How do people stay thin?

[woots7]

Enough with the bullshit about metabolisms. Your metabolism has little effect on how skinny or fat you are.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/treatments/healthy_living/your_weight/medical_myths.shtml

As long as your using more energy and calories every day than you take in as food, you'll lose weight, that's really it. So don't make exercise so special just incorporate it into your routine, find an active hobby.

 

[Torrasque]

Metabolisms my boy, metabolisms.

Oh god. Not this bro-science shit again.

http://boards.4chan.org/fit/

I know the escapist thinks they're high and mighty, but suck it up. Read the sticky. Achieve greatness.

Metabolism is a factor, some of us got it, some of us don't.
I'm not going to say that you can do whatever the hell you want and your body will stay the same, but everyone in my immediate family has a high metabolism, and is slightly active. None of us are overweight.
Friend of mine goes to the gym all the time, eats healthy, but he'll have 1 night of drinking, and gain 5 pounds (literally)

OP: Try to do little activities, the link posted above (despite being 4chan) actually should help.
Besides that, try to eat differently. Your body can only do so much with the mats you give it, and if you're giving it inadequate mats, you can't expect too much of it.

 

[ace_of_something]

Eating well balanced meals and regular exercise is my secret. It's really complicated. I know. I'm a very big person (6'6") and my problem was/is over eating. It's okay to eat the foods I do but sometimes i just eat too much of it.

 

[Julianking93]

Proper diet, exercise and genetics.

Mostly genetics, really but the former two are great as well.

I'll admit, I dont' eat the best possible food at all but I do walk nearly 4 miles a day or more (this past Friday, I walked 11 simply because I was bored.) Not really metabolism since I was slightly overweight when I was younger but changing my diet just a bit and working out a wee bit more did wonders for me. :3

Also, I've read lots of articles mentioning the fact that metabolism has jack shit to do with how much you weigh so... don't listen to people who simply claim metabolism.
If I'm not mistaken, people who eat shit and stay thin are more or less just as unhealthy as a person who's obese and eats the same. Their body just uses the fat differently. For the most part, how you look is due to your genetics.

 

[Mastodonic]

Notice how everyone trying to debunk the magical metabolism myth as a reason for weight gain posts a link to an article to support their argument? Now notice that everyone claiming that metabolism is a factor does little more than sight some personal anecdotal "evidence" about their family that has a "high metabolism". How exactly do you measure your family's metabolism and what is the benchmark for an average family? What is the basis for comparison?

 

[strangemoose]

gym/healthy diet this works for us average joes not those damned fast metabolism bastards >.>

 

[Slayer_2]

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..."

 

[guise709]

Metabolisms my boy, metabolisms.

Oh god. Not this bro-science shit again.

http://boards.4chan.org/fit/

I know the escapist thinks they're high and mighty, but suck it up. Read the sticky. Achieve greatness.

When I read the topic title I was fully expecting to come in and hearing nothing but broscience. Then I saw you posting and thought "Oh hey a fellow /fit/izen has come to tell people fat is their doing."

Good saves me from getting so mad at people believing that metabolism is the be all end all of why they are rotundly gifted.

No Excues people! 99% of the time its an excuse but there is none, your skinny friends arn't eating as much as you think and/or have a healthy active lifestyle to compliment their habits although they likely have no aesthetics to show and being skinny with abs just means low bodyfat not actual muscles. Then on the other side if your fat then that means you are eating too much even if you think you don't you are still eating above maintenance and putting on the pounds.

And most importantly DON'T BLAME GENETICS WHEN IT COMES TO WEIGHT!!! It has nothing to do with it. If it did you would have an abundance of fatties throughout histories just think about it.

 

[Kingme18]

I'd like to know more about this. Some of you are saying that metabolisms don't affect weight much, but I am 16 and weigh 110 pounds (I'm a guy). I don't have a certain amount of food I eat, I eat when I'm hungry.... which is all the time. I think it may be genetic, seeing as both my mom, dad, and uncle are unreasonably skinny as well.

 

[chaosyoshimage]

I've lost 50+ pounds in the last couple of months by drinking water instead of sweet tea all the time, cutting down on my portions (Not nearly as much as I'd like to), snack less (Although, sometimes I still need to eat something to fall asleep), eat less greasy food (I don't buy my own food though so most of the time I have to eat junk that I don't want), and avoiding soda and caffeine (Although that's more of a personal thing) all together. I'd like to be able to exercise, but I don't know how to go about it, I guess I try walking a lot...

 

[Dags90]

I'd like to know more about this. Some of you are saying that metabolisms don't affect weight much, but I am 16 and weigh 110 pounds (I'm a guy). I don't have a certain amount of food I eat, I eat when I'm hungry.... which is all the time. I think it may be genetic, seeing as both my mom, dad, and uncle are unreasonably skinny as well.

You probably don't eat as much as you think, especially if you "eat when you're hungry". I rode the "fast metabolism" bandwagon for a while, but then I realized it was just how much/often I was eating. Sometimes I have a hard time telling if I'm hungry, and sometimes I don't get hungry when I should and I just have to eat.

Or (unlikely) it is metabolism because you're all suffering from hyperthyroidism.

Consider myself. At 127 lbs and 5'10", I should be eating 2,600 calories a day to move towards a healthy weight. [footnote]http://www.choosemyplate.gov/myplate/results.html?name=undefined&age=21&gender=male&weight=155&heightfeet=5&heightinch=10&activity=sed&originalweight=127&validweight=1&validheight=1&weightN=155&heightfeetN=5&heightinchN=10&&inputCal=2400&option=2[/footnote] I know I don't eat that much on most days, because it's hard for me to plan in an extra two-ish meals into my day.

 

[water_bearer]

I was not a overweight growing up, but after college, I noticed that I started to put on a lot more weight and growing a tire around the midsection became easier and easier as I got older, especially when I regularly consumed beer/wine/hard liquor.

I went to work in Japan for a few years and I got around to caring about my diet, partly due to necessity because eating more "western" foods in Asia usually cost more. It's been several years since then I'm happy to say that I figured out how to slim down and fight fat for my body. Maybe what works for me may work for you.

1. Avoid all forms of processed foods. This essentially means eating out very rarely, because restaurants tend to use the cheapest ingredients they can find. Processed sugars and oils are really hard for the body to burn, and even if you are active, if you're putting a lot of processed foods into your system, the best you can hope to achieve is probably just staying at your current weight.

2. Reduce sugar intake (this includes bread and all forms of alcohol), and increase fiber intake. Eat oatmeal, eat veggies, eat fruit.

3. Learn to drink WATER. Not soda, not juice, not energy drinks, not gatorade, get back to the most important liquid there is, water.

4. Be active to increase your metabolism. Work out, use weights so you can build more muscle, do workouts in the morning so your metabolism is "turned on" for more hours in the day.

5. Eat smaller meals more frequently. 5 or 6 meals a day, with portions about half of what you'd normally eat if you were eating 3 meals a day.

I think the hardest thing is definitely (1).
The reality of food in America is that so much of it is fast food and processed food, that when a person actually tries to eat healthier, unprocessed food, they will find it very inconvenient. Cooking oatmeal takes at least 10 minutes, eating more fiber means less sugar, less salt, and less fat and oils in your food too, and this can really take some getting used to. What do you do when you are with other people and they want to get pizza? Or worse yet, you just feel lazy and want to buy fast food?

I hope some of my ideas help give you a starting point. Good luck, I hope you find a healthier version of yourself soon.

 

[Mastodonic]

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..."

Rubbish. You burn on avg 2000 calories a day depending on your weight. A big mac only has 540 calories. So the avg person could eat 3 to 4 big macs a day and gain no weight. It has fuck all to do with "metabolism" and everything to do with MATH!

calories in - calories used = net loss/gain

The End.

 

[Kestor]

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

This was me too. Just stop eating shit.

 

[Xanadu84]

Genetics. Diet and exercise can have a huge effect. Genetics has it beats. Without going to extremes that are unhealthy, genetics plays a bigger role in your looks then any other factor.

Of course having the biggest effect doesn't mean it changes how good you look the most. Genetics will decide if you are Fat or Thin, the biggest effect. But diet and exercise will have a bigger effect on if you are healthy, husky and spry or a big fat slob, or lean and healthy or spindley and weak looking.

 

[guise709]

Genetics. Diet and exercise can have a huge effect. Genetics has it beats. Without going to extremes that are unhealthy, genetics plays a bigger role in your looks then any other factor.

Of course having the biggest effect doesn't mean it changes how good you look the most. Genetics will decide if you are Fat or Thin, the biggest effect. But diet and exercise will have a bigger effect on if you are healthy, husky and spry or a big fat slob, or lean and healthy or spindley and weak looking.

Genetics have nothing to do with weight it is pure broscience. Tell me if genetics does indeed affect weight then how come we have this obesity epedemic only recently? How come in the past 4000 years of recorded history the only people who were fat are the rich and wealthy who can afford bountiful feast? Clearly it must be genetics....

 

[Scytail]

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!

 

[Mastodonic]

Genetics. Diet and exercise can have a huge effect. Genetics has it beats. Without going to extremes that are unhealthy, genetics plays a bigger role in your looks then any other factor.

Link. Provide one link from any study that would suggest that your genetics has anything to do with your body mass.

 

[Dango]

I don't really know, I just eat stuff, and I rarely get any fatter.

 

[Erana]

I still jhave to point out that everyone has their own shape and weight that their body wants to stay at. I'm not saying that 250 lbs is someone's natural weight or anything, but me, at a pretty healthy state is still curvy. And unless I get seriously ill or something, I will never be skinny.
Yes, I have some wonky, mysterious health stuff going on now, but I doubt it is affecting me that much.

Once you get into a good healthy exercise routine and diet, alter your perception of beauty to suit yourself, because chances are, the media's narrow and photoshop'd image of what is right will not fit you, and you'll drive yourself mad fretting over an impossibility.
Remember that improving your health and fitness habits isn't about looking better, its about improving your quality of life. People who are overweight but are regularly active are consistently proven to be healthier and longer-lived than skinny people who don't take care of themselves.


And no, people, not everyone sheds the pounds magically by dropping the soda. My mother's career is telling people how to eat and such, and some people really aren't that lucky.
But it is still a good idea- nutritionally, soda should be a once a week dessert at most.

One of the biggest things about altering your diet is palette adjustment. Yeah, an apple probably isn't going to be as exciting after supersour extreme candy pops or whatever. You have to change that. Teach yourself to like vegetables.
Replace your usual snack with carrots and cucumbers. When watching a movie, munch on a bag of spinach instead of popcorn. Things like that. Just don't go and starve yourself. That's one of the worst thing you can do for your health.