20 Habits Skinny People Live By....

Nice list! Thanks for sharing

Thanks for this. I feel pretty good now 'cos I must do at least 3/4 of those now. :glasses:

Some of these are good advice, and some I'm not sold on. Rewarding yourself by eating a 200-calorie dessert every day? Dessert is OK but "eat dessert every day to lose weight"?

And eating a boring diet? Nooo thank you.

Some of these are good advice, and some I'm not sold on. Rewarding yourself by eating a 200-calorie dessert every day? Dessert is OK but "eat dessert every day to lose weight"?

And eating a boring diet? Nooo thank you.

With you on that one!!!!

This kind of collective advice troubles me in general.

They picked 20 habits from a group of people, and the end result is we do not actually see a coordinated strategy to maintaining health, instead we see which habits are shared among them. It is the kind of article that causes false impressions of what strategies work, and creates dogma which is the triumph over belief over fact.

For example: I highly doubt anyone that eats a boring diet, also eats desert every day. Why do one AND the other? Reading the rationale gives you conflicting goals.

Nothing is provided in the context of one overall successful strategy. Its just a bunch of pointers from numerous differing strategies differing skinny people have used. It is a talking point article of no real value when defining an overall approach.

Editor at Men's Health: I have 20 high priced ads to place

Web Site Manager: Give me a list of 20 items and we can put one each on an ad laden page

Editor throws 20 surveys of skinny people at web site manager: There you go.

I think that's bunk about eating early and eating boring food. Personally, I don't ever walk after dinner, but I'm sure that's good for you.

I wouldn't call myself skinny, but slim, and I've been about the same size my whole adult life.

I don't know how a sense of humor applies to a person's size, though.

I still think it's bunk about eating late. I think that is because people who eat late TEND to be eating junk food, like eating a bag of chips while watching TV. I don't think there's anything wrong with eating a healthy late dinner or snack.

Boring works for me. I have a fairly small list of foods that are my diet staples. Makes it easy to track and yeah I don't binge on them.

I also don't like the idea of rewarding myself with food. That's a slippery slope. I'd rather reward myself with a new pair of jeans or something. I do generally have some sort of treat that I can budget in, but I don't really think of it as a reward.

This kind of collective advice troubles me in general.

They picked 20 habits from a group of people, and the end result is we do not actually see a coordinated strategy to maintaining health, instead we see which habits are shared among them. It is the kind of article that causes false impressions of what strategies work, and creates dogma which is the triumph over belief over fact.

For example: I highly doubt anyone that eats a boring diet, also eats desert every day. Why do one AND the other? Reading the rationale gives you conflicting goals.

Nothing is provided in the context of one overall successful strategy. Its just a bunch of pointers from numerous differing strategies differing skinny people have used. It is a talking point article of no real value when defining an overall approach.

Editor at Men's Health: I have 20 high priced ads to place

Web Site Manager: Give me a list of 20 items and we can put one each on an ad laden page

Editor throws 20 surveys of skinny people at web site manager: There you go.

^ what Karg said.

Healthy (ew on the use of "skinny") people tend to do these things. Doesn't mean they are healthy BECAUSE they do these things, or that you can't be healthy unless you do these things. "Correlation does not equal causation".

I'll do one more:

Stepping on the scale can be disheartening when you haven't lost any weight and you want to, particularly after an indulgent weekend (“I gained five pounds since Friday?! I can't think why!? ”). But it's best to face your fears, because as it turns out, weighing yourself regularly on the same day and and at the time once per week, can actually help you stay slim. Scientists at the University of Minnesota discovered that people who had eating disorders who got on the scale every day lost twice as much weight as those without eating disorders who weighed themselves less often. The assumption: Monitoring your weight keeps your mind on your health and prevents weight denial but monitoring your weight too often can lead to obsessive behaviours forming around foods.

Wow really. :huh:

It works for some and others it may not.

This controversial one works for me:
Weighing myself daily keeps me honest about my weight but also prevents me from freaking out about my weight. Yes, you read that right- I get less anxious if I weigh myself daily and record it. Why? Because if I weigh myself daily I will get a feel for my fluctuation patterns and why. I don't freak out if I'm 3lbs up from the last weigh-in because I know my weight will probably go back down by the next morning. I will only freak out if I stay that way for more than a few days and by freak out I mean I will make changes.

I agree, weighing often seems to work for me, I do know my weight fluctuates based on all kinds of factors - because I see it do so! It helps me stay conscious of my weight goals to "keep an eye on things".
Edit: BTW I don't even count calories, so please don't think just because one person prefers one way over another suddenly makes them obsessive and/or eating disordered: <- Comment directed towards 10fairywings

I could only get half-way through the list. "Things Skinny People Do!" Oh please.... lol, sounds absurd to me. How about "20 helpful tips to living a healthier life" But maybe everyone's goal is just to be skinny, and be like everyone else? Hmm.

Weighing yourself everyday is a complete waste of time, and is obsessive whether you can admit that or not, it is exactly the same process as eating chocolate everyday and having to an obsessive urge to do something of no benefit you do not need to do. Weight fluctuations happen to every human being on the planet daily, when you are monitoring your weight for weight loss or maintenance these fluctuations will balance out over the course of the week, the main one being morning to evening, everyone can put on up to half a stone in a day if they have a splurge, it make no odds if you don't then for the rest of the week, which is why you weigh yourself once per week on the same morning at roughly the same time naked to get a true reading of your weight. Some, like yourselves may do reasonably well doing this and not develop further problems, but you are in the minority and I feel it is totally wrong to advocate this in any way.

Weighing yourself everyday is a complete waste of time, and is obsessive whether you can admit that or not, it is exactly the same process as eating chocolate everyday and having to an obsessive urge to do something of no benefit you do not need to do.

Uh oh. I have an obsessive urge to weigh myself AND eat chocolate every day. Hmmmm.

Me too! haha
Didn't read the whole list but #1 is complete bogus. I eat most of my calories after 8 PM and I'm in better shape than most. Another idiot thinking that you can draw meaningful conclusions from correlational studies.

Out of the 20 habits mentioned, I think the only one I agree or actually notice via casual observation is the one where skinny people chew their food thoroughly. I have a few skinny friends and I always notice how their the last ones to finish their meals. They seem to actually struggle to get all the food down and almost never clean their plates.

Plus, I'm not so sure the thorough chewing is a habit. It seems to be more like they are unable to consume their food quickly. My girlfriend is an extremely slow eater. I'm usually finishing up my entire dinner while my girlfriend is chatting away....hardly even nibbling her food. She's usually full after just a few bites...

Weighing yourself everyday is a complete waste of time, and is obsessive whether you can admit that or not, it is exactly the same process as eating chocolate everyday and having to an obsessive urge to do something of no benefit you do not need to do.

Uh oh. I have an obsessive urge to weigh myself AND eat chocolate every day. Hmmmm.

Me too I obsessively go to the gym, and I obsessively eat a certain way, to a certain extent you need to be obsessive in areas to achieve what you want. I am also obsessive about my career. But I am prepared to admit it as you have lol! To say I do this that and the other religiously and I feel bad if I don't do it but i am not obsessive at all, is a complete contradiction.

Weighing yourself everyday is a complete waste of time, and is obsessive whether you can admit that or not, it is exactly the same process as eating chocolate everyday and having to an obsessive urge to do something of no benefit you do not need to do. Weight fluctuations happen to every human being on the planet daily, when you are monitoring your weight for weight loss or maintenance these fluctuations will balance out over the course of the week, the main one being morning to evening, everyone can put on up to half a stone in a day if they have a splurge, it make no odds if you don't then for the rest of the week, which is why you weigh yourself once per week on the same morning at roughly the same time naked to get a true reading of your weight. Some, like yourselves may do reasonably well doing this and not develop further problems, but you are in the minority and I feel it is totally wrong to advocate this in any way.

Weighing yourself daily is "EXACTLY" the same thing as eating chocolate every day? :laugh: :laugh: OK....

As long as you weigh yourself at the same part of the day, there is nothing wrong with doing it daily. There is no balancing out over the course of the week as you describe it because these weight fluctuations that you describe can happen on any day of the week...and are caused primarily by the amount of sodium and carbohydrates you had the prior day. For a person in maintenance mode, what makes you think a weekly reading will be any more accurate than a daily reading? What if you weigh every Monday.... the accuracy of that weekly weigh in would depend on the nature of what you had on Sunday. The same would be true for daily weigh ins.... your weight the next morning (after voiding and taking off your clothes) would be somewhat dependent on how much salt and carbohydrate you had the previous day.

I understand your position.... it's just that these strong, absolutist positions (accompanied by a ludicrous analogy) rub me the wrong way. As with so many aspects of fitness and nutrition, the better answer to whether or not you should weigh yourself daily is, "it depends".

I have been working in this industry for many years as a sports nutritionist and gym instructor and nutritional researcher to the armed forces and general public and there are direct correlations between obessesive calorie counting and wieghing daily to forming obsessive tendancies in eating behaviours with negative reults. What your saying is absolutely correct if the person is not at all dedicated to eating a healthy balanced diet every day following correct macros and in this case why bother weighing yourself at all. My postion comes from advocating a healthy balanced diet every day where there would be little alteration in weight each day, and if you went somewhere nice and had a splurge you know you have done it and it will alter this so you rectify it throughout the rest of your week. You are also right that absolutist methodology has flaws which is why I would also advocate personal programmes to consider chemical balances in individuals, but as a rule of thumb this practice is not supported by any professional. I apologise for rubbing you up the wrong way with what you described as ludicrous analogy I haven't pulled it out of the sky, I am a professional in my field of expertise and therefore my analgy has come from years of research and experience, where did your analogy come from?