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!

Clumsymum,some of us have to snack or we get faint.

"Clumsymum,some of us have to snack or we get faint."
Are you talking about being pregnant, or not.

OK we may need to snack a little more during pregnancy, but what are you snacking on? Some women take pregnancy as a green light to eat whatever they want, whenever they want it.

If you are not pg, then there really isn't an excuse for needing snacks thru the day. Eat good, balanced meals at proper meal times. If you can't manage like that, then you need to get a medical checkup.
Many people do get so used to topping up thru the day, they seriously believe that they HAVE to have snacks to survive. But our bodies are not designed to work that way, generally speaking

You see, I agree with the people on this thread who say that it should be just as easy as lowering calories in/burning off what we eat, but for some people, some on this thread, it just isn't.

And it comes across as very smug to be trotting off the old Auschwitz line and how much chocolate you can eat.

Body shapes/metabolisms vary, people's activity levels vary. Some people lose weight during breastfeeding, some don't (despite watching food intake and walking miles grrr).

Mostly I agree, if you want to lose weight then eat less and move more, but for some it simply isn't as easy as that.

"it should be just as easy as lowering calories in/burning off what we eat"

No-one has said it is easy to do that, just that that is what you need to do. It's bloody difficult to burn more calories without wanting to eat more.

Low-carbing etc is all really a way of tricking yourself into taking in (I'm talking actually absorbing here rather than simply what you put in your mouth) fewer calories than your body needs to use, therefore it has to use some of its fat reserves.

Something that's very important to remember is that being, say, a size 16/18 doesn't necessarily make you less healthy than someone who is a size 8/10. IF the skinny person maintains that weight by living on coffee, fags and amphetamines then s/he will be in far worse health than a 'fat' person who eats regular meals of proper unprocessed food and takes moderate exercise.
It's also stupid to ignore the misogyny problem: fat women are seen as immoral, stupid, lazy and selfish partly because they're not supposed to eat as much as men Fat men, mostly (though the awful thinness obsession is getting rid of this) have been seen as prosperous, having stature, etc.
Oh and WRT the exercise thing, I don't diet, never have done as I like food and don't think there is anything wrong with being a healthy size 16-18. However, a couple of years ago when I started doing market research work which involves a lot of walking, I started getting thinner. Quite a lot thinner ie two dress sizes and had to chuck out a lot of trousers because they were so ludicrously too big. Over this summer, due to school holidays, I've been doing less work of that nature, and my trousers feel a bit tighter. Eating habits haven't changed.

But Lequeen, some people have sedentary jobs, can't lug boxes all day every day (and if you do that everyday you should perhaps declutter ), they don't run around after children all day.
Laurie is on this thread saying that despite reducing her calorie intake to 1050 each day, despite breastfeeding she still loses weight very slowly.
So it isn't that simple.

And I didn't just mean you!

And Trills, yes, I know it isn't easy (believe me!), I meant that that theory (in the main) is a simple one.

Apologies if I sounded smug. I can see it might be annoying when you are trying to lose weight and can't. I genuinely didn't mean it smugly, was just pointing out that in the range of body types I am firmly at one end of the scale and there is very little I could do to change that, if anything. I imagine it is the same for some people who are maybe larger than they would like to be.

Horton, I think you proved the theory that it isn't always as simple as eating less, moving more.
You sound exactly like my friend who used to make me feel physically sick watching the amount she ate.

I remember reading a book about the holocaust - it was either Olga Lengyel's Five Chimneys or Fania Fenelon's Playing for Time (prob the latter) in which the author said that some people didn't lose weight like the rest of them and were objects of some curiosity to their fellow-prisoners.

I know it's hard, I nearly took someone's eye out in Zumba class on Monday!

If French people so thin, who buys all the cakes, sweets etc in all those Pattiseries and Chocolatier shops eh? Surely they don't throw it all away at the end of each day and if they didn't sell much, they'd go out of business. There are LOADS of those shops.

I hate all this crap that 'The French are like xxxx, the Italians are like yyyyy'.

Should add that I agree with the OP. I am slimmish - 5'4.5 and 9st 2lb. I'd like to lose a couple of pounds and sneak under 9st but by and large I am happy with what I weigh. I think I probably eat more than 2000 calories a day.

I feel that people I know who struggle with their weight do not eat significantly more than I do.

What I don't do is binge - I could never eat a whole pack of biscuits, whole 6 pack of crisps (and I love crisps, me) or a whole box of chocolates in one go.

I will admit to being choosy with my food now I am older - I don't eat biscuits very often as I think they have an unacceptable pleasure:calorie ratio. (125 calories for a dreary custard cream? You're having a laugh!)

I am often curious in the supermarket when behind someone quite a bit larger than I am, who is buying lots of healthy veg, low fat this and that, lean meat etc, whilst my trolley is groaning with ready meals, wine and other delights that would make Gillian McKeith need a little lie down.

I don't see how it's nothing to do with exercise. I live in a city and walk a fair amount. I am currently pregnant but when I was trying to loose weight after my first DS the weight fell off from breastfeeding and. Pushing him around all day. I have to walk if I want to keep.a stable weight I can eat a whole pizza but if I am active I never go over the 10:5 stone. However, when I go to my mums for a week I put on 3lbs from simply using the car too much as does my partner who is normally slim/thin.

I stayed with my MIL for 3 weeks who is morbidly obese but was surprised to find she ate very little. I was really hungry still after a evening meals because she has small portions. I am pregnant but I actually lost 1/2 stone because of the rigidity of the diet she served us. I therefore concluded she must not ever loose weight because she does not exercise. She lives in the same city in a flat but never walks anywhere. I therefore think it is more down to exercise than what people eat and this is why the variations exist. I have a friend within nct group that eats similar amounts to us healthy food but was probably the largest, however she went every where by car. She has recently lost a stone and a half and has been walking all the time and going to the gym.

YABU

I have been anything from a size 8-10 to a size 18-20 and it is most definitely related to what I eat and how much I move, and that seems to depend on how I think.

I don't need to starve to maintain a size 10-12 figure, but I do need to eat a mainly balanced diet in the corrct proportions and exercise, and not mistake emotional hunger for physical hunger. I can put on weight very easily but that is because I find it very easy to slip into negative ways of thinking, overeat and become sedentary. It is my negative thinking that I battle.

I think perhaps your shape/build is genetic, but weight you can do something about. Eg, I am a pear shape. When I was 16 and 9 stone I wore a size 8-10 on the top and 10-12 on the bottom. Now I am 31 and 11 stone (I have a 4 month old so I blame the baby weight) I wear a size 12 on the top and 14 on the bottom. No matter how skinny I get I still have a big arse and chunky thighs, even when I had collarbones like razorblades!

I am sure there are cases but frankly I think how people FEEL is what causes over eating

haven't read all the posts but, for some people, including me, I think Blackwell is right. I have varied in weight by the grand total of 4 pounds for the last 25 years (age 15-40, excluding pregnancy and immediate aftermath, currently at lower end of my 4-pound window). This has included periods of running 20-30 miles a week and periods of prolonged couch-potato-ness; it has included periods of stress and periods of happiness; and has been characterised by a consistent diet of home-cooking, too much chocolate and not enough veg. and no diets ever.

YABU. I weigh 12 1/2 stone because I'm lazy and greedy. On the plus side, at least I have lost my baby weight.

Witchy, I am the same, exactly. 12 and a half stone but I was a fatso before I got up the duff. Now the work begins...