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Increase your metabolism by moderate exercise, eating more protein, drinking cold water, standing when you can instead of sitting, and toning which will increase your muscle.
Instead of eating two "big" meals a day, try breaking it up to several small high quality "snacks" per day. Grazing increases metabolism and helps our bodies to work more efficiently by not "starving" muscle or needing to break it down.
Instead of eating two "big" meals a day, try breaking it up to several small high quality "snacks" per day. Grazing increases metabolism and helps our bodies to work more efficiently by not "starving" muscle or needing to break it down.
Per new research, Eating several small meals may cause diabetes.
I think there are a lot of people who almost always eat a quality, calorie-appropriate diet......they eat that way almost always and it is very natural to them. This way of eating means they are at a good weight, with little if any fluctuations.
Per new research, Eating several small meals may cause diabetes.
I asked my trainer about this, because I have never heard this before and I don't know anything about diabetics. He said that two meals per day, over grazing, improves insulin sensitivity and better weight loss in people who have type 2 diabetes already. I was referring to a healthy person not someone who has or is borderline diabetic.
I did some additional research and for the average person who does not have an insulin sensitivity, grazing (not meals) is better as it is how our bodies were designed to function. I know it works very well for me.
Even among people in good health, it varies. My wife eats a healthy diet and the only way she gains weight is if she really overeats, a lot. I eat almost the identical diet and I always carrry about 10 lbs extra around my middle. I can poke her in the stomach and it's still hard as a rock, even in middle age. No matter what I do, even in those rare periods when my weight is very low, I always have some squish around the middle. She eats more than I do. We are both (as far as we know) in robust good health and exercise regularly, but not to a super high level.
I say that I am an example of someone who "has the fat gene" but doesn't use that as an excuse to sit on my butt all day and eat french fries. So that means I live my life as a physically fit person with low blood fats and excellent glucose, who is about 10 lbs. above the "ideal" weight. If I just ate anything I craved and did no exercise, I would probably weigh 300 lbs or more at age 58, instead of the 180 lbs. I currently weigh (5' 9" in height).
Or do thin people just not eat as much as they say they do?
For years, I thought I had a fast metabolism, but I've monitored my diet and I probably eat just two "big" meals a day (what I consider big anyway) I hardly eat breakfast, and I mostly drink my cals (soda is love) or eat candy (which is usually considered empty calories anyway) I honestly don't think I eat over a thousand calories. Makes me wonder about other skinny minnies that think they're naturally thin, when really they're just unintentionally under-eating.
Of course being naturally thin is a real thing. I am such a person, and I LOVE to eat. I totally overeat for my size and height though. In my teens and early 20s, I ate until I was really full. Never gained an inch, never gained a pound. Then age crept it and waist (not weight) gain started in my mid 20s. I collect fat in my belly, so I've had to buy new pants every few years, which was the result of overeating.
Now I'm 40, and I still love to eat and it's nearly impossible to resist temptation. My belly keeps growing every few years, yet the rest of my body is still naturally thin. My arms and thighs are still thin. I still have very defined collar bones. I look very skinny, except for my belly fat.
I have a friend who's had 3 children and she is smaller in clothing size than me, but she has small bones.
I think it is real thing. Ive had roommate on college, he was almost 2 meters tall with 68 kilos of bodyweight looked like skeleton. He was eating a lot everyday, i mean pizzas, beers was common thing. Then he started lifting weights, eating healthy food, lot of carbs, proteine, supplements. After half year, he gained only 1 kilo, but that skinny muscles was visible all over his body, plus he has visible veins everywhere. Eventualy, he gained weight after years, when he got married and have kids. Some people just got that type of metabolism or what, but age is big factor too IMO.
I have a friend who has always been reed thin. Even after having two kids she still weighs MAYBE 100 pounds soaking wet. She does not work out and eats a ton of food. She's healthy as a horse.
My mom was very very thin until she hit menopause, and even now she is still thin, only coming in at about 130 pounds. But before menopause she was probably closer to 115 lbs.
I, on the other hand, inherited my metabolism from my dad's side of the family, and so I am overweight despite all efforts to be otherwise. I turned 50 this year though, and so I am actively trying to lose weight before menopause hits because I know that'll take a toll on me. Even at my smallest as an adult (mid 130s) I didn't look/feel thin. I'd kill to be that weight now. *lol*
I'm not sure if I would ever fall into the naturally thin category? I have maintained an adult weight between 90-132 lbs for 30 years. My adult height is 5' 5.5".
When I was a teen, up to age 20, I was very active with intensive ballet/dance training daily for 3-4 hours six days per week. I ate like a horse but was still slightly underweight. I did not reach 100 lbs or get my first period until age 16.
I quit dancing in 1992 but was walking everywhere and attending Ohio State University while living off campus with no car. I carried heavy books in a backpack while walking up to six miles a day, and worked two physical jobs. Still maintained bare minimum normal weight despite eating junk food mixed with healthy food, heck back then whatever I could afford which wasn't much.
1993 left college and moved to small town. Lived with Mom for a year, fell into depression and didn't do much other than work at fast food joints. Ate Taco Johns a a lot, and baked at home because I was bored. Gained up to 130 lbs where I stayed that year.
1994 went back to a different college, walked and carried books everywhere, worked physical job, but full of anxiety and depression. Ate very little only because I was too self conscious and depressed to go to the cafeteria. Weight dropped below 110 lbs. Stayed there for several years. Still didn't think much about what I ate or care about calories etc.
worked a lot of physical jobs over the years, started smoking in 1997, still ate a crap diet but not a ton, likely because of smoking which naturally kept appetite down, though I didn't think of it then. I'm also a high anxiety person. I lived on tv dinners and pop tarts, occasional fruits and veggies but had IBS for a while. Never thought about my weight, but started thinking about food/diet only in terms of how it impacted my digestive issues and chronic nausea. I kept food bland for that reason.
Very first diet was at age 34, 2006, a year after going through surgical menopause, when I was put on an anti candida diet by a naturopath due to chronic yeast infections (from lack of my natural hormones). I lost down to 105 lbs as my diet was so strict, but I was so desperate to feel better. It was the first time I felt dieting gave me a sense of control over something in my life.
I quit smoking in late 2006.
At the same time, I got sick of this strict diet and it didn't help anything, just made me very tired. no doubt since looking back, without realizing it, I was starving myself, and smoking was also contributing to many of my digestive issues unbeknownst to me at the time. Back then I still had no clue about nutrition or diet. I started eating anything and everything I wanted. I also ate because I was going through smoking withdrawals. I ate a lot of junk, and weight again ballooned up to 132 lbs.
2008 sick of how "fat" I was getting and miserable I felt. Something clicked, I remembered the candida diet, and decided to lose weight. I cut out soda pop, sugar, fast food at first. Started a fitness membership. Weight began to plummet. I should have stopped when I hit 110 lbs, but I kept going because it felt so good. I dropped all the way to 90 lbs. By the time my weight was that low I was eating only 800-1200 calories per day and working out at least 2 hours a day on top of physical job. Still eating 3-4 meals per day.
Spent 2008-2014 between 90-105 lbs, most of the time under 100 lbs. I assure you it was hard work. I exercised myself into the ground, counted every calorie, fat gram, sugar etc. I experimented with all kinds of diets. I restricted foods down to nothing but raw fruits and leafy greens for a while. When the hunger and appetite hormones started screaming, I threw in binging/purging until that was out of control. Went through several eating disorder treatments, was forced to gain weight but would find a way out of it when weight got up to 106 lbs. Then drop back down to low 90s.
I snapped out of it when I had my fifth DEXA scan and scores plummeted to a severe number. My bones were literally disintegrating. It was quite shocking. At that time I was close to 94 lbs, but began to allow myself to gain weight, all the way up to 112-114 lbs. I ate upwards of 3000 a day for a while to keep gaining since my metabolism finally came to life. I ate 6x a day for a while, then when I decided to slow down weight gain I cut back to 4x day and lowered calories to maintenance. It took a while to figure out what maintenance was for me.
Now I am 47, have been at 112 lbs give or take a few lbs for five years, but it is still not "natural". I am careful with diet, eat very healthy, rarely eat out, plan out meals and snacks for several weeks (though maintain some flexibility), eat four small meals per day and three per day weekends. I still exercise but due to injuries and overuse syndromes I have had to slow down and rethink my exercise routine. Exercise was one of the ways I controlled my weight. Even at a bmi 14.7 I ate more than some normal dieters (I usually consumed 1300 calories per day back then) but my exercise regimen was insane. I have put on more body fat because I have had to slow down with exercise due to multiple stress fractures/reactions in bones of legs, ribs. I'm pretty sure if I were to be less careful with diet, less planning and less restrictive with certain foods, I would gain a bit more. I notice that full fat dairy seems to make me fill out more if I consume that more regularly so i tend to keep that to a minimum. I eat a pescetarian style diet, former vegan for 6.5 years. I am back to ballet/dance classes and dance a lot on my own, and find that more enjoyable than slaving away on machines. I do some weight training and calisthenics also, and cycling, canoeing etc.
I don't think I could eat the way I did in my twenties and early thirties and maintain the weight I am now. I suspect I would weigh closer to 125-130 eating that way, and the irony is I would likely be somewhat healthier as far as weight goes because of my osteoporosis, but the goal would be to maintain that weight eating healthier. It is something I am trying to wrap my head around because I still have body image issues and can barely stand my body where it is, but I know I could eat more naturally and less controlled if I allowed myself to weight a little more. I believe my natural weight is likely close to 120-130 but since it's been years since I have weighed that much and I am older now, I really don't know, and don't trust it.
I believe that smoking kept my weight down for a while in addition to exercise, though it also caused me a lot of digestive issues that resolved when I quit. My metabolism is slower now that I am older, but for many many years, since age 16, I have had hypothyroidism. Despite that I have never struggled to lose weight.
Hey guys am curious about what your biggest problems are in regards to Fitness. Please fill out my survey below, I'll be more than happy to share the results, let's brainstorm some solutions together.
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Fitness Survey
