Stupid question ouch
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In struggling to make sense of our own difficulties, we often "see" evidence that others are getting away with some violations of the laws of physics and want to shoehorn ourselves into an alternate reality where we are gaining weight because we're not eating enough, or it's our somatotype, or age to blame. In reality, for 99% of people who pass through here, I'd bet cash money that if they stopped focusing on how others are getting by and were honest and thorough in reviewing their own habits, they'd find the simplest answer to be true: that they are eating more and moving less than required to achieve weight loss. The power of the brain to preserve our sense of self is strong, and until we're able to get a handle on actual reality and be truthful with ourselves and admit those donuts we didn't log or that we let our fitness tracker tell us we burned 300 calories doing a 10 minute stretch, nobody can help because they'll be trying by reasoning with irrelevant and faulty data.
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The metabolism thing is indeed largely a myth. Sorry.
What happens is that the guy who eats ‘3 boxes of pizza’ is actually eating almost nothing the rest of the time, or is fidgeting and getting up constantly, or doing a whole load of cycling at weekends. The main reason that people gain weight as they age is that they aren’t as active.
Ok, you are the first person who posted metabolism thing is a myth. I am not sure exactly what is meant by that. People do burn fuel at different rates. How is that a myth?2 -
Hannahwalksfar wrote: »I have seen your other threads were you are constantly struggling with bulking. I have also seen that you are Asian. You’re very probably struggling against genetics here that want to keep you lean muscled rather than bulked. To liken it to horses (I’m a horse person) it’s like trying to make an Arab look like a Quarter Horse, no matter how hard you try genetics dictate that a good percentage of arabs will always be lithe and lean. So you may eventually have to accept that your body may never look like other bodies that work as hard or even less hard than you. My Asian friend is having a similar issue as you right now. This isn’t to say that it’s not possible but from what I’ve read it could be part of your problem.
And yes, your doctor with years of medical training is correct.
Do you have peer reviewed studies to back this up?
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/traits/athleticperformance
https://blog.helix.com/actn3-muscle-contraction-twg/
and a visual https://www.europuppy.com/blog/the-worlds-worst-genetic-mutation-in-a-dog/4 -
The metabolism thing is indeed largely a myth. Sorry.
What happens is that the guy who eats ‘3 boxes of pizza’ is actually eating almost nothing the rest of the time, or is fidgeting and getting up constantly, or doing a whole load of cycling at weekends. The main reason that people gain weight as they age is that they aren’t as active.
Ok, you are the first person who posted metabolism thing is a myth. I am not sure exactly what is meant by that. People do burn fuel at different rates. How is that a myth?
I second this0 -
The metabolism thing is indeed largely a myth. Sorry.
What happens is that the guy who eats ‘3 boxes of pizza’ is actually eating almost nothing the rest of the time, or is fidgeting and getting up constantly, or doing a whole load of cycling at weekends. The main reason that people gain weight as they age is that they aren’t as active.
Ok, you are the first person who posted metabolism thing is a myth. I am not sure exactly what is meant by that. People do burn fuel at different rates. How is that a myth?
Reference to myth is that's it all about metabolism and only metabolism. Metabolism being the basic metabolic functions, not the all day burn some people mistakenly think of it as.
The variances for BMR for equal gender, height, and weight, and not being currently in a diet or some medical issue - are vastly within the 5% of predicted. Bell curve is not a huge spread.
Shoot, even those with missing thyroids are close to or within that range (sadly they are massively tired all day, not metabolism issue, daily burn issue).
So a 5% difference potential doesn't explain away the stated idea "they can eat anything all day long and not gain weight therefore their metabolism must be special".10 -
The metabolism thing is indeed largely a myth. Sorry.
What happens is that the guy who eats ‘3 boxes of pizza’ is actually eating almost nothing the rest of the time, or is fidgeting and getting up constantly, or doing a whole load of cycling at weekends. The main reason that people gain weight as they age is that they aren’t as active.
Ok, you are the first person who posted metabolism thing is a myth. I am not sure exactly what is meant by that. People do burn fuel at different rates. How is that a myth?
BMR is really where you would see what most people think of as the difference in metabolism. But where most people's numbers diverge from the "norm" is in NEAT and TDEE, or in other words in activity level and exercise exertion. Add to that people who don't log but assume they eat either a lot or little, and other people seeing a snapshot of a person's day and thinking they can determine from that how much they eat, and it's far more likely that people who seem to have a high metabolism are really just eating less than you think and moving more than you think.
Most of the articles out there about how to increase your metabolism are false advertising. They basically come down to ways to get more energy, thereby moving more, thereby increasing your TDEE. It has nothing to do with some inherent need for more or less calories to do the same things.
Most people we think of as having a "higher metabolism" are just more active during the course of their day.
I used to assume I had a slow metabolism - I was fairly active and eating @ 1400 cals per day and maintaining! Then I got a Fitbit and discovered I was barely getting 4000 steps per day. Then I got a food scale and started choosing database entries more carefully and discovered I was really eating 1700-1800 cals per day. I didn't have a slow metabolism, I was inactive and eating too much. Now people credit my "fast metabolism", but it's really that I'm getting 8000-10,000 steps per day and fitting treat foods in my calories. They just see me nibbling treats all the time and working a desk job.
I'm sure there are small differences in BMR between people who have the exact same stats, but my understanding is that the range is simply not as wide as people would like to believe. BMR can be tested in a lab, and people's BMR's are generally what the calculators say they would be when they are tested.9 -
If you don't feel you can trust this doctor, get a new one. A bunch of online forum strangers who don't know you, haven't examined you, and have no medical training cannot possibly pass judgment on whether your doctor's advice is "bogus".5
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Hannahwalksfar wrote: »I have seen your other threads were you are constantly struggling with bulking. I have also seen that you are Asian. You’re very probably struggling against genetics here that want to keep you lean muscled rather than bulked. To liken it to horses (I’m a horse person) it’s like trying to make an Arab look like a Quarter Horse, no matter how hard you try genetics dictate that a good percentage of arabs will aways be lithe and lean. So you may eventually have to accept that your body may never look like other bodies that work as hard or even less hard than you. My Asian friend is having a similar issue as you right now. This isn’t to say that it’s not possible but from what I’ve read it could be part of your problem.
And yes, your doctor with years of medical training is correct.
Do you have peer reviewed studies to back this up?
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/traits/athleticperformance
https://blog.helix.com/actn3-muscle-contraction-twg/
and a visual https://www.europuppy.com/blog/the-worlds-worst-genetic-mutation-in-a-dog/
None of those address the idea that Asian people will have trouble "bulking" and only one of those is peer reviewed. I suppose I'll be more clear than the bolding of the quote. Do you have any peer reviewed articles that backup your statement that because the OP is Asian, their genetics "want to keep [them] lean muscled rather than bulked."?3 -
Hannahwalksfar wrote: »I have seen your other threads were you are constantly struggling with bulking. I have also seen that you are Asian. You’re very probably struggling against genetics here that want to keep you lean muscled rather than bulked. To liken it to horses (I’m a horse person) it’s like trying to make an Arab look like a Quarter Horse, no matter how hard you try genetics dictate that a good percentage of arabs will aways be lithe and lean. So you may eventually have to accept that your body may never look like other bodies that work as hard or even less hard than you. My Asian friend is having a similar issue as you right now. This isn’t to say that it’s not possible but from what I’ve read it could be part of your problem.
And yes, your doctor with years of medical training is correct.
Do you have peer reviewed studies to back this up?
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/traits/athleticperformance
https://blog.helix.com/actn3-muscle-contraction-twg/
and a visual https://www.europuppy.com/blog/the-worlds-worst-genetic-mutation-in-a-dog/
None of those address the idea that Asian people will have trouble "bulking" and only one of those is peer reviewed. I suppose I'll be more clear than the bolding of the quote. Do you have any peer reviewed articles that backup your statement that because the OP is Asian, their genetics "want to keep [them] lean muscled rather than bulked."?
No I don’t, hence me not claiming it as fact but rather a possibility. Anecdotal evidence is all I have.6 -
Hannahwalksfar wrote: »Hannahwalksfar wrote: »I have seen your other threads were you are constantly struggling with bulking. I have also seen that you are Asian. You’re very probably struggling against genetics here that want to keep you lean muscled rather than bulked. To liken it to horses (I’m a horse person) it’s like trying to make an Arab look like a Quarter Horse, no matter how hard you try genetics dictate that a good percentage of arabs will aways be lithe and lean. So you may eventually have to accept that your body may never look like other bodies that work as hard or even less hard than you. My Asian friend is having a similar issue as you right now. This isn’t to say that it’s not possible but from what I’ve read it could be part of your problem.
And yes, your doctor with years of medical training is correct.
Do you have peer reviewed studies to back this up?
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/traits/athleticperformance
https://blog.helix.com/actn3-muscle-contraction-twg/
and a visual https://www.europuppy.com/blog/the-worlds-worst-genetic-mutation-in-a-dog/
None of those address the idea that Asian people will have trouble "bulking" and only one of those is peer reviewed. I suppose I'll be more clear than the bolding of the quote. Do you have any peer reviewed articles that backup your statement that because the OP is Asian, their genetics "want to keep [them] lean muscled rather than bulked."?
No I don’t, hence me not claiming it as fact but rather a possibility. Anecdotal evidence is all I have.
Ok. I asked because the idea that you posed was really charged. I'm assuming (hoping) you didn't realize that.4 -
Hannahwalksfar wrote: »Hannahwalksfar wrote: »I have seen your other threads were you are constantly struggling with bulking. I have also seen that you are Asian. You’re very probably struggling against genetics here that want to keep you lean muscled rather than bulked. To liken it to horses (I’m a horse person) it’s like trying to make an Arab look like a Quarter Horse, no matter how hard you try genetics dictate that a good percentage of arabs will aways be lithe and lean. So you may eventually have to accept that your body may never look like other bodies that work as hard or even less hard than you. My Asian friend is having a similar issue as you right now. This isn’t to say that it’s not possible but from what I’ve read it could be part of your problem.
And yes, your doctor with years of medical training is correct.
Do you have peer reviewed studies to back this up?
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/traits/athleticperformance
https://blog.helix.com/actn3-muscle-contraction-twg/
and a visual https://www.europuppy.com/blog/the-worlds-worst-genetic-mutation-in-a-dog/
None of those address the idea that Asian people will have trouble "bulking" and only one of those is peer reviewed. I suppose I'll be more clear than the bolding of the quote. Do you have any peer reviewed articles that backup your statement that because the OP is Asian, their genetics "want to keep [them] lean muscled rather than bulked."?
No I don’t, hence me not claiming it as fact but rather a possibility. Anecdotal evidence is all I have.
Ok. I asked because the idea that you posed was really charged. I'm assuming (hoping) you didn't realize that.
Oh crap! Sorry I didn’t even consider that. Apologies.3 -
The metabolism thing is indeed largely a myth. Sorry.
What happens is that the guy who eats ‘3 boxes of pizza’ is actually eating almost nothing the rest of the time, or is fidgeting and getting up constantly, or doing a whole load of cycling at weekends. The main reason that people gain weight as they age is that they aren’t as active.
Ok, you are the first person who posted metabolism thing is a myth. I am not sure exactly what is meant by that. People do burn fuel at different rates. How is that a myth?
Others (especially Heybales and Kimny) have talked about this in practical & common sense terms.
Here is a reference, from a site that's quite science-based and generally regarded as neutral (not an advocacy blog), that includes footnotes with cites to specific relevant research:
https://examine.com/nutrition/does-metabolism-vary-between-two-people/
Let's underscore this, the most common misunderstanding that leads to some of these disputes: We need to clearly distinguish "basal metabolic rate" (or "resting metabolic rate", which is similar but not identical) from all-source calorie burn (which is TDEE, total daily energy expenditure), and from other subdivisions of TDEE (such as NEAT, non-exercise activity thermogenesis, which is TDEE excluding intentional exercise). People tend to use the term "metabolism" very loosely.
RMR/BMR have a narrow standard deviation. The activity components of calorie burn can vary hugely between individuals, and are very subject to intentional manipulation by the individual (absent medical conditions like - at the extreme - paralysis).
When people blame their "metabolism" for their weight, what they usually seem to mean is that they're the victim of factors outside their control. This is very, very unlikely, and especially unlikely in the absent of major medical conditions.
OP, somatotypes (like "endomorph") have been pretty thoroughly debunked. Individuals can differ in various ways, but these patterns are irrelevant. (I used to be an "endomorph", then I lost weight and became a "mesomorph". .) It is still sometimes used as a descriptive taxonomy for individuals' current physique, which is different from using it as a diagnostic/prescriptor about what someone can become, and how. Discussion and links here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatotype_and_constitutional_psychology
Also, OP, the Reddit thread you linked seems incoherent, to me. If you get stronger, X amount of weight that used to feel heavy will begin to feel less heavy, and eventually perhaps even light. The very strongest people of all tend to be larger people (not necessarily fatter), because their bigger bodies have inherently bigger muscles, and longer levers (bone structure), but that tells us very little about whether we as individuals can lift more at 160 pounds vs. 150 pounds.
If I go from 150 pounds to 160 pounds by adding 10 pounds of muscle (which would take a long time and a lot of work!), then I'd probably be able to lift more. If I go from 150 pounds to 160 pounds by adding 10 pounds of fat, it's very unlikely to improve my ability to lift.
If your lifts have stalled or declined, it's probable that your program is not well-designed, your nutrition is suboptimal (protein is particularly important, but it's not the only nutrient that's important), your calorie deficit is too extreme (you're not eating enough calories), or something of that nature. It could be mental, but it's more likely to be physical.
When I lost about 1/3 of my bodyweight, I got weaker for a bit because I was unintentionally eating too little (MFP underestimates my calorie needs). I corrected that as soon as I realized there was a problem, and in an overall sense my strength at my goal weight was not appreciably different from my strength at my obese weight. (Unlike some, I was not doing anything structured to increase my strength during weight loss; I was only trying to maintain it.)
Edited: Hit "post" too soon by accident!7 -
metabolism is real, for example lizzie velasquez that has to eat 8k calories to stay alive, daily. Its rare genetic condition but shows that you can vary in terms of metabolism. ya ya one exception does not prove anything for common people but hint a lot.8
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kimondo666 wrote: »metabolism is real, for example lizzie velasquez that has to eat 8k calories to stay alive, daily. Its rare genetic condition but proves that you can vary in terms of metabolism.
One exception to a rule does not dictate a norm for a population, though. This is like saying a skydiver died because his chute failed to open therefore all parachutes are unsafe and will lead to death.5 -
i have an uncle who is like that, no matter what he normally eat he does not get much fat. He is thin. But he is slight active so this add to his burn. ofc he could get fat if he wanted but that would require not normal eating 4k calorie diet daily would get him there cause of biology, but above average eating does not phase him. I would shot, that active high calorie metabolism are near 3k burn daily, thats why you does people bragging about how much can they eat daily. Then next day the eat below calorie maintenance so this even out.8
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marfanoid–progeroid–lipodystrophy_syndrome
In 2016, it was discovered that the partial lipodystrophy associated with MPL is caused by loss of the C-terminal domain cleavage product of profibrillin and novel glucogenic protein hormone, which has been named asprosin.[6][8] Due to asprosin deficiency, individuals with MPL eat less, and do not gain weight or develop symptoms of diabetes like insulin resistance.[8][3][9] MPL patients burn less energy than normal individuals, but also consume less, and their net energy balance is moderately reduced.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4989216/2 -
Thank you for all the input. However I am still a bit lacking on the question#2. So do the heavier weights feel lighter the heavier you get?0
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Thank you for all the input. However I am still a bit lacking on the question#2. So do the heavier weights feel lighter the heavier you get?
No. The heavy weights feel lighter the stronger you get.
It may be a bit easier to get stronger when getting heavier (bulking) if you're doing everything else right (proper progressive weight training, good nutrition, etc.), but that's about it. Your body weight, taken alone, has nothing to do with how heavy or light weights feel. Your strength has everything to do with how heavy or light weights feel.
I didn't gain weight, I lost weight. Things didn't feel any heavier to me after I weighed less. They felt the same. I could lift the same things at the same perceived difficulty. If I regained weight under the same circumstances, they'd continue to feel the same.
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