wrote: »When I was younger I could have put away an entire large pizza away for dinner and not gain a lb. I wore small waist sizes, and didn't excercise at all. I was in college so I was active enough, walking to class or waiting tables, but the AMT of burgers and beers and pizza and whatnot I ate and drank was very highly caloric. That came to a stop years after when I was working, and now if I eat out a few nights I put on weight easily. So I've noticed a huge difference in how my own body reacts to food. I know my activity is less than it was, but even when I am super active like in the summer, my metabolism is nothing like it used to be.
So to those saying it's only calories in vs calories out and no difference in metabolism, my body disagrees.
...but you have no data to back this up, so this is an opinion based upon no evidence and highly biased.
What was your BMR when you were younger?
What is your BMR today?
How many calories did you intake/daily when you were younger?
How many calories do you intake/daily today?
How many calories did you burn/daily when you were younger?
How many calories do you burn/daily today?
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I think that they are able to listen to their body ques better hungry eat full stop . My friend is this way she is very in tune to it. Unlike me whos body says full but my mind says eat more it tastes great.0
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jbrown2339 wrote: »When I was younger I could have put away an entire large pizza away for dinner and not gain a lb. I wore small waist sizes, and didn't excercise at all. I was in college so I was active enough, walking to class or waiting tables, but the AMT of burgers and beers and pizza and whatnot I ate and drank was very highly caloric. That came to a stop years after when I was working, and now if I eat out a few nights I put on weight easily. So I've noticed a huge difference in how my own body reacts to food. I know my activity is less than it was, but even when I am super active like in the summer, my metabolism is nothing like it used to be.
So to those saying it's only calories in vs calories out and no difference in metabolism, my body disagrees.
...but you have no data to back this up, so this is an opinion based upon no evidence and highly biased.
What was your BMR when you were younger?
What is your BMR today?
How many calories did you intake/daily when you were younger?
How many calories do you intake/daily today?
How many calories did you burn/daily when you were younger?
How many calories do you burn/daily today?
That was over twenty years ago and I didnt have my fitness pal back then, so I obviously can't answer that. But back then breakfast was an omelette with bacon, for lunch chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes or a Philly cheese steak, and often could scarf a dominos pizza by myself. I had a 30 inch waist and didn't work out at all. I also drank alot of margaritas and white russians. Not a healthy diet. I did of course walk around campus, but was hardly active. That kind of eating was through college, first job out of school which was a dsk job, grad school, and it wasn't till early thirties I started to put on lbs. Gained sixty pounds.
Now I aim for 1700 calories a day, and eat very healthy. When weather I is nice walk three miles a day with dogs and jog for 3 miles around the lake. If I ate like I used to, I woud be alot heavier for sure!!1 -
I think food is connected with a lot of psych defects4
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IMO it's all about
- whether you stop eating when you're not hungry, or keep eating anyway
- how active you are (that accounts for fidgeting)
- metabolism - sure, it's maybe 50-100 calories, which isn't much, but 100 extra calories is still 1 lb a month...
The only reason I'm not obese anymore is because I'm active, for example... those 400-500 extra calories a day go a LONG way (that's why I don't believe the 'losing weight is only about food' saying). I don't have the off switch when I'm full - if it's delicious, and something I don't eat often, I will have a VERY hard time putting down the fork.
I'm not really going to argue the 'naturally thin' part because for me, if it's second nature to eat less and move more, that's pretty 'natural'. I mean, my naturally thin friend loves cookies but I've seen him turn down dessert because he was too full, and he'll often skip lunch to eat cookies (which arguably I can't do either because hormones will make me hungrier the rest of the day, so I suppose you can add hormones to my list).1 -
Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »Why are so many "naturally thin" people on a calorie counting website? My thought was "naturally thin" means someone who has never had to diet or really think about food. They just naturally and without conscious effort maintain a slim figure. (I have never been overweight, but I am conscious of my intake. I count calories, always have thought about food a lot and could never forget to eat like they do, so I would never call myself naturally thin.)
I always find it so interesting how two children can grow up in the same house and yet one be underweight and the other overweight. It really shows there are other factors at play that predispose someone to overeat or under eat. The naturally thin one doesn't inherently burn more calories, but they have genetic differences that affect their behavior leading them to either eat less, exercise more, or be have better unconscious regulation over their CI vs CO expenditure.
I didn't come here necessarily to lose weight, but to change my body composition. Then I used it to track during my first bulk and cut. Just because someone is "thin" doesn't mean they can't use it to track macros, maintain, gain, get leaner etc. Or some people like to hang out and interact! Lots of fun on here 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoRh5-gCCrc&index=269&list=WL
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