How do people stay thin?

[HardkorSB]

I've wanted to lose weight for a while now, and I have tried nearly everything (except diet pills and starving, I have my standards). The weird thing is that quite a few people I know tend to stay thin despite regularly eating burger king and such. I know some of them do work out, but some (like my girlfriend) somehow can stay thin without working out and despite apparently eating a lot (hell, I'm in much worse shape than my girlfriend, yet I have an easier time walking, thank you Mini-Boot Camp). I gotta ask, when it comes to those people, what's their secret?

Work out. Get used to doing something physically exerting daily (or in the very least 3-4 times a week) and as you progress and gain more strength and stamina, try more challenging exercises.
I assume that by "I have tried nearly everything", you mean do something for 2-3 weeks and if it doesn't work, move on to the next one. Am I close? If so than I'm sorry to tell you but that's not enough.
I had a gut that was sticking out further than my chest so I worked out for a while (a long while) and now I have a six pack and all that nice looking stuff
Don't look at people with fast metabolism. It's genetic, either you have it or you don't. If you don't then you have to put actual effort to stay thin. Also, don't try to be thin, try to get in shape. Looking like a stick is just as bad as looking like a cow

 

[Appleshampoo]

I read somewhere that fatter people have faster metabolisms than those who are thin.

Also that 'natural metabolism' is pretty much bullshit and it's fuel'd by what you eat, not by how you were born or whatever.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

A great metabolism. I eat McDonalds at least a few times a week, and rarely eat healthy "It's been 5 weeks since my last vegetable..."

How do people do this? It's only been a few days since my last vegetable, and I feel terrible because my body isn't getting all of the nutrients it's expecting.

OT: It's about diet and exercise. But "diet" in this case doesn't mean a specific method of feeding yourself: it literally means "everything you eat or drink." A good diet is one that gets you a good balance of nutrients in portions of a reasonable size. Your level of activity (exercise) helps to determine what that "reasonable size" is. There's no magic bullet for this; it's simply a matter of having a healthy lifestyle. The link to 4chan's /fit/ board has some very good information, but more importantly, the link in the sticky at the top of the board, which can be found <link=http://www.liamrosen.com/fitness.html>here, gives you pretty much everything you will ever need to know about getting your weight and body composition to a healthy level. It's really not rocket science.

 

[Angry Camel]

I've nearly always had a trampoline in my backyard. Since a trampoline works every cell in your body, it can be quite slimming. Even if you don't work hard on it, it keeps you off your backside and it never seems to lose it's appeal. Also, I walk quite a lot.

Metabolism does have a lot to do with it. You can increase it a bit (burpees are good, I think) , but there's only so much you can do. Mine just happens to be stuck in overdrive.

 

[Vrach]

I've wanted to lose weight for a while now, and I have tried nearly everything (except diet pills and starving, I have my standards). The weird thing is that quite a few people I know tend to stay thin despite regularly eating burger king and such. I know some of them do work out, but some (like my girlfriend) somehow can stay thin without working out and despite apparently eating a lot (hell, I'm in much worse shape than my girlfriend, yet I have an easier time walking, thank you Mini-Boot Camp). I gotta ask, when it comes to those people, what's their secret?

Metabolism.

That said, if you wanna lose weight, you'll need to go on a diet. For a guy, eating between 1200 and 1600 kcal a day will get you losing weight, though no one's saying it's gonna be quick, you can easily go a month or so without seeing any effect (which doesn't mean it's not working).

Working out helps too. I don't really mean "get your ass to a gym and go weight lifting", just do something. A 30-45 minute walk each day is what I considered a minimum when I was on a diet. When I had a chance, I went for 2 hours of biking, right now, I do about an hour of swimming a day. You can also do some exercises at home like push ups, sit ups and such, though those will work more towards muscles and less towards weight loss (though considering you're likely into weight loss for looks, it'll be just as important).

 

[Eleima]

Ugh, so annoying when I see all these replies with just "metabolism" in them. It's not *just* metabolism, boys and girls, it's also about eating healthily and working out (that doesn't mean hardcore gym-hitting, incidentally). We cook all our meals from scratch, eat lots of fish, poultry and less red meat (to my despair, but hubby insists that we cut back, and he's got a point), loads of veggies (yes, that includes broccoli, sorry Republicans). I walk almost everywhere I go (I used to run also, but I have to cut back the last couple of months), and hubby bikes and has these work out sessions we can do at home.
A healthy lifestyle will go a looooong way.

 

[Powereaver]

killing myself in the gym and trying to eat a lot of fruit and vegetables (apples are god!).. the simple stuff work the best.. diet and exercise!

 

[MassiveGeek]

Well, metabolism is what works for me apparently. There must be something wrong with me though - I drink at least 3 coke cans a day and eat fast food at least two days a week, yet I only weigh about 103 pounds.
Being thin does not equal healthy though, I'm really not healthy, I get tired easily and I'm kind of dependent on my ADD meds and coke to just get through the day if I'm honest. Not that I'm complaining, I don't feel physically bad or anything of the like though.
Though really just cutting out sugary things and bad fats should help tremendously. A burger once in a while won't ruin everything but keep it out of your diet as much as possible.

 

[DanielDeFig]

Higher metabolism helps (I know, I have it). But only so much. I have learned a few other tricks from my parents (not that I need them, I've always been skinny), that I don't think are as well known as "exercise" and "don't eat junk food".

1. Eat varied and healthy food. This is more than just stopping to eat at McDonald's etc. It's going out to grocery stores and buying raw supplies for actually cooking your own food. Don't know how to cook? Take this lesson from my sister: "As long as you're literate, you can cook" (Buy a cookbook a varied set of recepies, or find a good site online).

2. Make sure you plan ahead for three full meals a day. Don't go around all day "snacking", don't wait until you're hungry before planning your next meal/cooking. I personally like the 8-1-8 schedule, with an obvious flexibility of an hour or two (To be honest, I've yet to properly master this scheduling of meals things, but I still don't go around snacking, it's just not part of my 'culture'). Don't be afraid to have one snack between meals, but by snack, I don't mean finishing a bag of chips/candy/candy bar. Eat a fruit, or if you had a light lunch, make a sandwich.

3.Finally I'm not sure how true this is, but I heard of a study where they realized during the study that ppl from the USA were taught since childhood to "finish the plate" irrelevant of whether they were full or not, while ppl from European countries weren't (Obviously a generalization of both sides, even if it was a study). Even if this study isn't true, I think it's still important to note the obvious: If you eat more after your body tells you that it doesn't need any more food for now, and you do this every time you eat, you are obviously going to gain some weight. My parents always told me to eat only as much as I wanted/could. Sure they would encourage me take "one more bite", if I was obviously trying to finish my food in a hurry to go and play, but I was never forced to eat. his is especially important if your'e actually going to follow the previous two advices. It's always better to cook too much than too little, but don't finish food just because there is food left over, make a box of "leftovers" for quick reheating one night, when you're too tired to cook.

Excersise (even just an hour/half hour of extra walking) obviously also helps a lot. And yes, once again, high metabolism helps, and low metabolism sucks. But eating properly and exercising will ensure that you stay healthy.

 

[Thyunda]

Am I right in saying that the entire metabolism thing is quackery? I'm certain that I read about it in an article about common misconceptions that basically explained why it could never happen and that it was mostly caused by bias in the observer.

Well, it's the only explanation I can think of as to why I eat three times the amount of food as my overweight and obese friends, and sit around playing videogames. I'm not skinny, but I am slim. I WAS fat at one stage, though that kinda fell off after high school.

EDIT: I weigh about 140lbs at 5ft10. I'd consider myself healthy. I also work at a retail stockroom which involves a lot of heavy lifting, so if I was underweight I think I'd have had problems by now.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I've wanted to lose weight for a while now, and I have tried nearly everything (except diet pills and starving, I have my standards). The weird thing is that quite a few people I know tend to stay thin despite regularly eating burger king and such. I know some of them do work out, but some (like my girlfriend) somehow can stay thin without working out and despite apparently eating a lot (hell, I'm in much worse shape than my girlfriend, yet I have an easier time walking, thank you Mini-Boot Camp). I gotta ask, when it comes to those people, what's their secret?

Metabolism.

That said, if you wanna lose weight, you'll need to go on a diet. For a guy, eating between 1200 and 1600 kcal a day will get you losing weight, though no one's saying it's gonna be quick, you can easily go a month or so without seeing any effect (which doesn't mean it's not working).

Working out helps too. I don't really mean "get your ass to a gym and go weight lifting", just do something. A 30-45 minute walk each day is what I considered a minimum when I was on a diet. When I had a chance, I went for 2 hours of biking, right now, I do about an hour of swimming a day. You can also do some exercises at home like push ups, sit ups and such, though those will work more towards muscles and less towards weight loss (though considering you're likely into weight loss for looks, it'll be just as important).

1200-1600 a day is more of a starvation diet, especially if he's a reasonably tall guy who is already overweight. The whole 2000 calorie diet thing is based on heavily outdated science. The modern method involves an individualized formula which determines how many calories you need in a day to maintain your current weight. The general recommendation for weight loss is to take that number, and subtract 500 to get a healthy number of calories for weight loss. Healthy weight loss is on the order of 1 pound a week. Cutting out 500 calories per day gets almost exactly this speed of weight loss. For example, in my case (male, 21 years old, 200 pounds, 5'10", light activity level), it works out to 2,830 calories a day just to maintain my weight. To safely lose weight, I should be getting 2,330 calories a day, on average. If I were only getting 1200-1600 a day, I would effectively be starving to death.

Edit: By the way, that's 200 pounds, down from 220 a few months ago, although up from 180 two years ago. Dining halls (and all you can eat buffets in general) are bad, mkay?

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Am I right in saying that the entire metabolism thing is quackery? I'm certain that I read about it in an article about common misconceptions that basically explained why it could never happen and that it was mostly caused by bias in the observer.

Well, it's the only explanation I can think of as to why I eat three times the amount of food as my overweight and obese friends, and sit around playing videogames. I'm not skinny, but I am slim. I WAS fat at one stage, though that kinda fell off after high school.

EDIT: I weigh about 140lbs at 5ft10. I'd consider myself healthy. I also work at a retail stockroom which involves a lot of heavy lifting, so if I was underweight I think I'd have had problems by now.

Actually, I was just crunching the numbers (I'm the same height as you), and going by BMI, 140 is on the low end of the ideal range. Granted, that's BMI; body composition is actually more important. For example, in my case, I've got pretty broad shoulders, and 140 wouldn't be particularly healthy; I'd have to either have really wimpy muscles, or unhealthily low levels of body fat to get to that weight[footnote]you read that right, there is such a thing as too little body fat[/footnote]. 160, which is still within the ideal range on the BMI chart, is a much more realistic goal for me, but everyone is different.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

I feel bad because I live on bad food and apparently I'm perfectly healthy. There is not a single vegetable I eat and I live on take-away, noodles, chocolate and chicken but people still ask if I ever eat because I am so thin.

 

[Russian_Assassin]

How do people stay thin? What you should be asking is how do people get fat!

Ok, just joking. I was thin all my life and all I eat is junk food. Metabolism is what I hold responsible.

 

[Epic Fail 1977]

I'm 34. I never work out. My diet consists almost entirely of carbs, sugar, and fat. Full fat everything with extra cholesterol, thank you very much. I eat what I want, when I want.

I'm 6'0" tall, and I weigh less than 140lbs. Always have.

If I'm not walking proof of a fast metabolism then I don't know what is.

 

[Gamblerjoe]

AVOID WHEAT. wheat's being healthy is a big misconception.
avoid high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, sugar, dairy, white rice, cream... (a lot of things white)

embrace... oats, brown rice, millet, egg, kale, omega 3, potato, avocado, sprouted grain bread (look them up), etc.


edit: also... don't be afraid of butter. use it all you want. just avoid that "I can't believe its not butter!" crap. and speaking of butter, avoid margarine as well.

^^^ That and the fact that they probably skip some meals, as long as you get enough vitamins and minerals then you actually don't need the calories that three meals a day provide.

Yeah. I cut out soda and processed carbs and the weight melted right off. You'd be surprised OP.

Your friends who can eat what they want are lucky. I'm like you as well. I have to work out 5 times a week for 2 hours and even then I'm still 20 pounds heavier than where I want to be (I'm at the high spectrum of a healthy weight for my height and age so I'd rather be in the low spectrum if I can help it)

Don't try to go for unrealistic goals though. I remember even as a kid I had thighs that touched. I was a STICK, but my thighs never had space between. So I don't expect to ever be one of those thinspo girls 5 inches of nothing between their thighs because I was never like that even when I was a kid and had a faster metabolism and ran around a lot more.

Just keep exercising and try to do short bouts of cardio. No tread mill shit unless it's for just 5 minutes straight (running, not walking) and then go back to weights. Then after a while, do another short but hard burst of cardio.

Also, whatever you do, don't avoid things like fat, carbs, butter, etc. If you make a baked potato, feel free to stick some butter on that *****. Our bodies need those fats and oils and depriving them of it will not help you lose weight in a healthy manner.

What you WANT to avoid is processed and fast food. I recommend picking up a cook book or even learning to make some fast simple meals on the stove. I am addicted to my rice cooker (Rice in 30 minutes and I add whatever flavorings and veggies I want to that) for meals and rice is really damn cheap in bulk...also pretty much keeps for a long ass time (pasta as well)

Anyway, that's my recommendation. Hope it helped!

This is all incorrect. Dont listen to a word of it. Everyone who said "metabolism" wasn't paying attention to the question.

Personally I switched to smaller (and healthier food) portions and a little bit of exercise. Little yoga and freeweight stuff and Ive dropped from 250lbs to almost 200lbs. Wasnt fast but I feel better about myself and life now. Oh, and water! sweet delicious water, cut out all soft drinks!

^^^ That and the fact that they probably skip some meals, as long as you get enough vitamins and minerals then you actually don't need the calories that three meals a day provide.

I hear that skipping meals can cause your body to store more fat, so that it can survive another long period without food.

if you eat several small healthy meals by day your metabolism will quicken, that'll help =)

This is all correct.

The short answer is diet, exercise and DISCIPLINE. It takes self determination to improve your health.

To elaborate: You must eat roughly 2000 calories per day (give or take depending on your genetics.) Eating less will not make you lose weight, not unless you are literally starving yourself, which would be stupid and extremely unhealthy. Instead of eating 3 meals per day, eat 6 small meals per day that add up to 2000 calories. Its hard at first, but eventually you'll find that you cant even eat large meals anymore. Your diet needs to be balanced. Make sure you are getting sufficient carbohydrates, protein, lipids, and water. All of these things are necessary to survive, but they must be consumed in proper proportion. Cutting any of them out will cause your body to react negatively. Everything you have heard about cutting out carbs and all that nonsense is just crap people make up to sell books. Getting in shape is not easy, but if someone says that they have a method that IS easy, people will listen to them. They are full of shit though. Also, make sure you take a quality multivitamin. Even if you are eating vegetables and such, a good multivitamin will provide you with specific amino acids that will aid with your recovery and endurance.

As far as exercise goes, you dont have to kill yourself. I do personally, but thats my personal decision. I train in Mixed Martial Arts, so its kind of necessary. Jogging is enough for some people, but if you want to look better in addition to improving your health, you need to do specific exercises. Pick a program and stick to it. Buy a workout DVD you see on an infomercial if you want. They all work.

Sleep is also important. Get 8 hours of sleep every night. Two 4 hour stretches is also fine, even if they're broken up. Getting more than 8 hours is bad, but getting less than 8 is significantly worse. There are certain processes that your body can only perform properly while you sleep.

Last but not least is supplements. I take Mass XXX and creatine. I use a lot less of both than the label (and GNC employees) say to take. I DON'T recommend taking nitric oxide enhancers. I make small shakes and use them as meal substitutes, particularly the meals that immediately follow my workouts. Here is how I take creatine: First off DON'T LOAD!!! This is very bad. It stifles your body's natural production of creatine. This process produces several extremely important byproducts you need. Some of them are only produced in this way. What I do is take half doses for one week. Then I take full doses for 2 weeks. Then I take half doses for another week. Then I take a month off. Repeat.

 

[UrieHusky]

I eat the worst food for your weight, keylime pies, pizza, burgers, chips etc, I don't exercise and I still weigh 68-70 kgs (idk what that is in pounds if you care enough google is your friend) so, my guess it's a person by person basis, metabolism is what it comes down to really, I'm sure if you exercise heaps and eat right your weight will go down, it just takes determination I guess.

Sorry my advice is pretty bad since like I said I haven't experience what you're talking about but yeah.