Question about skinny people

[Rorschach]

Thread title made me giggle for some reason.

 

Oh and for the concern of this thread skinny=not fat. Meaning average=skinny (since I'm speaking comparative to me lulz)

 

Anyway I've gone through the majority of my young life as a bitter fat guy. Bitter because I was CONVINCED that I was fat because of genes, and skinny people were skinny because of genes. Now I never denied that I could be in shape if I took better care of myself, but I felt that I was doing the exact same amount of 'body maintenance' as all the skinny people out there, but I was just naturally inclined to be heavier, or at least require more work.

 

This was not a healthy way to think and I don't think like that anymore, I realized that no matter what other people do it's not my job to be bitter about what they do/don't do. And that I can only focus on how I take care of myself. Recently I've realized, that in a town of 30,000 people many of whom are skinny, there is not a whole lot of skinny people around when I go to the gym. Certainly not the 10,000 in town that I'd consider skinny.

 

So while I don't really hold any ill feelings anymore, I'm wondering just how many skinny people out there are skinny because of 'genes' or 'fast matabolism' and put in very little effort into taking care of themselves?

 

Oh and this isn't about fit vs not fit because I realize that just because somebody is skinny doesn't mean jack as far as health concerns go (and that I'm currently more healthy than a great deal of skinny people). I'm simply interested in weight wise, how many skinny people 'try' to be skinny.

[tman666]

Genetics play a big role in how your body composes itself based on what you feed it and how you use it. Some people can eat crap all day long, not work out very hard or at all, and still be skinny, naturally strong, naturally good runners, etc.

 

I think the main problem is that many people use their genetics as an excuse to not working out/changing their lifestyle habits to achieve the bodies they want. Of course, some people are more predisposed to certain shapes and athletic abilities, but it doesn't mean that it has to stay that way. In my opinion, the best thing to do is to try and run with what you got.

 

I'll never be a marathon runner type. However, I am good at sprinting and lifting heavy stuff. Does that mean that I never run for longer distances? No way, it just means that my primary focus is on improving things that I'm already sort of good at. Think about it this way. Before you did any training (like back in grade school) what were your physical strengths and weaknesses? Train your weaknesses, but capitalize on your strengths.

 

It's always possible to go against your genetic grain though. It just takes more work, and more time.

[SarahRose]

Sometimes I feel a little bitter about my lot in the metabolism department but what good does it do to be angry and bitter about it?

 

I used to have one of those super fast metabolisms and could eat anything and not gain. I had to watch that I didn't lose too much weight and be too thin. I was naturally a size 0.

 

As I got older my metabolism changed and I have a couple of health issues that make it hard to lose weight.

 

So here I am eating a very strict diet just to maintain and not gain.

 

My daughter comes here and stays with me for a month and eats the same diet I do plus she ate a bunch of soda and fast food. She was only 105lbs to start with and she lost 13lbs the month she stayed with me and I lost nothing. sigh.

 

Of course I am judged unfairly. People think I must be gobbling down big macs 247. No I am not 300 pounds or close to it but still people are very judgmental towards women and their weight.

 

Anyway I still have faith I can be a size 0 again.

[tman666]

Sometimes I feel a little bitter about my lot in the metabolism department but what good does it do to be angry and bitter about it?

 

I used to have one of those super fast metabolisms and could eat anything and not gain. I had to watch that I didn't lose too much weight and be too thin. I was naturally a size 0.

 

As I got older my metabolism changed and I have a couple of health issues that make it hard to lose weight.

 

So here I am eating a very strict diet just to maintain and not gain.

 

My daughter comes here and stays with me for a month and eats the same diet I do plus she ate a bunch of soda and fast food. She was only 105lbs to start with and she lost 13lbs the month she stayed with me and I lost nothing. sigh.

 

Of course I am judged unfairly. People think I must be gobbling down big macs 247. No I am not 300 pounds or close to it but still people are very judgmental towards women and their weight.

 

Anyway I still have faith I can be a size 0 again.

 

Are you exercising regularly? Consistent exercise if crucial to losing weight.

[Eeyore79]

I am slim, but I have to try fairly hard - I exercise, monitor my weight and cut down on food if I'm getting fatter. Out of all the slim people I know, only two remain slim without trying, and both are unattractively stick thin with no curves or body shape at all.

[zebracolors]

I am a small woman, maybe 5'3 or 5'4 and 130. But I'm not even sure if I can be called slim in build. I actually don't diet, but I do try to eat accordingly to my activity level.

 

I think I am skinny because of genetics. I don't work out except to walk around my neighborhood. I eat anything, just in smaller servings but my weight usually does not rollercoaster at all noticeably. But then I have no way of checking except to eyeball my body every week. I don't know what is going on with me.

 

To add: I guess I am not displeased with my body. I'm not stick thin, but I would not call myself plump either, somewhere in between which I have no idea how to classify. I am actually more self conscious about my facial appearance. I am incredibly..average. The kind of average that blends in to crowds, incl.all the signs of being age 34. I know I could improve on it by learning how to wear makeup but that just feels so foreign to me.

Edited April 16, 2010 by zebracolors

[SarahRose]

Are you exercising regularly? Consistent exercise if crucial to losing weight.

 

Of course. I weight train 4 days a week and walk more than an hour 7 days a week. I also dance and do yoga.

[USMCHokie]

For me, it's a combination of awesome chinaman genetics, very clean diet, and consistent physical training. I do alright.

[tman666]

Of course. I weight train 4 days a week and walk more than an hour 7 days a week. I also dance and do yoga.

 

That's great that you're already weight training.

 

What does your weight training look like?

[SarahRose]

Yeah I guess it ticks me off to walk down the street at lunch time and see all these skinny people gobbling down masses of food knowing I had a tiny plain chicken with lettuce tomato on whole grain bread sandwich for lunch.

 

Or the work birthday parties and everyone is gobbling a massive slice of cake and I can't have any as my blood sugar will drop low a couple hours of eating it giving me a massive headache.

 

I have my tiny bowl of oatmeal with stevia and a scoop of protein powder every morning and others are feasting on bacon and eggs and pancakes etc.

 

Yeah I am feeling sorry for myself right now.

[tman666]

"And Donny, Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian American, please."

 

50 Internetz to the person who can name the movie and character.

[mem11363]

For most skinny people genetics helps a LOT - until they turn 40. After that - if they aren't careful, they start to get bigger. Wife and I are both 47 - keeping fit and trim was pretty effortless until 40, after that we just had to pay more attention. We are both active - but we also do not buy foods we cannot resist at the groc store. Because as realists we both know that self control starts and ends in the groc store.

 

 

 

Thread title made me giggle for some reason.

 

Oh and for the concern of this thread skinny=not fat. Meaning average=skinny (since I'm speaking comparative to me lulz)

 

Anyway I've gone through the majority of my young life as a bitter fat guy. Bitter because I was CONVINCED that I was fat because of genes, and skinny people were skinny because of genes. Now I never denied that I could be in shape if I took better care of myself, but I felt that I was doing the exact same amount of 'body maintenance' as all the skinny people out there, but I was just naturally inclined to be heavier, or at least require more work.

 

This was not a healthy way to think and I don't think like that anymore, I realized that no matter what other people do it's not my job to be bitter about what they do/don't do. And that I can only focus on how I take care of myself. Recently I've realized, that in a town of 30,000 people many of whom are skinny, there is not a whole lot of skinny people around when I go to the gym. Certainly not the 10,000 in town that I'd consider skinny.

 

So while I don't really hold any ill feelings anymore, I'm wondering just how many skinny people out there are skinny because of 'genes' or 'fast matabolism' and put in very little effort into taking care of themselves?

 

Oh and this isn't about fit vs not fit because I realize that just because somebody is skinny doesn't mean jack as far as health concerns go (and that I'm currently more healthy than a great deal of skinny people). I'm simply interested in weight wise, how many skinny people 'try' to be skinny.

[SarahRose]

That's great that you're already weight training.

 

What does your weight training look like?

 

I was an amateur bodybuilder in my younger days so I do real weight training workouts not fluff.

 

My problem is that I have hypoglycemia and high cortisol levels.

[stillafool]

I have always been on the thin side. I guess I got it from my dad. He is tall and thin. I always wanted to be heavier when I was young. It hurt me when someone would say 'hey skinny' or call me a 'skinny bit-ch'. It is the equavilent to calling someone overweight 'fat' to their face. No one ever understands this and act as if thin people have no feelings at all.

[Rorschach]

Yeah I guess it ticks me off to walk down the street at lunch time and see all these skinny people gobbling down masses of food knowing I had a tiny plain chicken with lettuce tomato on whole grain bread sandwich for lunch.

 

Or the work birthday parties and everyone is gobbling a massive slice of cake and I can't have any as my blood sugar will drop low a couple hours of eating it giving me a massive headache.

 

I have my tiny bowl of oatmeal with stevia and a scoop of protein powder every morning and others are feasting on bacon and eggs and pancakes etc.

 

Yeah I am feeling sorry for myself right now.

 

Yeah I know that feeling. I don't even want to THINK about how big I would be if I actually liked the crap they try to peddle down at mcdonalds and other fast food joints. I didn't ever eat crap, I just ate too much good food. So I still eat basically the same things I did before, just in smaller amounts. So i don't get food jealousy often, though I do feel like throwing my granola bar wrappers at skinny people in burger king.

[cuppa]

I'm never skinny (I think when people call me tiny, it has to do with my height than skinny).

 

I will never have the slim look (and I don't want to). However, if I don't exercise and watch what I eat, I will look chubby or skinny fat.

 

Actually, I just posted this in my facebook a week ago. I got some from my mama (like my legs always slim even when I was living a very sedentary lifestyle and I am always proportional, in a sense, if I gained, I gained all over, if I lose, I lose all over) so I thank my mama for this .

 

However, everything else, it's definitely not from my mama, it's from hours I spent in the gym or my workouts. Maybe some girls can look like this by gene but I kind of doubt it because at some point, age will catch up with you too. I don't know, genetic can only carry you so far, everything else is hard work.

 

[Chocolat]

For me, it's a combination of awesome chinaman genetics, very clean diet, and consistent physical training. I do alright.

 

Ditto - minus the Chinaman genetics.

[txsilkysmoothe]

It is a constant battle to stay thin for me and with age it's become harder. Exercise is a must now.

People assume its easy for me and those who think I'm too thin (I'm not) will say things like "I'm going to buy you a burger" or "have you been eating?" They don't have a clue how hard it is to try to reach and maintain a goal.

 

I'm reminded of a show where one woman called a second woman "Skinny B***h and the second woman was flattered.

[stillafool]

So i don't get food jealousy often, though I do feel like throwing my granola bar wrappers at skinny people in burger king.

 

Why pick on the skinny people?

[Rorschach]

Why pick on the skinny people?

 

1. it's a joke

 

2. Not just skinny people, skinny people eating crap food who walk around with their girlfriends and their lack of weight problems while I'm over here alone and struggling eating salads.

[USMCHokie]

2. Not just skinny people, skinny people eating crap food who walk around with their girlfriends and their lack of weight problems while I'm over here alone and struggling eating salads.

 

 

I used to date this girl that was like this...kept proclaiming herself a "fat kid" even though she was sickly thin...and she was proud of it and wanted everyone to know this...drove me nuts...but then again, she has some problems in the head...

[EricaH329]

1. it's a joke

 

2. Not just skinny people, skinny people eating crap food who walk around with their girlfriends and their lack of weight problems while I'm over here alone and struggling eating salads.

 

I'm skinny, but I don't consider myself to be unhealthy looking.

 

I actually just had the same conversation the other day with a friend of mine. You say you are bitter because we can eat whatever we want and not have to worry about our weight? Wouldn't everyone if that was the case? I tend to think that the best foods are the most unhealthy. Even those that are watching their weight say that they wish they could eat those things without having to worry about their appearance afterwards.

 

After you hit a certain age though, everyone is in the same boat.

[Rorschach]

I'm skinny, but I don't consider myself to be unhealthy looking.

 

I actually just had the same conversation the other day with a friend of mine. You say you are bitter because we can eat whatever we want and not have to worry about our weight? Wouldn't everyone if that was the case? I tend to think that the best foods are the most unhealthy. Even those that are watching their weight say that they wish they could eat those things without having to worry about their appearance afterwards.

 

After you hit a certain age though, everyone is in the same boat.

 

I said I USED to be jealous. I don't care anymore. It's not my job to police what people eat, I get to eat what I like (more or less) and maintain a good weight with exercise. I was just really curious if people like this actually existed or if most 'skinny' people out there work hard to stay skinny.

 

And the whole 'after a certain age' thing is only half true, because technically speaking, I'll be in better shape than the skinny people since I will have already been living years with diet and exercise so when we all get middle aged I'll be winning

[EricaH329]

I said I USED to be jealous. I don't care anymore. It's not my job to police what people eat, I get to eat what I like (more or less) and maintain a good weight with exercise. I was just really curious if people like this actually existed or if most 'skinny' people out there work hard to stay skinny.

 

And the whole 'after a certain age' thing is only half true, because technically speaking, I'll be in better shape than the skinny people since I will have already been living years with diet and exercise so when we all get middle aged I'll be winning

 

Whether you used to be jealous or not, that's not the point I was trying to make. Can you honestly tell me that if you had the metabolism to eat whatever you want and not gain a pound, you wouldn't?

 

To answer your original question, I don't work out. But, I have a job that makes me run around for 12 hours a day. I know it doesn't compare to actually working out, but it's better than nothing.

 

And you're right, when we are older you will be in better shape. But we will all have to watch what we eat regardless of how healthy we are.

[stillafool]

Well I'm middle aged and I am still thin. I was looking forward to gaining weight during these years but it hasn't happened. I feel that as we age we look better with more weight on our bones.