Thin people who are inactive & eat junk - It's only a matter of time?

[codsafish]

I am from Australia, I am also very active ( long-distance runner) I run 5-6 marathons a year and I train 7 days a week. I'm 23, been doing it since I was 15. I've always been healthy as in I don't drink alcohol or smoke or do recreational drugs and take-away for me is a once in a blue-moon thing.

To the main point ~

When I was in high school, a public school of about 1200 people. There was barely any overweight or obese people. In my "house" which was about 1/4th of the school, there was probably about 20 fat kids, out of a couple hundred, and maybe 2-3 were obese. But I am hearing figures that 50%+ of people are overweight/obese in Australia.

What I did notice is, the majority of kids at school, who were thin, didn't actually play sports or do any sorts of activity, the majority being super-lazy, not walking/riding bike to school, most of them got picked up. And to top it off most people ate junk food, drank a lot, and smoked. I was one of the odd ones out because I was always eating healthy food (never from the schools snack shop) and was just generally far more active than everyone and stayed away from alcohol.

So based off the "50% of Australians are overweight or obese". I assume these are counting mostly people in their mid to late 20's, 30s, 40s, 50s etc. While the majority of "teens" are still thin and at a healthy weight in their teen years, I assume their lifestyles of being inactive and eating junk catches upto them when they hit their late 20's/30's.

I have a cousin who is 19, he is thin as a stick, he doesn't do any exercise at all, drives everywhere, he eats take-away (mainly mc-donalds) several times a week. He brags about how he can do that and he never puts on weight let alone gets fat. Is he heading in the direction of overweight/obese when he is in his late 20's or early 30's?

I am bringing this up here, because I see a lot of people who post in these forums in "fitness/heath" sort of topics, about how they're thin and eat whatever they want and never get fat. It's interesting to me, because if you notice at gaming events...there is barely any middle-ground in weight differences. The people at these events are either A) Really thin, or B) Really overweight - Both types of people pretty much live the same lifestyle - junk food/inactive, but one is thin and one is fat, not to mention they're all around 18-25 years old.

[Noomz]

When you're a teenager below the age of 25, you usually have such a metabolism and physique that you can eat lots of crap without gaining weight. When you get older and keep eating the same stuff, you will gain this weight when your body doesn't burn it anymore.

[Mylune]

Different metabolisms I guess. I had a friend in school who wan tall, blonde and ate whatever she wanted and she was ALWAYS thin. Imagine being friends with that as a short, brunette with curves. Needless to say, it messed with my self-esteem. Anyway, now that she's older and hasn't changed her lifestyle shes's a good 60 pounds heavier. I guess her metabolism slowed as she aged past 20?

[Iyarashii]

I am 16 and weigh 114 is that skinny? But I stay away from anything bad and walk to school everyday, never had or will drink or smoke, so I think I'm good

[Mylune]

I am 16 and weigh 114 is that skinny? But I stay away from anything bad and walk to school everyday, never had or will drink or smoke, so I think I'm good

Don't worry about the number. If you feel good, eat right and like the way you look..that's all that matters!

[Drunkenfinn]

Yeah its pretty common among young people.

But theres usually a drawback to this kind of metabolism... Sometimes skinny stickmen decide they wanna get buffer and gain weight... But no matter what they do they jsut dont get any results.

Personally if I eat a lot of junk I gain lots of fat very very fast and it has always been like that for me. But then again when I go to the gym I get friggin buff and friggin fast.

I guess some peoples bodies just use the food and nutrients more efficiently than other people in both good and bad ways.

[Deleted]

I eat my fair share of crap I'll admit, and I'm nowhere near "fat".

Depends on the person and just how much crap they eat.

[Calibar]

What part of Aussi are you from? Here on the Northern Beaches its hard to find an unhealthy person. I think the more obese people are country people.

[Corgrash]

But theres usually a drawback to this kind of metabolism... Sometimes skinny stickmen decide they wanna get buffer and gain weight... But no matter what they do they jsut dont get any results.

This.
I work with heavy weights and also use weights at home to try and bulk up yet my friend who does hardly anything like that at all has a bigger build. However he also puts on weight easily whereas I can eat a 5 course meal and still weigh the same the next day.

[jegerlee]

Look up Metabolism on wikipedia and many of the answers you seek are here.

On a more IRL look of it; as an athlete you eat healthy and you probably eat 6-8 small meals a day to keep up your energy. Your body is never deprived of healthy calories to help you recuperate from all your running.

But, you see, the young guys and girls you talk about doesn't think this way. Many of them don't eat breakfast, some skip lunch and many more basicly only eat dinner, aside maybe some snacks here and there.
So even if they often eat junkfood many days during a week, alot of these people actually don't intake alot of calories on a daily basis eventhough its abundant in junkfood because its basicly the only calories they get.

Some of my colleagues are like this. Some skip breakfast because they don't have an appetite in the mornings, but eat 2-3 slices white bread when they arrive at work. Then dinner is skipped because of various reasons; too busy, they don't fancy the food in the cantina etc and then its dinnertime and guess what; they bring home some junkfood, often. So a quick math says that they often eat junkfood during a week, but they don't get many calories all together and thus don't gain weight.

The problem with this way of eating though is that, eventhough they look healthy, normal weight and slim, I assure you that their insides hates them. The excessive intake of salt, saturated fats and fast carbonhydrates is toying with their cholesterol, increased risk of coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease.

[codsafish]

Look up Metabolism on wikipedia and many of the answers you seek are here.

On a more IRL look of it; as an athlete you eat healthy and you probably eat 6-8 small meals a day to keep up your energy. Your body is never deprived of healthy calories to help you recuperate from all your running.

But, you see, the young guys and girls you talk about doesn't think this way. Many of them don't eat breakfast, some skip lunch and many more basicly only eat dinner, aside maybe some snacks here and there.
So even if they often eat junkfood many days during a week, alot of these people actually don't intake alot of calories on a daily basis eventhough its abundant in junkfood because its basicly the only calories they get.

Some of my colleagues are like this. Some skip breakfast because they don't have an appetite in the mornings, but eat 2-3 slices white bread when they arrive at work. Then dinner is skipped because of various reasons; too busy, they don't fancy the food in the cantina etc and then its dinnertime and guess what; they bring home some junk food, often. So a quick math says that they often eat junkfood during a week, but they don't get many calories all together and thus don't gain weight.

The problem with this way of eating though is that, eventhough they look healthy, normal weight and slim, I assure you that their insides hates them. The excessive intake of salt, saturated fats and fast carbonhydrates is toying with their cholesterol, increased risk of coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease.

That makes a lot of sense. The skipping of meals thing is what I've noticed a lot of em do, skip meals, eat the wrong things, not enough time and they just eat whatevers fastest at the end of the day (ie take-away)

And yes you're right, with my training schedule I am eating a lot during the day, in small portions, just to keep energized. I can't eat too much because then it effects my training negatively as I can't peform or do as well as I can. I eat smaller portions so my food/water in-take doesn't effect my training and I never get hungry because I am constantly eating something every few hours.

[xourico]

The problem with this way of eating though is that, eventhough they look healthy, normal weight and slim, I assure you that their insides hates them. The excessive intake of salt, saturated fats and fast carbonhydrates is toying with their cholesterol, increased risk of coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease.

that depends..

I am very fat(obese), and my cholesterol count is 140, which is very low.

I also had a friend in high school that could eat whatever he wanted and he would never gain weight.

My point is, every person is different, be it their metabolism or their daily routines.

Sill 1 thing is for sure, if you eat healthy, even if you dont do any kind of physical activity besides your daily routine of going to work etc, you WILL be healthy. Many ppl assume that you need to do sports or something to be healthy, you dont. IT does help ofc, but with a proper diet you can be healthy (dont expect to be strong or have a appealing physique if you dont exercise tho :P)

So while many of the OP friends or ppl he knows that eat junk and are slim may have cholesterol problems and such, many of them will just be fine, the human body is a amazing machine, you can recover from A LOT of damage, ppl just need to work for that :P (I know Im trying ^^)

[Deleted]

I eat enough to get by from day to day, sometimes I do eat junk food but it's not in any massive amounts. Eat about 2000-2200 calories / day, a bit more if I eat pizza or hamburgers. I've been hovering between 42 kg and 50 kg for quite some time, depending on how much I move. Been gaining weight again as of lately as am not working anymore but still eat the same way I did while working.

I don't think I'd be able to become obese. Slightly overweight perhaps but not to the point of obese.

[Deleted]

Sill 1 thing is for sure, if you eat healthy, even if you dont do any kind of physical activity besides your daily routine of going to work etc, you WILL be healthy. Many ppl assume that you need to do sports or something to be healthy, you dont.

Sort of.
You'll never be truly healthy if you don't get exercise.
The human body is not meant to lead a sedentary lifestyle and spend the majority of your day sitting or lying down.
You need exercise to keep everything working, the heart, the lungs, the muscles, bones, tendons/ligaments e.t.c.
Exercise is the stimulus that returns our bodies to the conditions for which they were designed.
Humans are not physically normal in the absence of hard physical effort.
Exercise is not a thing we do to fix a problem - it is a thing we must do anyway, a thing without which there will always be problems.

[Porte]

that depends..

I am very fat(obese), and my cholesterol count is 140, which is very low.


Sill 1 thing is for sure, if you eat healthy, even if you dont do any kind of physical activity besides your daily routine of going to work etc, you WILL be healthy. Many ppl assume that you need to do sports or something to be healthy, you dont. IT does help ofc, but with a proper diet you can be healthy (dont expect to be strong or have a appealing physique if you dont exercise tho :P)

So while many of the OP friends or ppl he knows that eat junk and are slim may have cholesterol problems and such, many of them will just be fine, the human body is a amazing machine, you can recover from A LOT of damage, ppl just need to work for that :P (I know Im trying ^^)

You have to get some exercise to stay healthy no matter how amazing your diet is.

[Sickbro]

I eat enough to get by from day to day, sometimes I do eat junk food but it's not in any massive amounts. Eat about 2000-2200 calories / day, a bit more if I eat pizza or hamburgers. I've been hovering between 42 kg and 50 kg for quite some time, depending on how much I move. Been gaining weight again as of lately as am not working anymore but still eat the same way I did while working.

I don't think I'd be able to become obese. Slightly overweight perhaps but not to the point of obese.

Are you male or female, and how old are you
42-50kg makes me think you are one of those under fed black kids you see on tv who eat a bowl of rice every 3 weeks

if you are a pre-pubescent girl, i retract my comment


i am roughly 105kg, with most my weight being in my belly from eating shit and drinking entirely too many softdrinks (atlest 8-10 cans a day, usually more) i have a strong upperbody and strong legs, but i am by no means fit or healthy, i am quite possibly the closest thing to a human sloth as you can get, the only exercise i do is walking to my dealers house each week to pick up an ounce or 2 of weed

[satyrikon]

Your cousin there is likely a freak of higher metabolism, he might be thin, but he likely isn't physically fit. He can be a skinny light weight with clogging arteries, enlarged heart, etc and generally weak as shit. I grew up with some people lightweight, natural six pack type physique with out having to work a minute for it.... you ask em to help you move some furniture and they struggle with one end of a love seat being brought up 5 steps... gas out mowing the lawn etc.

It'll catch up to him eventually.

[Dacien]

I'm 28, and I practically drink bottles of saturated fat for lunch, and I'm still thin. My dad is thin, my mom is thin, my grandparents on both sides are thin... I'm banking that I'll stay thin.

[Deleted]

i know my times coming i had started to cut down because i have gone through 12-19 age eating mosly junk and not doing much excersice, but i still look like i hit the gym every once in a while (only been to the gym once in my life), so i started to cut down recently and eat a little healthier because i know as i get older i will start to gain weight

[Matt the Platypus]

i know my times coming i had started to cut down because i have gone through 12-19 age eating mosly junk and not doing much excersice, but i still look like i hit the gym every once in a while (only been to the gym once in my life), so i started to cut down recently and eat a little healthier because i know as i get older i will start to gain weight

Just from now, the best way to start losing weight is by just doing cardio and eating ever 3-4 hours to keep your metabolism going at a steady rate