I have a "naturally thin" friend as well, I think everyone does! But she can sit and eat cheetos all day and drink alcohol like a fish and she basically fluctuates around 5 lbs.
If only we could all be so lucky!
the thing i did find interesting about this doc. is when the showed the children, asked if they were all full, and majority said yes. then they handed then a plate of treats and the ones that were full still ate, just because it was there while others didn't because they just weren't full.
they stated that even at an early age people will continue to eat even though they are full just because the food looks nice.
i think this is interesting, that something like this is shown even at such a young age.
yet my brother is like this, but he is super active, so he's nice and healthy looking.
I just like how the body works!
I was a model at one time and very skinny.
I was constantly hungry. The hunger never went away.
But I had a balanced diet.
There are a lot of thin people out there that are hungry most of the time.
They put up with it to stay slim.
It is better to be 10 pounds overweight than deal with hunger all the time.
Of course, you might have to watch the calories every day.
I started losing weight when i started eating everything and i think i eat a lot but it is in my head. When normal people eat when then are hungry and stop when they are full, then their metabolism is fine and they burn the calories like my mums 4 fried eggs meal and tiny waist size. When people like me try to starve myself and stay hungry, I mess up my metabolism, my body goes into craving so my next meal makes up for all the previous one and it goes stored as fat. On top of this i feel depressed and eat out of emotion. Normal people don't do that. Also normal people tend to be more energetic or so it seemed to me. I used to sleep after lunch coz i ate too much, mum got on with gardening, no wonder she can eat so much!
I was slim until I hit my 40s. The main reason I gained weight was that I stopped working out due to a three hour a day commute. I firmly believe that as long as you get plenty of exercise you can MAINTAIN your weight. However, having said that I think once you are heavy you have to watch what you eat and also exercise regularly. Once the fat cells are in your body they will always be there and fight to regain the fat that you lose. I don't think any of us in here are "naturally skinny" or we wouldn't have gained the weight. Don't get me started on what happens to your body after menopause, cause it's absolutely maddening.
My husband has never been heavy. He would say that he eats whatever he wants, but what he wants is always healthy food. He wouldn't eat a french fry or fried foods if you held a gun to his head. He never continues to eat past the time he is full, no matter how much food is still on the plate. I know he doesn't have a clue as to how hard is it for me to lose weight. He will say things like just don't put the food in your mouth and you will lose. We all know that's true, but there's so much more to it than that. The mental part is what is hardest of all to overcome.
The video did touch one point I had not heard before that people can potentially become fatter due to viral infection. In one group tested 20% had this virus.
Wait... what!!??!!
Quote:
The virus, known as AD-36, infects the lungs then whisks around the body, forcing fat cells to multiply and also causing sore throats.
"When this virus goes to fat tissue it replicates, making more copies of itself and in the process increases the number of new fat cells, which may explain why the fat tissue expands and why people get fat when they are infected with this virus," Dhurandhar said. In one test, a third of obese people had the rare and highly contagious virus compared to just 11 percent of thinner people. Weight gain can last three months until the body has built up resistance to the bug.
Whoa and there's a bacterial difference too??!!
Quote:
The study of the effect of infectious agents on metabolism is still in its early stages. Gut flora has been shown to differ between lean and obese humans. There is an indication that gut flora in obese and lean individuals can affect the metabolic potential. This apparent alteration of the metabolic potential is believed to confer a greater capacity to harvest energy contributing to obesity. Whether these differences are the direct cause or the result of obesity has yet to be determined unequivocally.[1]
At least there is research going on. But what does it mean? Should we get tested? What can and should we do about it?
At least there is research going on. But what does it mean? Should we get tested? What can and should we do about it?
I don't believe there is a test available, at least not to the general public (and even if you were able to get into a research study, the results aren't always shared with the test subjects).
Obesity research is still pretty much it's infancy. It's just now starting to look at the differences between obese and nonobese - and the differences between various types of obesity.
At this point much of the research is interesting, but of very limited value to most of us. Trial and error, is still what most of us are left with.
What the video did was reinforce what I have thankfully truly learned from this site (I knew it intellectually before 3FC, but know I /know/ it...):
There are likely often so many different factors as to why some people struggle with overweight and obesity that it's not possible to just boil it down to lifestyle and an input/output ratio, and it's incredibly unfair to people to just make it sound like they're defective and lacking willpower because they're not at what a chart says is their ideal weight... at the same time, it's not always a sign that someone is super on top of their health just because they do fit that ideal -- they could just be a person in the video that literally feels ill when they try to eat more than a limited amount.
I know this is old, but I thought it could use a bump.
In my weight loss over the past 1+ year I have learned a few things that pertain to this thread.
1. Some people have good genes.
2. Some people eat their feelings but have the potential to be thin (me)
3. People CAN teach themselves to not eat their feelings (I'm working on it)
4. Thin people have problems too.
5. As much as we do it, comparing ourselves and our bodies to other people will get us nowhere. It is much more productive to be inspired by someone's hard work and dedication to health than it is to be jealous of a genetically thin person (working on this as well).
There are as many kinds of "thin people" as there are "fat people".
It's amazing to me how many people try to pidgeon-hole all fat people, and all thin people into a homogenous group, when there's ample evidence to the contrary. There are many different types, degrees and causes of obesity, and there are many different types, degrees and causes of thinness.
I think the metabolism research is fascinating, but some of the most startling research results are often down-played because it's seen as "giving people excuses," (which to me is a silly argument, excuses don't find people - people find excuses. Most people use information appropriately - simply as information. And the people who want excuses, will find or invent one with no regard whatsover to the truth).
Some of the setpoint theory was developed in light of surprising research that found it can be as difficult to put weight on people as it is to lose it.
It's not isolated research. There've been several very similar experiments, with similar results.
Essentially, these experiments took a group of thin to average weight people and tried to make them gain weight. Populations were as diverse as prison inmates, and college students and people in the military. (The test populations do tend to be biased towards younger male subjects. It would be nice to know if these results would be replicated in asubject group more diverse in age and gender).
Even with huge amounts of extra calories, the subjects didn't gain nearly as much weight, or in the pattern that was epected. A large number gained no weight at all. Most didn't gain nearly as much as the extra calorie level would have predicted, and when the studies were over, most of the men lost the weight rapidly, usually without conscious effort.
Interesting stuff, but what does it prove?
Not a heck of a lot, especially when all the rest of the weight loss research is taken into account. The only simple statement that can be made with any truth is that "It's complicated." There are as many ways to become fat (and become less fat) as there are ways to become thin (and become less thin).
It's human nature (and our cultue as well) to want to simplify truths, and often that means oversimplifying them to the point that a whole lot of truth is being lost in the simplification process.
We have to stop treating obesity as a one-size-fits-all problem with a one-size-fits-all solution. There's ample evidence that doing so doesn't work. It's like trying to find a single medication for all headaches, whether they be caused by migraines, stress, hangover, cold, flu, sinus infection, meningitis, head injury or cancer.
Excess body fat is a symptom, not a single disorder. And I don't think we'll make really good strides in the obesity treatment until the individual variables are more closely examined, and better understood.
Until that happens though, we're all mostly left with an experiment of one, and we have to be both scientist and lab rat, and as a result we can't avoid observer bias (we see what we expect to see, and what seems true isn't always what is true).
As always. We need to get her on Oprah before the show goes off the air! Inject some common sense into the usual rediculous crap they have on that show.
/rant
I remember watching a dietary special episode of Oprah. There was a really interesting guy talking about how fat isn't bad, the importance of renewable farming, buying from local farmers markets ... etc ... he was quickly shuffled off and Alycia Silverstone was brought on and she talked about how she had become a vegan and how much energy she had now. Her hair, nails, and skin were all much healthier which she and Oprah attributed to her new vegan diet. They touched on her old meat diet which consisted primarily of donuts and cheeseburgers. Not surprisingly it was meat that was getting the bad rap. Spent a lot of time with Alycia ... I think she even wrote a book. Please ... .
There was a really interesting guy talking about how fat isn't bad, the importance of renewable farming, buying from local farmers markets
In case you're interested, that guy is Michael Pollen and he's written several books: The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, Food Rules(I think there's one more, but I can't remember.) I highly recommend them all, he offers tremendous insight into the environmental and nutritional impacts of factory farming and I personally find it fascinating and it has greatly influenced my choices at the market.
JohnP and Kaplods I always look forward to posts from both of you I really appreciate all of your contributions because I always learn something new
In case you're interested, that guy is Michael Pollen and he's written several books: The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, Food Rules(I think there's one more, but I can't remember.) I highly recommend them all, he offers tremendous insight into the environmental and nutritional impacts of factory farming and I personally find it fascinating and it has greatly influenced my choices at the market.
JohnP and Kaplods I always look forward to posts from both of you I really appreciate all of your contributions because I always learn something new
If you like my posts you should know that most of my knowledge on this subject comes from having read most of Lyle Mcdonald's site (free), Alan Aragon's research review ($10 a month), and from Martin Berkhan's blog leangains. What all three of these guys have in common is science backed by years of field experience.
As always. We need to get her on Oprah before the show goes off the air! Inject some common sense into the usual rediculous crap they have on that show.
/rant
I remember watching a dietary special episode of Oprah. There was a really interesting guy talking about how fat isn't bad, the importance of renewable farming, buying from local farmers markets ... etc ... he was quickly shuffled off and Alycia Silverstone was brought on and she talked about how she had become a vegan and how much energy she had now. Her hair, nails, and skin were all much healthier which she and Oprah attributed to her new vegan diet. They touched on her old meat diet which consisted primarily of donuts and cheeseburgers. Not surprisingly it was meat that was getting the bad rap. Spent a lot of time with Alycia ... I think she even wrote a book. Please ... .
I know that is your perception on the episode which I didn't see but a vegan diet is very sustainable and can be very 'green' which is why I imagine the two were coupled on a single episode.
... .
I really appreciate all of your contributions because I always learn something new
