The Things WE Don't Get About Thin People
 

I have been reading Radiojane's thread "The Things The Thin Folks Don't Quite Get" and definitely had "Oh Yea!" moments reading it! Thanks for starting it, Radiojane.

But it occurred to me, while reading it, that perhaps we could also LEARN from them, just as they can learn from us.

So just exactly WHY are thin people thin? Lots of folks think it's just in their genetic makeup. With some possible exceptions, I respectfully disagree.

I think it's because they don't have the "love, hate" relationship with food that many of us do. For them, food is fuel. Period. Do they enjoy a good meal? Of course they do! Probably more than most of us do. Because when they eat something *fattening* they don't experience guilt. They eat it because at that moment in time it's what they wanted. Period. They may not want that particular food again in weeks, or months.

Why? Because they know they can have it again any time they want.

Ever watched thin people eat? Again, with some exceptions, they don't gobble it down. They eat it slowly. They really TASTE it. Many times, they leave food on their plate. Why? Because they are really in tune with their hunger signals. They know when to stop. Chronic dieting, OTOH, can lead to people no longer being able to distinguish when they are truly full.

I see a lot of people writing "they can eat whatever they want and as much as they want" without gaining weight. Well, that's a true statement. That is EXACTLY what they are doing. The key, however, is this - they do eat as much as they want....and no more. THEY KNOW WHEN TO STOP.

I also see people writing "they eat a LOT more than I do!" Well, if you're on a diet, that's probably a true statement as well. But I rather doubt that they have always eaten more than you have when you WEREN'T dieting. Their eating is consistent. Long-term chronic dieters have taken part in more of a "feast or famine" type of eating. Over the course of months, years, and decades, this results in the overweight person actually having consumed a LOT more calories during that time.

I also believe that thin people are just more active. I know that I am a LOT more active when I'm a normal weight. Even losing just a few pounds gives me more energy. I've seen others here make that same statement.

I challenge you to closely observe your thin friends and relatives when they eat. If you can get them to honestly open up to you about their eating habits, you'll discover that they generally only eat when they are sufficiently hungry. Unfortunately, so many thin people who have overweight friends like to lord it over them and you'll often hear them say things like "I eat ALL THE TIME and I never gain weight" or other similar lines - but that's just not true. They honestly don't KNOW how much they eat. They just don't think about it that much. So you will learn more about their TRUE eating habits by observing them over a period of time - preferably without them realizing it.

Last year I stayed with my BFF for a week. She has always been skinny. She rarely ate! I was starving, and she would not be hungry at all. I would be eating every 2 hours (small snacks) and she would just eat the standard 3 meals. Luckily she's my BFF since it would have been awkward going to and from the fridge so much at anyone ese's house. According to her though "shes eats sooo much". It's quite interesting when you pay attention to it.

I agree with everything you've said.

Something I'd like to add is that one of my skinny friends was ULTRA skinny for so many years because she was such a picky eater. If it looked "gross" she wouldn't eat it. Then she moved in with her boyfriend at the time, now husband, and he began introducing her to fattening foods. To quote Bender from Futurama she basically said "Why didn't anyone tell me tasty foods tasted so good?" She was super skinny because she wouldn't eat things that didn't look appetizing, she gained weight (But is still skinny) after discovering that just because it looks gross doesn't mean it tastes gross.

Yup, that's pretty much how thin people eat (naturally), and it's exactly how I ate when I was naturally thin myself before I ruined it all with my first diet. I used to eat fast food/junk food daily and never knew what a calorie was nor did I care to find out, and I tipped the scales at approx. 106lbs and never fluctuated in weight either way. I only knew what I weighed because of the Dr., not because I cared, and I knew that I never fluctuated because I never had to buy new clothes as they always fit the same year after year.

Food was food and you couldn't have paid me to care about weight/calories/fats/carbs, etc. I liked food as a naturally thin person; in fact, I quite loved it when I was hungry and eating it, and specific tastes, but it was not the center of my world because my body was well-fed and it had never experienced deprivation until I started dieting. Then, I started to bounce around the weight spectrum. Deciding to go on my first diet is my biggest regret.

If someone didn't know me when I was overweight and saw what I was eating when I was out at a restaurant, or at a get together, they'd probably think "How in the world is she not HUGE, she must have great genetics." What others see is only a snapshot of reality. I think we tend to fill in the blanks based on what we see instead of the entire picture.

The fact is that indulgences are made up for, and that's the case for people who haven't been overweight a day in their life. Some people naturally eat less in days following an indulgence, some purposefully do it. Not ALL thin people are unaware of their calorie intake, in fact I suspect there are many more aware than unaware. Either way, the person isn't gorging on every calorie laden food in sight every single day, and staying thin. Either they are active enough to offset the calories, or they are eating in a deficit at other times.

I think one of the worst assumptions is to think thin people are different, or special. They may have a different mindset, and a different way of looking at food than some of us, but it isn't something WE can't have, we just may really have to work at it. At least IMHO.

Granted there ARE special circumstances on both ends of the spectrum -- those random people with freakishly high metabolism, those random people with freakishly slow metabolisms who are super sensitive to sugars and whatnot. Those are NOT the people I'm talking about. I'm talking about just average people with no medical conditions or super gifted or cursed genetics.

When I started (over) I paid more attention to my boyfriend's eating habits. He works a very laborious job and he'll easily eat 1k calories just for lunch. On the weekends, if we're not doing much, he'll skip breakfast because he's not hungry, he might have a can of soup for lunch, and a hotdog with a single serving bag of chips...and he doesn't snack, at all.

While I agree with what you've said to some degree, I'll also say this. My ex-fiance lived off of energy drinks, soda, chips, snack cakes, and fast food. He was 6'5" and weighed 185, at his highest weight. He was not active at all. He sat on his butt all day in an office and when he got home, he would stuff his face and sit on his butt and play videogames. His weight could only be due to genetics.

An average day for him consisted of a poptart or sandwich for breakfast (Approximately 400). Lunch was usually Subway, Wendy's or Arby's (approximately 750-1000). Dinner was usually pizza, subway, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, or french fries (500-1200). Add in 3-4 energy drinks a day (approximately 800) and the soda (approximately 400). A normal day would be between 2500-3500 calories a day.

The BMR of someone of his size is around 2500 calories. While he may have been sedentary, he burned at least a little throughout the day just moving around. 2500-3500 a day maintaining is pretty much exactly what he'd need. Doesn't seem like he was genetically gifted at all, other than the fact he was a tall male, which I suppose one could argue is a gift LOL.

IA with LockItUp - approx 3000-3500 for a 6 foot sedentary male sounds about average for caloric intake, not at all indicative of a supermetabolism.

Likewise, as a formally naturally thin female of 5'3" when I think back to how I used to eat when I was thin that way, my calories came out to approx 2000-2500 daily and I was fairly sedentary often times taking naps right after downing a fast food meal.

While there may be some people who don't pay any attention to what they eat, my experience is most thin people are watching very closely what they eat.

An excellent point, perfectly stated.

I'm glad you concur! I'm able to maintain currently at between 2000 and 2500 depending on my activity level for the day. I definitely would not consider myself genetically gifted, in the metabolism department anway ;)

People obviously discuss their eating habits when I attend my weekly meetings. I often hear and even witness a lot of denial, delusions, and justifications when it comes to overeating. And I'm not being judgmental, as I've totally been there. It's still a personal struggle at times.

I had a lightbulb moment a while back when eating with the family. My sister-in-law, who was super-petite at the time, took maybe two bites of her dessert before putting the fork down and exclaiming that it was yummy but way too sweet for her. I remember feeling envious and thinking that nothing was ever too sweet for me, in fact one of my issues had been that I couldn't get enough. Heck, when I was a kid I used to sneak spoonfuls of white sugar directly out of the sugar bowl! :o I'd yet to realize that something I personally had to do was conquer my sugar addiction by severely limiting it.

I'm hoping to turn into a person that can take or leave food without issue. I've spent the last year carefully considering everything I eat, teaching myself that it's ok to not eat the whole serving, the whole plate, the whole container. I don't have to eat what's in front of me just because it's there, and the biggest, most calorie-laden items on the menu aren't necessarily the best. I also need to learn not to feel guilty over an occasional indulgence. It's about knowing what's reasonable and when to say when.

Everyone's a little different with that. Some people do eat as much as they want without gaining and ounce, but more often than not, they don't likely want nearly as much as someone like me. ;)

Most of my friends are very thin. One is as obsessed with watching calories as I am when I am trying to lose weight. In other words she constantly works at it. And I know that she weighs herself everyday. Not that I haven't seen he eat junky foods. But I have never seen her polish off a plate of fries or even eat a whole hamburger in one sitting. The other friend has an approach I hope to master when I lose the weight. She doesn't always eat the best foods. But she usually always eats healthy foods. She will drink a beer, but usually only after we go on a long run together. And I've seen her eat french fries. But usually only a few bites. And usually when I see her eat it's salad and grilled lean proteins. So while she doesn't seem to obsess about calories, she definately make a conscience effort to keep things in balance.

i think sometimes the key here (and i'm talking about so called "naturally thin" people who haven't been on a diet) is the amount of food they ingest, we all hear about how they only take a few bites and call it done.

i have come to realize that it takes a LOT to make me feel full which is why i've chosen foods like non fat greek yogurt, fruit, veggies, HUGE salads consisting mostly of mixed lettuces and veggies...for my "diet" plan. i just do not get full as fast as the average person, even eating slowly and deliberately and that pretty much sucks. i would love to feel fuller faster on lesser amounts of food. This observance is also personal, having a best friend that is naturally slender.

Great idea for a thread!

My husband, who I have known since he was a teenager, is a naturally thin person. He works a very physical job, but there has been times over the years where he is out of work, or he takes on more of a management position, and yet his weight stays consistent.

One thing I've noticed, and discussed with him, as I've started looking at my own attitude towards food, is that he doesn't have the same emotional attachment to it I do. When I'm stressed the first impulse I have to is to seek out comfort food, that doesn't even occur to him.

He loves food of any kind (I'm a professional cook and he's a very happy man for it) but he doesn't shy away from high caloric foods at all. He's known for his donut obsession. But he doesn't feel guilty about them, he just decided somewhere along the lines that he really likes them and they are worth the indulgence.

I also realized a few years back that I was waiting for any excuse to eat. It's breakfast that means I can eat! Lunch time; well that's the whole point of the noon hour isn't it? It seemed so strange to me that he wasn't hungry when he woke up so he didn't eat, or if I made a big breakfast for us he often wouldn't eat until dinner.

My husband is thin (way thinner when we met, but still thin for his frame). I watch him eat. He literally feeds half his food to the dog, a little here & a little there while he is eating and gives her the plate when it is half empty. He also forgets to eat. He says it is from his time in the military where when they say it is time to eat, you eat. Other than that, you don't. He will be shaking and be like "what is wrong with me?... Oh I forgot to eat today!" I will never understand that. When he gets hungry it is like an emergency. He misses all the hunger cues until he is just ravenous and physically shaking.

He is thin because he eats an appropriate amount though. It all balances out.

My cousin is super skinny. She graduated high school at 98 lbs. No, she did not have an eating disorder and would in fact eat way more than I at any given time. She used to make cakes, rice krispy candy, caramel popcorn, and tons of other sweets daily that we'd both sit around and snack on. When she got pregnant, she went up to 120, but as soon as the baby popped out, she was back down to 98 lbs. (He was a big baby when born too LOL )

She made me sick just to look at her. (Although when pregnant, it was like a bean pole with a basketball taped to the middle LOL ) I hated going shopping with her for at that time she was a size 0!!!

Come to find out.... She has a thyroid condition that makes her metabolism super fast and in turn has caused other hormonal health concerns. I envy her thinness, but I do not envy the cause of it. At one point she was so skinny she was trying everything she could to gain weight, most of which was very unhealthy. Three kids later, she's still a size 1 or 2. Her sister OTOH, well, she's in my boat. Hard for us both to lose and we both are heavy set.

All my other thin friends are thin exactly for the reasons the OP said; they eat right, splurge occasionally, and exercise naturally. They really don't look at food like I do, or did. My relationship with food is changing dramatically every day. :) I eat when hungry and focus on other things in life when not. They occasionally have the ice cream binge day or something, but it's not all the time and it's fairly balanced.

And some like an ex boyfriend, just have a killer metabolism that lets him eat donuts and cake and red bull all day and not gain a thing. Meh

My daughter is one of the slim people I watch with facination. A little background: She's only 7 and we've managed to protect her thusfar in and out of the home from negative messeges. Even though I'm trying to lose weight - I've never allowed her to see/hear a negative body image/hate talk and have always stressed energy/health/etc rather than fat/thin. When I'm fasting (I practice IF as part of my plan) I'll just say I'm not hungry at the moment or whatever. We homeschool so she doesn't get it from that end. So, as much as one can be 'immune' to the diet culture, she is at this point.

Anyway, she is naturally slim with no food issues at all. I love it! I observe her and she truly only eats when she's hungry and stops when she's satisfied. Another thing she says to me if I ask her if she's hungry (if she hasn't eaten breakfast yet or something) is that she knows she's hungry because her "belly is rumbling". As in, that's her personal cue that signals she'd like to eat. For me, the "belly rumbling" point is like OH NO I'M STARVING lol. In other words, she is obviously okay with feeling slight hunger during an activity or whatever without it signaling a major emergency stop-everything-eat-now reaction.

The other thing is that she doesn't stick to a schedule. She eats when she wants, stops when she's done. One day she won't eat enough to keep a bird alive, the next day she will eat like a truck driver -- but it evens out and it's all self-regulated. Some days she doesn't want breakfast, some days she eats a big breakfast. Things like that. She also very often puts a half-eaten bowl or plate of something in the fridge for later, or will offer the rest of her portion to dh.

She also doesn't have any emotional weirdness or attachment to food. She doesn't have any "should or shouldn'ts" in her world. The other day she ate an ice cream sandwich for breakfast....but then the kid didn't ask for anything to eat until like 2pm. She simply wasn't hungry until then. If that were me, I would have eaten the ice cream sandwich, plus 3 more, then hated myself and guilted myself into oblivion...then thought I'd blown the day, berated myself some more for making an unhealthy choice, then swore to eat salad all day to "make up for it". Whereas, she just.... asked for an ice cream sandwich...ate one... didn't eat again until later and had something healthier. I also notice if my daughter indulges.... let's say she goes to a birthday party and has cake/ice cream etc she will eat very little the next day until mid-afternoon or later. Again, all self-regulated and without any judgment/input from me either way. I have always told her I trust her to eat when she feels hungry and stop when she feels satisfied and I will provide healthy/tasty food.

It's really facinating to watch I tell ya lol

ETA: In fact, one of the reasons I explored intermittent fasting again is because I ate that way at my slimmest and I observed that my daughter and slim best friend unknowingly do sort of versions of that.

My best friend, same thing. She's been slim her whole life and I've observed very similar behaviors to my daughter.

I was watching an interview with Barry Manilow and the interviewer turned the conversation toward his weight (he's super slim and always has been) and she asked him how he stays so slim and he basically said he hates food :O like the only reason he eats is because he starts shaking and realizes he forgot to eat, he is just not into food AT ALL.
i'll never forget that!

I live with 2 naturally thin people. My husband and my mother in law.

Well, my mother in law has gained in the last decade, but no one would call her heavy and she was thin for 67 years, so ill call her a naturally thin person.

She has never, ever dieted in her life. But, she is very "busy". A can't sit still person. And, she will eat a ton (like a whole California Pizza by herself) but will follow it up the next day with eating a quarter portion for dinner. She will skip days of no eating because her stomach hurts. She will skip here and there and think nothing of it. But when she wants that full chocolate bar, she'll eat the whole bar. Her diet is atrocious actually, lots of sweetened fruit juices and sweetened yogurt, but overall she balances out. In her mind, if you eat too much, then you just don't eat. She says that is what we all should do.

My husband is another naturally thin person and more of a sedentary type, but he will have one cookie. One beer. One helping of anything yummy. He will want more (he says so) but he resists the temptation.

Also, he loves health foods and isn't drawn to fatty, not so nutritious foods. Put a huge salad or a kettle of lentils in front of him and he's in heaven. Put Mac and cheese or the like in front of him and he's not happy - and not just that it will make him fat, but he doesn't like the taste.

Just like with fat people are fat for various reasons, thin people are not all the same in how they stay thin.

I know quite a few people who if you go solely by what and how much they put in their mouths (and not just occasionally), should be much bigger than I but look like they could model. I also know people who put a great deal of discipline into what they eat and how they treat their bodies. I've learned a lot from both.

There is one lady that I work with who told me that when she "decided she wanted to maintain her figure" she knew she was going to have to give up on dessert. Now that's not unique, a lot of people forgo sweets, but it was the way she worded it. She DECIDED she was going to maintain her figure. So she works as hard as a lot of us do at her diet, she just never had to bounce back from obesity. I also have an aunt that's extremely conscious of her weight (and the weight of others - My two cousins were pretty glad when I was around because I took the heat off them). While she is disciplined as all get out, she also comes across as just as food obsessed as I was. She remembers every single event by what food was served. And she comfort eats, she just comforts herself with a Chai latte and a piece of dark chocolate, whereas I used to comfort myself with a family size penne rose.

My best friend has a gorgeous figure. She really shouldn't. She's a couch potato and I've seen her eat an entire large pizza by herself and then polish of a double big mac two hours later. Water never enters her system without having been used to make vodka or coffee. But she's naturally blessed... at least for a little while. I've met her family and eventually her habits will catch up with her. I know enough to know that she's a rarity; She has the same food dependency issues that I've always had, she just never packed on the extra 250 pounds. I still use her as a "don't" model.

In general though, what I have taken away from thin folk I've observed is that they have a "stop" signal. They have the control that I lacked to put the fork down even if there is something left in the bowl.

I find that I don't have count calories as obsessively as before, and maintain pretty easily because I honestly find most food either "gross" or "not worth it". I have developed a sort of food-phobia and will not eat anything with trans fat or HFCS. Granted, I could theoretically still eat a stick of butter, but I obviously don't. Eating mostly whole foods and being picky in general, it really limits my choices. I often get bored with eating. Before I lost the weight, I didn't eat frequently, but when I did, it was almost always very calorie dense.

Agree 100%
 

I agree 100% with every word. I've also had the experience of living with thin people who declare they can eat to their heart's content and never gain weight. When you're in such close quarters, you learn how these people actually eat. Without exception, I've found they eat a lot less than they let on (or believe). They may have a huge dinner, but "forget" to eat breakfast and lunch. They may order a gigantic plate of nachos at happy hour, but pick away at it and just end up having a few bites. Etc.

And this is just a pet peeve of mine, but I always bristle a little when people attribute their obesity to a slow metabolism. Deep down I believe that differences in metabolic rate play a much smaller role in fatness and thinness than commonly assumed. Neither obese people nor thin people can outsmart the first law of thermodynamics. I think it's "so easy" for some of us to gain weight because our bodies let us consume large quantities of food and our minds take great comfort in food. I can eat 4,000 cals per day without feeling uncomfortable in the slightest -- and enjoy every bite. The naturally thin people I know can't do this. Their bodies won't let them.

Freelance

Same here. I never feel full unless I've overeaten. I think this is where humans vary the most, not metabolic rate.

F.

As usual, Freelance, I agree with you 100%. I, too, could (and have) easily pack down 4,000 in a day and feel satisfied, but not overfull. My husband probably could, too, but if I really estimate the number of calories he eats per day, it's about 2500 or so (sometimes less). He's 6 ft, and about 180, and has a lot of muscle tone (never works out but gets a real laugh when he's asked, "So, how much do you work out?"). He NEVER snacks during the day. He'll have breakfast (sometimes big, sometimes just a roll & butter), skip lunch (doesn't feel like making it), and eat a nice-sized dinner. If we have dessert in the house, he'll eat it only if he happens to remember it is there or if I remind him. In short, he is not focused on food. I am. That's the biggest difference.

I totally agree with that. And it works in much the same way with *some* overweight people who say they barely eat anything when in reality they eat quite a lot yet they just don't realize it, or don't want to (there's a UK series called "Secret Eaters" that is about that very thing).

What is this word Full? It is not something I've ever personally experienced.

My husband, however, left a single pea on his plate last night. Honestly, one single pea. When I made some mocking comment about not being able to force that down, he responded that he was full. It is not something that I will ever understand, so I manage my weight by using math instead. The results are the same, but I'd give anything to have his thought process.

Exactly this. Even if I felt like I was going to burst, I could still fit more. It might be something else vs. what I was going to burst on, but seriously, there was no off/closed/overflow button that ever lit up for me.

Now that I am on a meal plan, I eat what I am "supposed" to and I am quite satisfied and sufficiently nourished, but I am never ever full.

I've asked some thin friends about this and their response was much like what 35X35 said about her daughter. They just feel in tune with their body and give it what it asks for. They don't eat because it's meal time. They don't eat something because it's there and it looks good. They don't eat certain things because they're healthy or avoid other things because they're unhealthy. They just have some intuition that guides them to do what is best for their body.

re:
 

It's hard for me to say, "thin people do x, and overweight people do y" based simply on what we observe.

Unless you're living with someone, I can't see how we can generalize about either based on a snapshot of what we see at a single moment in time.

If you saw me at a restaurant now, my appearance and what I had on my plate, would you have any idea of what my relationship with food and weight is? You might assume that I've always been this size, and always eaten a certain way.

We have no idea what happens behind closed doors.

Every individual has their own unique way that they maintain their body.

This was fascinating - thanks for sharing! I hope your daughter is able to retain this "dieting innocence" forever!

Thanks for sharing, everyone -- really eye-opening! I think we can learn a lot from observing naturally thin people and trying to incorporate some of their behaviors. This is a GREAT thread!!

I was slim all my life until later on in college.

The truth is, I just never thought about food in any way except as fuel and "oh, I'm hungry". That's it. There was nothing more to it.

I think sometimes we can try and overcomplicate how "thin/slim" people view food/their relationship. A lot of times, it's just the absence of any thought/relationship.

i wish they would come up with a "pill" or something to address WHY we (overweight and constantly working on it and issues with food) think about food the way we do.

Like..why do people like Barry Manilow or my husband or my "naturally" thin friend basically eat when they're hungry and stop when they're full? And someone like me would like to (most times, sometimes i actually am not hungry!) eat all day long? Why could i easily consume 4-5000 calories virtually every day? Why is my mindset like it is and most every day a form of discipline when it comes to my relationship with food? My mom is the same way. Why am i not easily satisfied with small portions? Why do i eat when i'm not hungry? It's like an internal drive, never mind the mental/emotional aspects of it all.... *sigh* :(

35x35 that was really interesting to read about your daughter.

My little one will be 2 in May and I've been watching to see what kind of a relationship she naturally has with food.

I really concentrate on having non-processed foods in the house and cook everything from scratch, but at the same time we have a take-out night once a week and she shares her father's love of donuts.

We hold back on saying anything that passes judgement on these less healthy foods and avoid praising her for eating the usual healthy fare we offer. We don't want to bog her down with our own emotional conflicts regarding food.

It's not unusual for her to take a few bites out of a donut and put the rest down on her table to eat at a later time. Despite the fact that the sweetest thing she usually has is fruit, she doesn't feel the need to devour the whole donut just because it's rarely available.

It's interesting to see that your daughter maintains her own healthy relationship with food at her age and hope mine will keep hers as well.

Totally! My husband is one of these 'special' folks - I've tracked his calories out of curiosity before and he eats 4000-7000 calories a DAY and is still 125-135 at 5'11". Since I live with him, it's hard for me to remember that not ALL thin people have freakishly high metabolisms - most of them just practice good eating habits without trying.

My entire life, my mom has been slim and I have been overweight, even as a young child. For years, I didn't understand and I often got mad at her because she was so "lucky" and I was so fat, but we ate the same things!

Then, a few years ago I started noticing that while yes, we DID eat the same things, we didn't eat the same amounts. Yes, she and I would both have 3 cokes a days, and 3 cups of coffee with sugar and milk, AND the entire king sized Hershey bar right before bed. And yes, we ate the same meals, because she cooked them all. BUT, while she and I were consuming the same amount of "junk" food, she was eating much less real food than I did. I would eat all three of my pancakes in the morning, she would pick at one of hers. I would eat my entire hamburger steak with extra gravy and sides, she would eat 1/4 of hers and no gravy. I was eating large amounts at meal time AND all the junk. She just ate (eats) all the junk.

She is 56 now and still maintaining 120lbs at 5'4", while I have been between 145-200 my entire adult life.

The little sub-American culture I'm a part of is very food oriented, and it's not healthy either. Like funeral potatoes? Omg. I freaking love that. Trouble is, one tablespoon is easily 200-300 calories. But they're so good I could eat half a pan or more by myself. Or fry sauce? I normally don't care for french fries unless there's fry sauce involved, in which case self control goes out the window. Donuts. Lots of donuts, cookies, brownies.
The thing I don't get is that despite being such a food oriented culture, and despite the fact that I eat so much less than the people around me, somehow I still manage to be the fatty.
Seriously, I sit in church and look around and think to myself, "I saw you eat three donuts yesterday and yet you are like a size 2." Or, "I swear you had three milkshakes last week and you look like that?!?! How? Do you gain weight?"
I don't understand. They eat so much, and exercise so little (yes, I know how little they exercise, we're so much into each other's business it's hard NOT to know each other's dieting and exercise habits).

I don't know anyone who really do eat massive amounts of food on a regular basis and are still skinny minnies. At least anyone who is over the age of 30.

Pretty much everyone I know does some type of exercise and watch what they eat.

I guess I don't see the need to model myself after a pre-pubescent boy who's still growing.

I'm "thin" now and have been for a decent amount of time. But I'm "nouveau thin". I don't think people who've been thin their entire life think about the fact that they're thin all that often. It just is. They don't weigh themselves everyday. They don't check to see if their pants are tighter on them or not.

The main difference between those who have been thin all their life and those who haven't is that those who've been thin all their life do not seek food to comfort themselves (they might seek out other things--it's not like being thin means your life is without flaw). They allow themselves the occasional treat or pigout without guilt. They don't associate eating "badly" with shame.

I think thin people are just in tune to their body and their hunger signals function correctly. It involves brain signals too- there was that one study they did on biggest loser a few seasons back, where it showed an obese person has to eat much more than a thin person for the satisfied area of their brain to light up.

That's why I've accepted I'm going to have to count calories forever and fake the hunger signals that I don't have. It took me awhile to accept that fact, but I'm finally okay with it!

One thing I don't get is how they leave food on their plate! I portion things out and eat it all after I measure it. I had a best friend who pretty much lived with us when I was younger, and she was okay leaving half eaten cheeseburgers and stuff, while I've ALWAYS not only finished my plate, but had seconds to boot!