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 think a lot of it is down to your metabolism. To some extent your metabolism is genetic. However, your diet and exercise pattern will also affect your metabolism.

So, someone who crash diets can actually end up slowing down their metabolism (as the body goes into starvation mode) - so when they eat normally after the diet, the weight goes on as their body can't cope.

Someone who eats a lot of sugar or refined starch (eg bread, pastry) will really screw up their metabolism as they will constantly be having sugar "highs" and then "lows" (which make them reach for more calories as a pick me up).

Regular exercise (especially muscle building) will increase your metabolism.

It's a mix of nature and nurture.

YANBU.

Tittybangbang.

They worked out a base rate for them on their current rate, a level on which they would be expected to stay the same weight.

They overfed them all by the same amount, for some of them it was impossible to make them fat.

Only half way to my predicted number of posts [hgrin].

I have two brothers. As far as I could tell when we were growing up they ate pretty much the same and had similar activity levels.

One was obese; the other was really skinny. They've evened up to some extent but one has to eat carefully while the thin one eats pies etc with impunity.

There's obviously something inherently different about them.

Then there's 'hormones'. I was always a bit about that till we had our dog neutered. He went from being an incredibly picky eater, really skinny, to unfussy and would have got fat if we hadn't controlled his eating. His appetite had clearly changed, I don't know about his metabolism but if you have an insatiable appetite of course its harder to control your weight.

Excercise burns suprisingly few calories.....

Yes, LeQueen, and that's what happened to me... I had much the same 'set point' as you and added two stone when I was ill and suddenly found myself too tired to move about.

Was a bugger to get rid of the first stone, stuck on the second (but went and got pregnant which delayed progress with getting off.. now 12 st 7 and intending to get back to 11st by Jan).

not if you run. running uses up shed loads of calories. according to my all-singing all dancing gadget I burn off 366 calories per hour I run. 3-4 runs a week and I can eat just about whatever I fancy. mild exercise - walking, gardening, taking the stairs instead of the lifts (the kinds of things they mention in healthly lifestyle leaflets) make bugger all difference. but they're not really exercise.

YABU

The law of conservation of energy is an empirical law of physics. It states that the total amount of energy in an isolated system remains constant over time. A consequence of this law is that energy can neither be created nor destroyed: it can only be transformed from one state to another.

In other words if you put in 2000 calories and use up 1500 calories the remaining 500 calories don't just vanish, they stay in your body as big fat wobbly bits.
To get rid of 500 calories of big fat wobbly bits, put in 1500 calories and use 2000.

366 calories for an hour of running isn't really a lot. Only just over one chunky kit kat. I think a lot of people vastly overestimate the amount of calories exercise burns. Especially as lots of exercise tables state total numbers of calories burned, as opposed to extra number of calories burnt over sitting and doing nothing.

it's a lot compared with virtually every other form of exercise. It certainly enables me to eat like a horse

The body isn't an isolated system though, so it's not quite that simple. I reckon some people have more efficient digestions than others.

E.g. Person A eats 2000 calories, absorbs them fully, uses 1500 calories and stores 500 calories of fat

Person B eats 2000 calories, absorbs 1500 calories and produces nutritious poo with 500 calories, hence no weight gain.

I was thinking similarly. (but not about nutritious poo) it's perfectly feasible that one person uses less calories to perform certain functions - digestion, shivering, walking - even sleeping. in fact it would be remarkable if we didn't vary. so it's all complex and nuanced.

That dieting drug works by stopping the absorption of calories so the fat just drops out your bum. But Tiggy's "What goes in must come out" rule still works.

LeQueen I am 5ft 10, 9and a half stone, and I eat what I what and do not go to the gym. I do run around after 5 kids evry day, am always on the go, never sit down till 9pm, so I guess it must be that which keeps my weight down, but I still pack in a lot of calories every day, 3 meals, and coffee and biscuits to snack on during the day and of course a glass of wine at night.

Something changed in my metabolism after I had kids. Before kids, I ran, went to the gym, dieted constantly and still struggled to lose weight (I was size 18 at my heaviest). When I had kids, and got so busy that I had no time to obsess about exercise and food, I became slim, though I do think that was to do with metabolic change too.

But not everyone who is slim makes an effort to stay that way, I certainly dont. I am lucky, though I expect it will start to change now that I have turned 40, its gotta catch up with me sometime!

BMR doesn't make a different to the basic energy in energy out equation Tiggy talked about though.

You can change how much you use at rest. Put the heating down a bit and drink cold drinks. Your body will have to generate heat to maintain the correct temperature. Put on muscle; They use energy when you're resting.

Running gave me a peachy butt. Like an Albama fruit field it was. Now I've stopped owing to pregnancy it's kind of drooping a bit.

Also exercise means your metabolism is sped up full stop - I know this because for a good 24 hours after a run I was much more likely to go hypo than if I hadn't run. I was still burning energy after the actual exdercise had stopped.

I agree with Hatwoman. PROPER exercise burns calories, not fannying around on the wii fit or whatever some people delude themselves into thinking is exercise. (Unless they have some sort of health condition that precludes proper exercise, obviously.)

If I run for an hour, then I cover just under 8 miles and burn nearly 900 calories. I also don't feel starving afterwards, and there research to show why running does that and not swimming, which doesn't help you lose as much weight because you WILL feel starving afterwards.

Plus toning exercise to build muscle will make you look leaner and actually raise your basal metabolic rate so that you burn more calories everyday.