How do people stay thin?

[lightningmagurn]

I happen to also have a poor metabolism, and I found that I need a lot of exercise to stay within an acceptable weight. tried eating healthy, and dieting, but alone it never worked. I think that if just eating healthy isn't working for you, you should figure out a work out plan. Don't start off too hard, but make sure you push yourself. There is a good chance it will suck, and a good chance it will hurt. You might even get injured, but run, do situps, pushups and pullups, and you really should have the basics. Make sure you make it a routine, it needs to be planned and consistent. One of the hardest parts to loosing weight is to keep with it. You might want to create a circuit for yourself, and break up strength workouts across the day, but make sure that they get done. Another way to get in work outs is to do something like watch tv or video games, but whenever there is a loading screen or a commercial do situps or curls or pushups or what have you. The hardest part will be stick with it.

 

[Haratu]

Best method is to eat less meat, more vegetables.

-vegetables are better than fruit since fruit is full of sugar. The only fruits of low sugar are tomatoes, eggplant and capsicum (peppers).
-best vegetables are leafy green vegetables and other above ground ones, under ground tubers like yams and potatoes are starchy and fattening, carrots are good.
-Nuts have a lot of energy. One peanut has enough energy for an hour sitting at a desk... Best avoid nuts.
-red meat is only needed once a week, or even a few times a month. Supplement your diet with mushrooms and lentils if you are lacking protein or excercize lots.
-Avoid white meats (pork and chicken), eggs are fine.
-kangaroo and game bird are all low in fat and so are good meat alternatives, they are also better in other ways. Careful with seafood, some is good, some is not.
-flavour can easily be enhanced by spices (not salt)
-if you are eating lots of green veges then dairy is not required, green plants have plenty of calcium.

Finally, a meal should not exceed 500g with maximum 1kg a day (and even this is genenerous for an average westerner) The exception to this is if you are an athelete or in work with strong physical demands, professional atheletes often need two or three times this amount.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

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?

I would say metabolism, long work hours, lots of stress and extraordinary self contempt. Whenever I eat too much, I feel nothing but guilt and self-loathing (both physically and psychologically) and so I don't eat for a day or two ... and wallah, approximately 17.2 BMI ...

So ... guilt and self loathing. Works wonders ... if you'd like a crash course in guilt and self loathing, convert to Catholicism and we'll have you guilt tripping about all your joys in no time flat!

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Diet and exercise. It takes time to get your body used to a different diet. But it is the healthiest way than starving or doing pills and losing weight in a few weeks. Its a life change not 2 weeks salad and then back to bacon rolls.

 

[Sporky111]

Being thin has nothing to do with being in good shape. Skinny people can be just as unhealthy as heavy people. Weight has more to do with metabolism than anything. Skinny people tend to have a naturally fast metabolism. The other thing is body type, which effects where muscle and fat accumulate on your body. Some people have a hard time putting on any weight, be it fat or muscle mass. The opposite effect means some people can build all the muscle they want, but it always has a layer of fat on top of it.

If you want to change your metabolism, practice cardio. The harder your heart is working, the faster you're burning calories. Also, don't eat at Burger King, or any fast food places.

 

[Matt Leebody]

Be twitchy. Seriously. A lot of research says that it isn't so much a faster metabolism that is often why thin people stay thin, they are in fact fidgety people. It comes down to calories used during the day, and often being fidgety could burn as much as 500 calories.

Other than that - generally calorie counting works well and allows slow, correct weight loss. If you have a smartphone (Android, BB, Win7 or iOS) there are apps for calorie counting, they can even use the barcode to scan in the nutrition details. Cut about 500-700 calories off your intake and you're good to go.

 

[toothofymir]

I watch what I eat and I run 5 miles every morning.

 

[ThreeWords]

Metabolisms my boy, metabolisms.

This. I eat crap, and do next to nothing, but my body insists on being a lean machine...

 

[Phototoxin]

Genetics.

 

[JasonKaotic]

Just don't. There's nothing wrong with enjoying yourself.

 

[Condor219]

How do people gain weight? Every time I eat anything it just dissolves immediately. Though I suppose I'd rather be thin than obese. Gotta love that athlete's metabolism.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

Well, daily exercise, a good diet, and maybe some vitamins always do the trick.

If not, genes and an outstanding metabolism.

I goes either way, really.

 

[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.

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.

I'm built very slight. I was unnaturally tiny.

 

[guntotingtomcat]

Diet and exercise. Half an hour a day of the latter, and three healthy squares of the former, and your waist line should diminish. Consult the internet for free advice on how to do both.

If that doesn't work, then you will at least add a few years on to your life.

 

[Bassik]

I once gained weight. The munchies can do that for you.
But my revolutionairy diet made me slim again!
In just two easy steps, you can have the body of your dreams!

1. Eat less.
2. Move more.

To elaborate:
1. Take smaller portions of whatever you are having, and if there's sauce involved, don't use it or just a little. This will work generally unless you eat fastfood like every other day. Then you have problems even I can't solve.
No wait I can don't eat so muchjunkfood!

1.b: Snack on things like almonds, carrots, fruits, and ciggarets instead of candybars and crisps.

2. Buy a bicycle. Go to work and the shops on your bicycle instead of your car, or if it's within 1-2 miles go on foot.
??? (No wait I mean you will burn a lot more calories then you normally would without radically altering your lifestyle!)
Profit.

 

[GonzoGamer]

I grew up in poverty so it was easier to stay thin then.
Now I try not to eat a lot of crap (I still have pizza once or twice a week and I'll stop in Burger King now and then but I have a lot of whole grains and vegetables in my diet too) but really the trick is working out.
Some people require more exercise than others but if you have a good sweaty 45 min workout every day, you'll get in good shape.

 

[Suicida1 Midget]

Theres the fast metabolism, and the sparring i do twice a week, plus jogging a dog each day.


LOL my captcha is Macdonald rvietyl

 

[tautologico]

No carbs, especially bread!. No bread. No sugar, body wont burn fat so long as the blood is full of insulin. "Fat" doesn't make you fat, hydrogenated and trans fats make you fat. Cardio is a waste of time, strength train. Muscle burns calories. More muscle, more capacity to burn calories. This doesnt mean you need to get to a point where you have no neck, but strength training will burn more calories than riding a freaking stationary bike or running on the spot. Eat smaller meals more often. Don't skip meals. Skipping meals causes your body to retain more calories as a response to inconsistent eating habits.

Don't "diet", change your diet. Raw foods and protein sources. Dont reward yourself with food, ever. Have a take-away meal once a week as a relax, timeoff type deal. Do the research yourself, be wary of bro-science.

"No carbs" is bro-science. No nutrition specialist or doctor will recommend a diet based on removing carbs completely.

 

[DYin01]

If you want to keep a stable weight, the only thing you have to know is that the calories you take in and the calories you burn during the day are balanced.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

Not gorging on everything, just take a small portion and then leave it alone.
Drink nothing but a lot of water, the rest is wasted calories. Count them, and you're golden.
7200 kCal in 1 kg of bodyfat, so calculate your way to slimness!

Also I suffer from Anorexia Nervosa. But yeah, I eat dinner and then some snacks every night. If I loose half a pound more I'm in trouble, bah.