Why Aren't Thin People Fat?

I'm sorry but this:

I dunno - maybe I should take comfort in the fact that if some apocalypse happens, and should the world food supply dwindle away to nothing, I know who's more likely to still be alive in a year or so - and it ain't the thin people!  Call it insurance!

may be one of the most awesome things I have ever read.  I hereby declare my "junk in the trunk" to be called hereafter "apocalypse insurance."

I should be getting my Wii Fit today.  I'm looking at it more as a fun toy rather than a weight loss program, but given the popularity of it and the BMI calculator it includes, I'm really curious what longlasting impact (if any, I mean, it's just as much a fad as any toy really) something like this could have.  By its very nature it segregates two essential elements of health: exercise and diet.  You cannot be healthy without both... you can be thin as a rail and have high cholesterol and heart disease, and you can be fat as a cow and have low cholesterol and run marathons with ease.

So what am I trying to say....I do not think that all overweight people are pre-disposed to be overweight through genes.  I hope this study doesn't just give people an excuse to say "I knew it - it's in my genes, I am meant to be overweight".   I think that there are people who genetically are overweight and have been bigger than most of their peers all their life, but still have good overall health (i.e. exercise, eat nutritious food, good tests like BP and cholesterol etc.).  They should embrace this study and hopefully feel a sense of relieve at not having to try to attain an unrealistic weight.  But for those like me....It would probably be very dangerous for me to attribute my weight gain to genes.  I think it would be a a very unhealthy thing to do in the long run.

I hope this makes sense, I realise it's a bit disjointed. And I hope I didn't offend anyone. 

People don't need a study as a justification to lie to themselves. This study isn't about "provid[ing] an excuse." It is about understanding your body and having realistic expectations. If you're obese and always been big and your family is big too, should you be on a sensible diet and engage in regular physical activity? Absolutely. Everyone should! Will it make you healthier? Yes. Is it likely to make you thin, or even normal-weight? Probably not. For reasons that you probably can't control no matter how much you starve yourself. That is the point of the study.

And that is something that not only people themselves should understand and accept but also their doctors! Ladies, I'm sure one of you has dealt with a specimen of a medical professional who kept telling you to lose weight, completely disregarding your actual physical health, even though you repeatedly told him/her that you already are on a sensible diet plan and get regular exercise and still unable to lose? The one was who convinced you were just lying?

We should worry more about changing attitudes like that and less about giving anyone an excuse to tell themselves something that they were gonna tell themselves anyway.

As an aside, has anyone ever had an overweight doctor?  I can't think of any i've ever met.  What is their secret??!?!   

We should worry more about changing attitudes like that and less about giving anyone an excuse to tell themselves something that they were gonna tell themselves anyway.

Yes!  Everything you said.

As an aside, has anyone ever had an overweight doctor?  I can't think of any i've ever met.  What is their secret??!?!   

My US doctor was a wiry thing & extremely fidgety - just like my husband!  It seriously freaked me out the first time I went to see that doctor.

As an aside, has anyone ever had an overweight doctor?  I can't think of any i've ever met.  What is their secret??!?!   

In the states I thought it was due to all the rushing around, but here, I dunno! Maybe it's something to do with the type of person who wants to be a doctor?

I dunno - maybe I should take comfort in the fact that if some apocalypse happens, and should the world food supply dwindle away to nothing, I know who's more likely to still be alive in a year or so - and it ain't the thin people! 

I used a version of this argument with DH, who is a thinnifer, and he replied that he would just eat me and survive even longer! Niiiice.

Yes, I've had overweight doctors. Also doctors who smoked like chimmneys.

I wish I could have seen this show. I lose weight when I'm more active. But it doesn't take much activity to make that happen (i.e. a bike ride a day or even walking daily). When I do that, my portion control is much better without trying. I hope once I get some health issues sorted out, I'll be able to do more exercise.

But I totally agree that weight does not indicate health. My cholesterol is 122 and I eat butter and cheese (not vast amounts, but I eat it) whereas my weight-obsessed friend, who buys those low cholesterol spreads and rarely eats cheese and who has never been overweight has terrible cholesterol. Diet doesn't control everything.

What a great and interesting discussion!

I'm fat. Always have been.  I know I can lose weight, as I did WW and I lost over 100 lbs. (Though I did it by eating the same darn things everyday and having a HUGE guilt complex!!)
I have very disordered eating. Its *all or nothing* for me.  I can work hard at eating healthy all week long, walk to work everyday, add in bits of exercise all week long and then undue all my hard work on the weekends with dates with my BF and going to the pub with friends and so on and so forth. I wish I could find a healthy balance. 
I eat healthy, whole grain, low fat, tons of veg.  But I eat too much. I can't turn the hunger off. 

My family is fat. We all struggle. 
I'm not sure anymore... 

BF weighs in total as much as my left thigh.  He can't put on weight no matter what he does. 

I have a problem with eating.
I am a compulsive eater as I have a compulsive personality. As my therapist once told me it's because I had 2 parents that were alcoholics and I inherited their compulsive gene... I didn't turn to alcohol but turned to food. But I could as easily turned to gambling or any other kind of compulsion. Which is why I am so glad to have had my bypass it's taken away the ability to over eat. I do now have to be careful and watchful that I don't let it turn to being compulsive with shopping or alcohol which has happened when people have had bypasses.

Not only that my mother was over weight as were her mother and her mother before that.

I still think with a fat mind as well. I am not sure how a thin persons mind work....?

This idea isn't actually that new. I saw an episode of Bullsh!t two years ago that covered the same ground pretty much: the effect of your efforts is very small compared to the effect of your genetics or other factors that are not in your control.

One of the best shows ever

I have a problem with eating.
I am a compulsive eater as I have a compulsive personality.

I still think with a fat mind as well. I am not sure how a thin persons mind work....?

I know how you feel MeShell. I actually believe I could be one of those thinner girls if I didn't have a compulsive outlook on food, according to genetics at least. My mother, after three kids, is a size zero and the rest of the family is thin.

I imagine a thin person's mind, compared to mine, is less concerned with food. Which is probably why when I am focused on dieting I don't lose any as compared to when I don't think about it and the weight drops off 

I know why I am a bloater.  It because of all food I guzzle in my gob.  Not tons of food..just the wrong type.

To be honest tho....I actually don't really give a toss that much.  I am happy, healthy and me...so whats the point in changing.  Sometimes I go thiner sometimes I go fatter..but not by intensionally dieting.

At my old job, my manager and I would eat lunch together nearly every day. I would bring low-calorie, low-fat food I cooked at home or a Lean Cuisine/Weight Watchers frozen dinner and she would go to a fast food place and bring something back to eat. She never brought her lunch from home. She ate things daily like 2 chili cheese dogs with chili cheese fries and a coke or even if she got a salad, she'd order the kind with fried chicken strips on it and an extra full fat salad dressing. She hated exercise and refused to join a gym. She rarely cooked at home and ate most meals out. Yet she was a size 2. I went to the gym 5-6 days a week and counted calories and could never get below a size 14-16.

I went through a depression and ended up gaining back what I had lost. Of course this led to more depression which didn't help things. I ended up having lap-band surgery. Don't get me wrong...I'm happy to have done it and wouldn't change a thing...but 17 months later I'm a size 14-16. My 15 year old son, who barely weighs 100 lbs, eats at least double what I do at each meal (I can only eat about 2 cups of food max in an entire day) and I still am not losing weight. My body has apparently decided it likes being a size 14-16 and doesn't want to budge. Due to recent health problems, I haven't been able to go to the gym for a few months, but as soon as the doctor releases me I'm going back and I'm hoping it helps me to get a bit more weight off.

I hate when people who have never had a REAL weight problem in their entire life tell me it's all down to eating less and exercising more. Yes, it is but just how much less food and how much more exercise? 99% of the people spouting this wouldn't have to work out every single day and eat fewer than 1000 calories a day just to maintain their weight. So, if my body decides it likes being a size 14-16 and I stop losing weight, do I go down to 750 calories a day and work out for 2 hours a day? Would a naturally thin person do that and be able to keep it up? I doubt most would. Thin doesn't automatically equal disciplined any more than overweight equals lazy.

I love food and I don't always make the best choices but I would bet that a lot of the judgemental people don't either. They've just been lucky enough to inherit genes that they don't have to exercise constantly and feel like they're starving all the time just to maintain a healthy weight. And I have known several naturally thin people who just plain didn't care about food and would even forget to eat. That would never happen to me. But it wasn't because they were so incredibly disciplined. It was because, for whatever reason, their bodies didn't demand more food. Lucky them.

Reading the last few messages has me wondering, does everyone get their thyroid checked? Your thyroid regulates the speed of your metabolism and if it isn't working properly it can prevent you from gaining and losing weight. Thyroid disorders are prevalent in my family, and I have to take pills to make sure everything is in check. Losing weight for me is possible but I have to take a few more steps because of my pills and thyroid. If any of you don't know the condition of your thyroid, all it takes is a simple blood test. Those who want to know more, look up hypo/hyperthyroidism and if you're concerned go to your doctor and get your blood tested

My doctor always checks my thyroid as part of my yearly check-up and it's always come back normal. A lot of women in my family have a history of thyroid problems though. My mom had to have hers removed years ago, both grandmothers had thyroid surgery and one aunt had thyroid cancer. Not sure if any of the others have or not. None of them had weight problems though. My aunt does now since the cancer though.

My thyroid works normal (fortunately or unfortunately however you look at it). 

Agreed on the "how can you not think about food and forget to eat?"- that seems obsurd!! I know where I fit, food is constantly on my mind. And I don't really like that it is, but there we go. 
Err, I wish I weren't a disordered eater... would make loosing weight so much easier...

My thyroid works normal (fortunately or unfortunately however you look at it). 

Agreed on the "how can you not think about food and forget to eat?"- that seems obsurd!! I know where I fit, food is constantly on my mind. And I don't really like that it is, but there we go. 
Err, I wish I weren't a disordered eater... would make loosing weight so much easier...

I have the same problem. I actually went years without ever feeling hunger because I was eating all. the. time. I'd think about what I was going eat next meal as I was eating the current one.

And this is not something that's behind me either. I get sad after a meal because I won't be eating again for a while. I think sometimes it doesn't even really matter what the food is, as long as I can feel my jaws moving.