Why does your friend eat everything that is not nailed down, but is always thin? And can you become the same?

There are people who, looking at them, break from injustice. It’s annoying how easily they accept any food and how much they eat without experiencing any weight problems.

The reasons why they do this are constantly debated, but how close to the truth are they? Is everything really predetermined or can you become at least half like them by introducing a few correct habits? Let's discuss.

Hypotheses are usually put forward that affect differences in metabolism, hormones, genetics, of course, and also poor absorption of what is eaten. This is what first comes to mind and seems quite true, but…

Accelerated metabolism?

If we are talking about healthy people (this is important, I will explain why soon), then the resting metabolism of healthy people differs little and the real difference in metabolism that we see in studies does not cover the scale of differences in weight and food intake. In short, in the last part (Here here she is) we found that the resting metabolism of very similar people will be very similar, and someone will have a more powerful metabolism only because the person is larger (taller, larger organs or a lot of muscle mass, etc.). A healthy individual's metabolism is determined by body composition and activity more than anything else.

However, there are thyroid hormones that have the ability to control metabolic rate and are the most obvious candidate for explaining why someone eats and doesn't gain weight. Only by considering cases in which the functioning of the thyroid gland is the dominant cause of thinness will we have to move away from the concept of “conditionally healthy.”

In this study Some people's resting metabolism was increased by as much as 40%. In fact, people were burning energy in their sleep. If the average resting metabolism is 1350 kk, then these gentlemen burned 540 kk from above just like that. Dream! But no. In fact, these participants had hypothyroidism syndrome, which cannot be called a pleasant condition even for the sake of losing weight.

In another similar a study where people with hyperthyroidism were also treated, after a course of drugs, resting metabolism also decreased significantly by an average of 486 kk per day from 2087 kk to 1601 kk.

What I mean is that people actually had an increased metabolism against the background of which they lost a lot of weight and could not gain weight even with abundant calorie consumption. But hyperthyroidism is a nasty disease, and if you discover it, you will rather run to treat it, rather than rejoice at the lost kilos, which will include significant loss of muscle mass (and this is not healthy).

So there’s no need to lick the subway handrails in an attempt to catch hepateriosis. (yes, I know that you can’t catch hypothyroidism this way, there are just too few bad jokes in this text).

Gastrointestinal diseases?

Another explanation given is that not all food is digested. Let’s say the gastrointestinal tract does not absorb the amount of food that a person eats and instead of 2000 kk, only 1500 kk remains. What must happen to a person so that the body begins to use 25% of the most valuable energy for survival in transit? Of course, get sick.

Significant changes in body composition due to the lack of digestion of food cause serious diseases such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis and in general everything that leads to literally 20-40% of consumed calories being flushed down the toilet. I have not encountered this, but judging by the description of the symptoms of these sores, this also cannot be called an advantage or a good way to lose weight.

There are also less serious diseases, they can limit the choice of foods or their quantity, which leads to the shutdown of the hedonic factor, and then the person eats what he does not really like and ultimately eats less. And acute poisoning lasts, as a rule, several days, during which the mass is lost, but not so significantly and soon returns back.

I have not found any other data that would confirm that the reasons for people’s thinness depend at least in part on their ability not to absorb all the energy. Although this does not mean that they do not exist. Perhaps you have some data to share on this topic.

For now, I see comments in the category of “it’s just passing through in transit” as incomplete.

We are trying to find more reasons “why him and not me?”

Researching any weight loss hacks that are not related to diet and exercise will again lead us to another disease: type 1 diabetes. It can also dramatically reduce weight when there is excess glucose (read: calories) will be excreted in the urine, but this is until insulin therapy begins.

I almost forgot. There are also eating disorders! They not only increase weight, but also reduce it. Fear of food, restrictions, bulimia… All this can be used to be thin.

In general, somehow you don’t get the image of a person from folk tales, for whom, in general, everything is OK, and what distinguishes him from the majority is only an immoderate appetite and infuriating slimness… But based on solid data, it turns out that wherever you poke, there are painful extremes everywhere. Any medical registered evidence when people really they eat a lot and don’t get fat, and sometimes they lose weight, which is always accompanied by a bunch of troubles that you definitely don’t want to have.

These are the very cases when a bug is a bug, and not a feature for weight loss, which you will be extremely happy to immediately get rid of through treatment.

But our friend is not like that? He’s healthy, doesn’t complain about anything, but sits at the computer 24/7, eats and doesn’t gain weight. What's wrong with him?

Testosterone

“Well, of course, the higher the test, everything will be easier.”

Only testosterone has nothing to do with thinness. Testosterone is known to help build muscle, but it does not have the ability to burn fat. People with higher testosterone levels are primarily leaner rather than muscular. Several studies have found that men with higher testosterone levels have less body fat than men with more fat, but there was no difference in muscle or lean mass (Here And Here).

The reason is reverse causation.

Increased testosterone levels do not reduce body fat levels. The fact is that low fat levels increase testosterone levels.

Adipose tissue produces aromatase – an enzyme that converts androgens into estrogens, so the less fat you have, the higher your testosterone to estrogen ratio overall.

In short, high testosterone — This is a consequence of thinness, not a cause.

And again by! So what is this? What's wrong with these skinny ones?

Less obvious: the thermic effect of food

Now let's look at more reliable data that indicates differences between fat and thin.

Some differences in the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract and the supply of nutrients do indeed exist, but it would be incorrect to call this “incomplete absorption.” Everything is absorbed, but the efficiency of assimilation differs between skinny and overweight people.

The thermic effect is lower in overweight people. The TE of pure dietary fat in obese people tends to zero, which means that 100% of calories will be obtained from fat, while in lean people the TE of fat reaches 15% – fats are oxidized before they are absorbed and energy is wasted on this. It turns out that part of the energy received is compensated by their absorption.

The reduced thermic effect is associated with a lower rate of fat oxidation in overweight individuals. When you are overweight, the body has “tons” of energy in the form of fat, but it refuses to use that fuel (to some extent, of course, there is almost always some oxidizable fat in the body).

The thermic effect of carbohydrates also tends to be lower in people with insulin resistance. because it is more difficult for them to absorb glucose from the blood.

Moreover, the EPR of mixed meals consisting of processed foods is lower than that of whole foods. For example, whole grain bread with cheddar cheese has a TEP of 19.9%, while white bread with processed cheese has TEP only 10.7%, which is almost a twofold difference in energy costs for dishes with the same macronutrients and calorie content.

The amount of fat in the body determines how many calories will be received and on average the TEF of obese people can hang around 10%, while In lean people, combined meals oxidize up to 25% of the energy received. In the case of 2000 kk it will be 200 or 500 kk. Tangibly.

And this is the first, in my opinion, serious distinctive feature of skinny women.

And again, such a feature – a consequence of thinness, not its cause. It’s quite possible to develop such a skill yourself by losing weight.

Or maybe it’s metabolism?

There is one studywhich documented a higher resting metabolic rate in underweight people (BMI <18) compared to normal weight people (>23). They also had higher thyroid hormone activity.

And although it was all ultimately thin “they simply ate less, although more than expected according to calculations”. After reading the study itself, you can find out that expectations were based on a formula for calculating basal metabolism, in which the thermic effect of food was fixed at 10%. And we now know that in thin people it can be significantly higher. Hence the low expectations.

Summarizing everything, we can say that thin people simply ate less.

We are getting closer and closer to the unpleasant truth that thinness does not miraculously appear out of nowhere, but consists of well-worn fundamentals – moderate calorie intake corresponding to the level of activity. By the way, about activity.

To the completely unobvious – metabolic adaptation

Many people are familiar with this term from the history of weight loss. When you lose weight, your body adapts and you have to eat less and less to continue losing weight. But metabolic adaptation works both ways and in the direction of increasing calories can also work very well.

For example, when the amount of fat in the body increases, the body can increase its burning through spontaneous activity.

And this is the second, in my opinion, serious distinctive feature of skinny women.

This phenomenon is called the “wasteful phenotype.”. This is the body’s ability to prevent itself from increasing in size. Its opposite is the economical phenotype – when all movements are performed exclusively purposefully and nothing is done just like that.

But it is important to understand that in case of wastefulness, excess energy does not simply evaporate. People actually move more, make a huge number of micro-movements throughout the day to compensate for the excess accumulated fat.

This causes distrust and bewilderment among people. How can you burn extra calories?

Therefore, let's turn again to more reliable data.

If such fussers are placed in a sealed metabolic chamber the size of a room for a day. Such a camera can calculate a person’s energy consumption and after a day will help you find out how many calories he spends. There's not much to do there. You can sit, lie down, type, go to the toilet.

These are not entirely natural conditions for many people, because there is no access to movement, activity, or training. But this is great because you can find out how much a person can push the zhepe essentially while standing still. And this way of life is very similar to the stories about those who “sit at the computer for 24 hours and eat chips and burgers.” And there is such a study!

Here it is. Attention: the difference between people, adjusted for body size, was 100-800 kk per day! And the research conclusion “fidgeting” can be translated as “fussiness”.

So our skinny ones are fussing. They fuss more than you.

What if they are the same as everyone else?

When analyzing people's evidence, it is impossible not to take into account the selectivity of this evidence.

“I’ll see how much he eats, it’s three times more, and I’m the chubby one.” Or maybe he eats more in front of you, but the rest of the time he doesn’t eat at all? And this is not surprising. Studies have found that people eat more when socializing. With one other person, caloric intake increased by 44%, and with six other people, it increased by 74%. It seems that this is some kind of evolutionary mechanism that forces you to grab it while it’s available. In a large family, as they say… it's better to act quickly.

From the experience of my clients, I see how thin people who overeat lose their appetite after a couple of days. They usually overeat during holidays and in the company of friends.

“Skinny people always sit in Mac, eating huge burgers!” Um, who will go to the bathhouse: dirty or clean? When a thin person eats a large portion of food, you can be impressed, but he may not eat at all for the rest of the day or subsist on a cucumber.

“Mac for breakfast, shawarma for lunch, Snickers for a snack and a burger for dinner!” It really does sound threatening, but in terms of calories, it turns out that this is the usual average daily requirement for a not very active person.

“He eats only flour! And just the sight of flour makes me sick.” Haven’t you noticed that thin people can limit themselves to just flour, but for you flour is an addition to the main thing?

“A plate of pasta at night”, “only carbohydrates” – properties that, in the culture of ideas about healthy eating, look like aggravating circumstances, but in fact are just myths.

The amount of carbohydrates does not affect body composition and the quality of weight loss. until they displace protein or create excess energy. Food eaten at night no longer has fat-creating properties.

What's the conclusion?

Putting the facts together, lean people burn more energy when digesting food and may have a wasteful phenotype that encourages them to hustle and not just move around purposefully. It seems that thin people just eat in moderation, and if they eat more than expected, then they just move more and there is no magic here. There are some diseases in which body weight is extremely reduced, but these are diseases and they are treated.

There are some things you can develop for yourself. By losing weight, you will increase the efficiency of food absorption and spend more on digestion, and thus your metabolism will speed up. Eating a balanced diet based on whole and unprocessed foods will increase your digestive metabolism a little more. Instead of spontaneous activity, which manifests itself in thin people, you can use strength training, which will build muscle, increase the amount of active cell mass, and at the same time increase metabolism again.

Yes, someone has a natural trump card in the ability to unconsciously control their body weight and not gain weight, but to become such a person you do not need genetic engineering and rocket science.

So don't get angry, but do it!

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