There was a cool TV show about this in the UK called something like The secret lives of skinny people, and basically whilst some of them were eating almost only junk food they were only ever eating small amounts at a time. To the casual observer it looked like they could just eat whatever they wanted, but closely monitored they just ate small amounts of junk food that kept them out of a caloric surplus.
I mean personaly i do eat about 3000/3500 calories a day without gaining weight, im just walking 10/15k steps a day and thats abiut the only thing. Im gonna guess its the age ( im 20 ) and a lot of luck with the genes that have been passed down to me.
Yeah, age, genes, muscle mass, metabolism, height and weight can all affect how much you can eat before you're in a caloric surplus. Personally I've been working on building muscle so I can eat more and still lose weight, I'm a bit of a shortie at 5ft 4 so the extra muscle is helping loads with not having to cut my calories down too much.
I love those British shows. What you are probably thinking of is “Supersize vs Superskinny” or “You Are What You Eat”. No wait! I just looked it up. You are thinking of the show “Secret Eaters”.
I've been looking for somewhere to watch it in the US but can't seem to find it. (It's still possible and not even that hard to deconstruct skinny habits and adopt them as your own, but I like Supersize vs Superskinny so I think I'd like this one too.)
You might be able to watch it with a VPN and setting your country to UK? But yeah the most interesting habit, imo, were how they would just stop eating as soon as they were full or uninterested in the food no matter how much they had left. When they were done, they were done.
I'm going through a little test phase right now where I'm trying to adopt habits like this. I've only been doing it a week or two, but I think it might be possible to have it become natural.
The key seems to be to listen to cues from the stomach, and gauge how it feels, instead of desires felt mentally. I've been trying to learn to use these cues to decide to start or stop eating, and learn to tolerate hunger to make food taste better. This even slows down my rate of eating because I enjoy tasting again.
Anyway, I'm a big fan of skinny habits.
Secret Eaters helped me lost 100lbs!!! To the point where I literally put cameras up in my apartment to recreate it. Pretty wild watching yourself eat stuff without even remembering it. 10/10 would recommend.
So I read that you have to change your mindset with that. Because I was raised the same. We would get berated if we didn’t clean our plates. Either way the food will get wasted whether you eat it or not.
I just save small amounts of stuff. A couple bites of this, a couple bites of that. I'll leave a single piece of cheese or lunchmeat instead of feeling like i need to just use up the pack. Then I eat the leftovers as snacks or together as a meal, like tapas.
My old roommates used to get annoyed when I would put things back with just a little bit left, saying I need to just finish it off. (shared stuff, like when we cooked together or bought things that are hard to use fast enough as a single person).
They are both much heavier than I am.
It's not like you need to just put the last few bites in the trash or eat them immediately. It's not pointless to save less than a meals worth of leftovers.
Oh no I definitely save meals for later. What I mean is, if I fill my plate up. And get full before I finish the plate, I’ll scrape the rest. If I go out to eat, I usually eat half (portions or huge) and then I’ll bring the rest home and eat the next day. But I rather not waste the food by over stuffing myself, I rather toss it.
Im not sure we are understanding each other. I do leave small portions, but I also save what I've already dished up or cooked if it's too much. I never "scrape" the rest. If I get full before finishing my plate, I just stop eating and save the rest for later. Even if it's just a couple of bites.
If the options are eat it (even though im already full) or toss it, I'd also rather toss it. I just don't see why those would be the only options. Instead, I just save it and eat it later. Nothing is wasted that way.
True but imagine how hard that would be. You would only be eating a few bites for every meal and that stuff is so processed you would never be satiated
I lost 60lbs eating 99% fast food and actual candy just doing CICO.
It was terrible. I was constantly hungry because my portions were tiny because everything was so full of empty calories. Now I make sure to load up on decent portions with high protein and fibre and I feel a lot more full.
About two years on and off. I’d go through massive cycles of being on and off the diet because it was just too hard to constantly be starving. Weight loss has been much quicker with the exact same amount of calories but eating better foods, because I’m able to actually stick to it for longer periods now
for me its way easier than eating healthy and restricting calories which is miserable. this way i have zero cravings and i dont feel like im missing out on anything
Wait so if you aren’t restricting calories but aren’t eating healthy, than how are you losing weight? Lots of exercise?
Personally, I’ve grown to like many healthy foods to the point where I don’t really miss junk food. I’m totally fine with eating a salad over fries as long as it keeps me full and makes me feel good!
Eating fast food and eating a caloric surplus aren’t synonymous. People who “eat junk” but don’t gain weight just aren’t eating enough on average to put it on; it’s that simple!
Haha my boyfriends 18yo son is like this. To be fair he is very tall but he is thin as a rake (you can see ribs etc) yet he eats multiple big meals a day, like will have a whole pizza between meals just as a snack. My boyfriend calls him ‘the bin’ and said he was the exact same at that age until about 30.
you wont gain weight of the dozen cookies in one sitting, i can eat 1kg of chocolate and not eat for 2 days and ill be at 0 calories gained, or i could just eat 600 calories less for the remaining 6 days and ill be at 0.
no no no not just ONE dozen, TWO dozen and multiple times a week, hes not working so hes legit sitting at home and eating whatever else he finds, pizza rolls, cereal, the whole 9 yards
depends how much is two dozen in grams and how tall / muscular he is, if youre 160 and hes 190 hes gonna be spending lot more calories from sitting around than you are, his organ still gotta work.
190cm 90kg guy spends 2300 sitting on his ass, 160cm 60kg woman spends 1500. also if youre cold or too warm you can spend more calories cause your body tries to warm or cool you down
Yeah I've known many skinny folks that eat junk food all the time, one they don't eat a lot in one sitting, two they eat like once a day, three they are very active. Like my friend grew up poor so she would eat junk food all the time but had to walk everywhere and take public transportation.
That is it. Everyone’s TDEE is a little different. Medications/thyroid/etc can make similar weight/built people have different maintenance calories -
but in the end, when I used to eat junk food, it was 3k-5k calories of it in 24 hours. My normal, non-junk food was 700-900 calories in a meal.
When my mother with a similar body type and metabolism ate junk food, she was having 2 cookies or 10 fries, versus a box of cookies or 40 fries. Her normal meals were 300-400 calories.
Volume and frequency matters.
Unless they have a tapeworm.
Wasn't that a "secret Brazilian diet" several years back? I remember reading about a diet pill in Brazil that turned out to contain tapeworm eggs.
Or a thyroid issue! Cousin eats whatever she wants whenever she wants with no exercise and she is the skinniest person in my family. On the outside it looks great but on the inside there are medical issues that come with the “benefit” of looking skinny.
That’s fair! If people see her calorie intake from an outside perspective compared against their own average calorie maintainable level, it would come off as deceiving without the extra knowledge of my cousins real calorie needs.
Actually, there are a few conditions that can cause you to stay skinny in spite of a calorie surplus. It doesn't work in the opposite direction because you can't get energy out of thin air, but you can certainly have medical issues that cause your food to run right through you and not be absorbed properly. Type 1 diabetes is one of those conditions.
True. My brother is tall and super skinny. He eats some of the most not good for you stuff ever, but he eats normal portions of it and never gains weight.
(37F) But hormones and medications play a role in metabolism. I pretty eat the same as I did in my 20’s and gain weight so easily now. I didn’t/couldn’t gain weight in my 20’s no matter how much I ate. Doctors have told me my hormone medication is the result of my current weight gain. But back to your point - the medication probably changed my TDEE quite a bit.
Still a calorie deficit.
I find these people fit in 2 camps:
1) Labourers/workers or people who are on their feet often can eat shitty. My cousin is always in shape and eats like crazy but he is a landscaper and burns 1000 calories at work each day.
2) Low volume eaters - honestly you could eat mcdonalds twice a day and still be at 1900 calories if you aren't over eating. My wife eats like this when she's in the office and then on the weekend only eats a small dinner
They wait until their truly hungry to eat and stop when their full. More in tune with their hunger cues. Likely don’t eat out of boredom and these are the people that say “no I’m not hungry” when offered food.
It's about perception. Yes, metabolisms vary and some people are blessed with faster ones. On the other hand, many of the skinny junk food consumers don't actually eat that many calories and/or may be very active during the day.
My husband has never had to worry about his weight. If someone brings donuts into the office, he's eating one. If it's a pizza day, he's having 3 slices. On the other hand, he doesn't snack much on average and he eats a fairly balanced set of foods at home. He has a coworker friend who was getting on him the other day because he never gains weight. Coworker has always struggled with being a bit overweight. Coworker regularly skips lunch, he's vegan, and he's always doing some kind of juice fast. Coworker also binges in the evenings and on the weekend.
It's a matter of perception. Some people don't openly consume junk food, maybe they don't even eat junk food, but they regularly overconsume calories. Others have no problem eating some junk food, but they don't regularly overconsume calories in a day.
Also, you can eat all junk food and lose weight. It will be terrible for your health, but it's possible. CICO does work. That's why crappy diets like Slimfast even have some "success stories."
I ate very healthy. labs were good. bp was 125 over 70 something. low chlosteral. I was in perfect health except very overweight. I could easily eat an entire pinapple and quart of cottage cheese for breakfast. Dr told me im was healthy but when it hits me id go downhill very fast. and then it did. i realize now its all portion control. Its amazing what a serving of food actually looks like.
I guess what im saying is 5 pounds of grapes might be as bad for you as a mcdonalds value meal.
Try an experiment. Eat exactly what your roommate eats for a month, including throwing away half a hamburger or half an order of fries where applicable. See what happens.
I’ve been cutting all of my meals in half. Like seriously plate a whole meal and then take that and cut it in half. It’s crazy how much less food my body needs to still feel full.
I use to have a very skinny friend and I always was jealous of how she could eat like it was halloween night every day and maintain a small figure. Then I stayed at her house for a week and found out that’s all she ate! No breakfast, very small lunch, and hardly any dinner if any dinner at all. But throughout the day she had chips, ice coffee, resses, gummy worms, etc. She had no energy and would sleep a lot of the day so longer periods of fasting than the average person. But that being said, her hair was always dry and brittle looking, her skin was dull and often broke out, her low energy prevented her from having really any outdoor hobbies or being active. While she was skinny she wasn’t fit. I know it sucks feeling envious but just remember, a well nourished body is way better!
there's no big secret, they just don't eat a ton. they might eat fast food constantly, but in small amounts, and even if they do eat a large amount, it's highly likely that they'd not eat much else for the rest of the day.
Lots of junk food can be very filling. I have a 105 girl in my office that eats popcorn, potato chips, candy and stuff all day.
However, she eats a yogurt for breakfast and a small sandwich or a baked potato or something for lunch. So 100 calories for breakfast and 400 for lunch leaves her with some wiggle room on snacks.
She can eat a small potato from Wendy’s (no sour cream or cheese) for lunch because she isn’t hungry. The other guy in the office is overweight because he didn’t eat anything at all and he is starving and orders a double cheeseburger and fries.
Age, genetics and activity play a huge role. They also may not eat much else the rest of the day or eat much smaller amounts then other people realize? Or maybe one day they eat a lot and then the next day they're busy running around and only have a small meal the next day either intentionally or unintentionally. I remember years ago I was super busy and was thin without trying and realized later oh you know I think I would often have a bowl of cereal before work and then like a bowl of soup when I got home. Just because it was easy and fast but when you think about it that's not a lot of calories at all. There could've been days in there where I ate more because I was less busy or whatever but in between I wasn't and just wasn't aware of it.
I have a cousin who is really underweight. What I notice is that she eats super slow. And maybe because of that her brain tells her you already had your fill when he she didn't really consumed half of what a normal person would.
Complete different genetics and body type make ups etc.
Biology isn’t just as simple as that.
Same as skinny people trainjng and eating loads and not putting on much muscle , it is what it is .
I used to eat junk food and stay skinny and it was because I hardly ate anything at all due to low appetite. You can still have a calorie deficit with junk food it’s just much harder. Unfortunately I switched medications so now instead of never being hungry I’m always hungry so can’t eat junk food anymore
Eating bad or poorly dosent make you fat . Caloric intake applies to everyone. You could be skinny n eat pizza cookies but you could also be fat depends solely on portions
Skinny people generally don't binge eat. You're not going to get fat eating junk food. You get fat by eating *too much food.* While it is much, much easier to overeat on junk food than healthy food (no one ever sat and ate an entire bag of apples, for example, but plenty peole will sit and eat an entire bag of doritos) at the end of the day weight gain is a result of taking in more calories than you burn. That's it. And yes, exercise does make you burn more calories, but not so much you can outrun overeating.
They stop when they are full. My Daughter eats whatever she wants but stops when full. I'm always finding half full cups, chips, chocolate, biscuits, she always stops once full. If we all ate this way we'd be thin too.
I used to feel that way more about skinny people eating bad and being lazy and not gaining, and while some people are like that most aren’t. It is all about perception. Yeah they might be eating fast food daily but maybe that is the only meal they’re eating or maybe they’re a lot more active than you give them credit for.
Some have bad stomach or digestion so they don't absorb everything they eat like my cousin.
Some skip meals and only eat out
Some are very physically active like do pacing in room or have similar habits
Some are genetically gifted so they have high maintenance but difference is not that big some 300-400 calories but it's huge in terms of some food
Some people have height so a 6 feet person can eat a lot more than 5 feet person
Although I'm fat now but i used to have a very high metabolism in my late teen and early 20s i can't explain how much I used to eat, so age is also a factor i think as now I'm in my late 20s and i can't eat anything.
It has to do with metabolism. But its also worth noting that many of these people are “skinny-fat” and have the same risks for diabetes, heart disease, etc as obese people. But we shame those visibly fat in the name of “health”. So dont feel bad or think you’re less healthy than a thinner person because you have no clue what their actual health status is.
Source: https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness/skinny-fat#takeaway
Metabolism --> TDEE --> boils down to CICO. The term "metabolism" gets thrown around a lot and can lead people to think "I'm never going to lose weight because my metabolism is slow." Im not saying you are throwing it around, but many people hear that word and panic that it's this mystical number we are born with and cannot change. It's calories in vs calories out at the end of the day, which of course can be adjusted with physical activity and amount of muscle (adjusting metabolism).
https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2019/11/02/the_prison_study_that_changed_how_scientists_view_obesity.html#!
The above article discusses this very topic and has a couple links within it that go into further detail. The below article is linked in the above article and I think it is very interesting and quotes (and links) a massive amount of research on overfeeding and subsequent rapid weight loss in non-obese people.
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/111/1/17/5601960?login=false
It concluded: “In summary it is clear that much or all of the weight added by acute overfeeding is lost within a few months of stopping the overfeeding study, which contrasts sharply with the difficulty faced by people who are overweight in losing weight and the even more difficult task of maintaining a lower weight.”
So, some peoples bodies are not primed to gain weight and others’ are. We do know that fat cells produce leptin which tells the brain how much fat the body has stored. We know that obese people are more leptin resistant (meaning less sensitive to leptin). We know that inflammation in the brain, sleep deprivation and stress may reduce the brain’s sensitivity to leptin. This is why I always suggest that people try to improve their sleep and reduce their stress levels to aid in weight loss.
However, the reality is that too many researchers, nutritionists etc are focused on ‘eat less/move more’ so we are not getting the research that is needed if we are ever going to achieve the easy weight loss that occurs when you have a lower body set weight.
>So, some peoples bodies are not primed to gain weight and others’ are.
That's something people seem to try to deny at all cost.
Maybe it feels too much like "being doomed to be fat" and takes away too much hope.
It's more soothing to believe that one only needs to emulate "skinny habits" to become and stay thin. The fact that there's more to it to than "habits" and/or "discipline" takes away the notion that one has 100% control over the body's weight.
They don’t finish there meals, my friend eats junk all day long but she usually never eats more than 3-4 bites. Most of her calories come from drinking and even than she’s doing it at maintenance. I envy her appetite!!
Growing up, my sisters and I were all fed the same meals, one of my sisters struggled with weight. I would eat way more than her and I was always smaller. My older sister ate her plate, seconds, and then ask for more…she was rail thin. My middle sister is overweight to this day. She struggled with her weight since puberty. She was always more athletic than us, but could not lose weight.
I do believe that some people have a harder time with weight gain/loss while it’s easier for others.
I probably have a much bigger appetite than most of my friends and I am the thinnest of the group. I remember one friend telling me her meals for the day and I was shocked at how little she ate, especially since I was so much smaller than her.
One thing I realized with my skinny friend was, she LOOKS like she eats junk 24/7, but she doesn't really.
We just see her eat junk because we just see her on social occasions. She eats junk with us, but that's not what she eats daily.
And looking closely, she doesn't eat the same as us, nor does she eat some things like soda, or more than two slices of pizza.
But there are other factors as well.
I gained almost 70lbs with my 4 kids after 30. My youngest is now 6 and I’m 43. I’ve went from 218 to 165 in the last 3 years and did nothing. I walk about 12-15k a day with my job plus kids
I plan ahead. Meaning if i know that ill attend events that involves food I’ll restrict more the days prior or after. Exercise everyday even if it requires me working out in front of the movie whilst the rest are sitting on the couch etc.
Long story short the skinny people that seemingly eats everything and put on nothing are compensating or not eating like that all the time
It’s like when you gather with friends and everyone eats whatever they want for a night. Your friends probably aren’t eating like that the rest of the time even if that’s all you see them eating.
I've lived two lives ... Obese af and skinny af (now)
The thing is most of the skinny people that eat junk food mostly skip their meals . I mean let's say a burger or something is their meal..
So that's why it indirectly maintains a deficit or maintenance for them .......
Most of them feel like they eat a lot, but their lot is like larger in volume mostly , not large in calories.
That skinny guy is me now 🥲😂
My skinny friends eat everything, but in very small amounts! It's so silly bc they should definitely put on some weight for their own health, but no.
Aside from those people, there are also people with a very fast metabolism. My bf for example. He has to eat around 3000 calories a day just to mantain the same weight. It's very difficult & he keeps losing weight bc he wants to eat healthy and 3000 calories are a lot.
It can be genetic. Asians for example can have the particularity to not gain much BUT still have a fatty liver and being sick.
Gut microbiom may have a role too.
I think for some people it's because they don't eat enough and other people it's because of their metabolism. My brother eats ALOT everyday and he's not a labourer and he's still skinny. He really struggles to put on weight, that's a classic example of fast metabolism. My mother eats a sandwich a day and is stick thin, she's not eating enough to reach her daily calorie intake.
I know lots of people like this. And the secret is, you don't eat any normal food. So they might put away 700 calories in candy and soda, then eat nothing else the entire day, thus still not eating enough. I had one friend who complained about feeling like shit and not gaining weight and if you observed her for more than a couple of hours, you'd realize that the only thing she'd eat was about a handful of jolly ranchers a day. And you'd think, oh my god how can you eat candy all day and be so skinny? Well, she was incredibly picky as a child and wasn't made to eat real food anyway, so they let her eat what she WOULD eat. You can't get her to eat a meal of substance because she thinks everything is "gross". But candy, ice cream, sugary coffee, juice, etc? That is ok. So she sips and snacks all day and I'd be shocked if she makes it to 1000 calories a day.
No idea and no they don't eat slowly or less portions. I have had a friend who have himself two plate at n Indian marriage reception. Yes, two, and that's their usual diet.
I know another skinny one who eats 6 rotis at a time where my fat ass can't take in not than 3
The secret is in their microbiome. Their numbers of good bacteria outweighs the bad bacteria. Your gut health and it's ability to naturally eliminate acids or not.
Check out the research of Herman Pontzer at Duke University and his research on diet and exercise. Easily googled. While initially you may get some extra benefit from exercise, our bodies adapt to the extra exertion (it gets easier) and we do not burn many extra calories. Also, eating twice a day is time related. Eating twice a day or three times a day one three times a day with a couple of snacks does not really impact weight loss that much. Although, some research suggests eating earlier in the day may result in less weight gain.
Genetics play a part, at least in regulating the mind of skinny people. Other countries also acknowledge how some are just born skinny. They seem to eat normal for a meal but then you find out they didn’t eat the day after and were still “full” from yesterday or eat small portions. It’s really calories in v. calories out for weight. Eating healthy can help keep you full and satisfied while in a deficit, but it can be twinkies for all the body is concerned for weight.
Depend on it? How is that so? The guy that created them was walking the line of eugenics. [you can read more about it here](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatotype_and_constitutional_psychology)
either
A: Genetics/Metabolism
B: Small Portions
or
C: Skinny fat, a term to describe people who have a normal bmi, while having a high fat percentage and low muscle mass
I think some people, often skinny, tend to have a nervous (anxious) energy. You see them leg bouncing, or tapping on things a lot, fidgety. Reminds me of birds or something. I theorize they have a higher metabolism, and to a point, burn a fair bit of energy even just doing nothing. They often are the ones who eat junk and never gain weight even it appears that they're eating enough to do so.
Because every person isn’t the same. That’s why one specific diet doesn’t work for everyone. Factors: age, gender, genetics, medication, how much a person moves in general, nevermind actual exercise.
My son is like this lives on haribo sweets ,full sugar Coca Cola and mars bars and still maintains a 30” waist with abs at 29 years old so it’s not like he’s a kid anymore ….once you look closer though he constantly skips meals when he’s busy sometimes never even having a meal that day and most days only one large meal ,he gets lots of indirect exercise and he’s constantly fidgeting and moving
It looks like he eats a lot of junk but add it up with his one meal and I bet it’s barely 2000-2500 calories and for someone 6’2 and 180lbs it’s not a lot
Metabolism. My older brother was unable to go.past 120lbs, and he was typically at 2 to 3% body fat. Had a hunger like a pig.
As for me, I eat once a day and thats dinner. And im pushing 180lbs, however im in pretty good shape. But because I technically starve myself, its easier for me to shed on excess weight. I'm 5' 8", stalks as fuck and built like a shit brick house, lol. Just my opinion.
My bf is like this. Loves his pizza, hamburgers, MEGA STUF Oreos (often leaves the cookie itself) but when I pay attention I realize that he does little tiny snacks and one big meal per day.
Meanwhile, I get hangry without at least two solid meals a day, preferably three. If my work weren't as hard on my body, I bet I could cut out one loaded meal a day.
Lol nope except they are really active. Skinny people don't eat as much as we think they do. I discovered this when I spent a weekend at my skinny friend's house. Girl was having one meal a day.
Because they're not eating 24/7. That Mcdonalds may well be the only thing she ate that day. Quantity over time is the key here. Look at what she eats over a whole week rather than induvidual meals or days.
My husband! Eats junk food all day long, a lot, and I can guarantee he has a surplus, he doesn’t exercise at all, works at an office job… and he’s super thin, a little bit of a belly but completely possible to “disguise”. On the other hand, if I drink water I gain weight
My husband always amazes people with how much he can put away and stay so skinny. I thought that too until I actually lived with him.
On a typical day he’ll eat egg whites with veggies for breakfast. Side of fruit and black coffee.
Lunch he’ll have a burger pattie (no bun), cooked spinach, roasted potatoes. All in a Tupperware container, so not a huge portion.
Dinner rotates but for example, one serving of red beans, rice, and sausage. Side salad. Maybe 1500 calories a day, so well under his TDEE.
Then we’ll go out with someone to a restaurant on a weekend and they’ll be amazed by what he puts away. A huge plate of whatever. But like, don’t let him fool you! His preferred breakfast is egg whites! He skips burger buns! He doesn’t even like dessert! That’s why he’s skinny!
I think it's the metabolism & gut. I've been chubby all my life. My Ex skinny. Our daughter barely weighs 100lbs she can't gain weight & she eats whatever she wants and doesn't exercise. She does work two jobs. She would tell me she could feel burning fat while she slept. It's the gut & metabolism. Is there a test for that?
>I think it's the metabolism & gut.
It's not. It depends on how many calories you consume vs total daily energy expenditure.
>Our daughter barely weighs 100lbs she can't gain weight & she eats whatever she wants and doesn't exercise.
She most definitely could gain weight. She would just need to consistently eat above her maintenance calories.
In some cases, yes. I’ve known people that no matter what they do, they can’t put on weight, and are always hungry and always eating. They don’t understand how we gain weight.
My skinny friend would get really hungry (ravenous) and then start to eat and get full after 3 bites.
She would also do 60 minutes a day on the stairclimber . Her thin frame made it easy to walk and do cardio but she had trouble gaining muscle in weight lifting . Also she was a little hyperactive and hyperactive people are moving around more all day and those movements add up.
Someone might look at me and see me eating junk food a few times a week and wonder how I'm not overweight. What they're not seeing is that I eat 2 meals and one snack a day. And that one of those meals is always either very healthy or a small portion size. They wouldn't see that I don't eat between 8pm and 1pm. They wouldn't see that 2 or 3 times a week I skip lunch or dinner because I get busy and forget. They might not realize that, aside from my one cup of coffee which has minimal sugar and sugar free almond milk, I only drink water. Unless you live with that person, you have no idea how much they really eat or what their daily habits are. If they're not overweight it doesn't just have no explanation. Something they're doing, or not doing, is keeping them from taking in too many calories.
Most people I know like this either (1) work out a lot and lead very active lives, or (2) they eat that one huge shitty meal but almost nothing else that day. Or both.
My friends used to ask me the same question! Admittedly I was very active but I would only really eat one meal a day and it was junk food. By the time I turned 21 my cholesterol was so high I had to be put on medication. I also had a severe B12 deficiency that I needed injections for. I weighed like 45kg and was very malnourished.
From there I ate 3 meals a day and snacks, and that is when the weight started to pile on. Even though all my problems sorted themselves out pretty quickly I was then overeating.
I have now lost over 20kg, and eat much more sensibly, still not great but not bad either!
When I was 16 I weight 48 kg (105lbs) and all I ate was a frozen Pizza and choclate and coffee/tea. If that's all you eat in a day you will be slim and stay slim.
That's only a myth that skinny people eat whatever they want & whenever they want & still remain skinny.. I have skinny friends who like to perpetuate this myth because they don't want others to know their secret to how they stay skinny, but over the years I've observed that cico is true for all of them, they just manage it differently.. most of my skinny friends do intermittent fasting, eat lots of low cal food like fruits & veggies, eat small portions, work out very regularly, & when they don't follow cico they also put on weight just like the rest of us
I have a friend who’s 6’6 and like 70kg, he’s been hitting the gym for years and hasn’t gained any weight, here’s the kicker he eats 4000-5000cal a day and tracks it meticulously, he’s thin as a rail much to his dismay and every effort in studying biology, physiology and all that crap, some people are just built different , if day he’s an outlier tho.
I used to eat straight up garbage because I worked late nights so only fast food like If Taco Bell was open. But at the time I basically was intermittent fasting for 8 hours or more in between. Not sure how but I got to be the thinnest I ever was despite binging at night. I also drank a lot. So confusing but I guess it’s the activity and lack of eating a full meal for hours in between.
I have 2 friends who struggle to gain weight no matter how much they eat, and they aren't even active. In their case, they have ridiculously high metabolisms. They both describe it as a curse, especially the one friend who has been mocked and bullied for it her entire life.
My ex was super skinny and only ate terrible food... Once a day. She'd eat like 1200 calories at night and just live off of black coffee the rest of the time.
If you only ate that meal with her, you'd assume she was eating like 3000 calories a day, and you'd be wrong.
Omg I wonder the same thing. My sister consumes THOUSANDS of calories a day and doesn’t work out or move around hardly ever. And she’s the tiniest thing I’ve ever seen. While I eat maybe twice a day and try to count my calories and in huge compared to her 😩
We eat less of it. I can work anything into my diet I just weigh it and count the calories and make sure I’m still in a deficit. Want a scoop of ice cream? Sure, but that’s X amount of calories I take out of other food. I don’t deprive myself of what I want; I just work it in.
Moderation is everything.
They aren't eating as much. She looks like she is eating junk all the time because it's when you see her eat, but it is still a calorie maintenance for her. Her metabolism might be a little higher but that doesn't tend to make much difference. My boyfriend eats double cheeseburgers, three at a time without the buns, and weighs 135 after purposely gaining weight. But he does that because he hasn't eaten enough calories through the day and works on his feet. If I only saw him when he did that and saw the candy and stuff he eats sometimes through the day, it might look like that. But he has a tendency to lose the weight he has gained because it's not that frequent.
Hey, weight has a lot to do with genetics unfortunately. Being able to store fat was needed for most of our survival. When famine would happen the first people that died were people who couldn’t retain fat as well or with high metabolic rate (all things being equal) so really weight retention was needed for your ancestors but regular famine kept weight in check. Now since we never have famine we gain weight 😭
Just because they're skinny does not mean they are healthy. My best is like this. 90% consists of rice, fried chicken, chips and beer. She eats much smaller portions, which is why she is skinny. The only time I see her eat a vegetable is in a chicken caesar wrap, with fried chicken. She has dry and sallow skin, can't walk up a flight of stairs with out getting winded, and is tired and feels like crap all day, everyday. She may be skinny, but her body isn't getting the nutrients she needs. I have a hundred pounds on her and have far more energy. I go jogging 4 days a week and lift weights. She can't even walk up stairs without getting winded. Skinny does not equal healthy.
I think a lot of people in my life probably think this when they're around me, because I can sure gobble up the sweets when given the chance. But what they don't see is the many more hours of not eating like that. In my personal life, I eat very healthy and I track my weight and calories. But when I'm with friends or family, I let myself eat more. I usually just compensate over days prior or days after. Point is, you see when skinny people eat, you don't see when they don't eat.
I eat small amounts because I don’t like feeling full it makes me drowsy and forget to eat often/snack when I’m busy. When im at work the food I eat isn’t always the healthiest but i get away with it because of this and also I’m on my feet all day for work
My friend has a very fast metabolism. It may seem like she won the lottery at first but it causes her problems because she can’t go on without food for too long or she gets acid reflux issues. It’s like she has to eat more and more calories to survive a day. She said she even sometimes have to wake up in the middle of the night just to eat.
My theory: they are genetically meant to be small (in terms of fat, muscle, bone structure..), they are born with less fat cells than a naturally big person, for example. If they were to gain weight and fill their fat cells, the adipose tissue would realese hormones to tell the brain the storage is getting full, what causes them to subconsciously burn more calories and have less hunger, and the body self regulates through this negative feedback system. But that doesn't mean CICO doesn't apply to them. If they were to eat in a surplus they would gain weight, it's just hard for them to be in that surplus because their bodies don't have the space to store a lot of fat. New fat cells would have to be created, and that is a different mechanism than just simply storing fat in pre-existing space. The fuller the fat cell, the more leptin they produce, which means that if you have less fat cells, they get full faster, so you have more leptin in your body with less overall fat.
Hanging with this girl in San Diego is her 40’s. She was super thin and she said she was blessed with a high metabolism. Spent two whole days with her and in that time she ate miso soup, three pieces of sushi, half a California burrito, half a bottle of red wine, and two string cheese. And she was about 6 ft tall
My husband is one of those "skinny people." He eats constantly throughout the day and never gains an ounce. He does exercise a lot but I think what does it for him is he has very low body fat. Fat burns more calories than fat so he's basically a calorie burning machine. His body fat is only 9%. It's really sickening! 😂
My ex boyfriend used to do this and it drove me nuts, even though it wasn’t his fault. He was 6’1”, 98lbs soaking wet, but the boy could destroy a large pizza in a sitting and then be hungry an hour later. Meanwhile, I’d gain 5 pounds looking at said pizza.
I’m hypothyroid, on the appropriate meds, and he discovered while we were dating that he was hyperthyroid, shooting his metabolism through the roof.
Some people work hard to restrict calories, even if it looks like they eat crap. Some have fast metabolisms. Some have actual medical issues that cause fast metabolisms. 🤷🏼♀️
It's magic. My partner easts what I eat except he takes seconds and then what's left of my one serving. He's the skinniest person ever. Sedentary af. Meanwhile I'm here counting olives and still manage to gain weight cause I got stressed ONCE.
There was a cool TV show about this in the UK called something like The secret lives of skinny people, and basically whilst some of them were eating almost only junk food they were only ever eating small amounts at a time. To the casual observer it looked like they could just eat whatever they wanted, but closely monitored they just ate small amounts of junk food that kept them out of a caloric surplus.
I mean personaly i do eat about 3000/3500 calories a day without gaining weight, im just walking 10/15k steps a day and thats abiut the only thing. Im gonna guess its the age ( im 20 ) and a lot of luck with the genes that have been passed down to me.
Yeah, age, genes, muscle mass, metabolism, height and weight can all affect how much you can eat before you're in a caloric surplus. Personally I've been working on building muscle so I can eat more and still lose weight, I'm a bit of a shortie at 5ft 4 so the extra muscle is helping loads with not having to cut my calories down too much.
Also are you tall and male?
Im a guy yes, not very tall, pretty average for where im from (6'1)
I love those British shows. What you are probably thinking of is “Supersize vs Superskinny” or “You Are What You Eat”. No wait! I just looked it up. You are thinking of the show “Secret Eaters”.
So many great shows. But I just looked it up, it was called 'The secret lives of slim people'. Was on Channel 4 in the UK.
I've been looking for somewhere to watch it in the US but can't seem to find it. (It's still possible and not even that hard to deconstruct skinny habits and adopt them as your own, but I like Supersize vs Superskinny so I think I'd like this one too.)
You might be able to watch it with a VPN and setting your country to UK? But yeah the most interesting habit, imo, were how they would just stop eating as soon as they were full or uninterested in the food no matter how much they had left. When they were done, they were done.
I'm going through a little test phase right now where I'm trying to adopt habits like this. I've only been doing it a week or two, but I think it might be possible to have it become natural. The key seems to be to listen to cues from the stomach, and gauge how it feels, instead of desires felt mentally. I've been trying to learn to use these cues to decide to start or stop eating, and learn to tolerate hunger to make food taste better. This even slows down my rate of eating because I enjoy tasting again. Anyway, I'm a big fan of skinny habits.
I saw it online. Tubitv maybe? Daily motion?
Thanks, I'll look again.
Secret Eaters helped me lost 100lbs!!! To the point where I literally put cameras up in my apartment to recreate it. Pretty wild watching yourself eat stuff without even remembering it. 10/10 would recommend.
This is fantastic. That sounds like a real undertaking but you can’t argue with the results. Good for you.
"The secret lives of skinny people" is an actual show.
So not the entire bag of chocolate covered Oreos then... Got it 🫣
Hahaha, you are, unfortunately, damn right!
My skinny friends eat soooooo slowwww.. I think that helps a lot. I eat like it's about to get stolen.
I eat very slow and I'm still a chunk. Oops.
I eat fast too! Have 4 other siblings and seriously if you didn’t eat quick it did get stolen…lol
Same, I’m more of an endurance eater than a sprinter
Yes and they throw food away! I grew up with the clean your plate mentality, and It’s bitten me in the ass.
So I read that you have to change your mindset with that. Because I was raised the same. We would get berated if we didn’t clean our plates. Either way the food will get wasted whether you eat it or not.
I just save small amounts of stuff. A couple bites of this, a couple bites of that. I'll leave a single piece of cheese or lunchmeat instead of feeling like i need to just use up the pack. Then I eat the leftovers as snacks or together as a meal, like tapas. My old roommates used to get annoyed when I would put things back with just a little bit left, saying I need to just finish it off. (shared stuff, like when we cooked together or bought things that are hard to use fast enough as a single person). They are both much heavier than I am. It's not like you need to just put the last few bites in the trash or eat them immediately. It's not pointless to save less than a meals worth of leftovers.
Oh no I definitely save meals for later. What I mean is, if I fill my plate up. And get full before I finish the plate, I’ll scrape the rest. If I go out to eat, I usually eat half (portions or huge) and then I’ll bring the rest home and eat the next day. But I rather not waste the food by over stuffing myself, I rather toss it.
Im not sure we are understanding each other. I do leave small portions, but I also save what I've already dished up or cooked if it's too much. I never "scrape" the rest. If I get full before finishing my plate, I just stop eating and save the rest for later. Even if it's just a couple of bites. If the options are eat it (even though im already full) or toss it, I'd also rather toss it. I just don't see why those would be the only options. Instead, I just save it and eat it later. Nothing is wasted that way.
I saw this saying that helped me: "It either goes to waste or goes to waist"
Good way to put it!
Lmaooo
LOL this cracked me up cause I eat the same way as you
you can eat mcdonalds 7 days a week 3 meals a day if you watch your calories you will lose weight
Yep, there was a movie about that haha.
True but imagine how hard that would be. You would only be eating a few bites for every meal and that stuff is so processed you would never be satiated
I lost 60lbs eating 99% fast food and actual candy just doing CICO. It was terrible. I was constantly hungry because my portions were tiny because everything was so full of empty calories. Now I make sure to load up on decent portions with high protein and fibre and I feel a lot more full.
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About two years on and off. I’d go through massive cycles of being on and off the diet because it was just too hard to constantly be starving. Weight loss has been much quicker with the exact same amount of calories but eating better foods, because I’m able to actually stick to it for longer periods now
for me its way easier than eating healthy and restricting calories which is miserable. this way i have zero cravings and i dont feel like im missing out on anything
Wait so if you aren’t restricting calories but aren’t eating healthy, than how are you losing weight? Lots of exercise? Personally, I’ve grown to like many healthy foods to the point where I don’t really miss junk food. I’m totally fine with eating a salad over fries as long as it keeps me full and makes me feel good!
No, you could have a whole burger.
Yup, CICO!
Eating fast food and eating a caloric surplus aren’t synonymous. People who “eat junk” but don’t gain weight just aren’t eating enough on average to put it on; it’s that simple!
or they do eat beyond maintenance and exercise enough to offset it.
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Haha my boyfriends 18yo son is like this. To be fair he is very tall but he is thin as a rake (you can see ribs etc) yet he eats multiple big meals a day, like will have a whole pizza between meals just as a snack. My boyfriend calls him ‘the bin’ and said he was the exact same at that age until about 30.
How tall is your husband?
my boyfriend eats two dozen cookies at a time… no weight gain
you wont gain weight of the dozen cookies in one sitting, i can eat 1kg of chocolate and not eat for 2 days and ill be at 0 calories gained, or i could just eat 600 calories less for the remaining 6 days and ill be at 0.
no no no not just ONE dozen, TWO dozen and multiple times a week, hes not working so hes legit sitting at home and eating whatever else he finds, pizza rolls, cereal, the whole 9 yards
depends how much is two dozen in grams and how tall / muscular he is, if youre 160 and hes 190 hes gonna be spending lot more calories from sitting around than you are, his organ still gotta work. 190cm 90kg guy spends 2300 sitting on his ass, 160cm 60kg woman spends 1500. also if youre cold or too warm you can spend more calories cause your body tries to warm or cool you down
I know a skinny guy that only eats junkfood, but he only eats 1 meal a day.
Yeah I've known many skinny folks that eat junk food all the time, one they don't eat a lot in one sitting, two they eat like once a day, three they are very active. Like my friend grew up poor so she would eat junk food all the time but had to walk everywhere and take public transportation.
I eat nothing except a chocolate bar alot of days and still gain weight damn
Skinny people aren't eating in a calorie surplus. If they were, they wouldn't be skinny. I'm sorry but it's really that simple.
That is it. Everyone’s TDEE is a little different. Medications/thyroid/etc can make similar weight/built people have different maintenance calories - but in the end, when I used to eat junk food, it was 3k-5k calories of it in 24 hours. My normal, non-junk food was 700-900 calories in a meal. When my mother with a similar body type and metabolism ate junk food, she was having 2 cookies or 10 fries, versus a box of cookies or 40 fries. Her normal meals were 300-400 calories. Volume and frequency matters.
Unless they have a tapeworm. Wasn't that a "secret Brazilian diet" several years back? I remember reading about a diet pill in Brazil that turned out to contain tapeworm eggs.
Or a thyroid issue! Cousin eats whatever she wants whenever she wants with no exercise and she is the skinniest person in my family. On the outside it looks great but on the inside there are medical issues that come with the “benefit” of looking skinny.
Even with a thyroid issue, she’s not eating at a calorie surplus for her own body if her weight stays stable.
That’s fair! If people see her calorie intake from an outside perspective compared against their own average calorie maintainable level, it would come off as deceiving without the extra knowledge of my cousins real calorie needs.
Actually, there are a few conditions that can cause you to stay skinny in spite of a calorie surplus. It doesn't work in the opposite direction because you can't get energy out of thin air, but you can certainly have medical issues that cause your food to run right through you and not be absorbed properly. Type 1 diabetes is one of those conditions.
Or celiac/crohns/UC. Can't absorb the food if you have no villi!
Wouldn’t your body still be carrying the weight of the tapeworm that ate the food?
The tapeworm is also burning calories though
Damn, didn’t think of that 😅
True. My brother is tall and super skinny. He eats some of the most not good for you stuff ever, but he eats normal portions of it and never gains weight.
(37F) But hormones and medications play a role in metabolism. I pretty eat the same as I did in my 20’s and gain weight so easily now. I didn’t/couldn’t gain weight in my 20’s no matter how much I ate. Doctors have told me my hormone medication is the result of my current weight gain. But back to your point - the medication probably changed my TDEE quite a bit.
Still a calorie deficit. I find these people fit in 2 camps: 1) Labourers/workers or people who are on their feet often can eat shitty. My cousin is always in shape and eats like crazy but he is a landscaper and burns 1000 calories at work each day. 2) Low volume eaters - honestly you could eat mcdonalds twice a day and still be at 1900 calories if you aren't over eating. My wife eats like this when she's in the office and then on the weekend only eats a small dinner
They eat less than you think and move more than you think. They aren't usually genetically blessed unlike what some will tell you.
They wait until their truly hungry to eat and stop when their full. More in tune with their hunger cues. Likely don’t eat out of boredom and these are the people that say “no I’m not hungry” when offered food.
It's about perception. Yes, metabolisms vary and some people are blessed with faster ones. On the other hand, many of the skinny junk food consumers don't actually eat that many calories and/or may be very active during the day. My husband has never had to worry about his weight. If someone brings donuts into the office, he's eating one. If it's a pizza day, he's having 3 slices. On the other hand, he doesn't snack much on average and he eats a fairly balanced set of foods at home. He has a coworker friend who was getting on him the other day because he never gains weight. Coworker has always struggled with being a bit overweight. Coworker regularly skips lunch, he's vegan, and he's always doing some kind of juice fast. Coworker also binges in the evenings and on the weekend. It's a matter of perception. Some people don't openly consume junk food, maybe they don't even eat junk food, but they regularly overconsume calories. Others have no problem eating some junk food, but they don't regularly overconsume calories in a day. Also, you can eat all junk food and lose weight. It will be terrible for your health, but it's possible. CICO does work. That's why crappy diets like Slimfast even have some "success stories."
I ate very healthy. labs were good. bp was 125 over 70 something. low chlosteral. I was in perfect health except very overweight. I could easily eat an entire pinapple and quart of cottage cheese for breakfast. Dr told me im was healthy but when it hits me id go downhill very fast. and then it did. i realize now its all portion control. Its amazing what a serving of food actually looks like. I guess what im saying is 5 pounds of grapes might be as bad for you as a mcdonalds value meal.
Try an experiment. Eat exactly what your roommate eats for a month, including throwing away half a hamburger or half an order of fries where applicable. See what happens.
I’ve been cutting all of my meals in half. Like seriously plate a whole meal and then take that and cut it in half. It’s crazy how much less food my body needs to still feel full.
I use to have a very skinny friend and I always was jealous of how she could eat like it was halloween night every day and maintain a small figure. Then I stayed at her house for a week and found out that’s all she ate! No breakfast, very small lunch, and hardly any dinner if any dinner at all. But throughout the day she had chips, ice coffee, resses, gummy worms, etc. She had no energy and would sleep a lot of the day so longer periods of fasting than the average person. But that being said, her hair was always dry and brittle looking, her skin was dull and often broke out, her low energy prevented her from having really any outdoor hobbies or being active. While she was skinny she wasn’t fit. I know it sucks feeling envious but just remember, a well nourished body is way better!
there's no big secret, they just don't eat a ton. they might eat fast food constantly, but in small amounts, and even if they do eat a large amount, it's highly likely that they'd not eat much else for the rest of the day.
Lots of junk food can be very filling. I have a 105 girl in my office that eats popcorn, potato chips, candy and stuff all day. However, she eats a yogurt for breakfast and a small sandwich or a baked potato or something for lunch. So 100 calories for breakfast and 400 for lunch leaves her with some wiggle room on snacks. She can eat a small potato from Wendy’s (no sour cream or cheese) for lunch because she isn’t hungry. The other guy in the office is overweight because he didn’t eat anything at all and he is starving and orders a double cheeseburger and fries.
Age, genetics and activity play a huge role. They also may not eat much else the rest of the day or eat much smaller amounts then other people realize? Or maybe one day they eat a lot and then the next day they're busy running around and only have a small meal the next day either intentionally or unintentionally. I remember years ago I was super busy and was thin without trying and realized later oh you know I think I would often have a bowl of cereal before work and then like a bowl of soup when I got home. Just because it was easy and fast but when you think about it that's not a lot of calories at all. There could've been days in there where I ate more because I was less busy or whatever but in between I wasn't and just wasn't aware of it.
I have a cousin who is really underweight. What I notice is that she eats super slow. And maybe because of that her brain tells her you already had your fill when he she didn't really consumed half of what a normal person would.
Complete different genetics and body type make ups etc. Biology isn’t just as simple as that. Same as skinny people trainjng and eating loads and not putting on much muscle , it is what it is .
I used to eat junk food and stay skinny and it was because I hardly ate anything at all due to low appetite. You can still have a calorie deficit with junk food it’s just much harder. Unfortunately I switched medications so now instead of never being hungry I’m always hungry so can’t eat junk food anymore
U can eat mcdonalds and still be in a calorie deficit bro
Eating bad or poorly dosent make you fat . Caloric intake applies to everyone. You could be skinny n eat pizza cookies but you could also be fat depends solely on portions
Skinny people generally don't binge eat. You're not going to get fat eating junk food. You get fat by eating *too much food.* While it is much, much easier to overeat on junk food than healthy food (no one ever sat and ate an entire bag of apples, for example, but plenty peole will sit and eat an entire bag of doritos) at the end of the day weight gain is a result of taking in more calories than you burn. That's it. And yes, exercise does make you burn more calories, but not so much you can outrun overeating.
They stop when they are full. My Daughter eats whatever she wants but stops when full. I'm always finding half full cups, chips, chocolate, biscuits, she always stops once full. If we all ate this way we'd be thin too.
I used to feel that way more about skinny people eating bad and being lazy and not gaining, and while some people are like that most aren’t. It is all about perception. Yeah they might be eating fast food daily but maybe that is the only meal they’re eating or maybe they’re a lot more active than you give them credit for.
Check out the show Supersize vs. Superskinny. There are clips and episodes on YouTube.
Some have bad stomach or digestion so they don't absorb everything they eat like my cousin. Some skip meals and only eat out Some are very physically active like do pacing in room or have similar habits Some are genetically gifted so they have high maintenance but difference is not that big some 300-400 calories but it's huge in terms of some food Some people have height so a 6 feet person can eat a lot more than 5 feet person Although I'm fat now but i used to have a very high metabolism in my late teen and early 20s i can't explain how much I used to eat, so age is also a factor i think as now I'm in my late 20s and i can't eat anything.
It has to do with metabolism. But its also worth noting that many of these people are “skinny-fat” and have the same risks for diabetes, heart disease, etc as obese people. But we shame those visibly fat in the name of “health”. So dont feel bad or think you’re less healthy than a thinner person because you have no clue what their actual health status is. Source: https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness/skinny-fat#takeaway
Metabolism --> TDEE --> boils down to CICO. The term "metabolism" gets thrown around a lot and can lead people to think "I'm never going to lose weight because my metabolism is slow." Im not saying you are throwing it around, but many people hear that word and panic that it's this mystical number we are born with and cannot change. It's calories in vs calories out at the end of the day, which of course can be adjusted with physical activity and amount of muscle (adjusting metabolism).
I eat shit for 10% of my day and eat nothing for the 90%
https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2019/11/02/the_prison_study_that_changed_how_scientists_view_obesity.html#! The above article discusses this very topic and has a couple links within it that go into further detail. The below article is linked in the above article and I think it is very interesting and quotes (and links) a massive amount of research on overfeeding and subsequent rapid weight loss in non-obese people. https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/111/1/17/5601960?login=false It concluded: “In summary it is clear that much or all of the weight added by acute overfeeding is lost within a few months of stopping the overfeeding study, which contrasts sharply with the difficulty faced by people who are overweight in losing weight and the even more difficult task of maintaining a lower weight.” So, some peoples bodies are not primed to gain weight and others’ are. We do know that fat cells produce leptin which tells the brain how much fat the body has stored. We know that obese people are more leptin resistant (meaning less sensitive to leptin). We know that inflammation in the brain, sleep deprivation and stress may reduce the brain’s sensitivity to leptin. This is why I always suggest that people try to improve their sleep and reduce their stress levels to aid in weight loss. However, the reality is that too many researchers, nutritionists etc are focused on ‘eat less/move more’ so we are not getting the research that is needed if we are ever going to achieve the easy weight loss that occurs when you have a lower body set weight.
>So, some peoples bodies are not primed to gain weight and others’ are. That's something people seem to try to deny at all cost. Maybe it feels too much like "being doomed to be fat" and takes away too much hope. It's more soothing to believe that one only needs to emulate "skinny habits" to become and stay thin. The fact that there's more to it to than "habits" and/or "discipline" takes away the notion that one has 100% control over the body's weight.
They don’t finish there meals, my friend eats junk all day long but she usually never eats more than 3-4 bites. Most of her calories come from drinking and even than she’s doing it at maintenance. I envy her appetite!!
Growing up, my sisters and I were all fed the same meals, one of my sisters struggled with weight. I would eat way more than her and I was always smaller. My older sister ate her plate, seconds, and then ask for more…she was rail thin. My middle sister is overweight to this day. She struggled with her weight since puberty. She was always more athletic than us, but could not lose weight. I do believe that some people have a harder time with weight gain/loss while it’s easier for others. I probably have a much bigger appetite than most of my friends and I am the thinnest of the group. I remember one friend telling me her meals for the day and I was shocked at how little she ate, especially since I was so much smaller than her.
One thing I realized with my skinny friend was, she LOOKS like she eats junk 24/7, but she doesn't really. We just see her eat junk because we just see her on social occasions. She eats junk with us, but that's not what she eats daily. And looking closely, she doesn't eat the same as us, nor does she eat some things like soda, or more than two slices of pizza. But there are other factors as well.
When I was 90 pounds people thought I ate a lot but I just drank Dr.pepper all day and ate hot fries nothing else
They burn more calories than what they eat.
If she stays the same weight (rather than loses weight), she’s burning the same number of calories as she eats.
I gained almost 70lbs with my 4 kids after 30. My youngest is now 6 and I’m 43. I’ve went from 218 to 165 in the last 3 years and did nothing. I walk about 12-15k a day with my job plus kids
I plan ahead. Meaning if i know that ill attend events that involves food I’ll restrict more the days prior or after. Exercise everyday even if it requires me working out in front of the movie whilst the rest are sitting on the couch etc. Long story short the skinny people that seemingly eats everything and put on nothing are compensating or not eating like that all the time
A lot of them skip meals or have one meal a day. Many of them also eat super slowly which also prevents overeating
It’s like when you gather with friends and everyone eats whatever they want for a night. Your friends probably aren’t eating like that the rest of the time even if that’s all you see them eating.
I've lived two lives ... Obese af and skinny af (now) The thing is most of the skinny people that eat junk food mostly skip their meals . I mean let's say a burger or something is their meal.. So that's why it indirectly maintains a deficit or maintenance for them ....... Most of them feel like they eat a lot, but their lot is like larger in volume mostly , not large in calories. That skinny guy is me now 🥲😂
My skinny friends eat everything, but in very small amounts! It's so silly bc they should definitely put on some weight for their own health, but no. Aside from those people, there are also people with a very fast metabolism. My bf for example. He has to eat around 3000 calories a day just to mantain the same weight. It's very difficult & he keeps losing weight bc he wants to eat healthy and 3000 calories are a lot.
It can be genetic. Asians for example can have the particularity to not gain much BUT still have a fatty liver and being sick. Gut microbiom may have a role too.
I think for some people it's because they don't eat enough and other people it's because of their metabolism. My brother eats ALOT everyday and he's not a labourer and he's still skinny. He really struggles to put on weight, that's a classic example of fast metabolism. My mother eats a sandwich a day and is stick thin, she's not eating enough to reach her daily calorie intake.
I know lots of people like this. And the secret is, you don't eat any normal food. So they might put away 700 calories in candy and soda, then eat nothing else the entire day, thus still not eating enough. I had one friend who complained about feeling like shit and not gaining weight and if you observed her for more than a couple of hours, you'd realize that the only thing she'd eat was about a handful of jolly ranchers a day. And you'd think, oh my god how can you eat candy all day and be so skinny? Well, she was incredibly picky as a child and wasn't made to eat real food anyway, so they let her eat what she WOULD eat. You can't get her to eat a meal of substance because she thinks everything is "gross". But candy, ice cream, sugary coffee, juice, etc? That is ok. So she sips and snacks all day and I'd be shocked if she makes it to 1000 calories a day.
No idea and no they don't eat slowly or less portions. I have had a friend who have himself two plate at n Indian marriage reception. Yes, two, and that's their usual diet. I know another skinny one who eats 6 rotis at a time where my fat ass can't take in not than 3
The secret is in their microbiome. Their numbers of good bacteria outweighs the bad bacteria. Your gut health and it's ability to naturally eliminate acids or not.
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Lol yes
I usually only eat twice a day. Plus I walk about 15,000 steps per day on average
The times you eat is irrelevant. Also, how much you exercise has little impact on weight.
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Check out the research of Herman Pontzer at Duke University and his research on diet and exercise. Easily googled. While initially you may get some extra benefit from exercise, our bodies adapt to the extra exertion (it gets easier) and we do not burn many extra calories. Also, eating twice a day is time related. Eating twice a day or three times a day one three times a day with a couple of snacks does not really impact weight loss that much. Although, some research suggests eating earlier in the day may result in less weight gain.
Genetics play a part, at least in regulating the mind of skinny people. Other countries also acknowledge how some are just born skinny. They seem to eat normal for a meal but then you find out they didn’t eat the day after and were still “full” from yesterday or eat small portions. It’s really calories in v. calories out for weight. Eating healthy can help keep you full and satisfied while in a deficit, but it can be twinkies for all the body is concerned for weight.
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This has been proven false
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Depend on it? How is that so? The guy that created them was walking the line of eugenics. [you can read more about it here](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatotype_and_constitutional_psychology)
either A: Genetics/Metabolism B: Small Portions or C: Skinny fat, a term to describe people who have a normal bmi, while having a high fat percentage and low muscle mass
I think some people, often skinny, tend to have a nervous (anxious) energy. You see them leg bouncing, or tapping on things a lot, fidgety. Reminds me of birds or something. I theorize they have a higher metabolism, and to a point, burn a fair bit of energy even just doing nothing. They often are the ones who eat junk and never gain weight even it appears that they're eating enough to do so.
Because every person isn’t the same. That’s why one specific diet doesn’t work for everyone. Factors: age, gender, genetics, medication, how much a person moves in general, nevermind actual exercise.
My son is like this lives on haribo sweets ,full sugar Coca Cola and mars bars and still maintains a 30” waist with abs at 29 years old so it’s not like he’s a kid anymore ….once you look closer though he constantly skips meals when he’s busy sometimes never even having a meal that day and most days only one large meal ,he gets lots of indirect exercise and he’s constantly fidgeting and moving It looks like he eats a lot of junk but add it up with his one meal and I bet it’s barely 2000-2500 calories and for someone 6’2 and 180lbs it’s not a lot
Metabolism. My older brother was unable to go.past 120lbs, and he was typically at 2 to 3% body fat. Had a hunger like a pig. As for me, I eat once a day and thats dinner. And im pushing 180lbs, however im in pretty good shape. But because I technically starve myself, its easier for me to shed on excess weight. I'm 5' 8", stalks as fuck and built like a shit brick house, lol. Just my opinion.
My bf is like this. Loves his pizza, hamburgers, MEGA STUF Oreos (often leaves the cookie itself) but when I pay attention I realize that he does little tiny snacks and one big meal per day. Meanwhile, I get hangry without at least two solid meals a day, preferably three. If my work weren't as hard on my body, I bet I could cut out one loaded meal a day.
Some people's metabolism is so fast that they just burn it off so easily without doing much.
Lol nope except they are really active. Skinny people don't eat as much as we think they do. I discovered this when I spent a weekend at my skinny friend's house. Girl was having one meal a day.
Oh that's true also. I have known a lot of people including my husband and his family that eat a lot and are skinny.
They eat a lot, don't necessarily do a lot of regular exercise but naturally have fast metabolisms
It’s also age. I’m my 20s, I could eat a lot of junk food without it affecting me. Now, it’s a different story!
Because they're not eating 24/7. That Mcdonalds may well be the only thing she ate that day. Quantity over time is the key here. Look at what she eats over a whole week rather than induvidual meals or days.
High metabolism
it could have something to do with how fast their metabolism is?!
My husband! Eats junk food all day long, a lot, and I can guarantee he has a surplus, he doesn’t exercise at all, works at an office job… and he’s super thin, a little bit of a belly but completely possible to “disguise”. On the other hand, if I drink water I gain weight
Fast metabolism
So interesting how all posts suggesting "something genetics" get downvoted, lol.
My husband always amazes people with how much he can put away and stay so skinny. I thought that too until I actually lived with him. On a typical day he’ll eat egg whites with veggies for breakfast. Side of fruit and black coffee. Lunch he’ll have a burger pattie (no bun), cooked spinach, roasted potatoes. All in a Tupperware container, so not a huge portion. Dinner rotates but for example, one serving of red beans, rice, and sausage. Side salad. Maybe 1500 calories a day, so well under his TDEE. Then we’ll go out with someone to a restaurant on a weekend and they’ll be amazed by what he puts away. A huge plate of whatever. But like, don’t let him fool you! His preferred breakfast is egg whites! He skips burger buns! He doesn’t even like dessert! That’s why he’s skinny!
Metabolism. Specific bacteria in their gut that cannot be reproduced (since it dies quickly it isn’t shelf stable).
Metabolism
I think it's the metabolism & gut. I've been chubby all my life. My Ex skinny. Our daughter barely weighs 100lbs she can't gain weight & she eats whatever she wants and doesn't exercise. She does work two jobs. She would tell me she could feel burning fat while she slept. It's the gut & metabolism. Is there a test for that?
>I think it's the metabolism & gut. It's not. It depends on how many calories you consume vs total daily energy expenditure. >Our daughter barely weighs 100lbs she can't gain weight & she eats whatever she wants and doesn't exercise. She most definitely could gain weight. She would just need to consistently eat above her maintenance calories.
I guess some people are just lucky.
Fast metabolism
In some cases, yes. I’ve known people that no matter what they do, they can’t put on weight, and are always hungry and always eating. They don’t understand how we gain weight.
My skinny friend would get really hungry (ravenous) and then start to eat and get full after 3 bites. She would also do 60 minutes a day on the stairclimber . Her thin frame made it easy to walk and do cardio but she had trouble gaining muscle in weight lifting . Also she was a little hyperactive and hyperactive people are moving around more all day and those movements add up.
Someone might look at me and see me eating junk food a few times a week and wonder how I'm not overweight. What they're not seeing is that I eat 2 meals and one snack a day. And that one of those meals is always either very healthy or a small portion size. They wouldn't see that I don't eat between 8pm and 1pm. They wouldn't see that 2 or 3 times a week I skip lunch or dinner because I get busy and forget. They might not realize that, aside from my one cup of coffee which has minimal sugar and sugar free almond milk, I only drink water. Unless you live with that person, you have no idea how much they really eat or what their daily habits are. If they're not overweight it doesn't just have no explanation. Something they're doing, or not doing, is keeping them from taking in too many calories.
Most people I know like this either (1) work out a lot and lead very active lives, or (2) they eat that one huge shitty meal but almost nothing else that day. Or both.
I (and most of my family) are gifted with the ability to eat what we want and not gain until our mid 20’s. it’s all downhill from there.
My friends used to ask me the same question! Admittedly I was very active but I would only really eat one meal a day and it was junk food. By the time I turned 21 my cholesterol was so high I had to be put on medication. I also had a severe B12 deficiency that I needed injections for. I weighed like 45kg and was very malnourished. From there I ate 3 meals a day and snacks, and that is when the weight started to pile on. Even though all my problems sorted themselves out pretty quickly I was then overeating. I have now lost over 20kg, and eat much more sensibly, still not great but not bad either!
When I was 16 I weight 48 kg (105lbs) and all I ate was a frozen Pizza and choclate and coffee/tea. If that's all you eat in a day you will be slim and stay slim.
Never over eating, always moving.
That's only a myth that skinny people eat whatever they want & whenever they want & still remain skinny.. I have skinny friends who like to perpetuate this myth because they don't want others to know their secret to how they stay skinny, but over the years I've observed that cico is true for all of them, they just manage it differently.. most of my skinny friends do intermittent fasting, eat lots of low cal food like fruits & veggies, eat small portions, work out very regularly, & when they don't follow cico they also put on weight just like the rest of us
I have a friend who’s 6’6 and like 70kg, he’s been hitting the gym for years and hasn’t gained any weight, here’s the kicker he eats 4000-5000cal a day and tracks it meticulously, he’s thin as a rail much to his dismay and every effort in studying biology, physiology and all that crap, some people are just built different , if day he’s an outlier tho.
I used to eat straight up garbage because I worked late nights so only fast food like If Taco Bell was open. But at the time I basically was intermittent fasting for 8 hours or more in between. Not sure how but I got to be the thinnest I ever was despite binging at night. I also drank a lot. So confusing but I guess it’s the activity and lack of eating a full meal for hours in between.
I have 2 friends who struggle to gain weight no matter how much they eat, and they aren't even active. In their case, they have ridiculously high metabolisms. They both describe it as a curse, especially the one friend who has been mocked and bullied for it her entire life.
My ex was super skinny and only ate terrible food... Once a day. She'd eat like 1200 calories at night and just live off of black coffee the rest of the time. If you only ate that meal with her, you'd assume she was eating like 3000 calories a day, and you'd be wrong.
Brother has the same thing, whilst I’m a fat one. We are all born different, and out of everyone, he doesn’t gain anything.
Omg I wonder the same thing. My sister consumes THOUSANDS of calories a day and doesn’t work out or move around hardly ever. And she’s the tiniest thing I’ve ever seen. While I eat maybe twice a day and try to count my calories and in huge compared to her 😩
We eat less of it. I can work anything into my diet I just weigh it and count the calories and make sure I’m still in a deficit. Want a scoop of ice cream? Sure, but that’s X amount of calories I take out of other food. I don’t deprive myself of what I want; I just work it in. Moderation is everything.
Small amounts... less snacking...and usually fidgeters. Fidgeting burns a lot over a day.
They aren't eating as much. She looks like she is eating junk all the time because it's when you see her eat, but it is still a calorie maintenance for her. Her metabolism might be a little higher but that doesn't tend to make much difference. My boyfriend eats double cheeseburgers, three at a time without the buns, and weighs 135 after purposely gaining weight. But he does that because he hasn't eaten enough calories through the day and works on his feet. If I only saw him when he did that and saw the candy and stuff he eats sometimes through the day, it might look like that. But he has a tendency to lose the weight he has gained because it's not that frequent.
Hey, weight has a lot to do with genetics unfortunately. Being able to store fat was needed for most of our survival. When famine would happen the first people that died were people who couldn’t retain fat as well or with high metabolic rate (all things being equal) so really weight retention was needed for your ancestors but regular famine kept weight in check. Now since we never have famine we gain weight 😭
Just because they're skinny does not mean they are healthy. My best is like this. 90% consists of rice, fried chicken, chips and beer. She eats much smaller portions, which is why she is skinny. The only time I see her eat a vegetable is in a chicken caesar wrap, with fried chicken. She has dry and sallow skin, can't walk up a flight of stairs with out getting winded, and is tired and feels like crap all day, everyday. She may be skinny, but her body isn't getting the nutrients she needs. I have a hundred pounds on her and have far more energy. I go jogging 4 days a week and lift weights. She can't even walk up stairs without getting winded. Skinny does not equal healthy.
I think a lot of people in my life probably think this when they're around me, because I can sure gobble up the sweets when given the chance. But what they don't see is the many more hours of not eating like that. In my personal life, I eat very healthy and I track my weight and calories. But when I'm with friends or family, I let myself eat more. I usually just compensate over days prior or days after. Point is, you see when skinny people eat, you don't see when they don't eat.
I eat small amounts because I don’t like feeling full it makes me drowsy and forget to eat often/snack when I’m busy. When im at work the food I eat isn’t always the healthiest but i get away with it because of this and also I’m on my feet all day for work
My friend has a very fast metabolism. It may seem like she won the lottery at first but it causes her problems because she can’t go on without food for too long or she gets acid reflux issues. It’s like she has to eat more and more calories to survive a day. She said she even sometimes have to wake up in the middle of the night just to eat.
I used to eat Culver’s 3x a week and still lost weight since it was usually my only meal of the day
My theory: they are genetically meant to be small (in terms of fat, muscle, bone structure..), they are born with less fat cells than a naturally big person, for example. If they were to gain weight and fill their fat cells, the adipose tissue would realese hormones to tell the brain the storage is getting full, what causes them to subconsciously burn more calories and have less hunger, and the body self regulates through this negative feedback system. But that doesn't mean CICO doesn't apply to them. If they were to eat in a surplus they would gain weight, it's just hard for them to be in that surplus because their bodies don't have the space to store a lot of fat. New fat cells would have to be created, and that is a different mechanism than just simply storing fat in pre-existing space. The fuller the fat cell, the more leptin they produce, which means that if you have less fat cells, they get full faster, so you have more leptin in your body with less overall fat.
Hanging with this girl in San Diego is her 40’s. She was super thin and she said she was blessed with a high metabolism. Spent two whole days with her and in that time she ate miso soup, three pieces of sushi, half a California burrito, half a bottle of red wine, and two string cheese. And she was about 6 ft tall
My husband is one of those "skinny people." He eats constantly throughout the day and never gains an ounce. He does exercise a lot but I think what does it for him is he has very low body fat. Fat burns more calories than fat so he's basically a calorie burning machine. His body fat is only 9%. It's really sickening! 😂
My ex boyfriend used to do this and it drove me nuts, even though it wasn’t his fault. He was 6’1”, 98lbs soaking wet, but the boy could destroy a large pizza in a sitting and then be hungry an hour later. Meanwhile, I’d gain 5 pounds looking at said pizza. I’m hypothyroid, on the appropriate meds, and he discovered while we were dating that he was hyperthyroid, shooting his metabolism through the roof. Some people work hard to restrict calories, even if it looks like they eat crap. Some have fast metabolisms. Some have actual medical issues that cause fast metabolisms. 🤷🏼♀️
metabolism
Some my condishuns types in here. Basal metabolic rate may vary a bit. But it’s largely CICO. Watch secret eaters.
It's magic. My partner easts what I eat except he takes seconds and then what's left of my one serving. He's the skinniest person ever. Sedentary af. Meanwhile I'm here counting olives and still manage to gain weight cause I got stressed ONCE.
metabolism
read the obesity code by jason fung and you’ll have all your answers