to think that people's weight is mostly down to how they're made?

[blackwell]

OK, I know there are a few people who either overeat massively or starve, but I think that in general if people are 'heavily built' or 'lightly built' that is just how they are. I would say most of my friends eat roughly the same amount, yet there is quite a big difference in size between us. Some people are just naturally slim and maintain it without effort, and others are naturally bigger and it would take a massive effort for them to maintain a size 8/10 whatever.

It's a massively unscientific theory, I know, mainly based on my personal acquaintance!

I was just being facetious about chickens and eggs [hsmile]

I think that people have a natural shape, certainly - some have big bottoms, others broad shoulders etc - but size is determined very much by food and exercise.

I have wide hips; I could starve myself until I was a skeleton and I still wouldn't be able to get a pair of size 8 jeans over my hip bones. But my weight relative to that is entirely down to diet and exercise: when I was at uni, did no sport and ate a double-decker a day, I was a size 14. Now I eat more healthily and exercise 3-4 times a week, I'm a size 10 (okay, sometimes a 12 down below. Damn hips).

So yanbu to say that people cannot change their shape: someone with chunky arms will probably always have chunky arms, but in proportion to the rest of their body, but yabu to say that no one can control their actual weight/level of body fat.

Discobeaver do you think so,I,ve been to have my sugar levels tested about 3 times,over the last few years.The doctors tell me that some people need to eat more often than others,I have to eat every 2 hours.

Missmiss - are you me?? I agree wholeheartedly. I am also the same size and shape (i.e in better nick now than I was at uni..) And it is mainly down to trimming some (not all!) rubbish out of my diet and exercising. Particularly toning/weight based work to reduce body fat and raise metabolic rate, and well as the cardio stuff to burn calories.

Rockbat, a cream slice with whipped cream and light pastry could have fewer calories than a biscuit. A starbucks chocolate chunk cookie has 350 cals, and many cream slices have less than 300, but feel like more of a treat.

lovelmumma - Well I'm no expert and I guess people's needs are different but every 2 hours is a lot, and to feel faint after exercise and so on, sounds like too much insulin, that's how I would feel if I injected too much. So your insulin is gobbling up your carbs, making you low sugared.

Maybe you are supersensitive to insulin, like some people are insulin resistant, or have a super fast metabolism?

If the docs have said it's normal then I suppose they are right but it must be very difficult to live like that, I would definitely find it hard.

Less in, more out didn't work for me I'm afraid.

Only low carbing has worked (and pretty darned well, if I say so myself).

I am pretty sure I take in more calories these days than I did a year ago - when I was almost two stone heavier. I am doing no more excercise.

CCF point taken, but it wasn't, it was a good old Greggs heart attack cream slice :)

discobeaver,it is difficult to live with,because i have to plan into my day,when to stop and eat.If i go out for a couple of hours,I have to eat just before I go,and as soon as I get back,or on the run.

well, to a certain extent it is true, the same diet and exercise routine for 2 different people will lead to different body shapes as different people burn off calories at different rates, but if you are one of the unfortunate ones who burns off less calories, then you need less - so need to be stricter to lose the weight.

Also, muscle does burn more calories even when you aren't exercising, so diet alone isn't the main factor. People often think of exercise in terms of 'what you do that involves wearing a gym kit' and say they do the same, without thinking about the background exercise different people do. The difference could be one person only has a 5 minute walk to the station, another has a 20 minute walk, the choice to take the stairs rather than the lift (I never understand people taking the lift for one flight of stairs, but that's me), if you do the gardening or your DP etc - in fact I have one friend who lost weight without trying as she moved from a ground floor flat to a house and concluded she lost weight as she had to climb a flight of stairs every time she needed a wee...

and I used to be one of those who could "eat whatever thy want and not gain weight" but then I got an office job (when I used to be on my feet all day) and went up a dress size...

Morrisons cream slice is 234 cals, M&S 295 cals and ASDA 315cals
A starbucks chocolate chip cookie is 450 cals - an apple bran muffin (sounds so much healthier than a cream slice, eh?) is 350 [shock)

Actually, thinking about it, I rarely clear my plate - usually leave about a quarter of it. I do a lot of walking/stairs and am not particularly a food-lover. But I still don't think I eat significantly less than others who are bigger

lovelymumma when I am feeling low sugared, fruit juice is a very good way to keep the sugars up, lots of people don't realise how high in sugars a carton can be.
Also snack packs of raisins and peanuts are good - you'd be amazed how many carbs are in dried fruit, really, and they are easy to eat handfuls of when you are out and about.

I never go anywhere without a bottle of Lucozade for emergencies, but it does mean I have to take a big bag.

I,ve mentioned hypoglycaemia to the doctors,but my sugar levels just keep coming back as low but not lower than what is normal.I do get upset,but its hard to go back to the doctors,when they keep telling you its ok.

it does sound like that Leonie - what can you do about it, apart from eat/keep your sugars up?

I know peole who are naturally a size 8 (or the male equivalent) - but they either don't really like food or their tatses are such that their ideal meal would be a smallish salmon steak with steamed veg.

"There weren't many chubby people in Belsen or Auschwitz, regardless of how big boned they were, or whether they had a slow metabolism"

LeQueen you sound like my ex! He used to say that to overweight patients (he is a doctor) all the time. He is lucky he is handsome, otherwise he probably would have got some grief.

The Auschwitz jibe is in really poor taste and I think rather insulting and trivialising of suffering. Of course if you starve people they will all lose weight (though not at the same rate) but that's not what we are talking about here. We are not in a starvation situation, or being forced to break rocks in freezing conditions. So factors such as genetic activity and hunger levels do make a huge difference to people's natural weight. It is hard to be hungry most of the time! There are also emotional factors that affect people's eating, and common conditions such a thyroid disorders and polycystic ovary syndrome which affect weight gain. I don't think anyone is naturally obese, in the sense that they have no alternative, but plenty of people have to really, really struggle to stay 'slim', and not everyone thinks it is worth it. I'm within a healthy BMI myself, and that's a struggle, and one that gets tougher as I get older.

Rubbish.
When I exercised most days and ate well-no bread, pasta etc, I was a size 10. When I was out of work and grazed on food all day long, I piled on the weight.
It's simple really.
By the way, when I say a size 10, I mean a proper, old-school, model size 10...24 inch waist etc. None of this modern sizing rubbish.