I just had an interesting thought, and I would appreciate the eductated opinion of my fellow dopers.
I am, thanks to good genetics, one of those people who always had difficulty gaining weight.
When I moved in with my GF at the time and got married, I actually started to gain weight unintentionally. I ascribed this to getting older, metabolism slowing down, etc.
The other day, I had fired up WinAMP and put on a rockin mix of tunes and found myself bouncing a bit to the tunes, playing drums on the table in front of me, etc.
Riding up in the elevator just now, it occured to me, that I never did that when I was still with my future former, because I wouldn’t hear her over the music, so the volume was slowly turned down till I stopped putting music on at all. By the time I moved out and we seperated, I had incresed form my high school waist line of 32, to needing to get pants with a waist line of 35.
Is it possible, that a contributing factor to this weight gain is also the fact that when at rest, I’m actually moving less then I used to? I can certainly remember any number of times in college, when a particularly good tune came on, I’d be on my feet and dancing around the room for the pure exhuberant joy of moving to the music. This is occuring more often now and therefor I am likely burning more calories.
So… opinions wanting… theory blows smoke, theory holds water, not enough information to make an educated judgement?
You don’t actually mention your age, but I got the impression from the contents of your message that you’re still fairly young - say, in your late twenties or so. Correct me if that assumption is wrong.
**Is it possible, that a contributing factor to this weight gain is also the fact that when at rest, I’m actually moving less then I used to? **
If that’s the case, it would certainly be a factor. Activity chews up more calories than sedentary behavior.
As deb2world suggested, living a bachelor life and not sitting down to three squares a day could also be a factor.
Beyond that, just getting older can certainly make a difference. As we age, we tend to lose muscle mass (something like 1% a year beyond the age of 40, IIRC), which means that we need fewer calories to maintain our weight. If we continue to eat as much as we did in our younger days, we start gaining weight.
Until I was 40 or so, I was a skinny person despite all kinds of attempts to gain weight. I used to buy Nutrament by the case (as well as beer). Now I’m in my fifties, am trying frantically to hold my weight down, exercise every day and and buy Diet Coke by the case. Sheesh…
We both worked, neither of us got 3 squares a day, and I am hard pressed to estimate whether my diet’s better or worse now. It was likely a little better before we moved in together, as I was baking regularly, and taking somewhat balanced lunches to work, instead of buying fast food or the equivalent while on lunch break.
I never got into much outdoor activity anyway, but another factor is certainly that I used to get out to dance at least every week or so before I started seeing my future former, but her taste in dance music was a bit narrower than mine, so it was easier to give up dancing than to try and find someplace with music she liked.
WillGolfForFood Well, I’m between the age you assumed, and the age you are I’m 35.
I think what I was mostly wondering about was whether many of us actually become more “still” when at rest as we grow older than we were when kids & teens. (and even early 20s), whether that be because there’s less music in the background to make us move, or because tappin your toes and other fidgeting behavior seem to be less “grown up” so we stop doing it. Go ahead and fidget folks, you’re burnin calories
-Doug
I’m 35.