Since this poll first came around, I’ve been diagnosed hyper-thyroid. Lost 20 pounds since the beginning of the year, down to 5’11", 145 lb. Weight is creeping back up with treatment.
For me you mean? Currently I eat well and exercise, but previously I was thinner and ate huge amounts of crap and was sedentary.
How old were you when you did that? Because when I was in high school, I became a shiftless bum among bums and was still 20 or so lbs thinner than I am now, even though I actually eat pretty good and move around these days. The difference is these days I’m old.
As someone whose weight fluctuates between average and thin, I don’t know, I’m just wacky. I watch what I eat to a point (I’m a vegetarian, for one, and I watch my sodium, drink mostly water, etc.), but I also eat crazy amounts of food sometimes, and very little other times, just because I don’t feel like it.
It’s usually an all-or-none thing with me. When I don’t want to eat, I don’t want to eat AT ALL. I’ll find at 11pm that damn, I haven’t eaten a thing today, and go try to find some crackers or something. Other times I don’t know what’s wrong with me because I can’t stop at one big bowl of ice cream, and I’ll have seconds. Even when I’m trying to lose a couple pounds, I’d rather only eat one big meal a day and eat whatever I want than to eat a bunch of small, careful meals like “they” insist is the only proper way.
My secret to being thin is that I can ignore hunger. I am shocked that a lot of people “must” eat. In my case, I usually “forget” to eat. I might get hungry, ignore it, then 8 hours later, grab a small meal. Going to sleep hungry is easy too.
Through most of my life I had the general build of a toothpick and was mostly fine with that.
At a certain point my metabolism slowed down and I grew a belly; the rest of me stayed fairly skinny but I took on the contours of Snoopy, the dog in Peanuts.
I quickly discovered that I can’t stand having a belly that flops out in front. Gets in the way of tying your shoes, is annoying & uncomfortable hanging over your belt when you sit down, makes your pants painful at the waist… so I began exercising more and eating less until it mostly went away and I’m mostly back to skinny person shape.
Hmm, had to tick “There is another reason I am thin”
I’m slim because I’m very active at the moment, but I couldn’t tick the option that I’m watching what I eat, because I’m not, and nor have I always been thin.
I walk 7 miles almost every day and watch what I eat.
I’ve never been outside a healthy BMI, but before I became an intensive walker I was 20 lbs heavier.
I was eating crap/not moving 13-19 (depressed). At around age 19 I started dating and realized I wanted to change my body. So I started eating a lot MORE crap, along with getting a bit more active (in terms of moving at all). Eating bad food was making me sicker and sicker (in terms of IBS/skin problems/hormonal disturbances, etc), so I changed my diet last year, age 24 (I’m 25 now).
I don’t know where you got ‘not eating a lot’. I’ve been counting calories off and on and aiming for 3000 for most of my 20s. 3000 is pretty generous for a woman who weighs 100 lbs and rarely exercises outside of dog-walking and weeding.
And I’ve been 31-23-34 all this time, give or take half an inch here and there (boobs grew when I changed me diet. Hips have shrunk since I stopped doing yoga). I assume my metabolism will slow eventually with no change in habits, this is how it works. Here in the 1st world, our overall weight slowly increases along with body fat. In places where a traditional diet is still eaten, people still get fatter as they get older, but the fat replaces muscle without such significant weight gain.
can someone link to this thread? Sounds really interesting.