Why is it that my slim friends can eat whatever they want and not be fat?

[Anonymous]

While I generally eat healthily, cook my own food, etc. and I still won't lose weight unless I specifically aim to reduce/restrict my calorie intake. I won't gain weight, but I won't lose either. And I'm very overweight.

I've seen this all around me for years. But My roommates are always looking at my food and curious about what I'm cooking. When I vent about this, thats when my female roommate especially takes the opportunity to comment in agreement and surprise "yeah, you do eat really healthy..." She's basically asking "why are you fat?" in her tone of voice. Or "Yeah, thats is weird."

Meanwhile she and our other roommate (a guy) are both very slim. They eat pizza and friend chicken multiple times a week and I'm sure I haven't seen the guy eat a vegetable since I'ved lived here.

What gives?

[pho_king]

Yeah, it's most likely metabolism as well as several other genetic factors. I have had that same problem since my teens. I probably had about 20-40 lbs extra for close to 15 years. A couple of years ago the doctor told me that I was about 50 lb overweight, so I decided to make a serious effort to fix it. Losing weight was always really hard for a lot of people in my family (genetics most likely). What it really took was discipline, and finding the best way to speed up my metabolism.

I also started eating really healthy, to the point where i didn't even want junk food that much but still no change. The big thing for me was eating at the right time. If you already eat healthy, that's a great start. Just make sure to eat small and often.
I try to "keep my engine running" as often as possible. If you don't eat for more than a couple hours, your metabolism starts slowing down. I try to snack on something healthy like veggies every couple hours. It feels weird to technically be eating when I don't feel hungry, but I keep it small and healthy and it works for me. I started to slowly lose weight with that routine, then I started walking in the morning whenever I could get myself to. Eventually the walking turned into running, and now that is part of my routine also. I lost about 40 lb in the course of 8 months. Hopefully some of this is helpful, good luck.

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of factors. It may be your body doesn't process certain foods as well as theirs. For example some seem to do better on a high carb diet than others. What might be healthy for one person may not be healthy for another person. A one size fits all diet can't work for everyone. Even our medication doesn't work that way. The body of each person is too different.

Recently they even found out that bacteria in the gut can effect if a person gains or loses weight. Apparently a lot of bacteria keeps us healthy, and some people that have low levels of good bacteria are more likely to gain weight. They can even transplant bacteria of a slim person into a fat person, and have found that helps the fat person lose weight. So it is possible that you have a health condition that doctors haven't identified yet.

[kelly173815]

it's probably fast metabolism... I pretty much just live on junkfood, dont do much exercise, and I barely ever gain weight, but I can also lose it really fast if I want to

[miserybusiness]

I'm the same way. It's natural. Trust me, in many cases, it's more of a curse than a blessing. I've been trying so hard just to gain a pound and so far, nothing.

[Asker]

I'll trade with you any day lol

[Cid102]

Metabolisms just work differently in certain people, although eventually everyone's metabolism takes a sharp turn into not being efficient. I would stress not to worry about it to much, my sister worried about stuff like that a lot and she developed an eating disorder because of it. I remember one time during this phase of her life, I was visiting her and she looked like she just got out of a prison camp... it was extremely disturbing for me to see. Now my sister just exercises a ridiculous amount and eats pretty much whatever she wants. (in fact my brother and I admit that our sister can beat us up) (also she just does gymnastics to stay in super good shape) Try not to fret to much about why things that work for your friends but not for you, focus on positive things you can do to maintain the image you want. Best of luck.

[why_not_anonymous]

Try new microfauna in your gut.

Also, until you lose the weight, it'll be hard not to gain. It's the biological, those-who-has-gets.

Have you upped your activity level?

Some people run hotter than others, and thus burn more calories. Everybody's different.

[serp777]

genetics. In nomadic human existence, low levels of insulin for, which leads to diabetes today, were helpful because they lead to weight gain which helped humans survive during the winter when there was less food. You just got the unlucky genetic variant.

[rthomas43]

Are they fairly active?
They may be burning the calories off.

Or they just naturally have a higher metabolism.

[Asker]

not at all. well she does yoga occasionally but neither one is really active.

[Prilee1992]

I eat a lot, I shit it afterwards, I don't know what has happened to my body.

[Marissa_A]

High metabolism changes everything no matter how much you eat or don't eat.

[atomique]

Gut biome? Metabolism? Muscle? Genes? My brother is huge while I am lean.

[sovetskii13]

Different metabolism.

[Kshppatel]

That's fucking life. Welcome to the club.