# Random Thoughts from A Skinny Person Observing Dieters **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 16, 2014, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts-from-a-skinny-person-observing-dieters/688606 "2014-05-16T20:13:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts-from-a-skinny-person-observing-dieters/688606/21 "2014-05-19T14:19:45Z")
As the always-too-skinny guy who also never seems to gain weight (although I am 2 years away from 30 so…we’ll see) I am currently with a girl struggling with weight issues and my observation is: It’s so goddamn hard/expensive to eat this well! It’s such hard work to make sure you burn the right calories, and we are poor as hell we can’t afford to spend all the money on the food we need to lose weight. If you’ve done/currently are doing the weight loss thing than my hat is off to you ---
**Author:** ![AnthonyElite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@AnthonyElite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnthonyElite)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts-from-a-skinny-person-observing-dieters/688606/22 "2014-05-19T18:50:52Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Just because you aren’t fat doesn’t mean you aren’t [fat](http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/obesity/expert-answers/normal-weight-obesity/faq-20058313). > > If you’re eating too much added sugar, you may be setting yourself for chronic [diseases](http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/study-sugar-even-at-moderate-levels-toxic-to-mice-health-reproduction/2013/08/13/95887bee-0443-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html) later in life. > > [The less you eat, the longer you may live.](http://www.nature.com/news/monkeys-that-cut-calories-live-longer-1.14963) I read up on that - all my metrics are great- low blood pressure, low chlolesterol, good fat profiles, low body fat percentage. I can’t find any way I might be unhealthy. Also, although I am saying I CAN eat those foods, I don’t always. I mostly eat healthy, just sometimes have binges for massive food like I assume most people do. I just don’t gain weight from them. > [@picunurse](#): > > I ate like you all the way to menopause. I did exercise, but, only fun things. Now, I’m old, fat and cranky. > I’ll be waiting for you… You’ll never catch me alive! > [@panache45](#): > > **AnthonyElite** : You happen to have the type of body I’m attracted to. I’ve dated guys who were desperately trying to gain wait, yet couldn’t get their body fat up to double digits. I hope you’ve found someone like me who appreciates everything you are. She didn’t stay with me for my figure, but that’s how I met my current girlfriend 😃 > [@Shakes](#): > > If you really do this, this sounds to me like some kind of eating disorder. Not something to be proud of which is the inference I take from your OP. I’m not proud - I’m curious about the mechanics of it all. I don’t have an eating disorder that I know of. Mostly I overeat on healthy things. And I don’t always overeat, I was just noting that I have the ability, seemingly without repercussions. > [@Silvorange](#): > > This is very interesting coming from someone who has previously said that fat people are lazy and greedy. A lot of them (us) are people who used to be able to eat what we wanted without a problem and therefore didn’t learn the habits that we would need when that stopped working. I hope you don’t run into that problem, but if you do, don’t tell yourself that 5-10 lbs is not a big deal and ignore it. Go back and reread that thread, as I just did, my comments were on why someone might feel that way. I never justified it. > [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > That’s what I was thinking. This sounds very obsessive. I’m not terribly obsessive about food, but with all the dieters around me I can’t help but hear a LOT about it, which utterly confuses and distracts me, because I normally crave healthy food, and I don’t really limit myself by anything but my satiation level. When I stop wanting, I stop eating. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts-from-a-skinny-person-observing-dieters/688606/23 "2014-05-19T19:05:47Z")
There is no “magic number” for the age you will reach when things change, though energy levels and metabolism do decrease over time. What really tends to happen is that those are times when critical points are reached, where those are still dropping and other distractions increase. That is, there are plenty of 20-somethings that have high metabolisms, high energy, no family, and less demanding jobs, but for a lot of people, many of those factors start to change. A lot of people are settled down or starting to settle down around 30 so, it’s little surprise that there’s weight gain there. That said, I’m very active and I stay in great shape while my philosophy had been that I can eat whatever I want and not gain weight. To some extent, as I got into my later 20s and now my early 30s, I’ve started to pay a bit more attention to what I eat, though it’s still not ideal, not because I was gaining weight, but because it did affect how I felt and my energy level. I had no problem burning off excess energy, but if I don’t get enough of the right foods, I feel lethargic. I’ve been roughly the same weight since I’ve been working out with absolute consistency. One thing I have noticed, though, is that though I still eat as much as I want, as I always have, I generally just don’t want as much. Maybe I wanted and could eat a whole pizza 5-10 years ago, now I just don’t want to eat that much. I think to some extent that’s because of how I’ve trained myself, that eating to the point of feeling nauseous sucks and, as part of my training, I pay closer attention to what my body tells me, so I eat the kinds of foods I need and I eat until I’m not hungry, not until I’m stuffed. I imagine as I get older and settle down more, I may have to start making a few more conscious decisions about that sort of stuff. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts-from-a-skinny-person-observing-dieters/688606/24 "2014-05-20T03:20:27Z")
> [@AnthonyElite](#): > > You’ll never catch me alive! You won’t like the alternative! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AnthonyElite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@AnthonyElite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnthonyElite)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts-from-a-skinny-person-observing-dieters/688606/25 "2014-05-20T12:42:41Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > There is no “magic number” for the age you will reach when things change, though energy levels and metabolism do decrease over time. What really tends to happen is that those are times when critical points are reached, where those are still dropping and other distractions increase. That is, there are plenty of 20-somethings that have high metabolisms, high energy, no family, and less demanding jobs, but for a lot of people, many of those factors start to change. A lot of people are settled down or starting to settle down around 30 so, it’s little surprise that there’s weight gain there. > > That said, I’m very active and I stay in great shape while my philosophy had been that I can eat whatever I want and not gain weight. To some extent, as I got into my later 20s and now my early 30s, I’ve started to pay a bit more attention to what I eat, though it’s still not ideal, not because I was gaining weight, but because it did affect how I felt and my energy level. I had no problem burning off excess energy, but if I don’t get enough of the right foods, I feel lethargic. I’ve been roughly the same weight since I’ve been working out with absolute consistency. > > One thing I have noticed, though, is that though I still eat as much as I want, as I always have, I generally just don’t want as much. Maybe I wanted and could eat a whole pizza 5-10 years ago, now I just don’t want to eat that much. I think to some extent that’s because of how I’ve trained myself, that eating to the point of feeling nauseous sucks and, as part of my training, I pay closer attention to what my body tells me, so I eat the kinds of foods I need and I eat until I’m not hungry, not until I’m stuffed. I imagine as I get older and settle down more, I may have to start making a few more conscious decisions about that sort of stuff. Have you come across any health issues purportedly because of your eating habits? The other day my girlfriend and I were talking about how she didn’t want to eat candy for her diet, but she had a bad habit of picking it up on the way home. I told her this - the strange thing is, I LOVE candy, it doesn’t make me fat, doesn’t make me feel bad, and is a negligible budget item. I could eat it every day and be perfectly tip top…BUT! I’m too lazy to stop by the store on the way home to get it, and I don’t stockpile it. :smack: I guess, despite this ability, I normally gravitate towards healthy foods. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Gnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_gnomer/32/3466_2.png) [@Miss\_Gnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Gnomer)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts-from-a-skinny-person-observing-dieters/688606/26 "2014-05-20T13:15:58Z")
Interesting perspective **AnthonyElite** Over the last couple of months I’ve suddenly discovered “full” … I’d only ever known “hungry” before, there was no satiety point of eating food that I ever really could reach (and I was overweight, not obese). Suddenly saying “no” to food is the easiest thing in the world … all those years I battled my thoughts and fought to stop myself eating food … I now realise the energy and fight I put into every moment of every day to just control my diet. I wish I could bundle ‘this’ up and hand it out to every person who struggles with their diet (unfortunately the doctors don’t know why … and now I’ve lost too much weight!). I now eat as much as I want but I actually don’t want to eat anything. But I also wish that the thinner people out there could sympathise more with people who are overweight - no one purposely chooses to compromise their life by carrying extra weight (ok, there are some weird people out there … so maybe a couple!). Understanding that every day has to be a battle … for years and years on end … between what your “head” and “body” tell you - that you are hungry; and what you want - not to be overweight. Any slip ups and you take multiple steps back. On a satiety scale (0 = feelings of starvation; to 10 = So full you are in pain) imagine living with a satiety level of “1. Ravenous. Feeling uncomfortably hungry. Dizzy, grumpy” … but being overweight and knowing you should not eat. Constant internal conflict, only one side gets to win. It’s a horrible way to experience each day … I hate watching others suffer. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts-from-a-skinny-person-observing-dieters/688606/27 "2014-05-21T15:03:04Z")
I dieted from the age of 15-35. I was always on a diet or binging. Finally, I said “ENOUGH” and decided to eat whatever I wanted but only when I was hungry, and walk outside at least an hour a day for one year. At first it was hell. I didn’t even know what I liked to eat. The only thing I knew about food was how many calories it had! It took three months, but I finally began to eat like a “normal” thin person–eat when I was hungry, and stop when I wasn’t hungry. And stop making judgments about food. Food is food, and it’s neither bad or good. It cures hunger, and nothing else. I’ll be 60 in December, and I’m still thin. So there. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts-from-a-skinny-person-observing-dieters/688606/28 "2014-05-22T01:24:48Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Food is food, and it’s neither bad or good. It cures hunger, and nothing else. I’m with you on that, but I’m pretty sure there are a lot of people who would disagree. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts-from-a-skinny-person-observing-dieters/688606.md?page=1)