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It can’t all be calories in/out
JayZ1488
Posts: 258 Member
How do some people stay skinny?
Is it really genetics or a metabolism?
My Roomate eats junk food all day everyday yet he can’t seem to gain a pound
I’m good with my diet but I do go up and down and watch what calories I consume.
I get the calories in vs out but how is it someone can eat junk/ pizza take out soda chips candy daily and still be a string bean
Is it really genetics or a metabolism?
My Roomate eats junk food all day everyday yet he can’t seem to gain a pound
I’m good with my diet but I do go up and down and watch what calories I consume.
I get the calories in vs out but how is it someone can eat junk/ pizza take out soda chips candy daily and still be a string bean
34
Replies
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You can eat anything regularly and be thin as long as you aren't consuming more calories than your body is using.
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Calories truly are what matter for weight loss, or maintaining or gaining, for that matter. A person can, hypothetically, eat nothing but “junk food” and not gain weight, which means that they’re not eating more calories than their body is able to burn. 2500 calories of potato chips and 2500 calories of vegetables are the same from an energy point of view. Nutrition is another story.20
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^^This is true. Genetics and metabolism can vary, but not that much from human to human. What does vary are size and activity. Even having nervous habits like being jittery can, over the course of a day, add a lot to calories out. It's a good bet your roommate's scale weight goes up and down, too; it's just not noticeable to you.14
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...but how liberating is it to know that it IS just calories in and calories out? That means you can be like your roommate, eat the pizza and also be skinny.
I am not promoting for you to just eat junk food by the way but there’s no reason why you can’t enjoy food and also lose/maintain weight.38 -
Yes of course genetics play a massive roll. But these people tend to fidget, walk a lot, not snack all day, not eat way past being full etc. They are still not eating past their calorie needs. no one said this is fair and comparing yourself to anyone is a mistake.
And.. you may find he can’t put on muscle without really stuffing himself full and maybe you could .18 -
How do some people stay skinny?
Is it really genetics or a metabolism?
My Roomate eats junk food all day everyday yet he can’t seem to gain a pound
I’m good with my diet but I do go up and down and watch what calories I consume.
I get the calories in vs out but how is it someone can eat junk/ pizza take out soda chips candy daily and still be a string bean
By having a calorie intake that maintains that weight (whatever weight 'string bean' is).
For weight loss, gain and maintenance it doesn't matter what kinds of foods you eat, what matters is calorie balance.
OP, you may find this thread insightful-
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10348650/cico-still-skeptical-come-inside-for-a-meticulous-log-that-proves-it/p114 -
Are you with your roommate 24/7?
What are their stats - height, weight, age?
Do you weigh and log the foods they eat in addition to your own?
Do you monitor your roommates calorie burn with an activity tracker - considering not only any exercise they do but calorie burn from NEAT?
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OP, you may find this thread insightful-
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10348650/cico-still-skeptical-come-inside-for-a-meticulous-log-that-proves-it/p1
Thank you for sharing this link! I had it in my mind when I responded, but it’s tricky to share links from the app.3 -
ofc above link is CICO for healthy people, hyperthyroidism, or hypothyroidism affect gains - lose weight situation too.22
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kimondo666 wrote: »ofc above link is CICO for healthy people, hyperthyroidism, or hypothyroidism affect gains - lose weight situation too.
By about 5%.17 -
My husband is one of those people who can seemingly eat whatever he wants and not gain weight. But he’s on his feet all day at work, he’s a fidgeter - he’s always moving, he tends to forget to eat at work so comes home and hasn’t eaten all day, he stops eating when he’s full, he doesn’t eat out of boredom. And his weight does shift - it’s just not noticeable on his frame. He gained 10 lbs over the holidays and he just distributes his weight very evenly so he didn’t even go up a pant size. And of course when he goes back to his normal routine he loses it.21
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I was once upon a time a string bean and ate a lot...mostly junk. I also worked a retail job that had me on my feet for most of my work time...in the summers I worked landscape construction...I didn't own a car for much of my college years and walked or biked everywhere, including to classes. Even when I had a car, it was usually more convenient to walk or bike to class and not have to find and pay for parking. I've also always been a fidgety person and I have difficulty just sitting still.
TLDR...I moved quite a bit even though I rarely engaged in deliberate exercise.18 -
estherdragonbat wrote: »kimondo666 wrote: »ofc above link is CICO for healthy people, hyperthyroidism, or hypothyroidism affect gains - lose weight situation too.
By about 5%.
And OP made no mention of any sort of conditions that he or his roommate have that suggest this consideration needs to apply.11 -
When I was in high school, I was right on the border between average and underweight for my height. At the time, I thought I ate sooo badly and was lazy, but if I look back, I wasn't at all. I went to the gym a few days a week, I was in dance, I worked a part time job, I went out with friends more often than I stayed at home, and I can only imagine how many meals I skipped because I was busy. Everything I ate was fast food, yet I didn't gain a pound until after high school when I was suddenly not active at all.
This is the typical scenario I would imagine. People who still eat within their maintenance calories, but don't realize it because they don't track calories or activity.
*I don't deny at all that genetics play a role in certain people. But I definitely, 110% believe in CICO.
15 -
Same answer as above. I only see my husband eat dinner/dessert and donuts on the weekend (dinner is generally decent enough nutritionally but high calorie). I don’t see how he’s walking and on his feet for 12 hrs a day and getting through the day on coffee and a breakfast bar. So the “no fair you eat bacon and steak and donuts and are still 150lbs at 6’ “ voice needs to be quiet and remember he doesn’t eat a lot during the day and will only eat the serving size of tortilla chips or Oreos without thinking about it, whereas I’ll easily eat 2-3x that if I don’t make an effort to keep a handle on things. He also will eat nothing of the food on offer isn’t what he really wants or if he’s not actually ravenous, but I’ll eat anything bc it’s there and maybe I’m a little snacky.19
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estherdragonbat wrote: »kimondo666 wrote: »ofc above link is CICO for healthy people, hyperthyroidism, or hypothyroidism affect gains - lose weight situation too.
By about 5%.
And *only* if the thyroid condition isn't treated adequately.9 -
I was once one of those people who believed that I was so cursed that if I looked at a candy bar the weight would jump on me. Ok... a slight exaggeration but not by much.
I had "proof" though. I would diet and diet, exercise and exercise, and struggle to lose any weight. I would enjoy a night of pizza and shoot up 2 pounds.
My "proof" was scale fluctuations that I didn't understand.
I had other proof though. I would see people eating and eating and never gaining weight. They ate everything I wanted to eat. I was sure they were "blessed" enough to eat their way through WW's Chocolate Factory and never gain a pound.
Most of the "blessed" have gotten older and stopped moving as much and now struggle with weight of their own. You can't judge what works for someone else with a snapshot of their life especially when looking at it through a lens influenced by the annoyance of your own situation. They don't eat as much as you think and they certainly move more.16 -
kimondo666 wrote: »ofc above link is CICO for healthy people, hyperthyroidism, or hypothyroidism affect gains - lose weight situation too.
They affect the CO portion of the equation but that does not negate the equation itself.15 -
If someone only saw how I ate on the weekends in a deficit they would assume it's up to genetics or high metabolism. I will eat pancakes, waffles, three bowls of pasta, pizza, dessert, a fair share of wine.. sometimes wings and ribs.
While I do have a higher than average calorie goal (I am always moving) I don't eat how I do on the weekend during the day when no one is around. Snack is usually a protein shake, lunch is a chicken salad etc.13 -
If someone only saw how I ate on the weekends in a deficit they would assume it's up to genetics or high metabolism. I will eat pancakes, waffles, three bowls of pasta, pizza, dessert, a fair share of wine.. sometimes wings and ribs.
While I do have a higher than average calorie goal (I am always moving) I don't eat how I do on the weekend during the day when no one is around. Snack is usually a protein shake, lunch is a chicken salad etc.
Yup. Some of my colleagues think I eat all of the time -- I've gotten some work teasing about my snacks.
What they *don't* see is that my eating habits are like those of a toddler: frequent small amounts of food. They may see me grabbing a mini candy bar at work, or a snack-sized bag of Fritos, but they *don't* see the fact that I've got a whopping 200 calories at breakfast, a small dinner, and that I'm working out 7 days a week.12 -
It is calories in and out but also insulin resistance. Many people who consume a lot of sugars become insulin resistant so their body stores excess sugars as fat because the break down in their metabolism. While others who have a good response to insulin in their metabolism can get away with with processed sugar and foods. Eventually people who get away with the junk food end up having it catch up to them when they get older.84
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Calories in is a measure of energy intake. Calories out is a measure of energy expended. When they are equal, your fat stores remain virtually constant. When intake>expended, fat stores increase. When intake<expended, fat stores decrease.
Energy In = Energy Out + Energy Stored (Energy stored can be negative, positive or zero). You cannot create energy. You can add it in the form of food and burn or store it. There are no other options.
This is a law that you cannot break. Genetics, various conditions and all of that plus your movement/metabolism all affect the expended side of the equation. If you were to have 2 people virtually identical in age/height/weight/gender/fitness, and caloric intake, same macros, etc., chances are you would have two different burn rates, even if they did everything the same. (But in reality, they really aren't doing everything the same because there are complexities in your body process that may vary).
But, no matter what, it absolutely all the time every time is about energy balance. It's always calories in v. calories out. It's just not easy to discern the differences on the calories out side. That's why you start out with a calories in estimate and adjust over time to find out what your own metabolism looks like.11 -
azzeazsaleh5429 wrote: »Eventually people who get away with the junk food end up having it catch up to them when they get older.
What does this mean?15 -
There are other things besides thyroid output that affect metabolism. Brown fat, mitochondria, bone and muscle mass. But the question is how much do these things affect metabolism, and are there "naturally thin" people. There is no evidence that I have found that these things have such a huge effect that they hinder weight loss or weight gain. As already stated, you can have no thyroid output whatsoever, and at most this affects metabolism by only 5%. This was an eye opener for me. I am hypo and in the past "blamed my glands" for my weight problem. My Dr. told yes it could be, if my glands weighed a hundred pounds.13
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collectingblues wrote: »estherdragonbat wrote: »kimondo666 wrote: »ofc above link is CICO for healthy people, hyperthyroidism, or hypothyroidism affect gains - lose weight situation too.
By about 5%.
And *only* if the thyroid condition isn't treated adequately.
So having treated hypothyroidism wont affect weight loss any different than any one else?3 -
Some cars are more efficient than others, but they all only run as long as they have fuel. Gasoline in = miles down the road. The human body is a heat engine as well. CI=CO. Some bodies may be a bit more efficient, but not enough to matter within the context of this discussion.13
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collectingblues wrote: »If someone only saw how I ate on the weekends in a deficit they would assume it's up to genetics or high metabolism. I will eat pancakes, waffles, three bowls of pasta, pizza, dessert, a fair share of wine.. sometimes wings and ribs.
While I do have a higher than average calorie goal (I am always moving) I don't eat how I do on the weekend during the day when no one is around. Snack is usually a protein shake, lunch is a chicken salad etc.
Yup. Some of my colleagues think I eat all of the time -- I've gotten some work teasing about my snacks.
What they *don't* see is that my eating habits are like those of a toddler: frequent small amounts of food. They may see me grabbing a mini candy bar at work, or a snack-sized bag of Fritos, but they *don't* see the fact that I've got a whopping 200 calories at breakfast, a small dinner, and that I'm working out 7 days a week.
Me too. I bring breakfast and lunch to work, but eat them in small increments throughout the day. People walk into my office and often marvel that I'm eating again. They don't know how I can eat so much and not get fat. Well, I'm eating my maintenance of 1700 cals. I also take a walk on my lunch break every day (by myself), take the stairs rather than the elevator (never see anyone else on the stairs), and am constantly up and down and walking around rather than doing everything by phone/email.
Heck, most of us were wrong about what we ourselves were eating before we started logging, it's easy to get the wrong impression of how someone else eats and burns calories!
And I eat a pretty even mix of stereotypically "healthy" whole foods and convenience foods like pizza, treats, fast food, etc. Lost weight as expected based on my calories and maintaining for a couple of years doing the same.10 -
Comparison is the thief of joy...
I often have to remind my husband that I cannot eat as much as he does or I will gain weight at an alarming rate. He's a big dude - 5'11" and 250lbs of mostly muscle, not a lot of body fat. At that, he works an active job, so can easily maintain around 3000 calories a day. If he wants to lose weight, he just drops down to 2500... which is STILL more than I can eat and even maintain on. He often thinks that I am starving myself just because I eat so much less than he does. I'm obese, if I was starving myself, I would not be!7 -
briittanyxxoo wrote: »collectingblues wrote: »estherdragonbat wrote: »kimondo666 wrote: »ofc above link is CICO for healthy people, hyperthyroidism, or hypothyroidism affect gains - lose weight situation too.
By about 5%.
And *only* if the thyroid condition isn't treated adequately.
So having treated hypothyroidism wont affect weight loss any different than any one else?
Correct. As long as you are adequately treated, it's exactly the same as anyone else.
I've been hypo/have Hashimoto's for 32 years, and as long as my meds are in line, my weight loss is *exactly* what my deficit predicts it should be.14 -
briittanyxxoo wrote: »
So having treated hypothyroidism wont affect weight loss any different than any one else?
That's correct. I don't have a thyroid, but I lost weight at the expected rate and with no greater effort than a normal person.10
This discussion has been closed.
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