... To surmise that 'naturally skinny' goes hand in with either eating or digestive disorders

[5ChildrenAndIt]

The last counter-example in my circle of friends has just been diagnosed as Coeliac.

I now know no one who is vogue-slim without either food trauma in their past or under medical treatment for digestion or immune disorders.

I'm a bit unsettled by it tbh! Do skinny, healthy and happy people even exist?

[wheresthelight]

yabu!!

my dad is super skinny and yet eats like a bloody horse, his sister is exactly the same spits that I didn't inherit the skinny gene and I have several friends who eat well do limited exercise and yet remain a size 6-8.

[Bumpsadaisie]

I don't know.

I was a skinny wench until after I had the children in my later 30s. I didn't really understand the big deal about dieting, I always ate whatever I wanted and was an 8/10.

Mind you, I wasn't that interested in food and I did live in London so without realising it did a lot of hiking around.

After I had the kids, we moved to the sticks where you get around in a car unless you are very mindful of taking every opportunity to walk/cycle. Life is lovely but hard with two small kids and I definitely got in the habit of grabbing a dairy milk every time we went shopping, to fortify me through the day! So I went up to a 14.

I am now probably a 12 - the kids are 3 and 5 now, i try to exercise more but I think my metabolism has changed now I have hit 40 - I have to be really careful just to eat sensibly at mealtimes and be mindful of snacking. I mean I can have a biscuit with my coffee but in my former life I wouldn't have thought about it, I would have had three if I fancied it. I wouldn't do that now unless I am having a very bad day!

So I think it does change over time. My totally unscientific theory is that once you have kids your body piles weight on whenever it can, to make sure you don't waste away and can look after them!

[getdownshep]

I'm 8/10, small frame and have been thin since childhood like my dfs sisters.
I was 7.5 stone when I had my dc who were both over 8lb.
I physically can't over eat as it hurts my stomach where as dh who admits he is greedy would eat and eat all day.
I'm in my late forties now and I have now got slightly curvy hips for the first time since pregnancy.
No eating disorders, just eat when hungry, have two chocolates out of a box and put it away, one glass of wine and back in fridge.

[ImBrian]

I used to be naturally skinny 5ft 11 and 9 stone but since I met my partner and picked up his awful eating habits (takeaways 3x a week) I've stayed a stone heavier since having our dd. Just had our ds and I'm now 11 1/2 stone which is still a healthy bmi but a long way from what I was. I'm hoping that by going back to the way I used to eat will shift some of it.

My mam is super slim, 5ft2 and weighs 6 1/2 stone. She eats what she wants but is fairly healthy and walks a lot.

[joeschmoesmum]

I guess it is a combination of genetics and healthy habits. I am what I think is a healthy weight (though used to be a professional athlete so quite muscly) but get referred to as skinny a lot. I eat what I want, treat myself regularly and exercise a lot because I enjoy it and it is part of mine and my family's life.
I really don't like being accused of being anorexic btw... Nor do I appreciate people telling me how it'll all change once I have kids/hit my 30s/hit my 40s etc... I am 34 and expecting DS2 (33 weeks at the mo, so not really all that slim at the moment...)

[PrettyPictures92]

Yes they exist, there's several folk I know who are naturally slim (they're fecking tiny!) Can eat like a horse and not gain a pound. My children's father being one of them, my sister, the girl I used to be best friends with, a couple of women I know from a course I'm on. All eat quite well with no health problems.

[naty1]

Few interesting things. People thin until having DC. Well pg can affect thyroid -> metabolism.
It also seems to get worse as you age.
Also symptoms of hyperthyroidism - fast heart rate, diarrheoa and probably not sitting still. And probably very hungry
Hormonal imbalances will affect womens weight. So i have pcos and dont ovulate so no progesterone raising my temp half the month.
I also have a very low body temp which again must burn less calories.
My thyroid levels were 2 at 30 (which is still a little high for pg) then had DC and lost all pg weight in 3 weeks (hyper) after a year i started gaining very quickly (hypo) and tested at 3.5. During ivf treatments its gone up and down 2-4. And now 8wks pg ive lost 3lb (tsh 0.91). So now its what normal people are and im losing weight.
But with thyroid issues gps are happy with up to 4.2 or even 10. So these people are running much slower than a 'normal' person. You get tested and are fine but still much higher than others.
Now i think you can be thin with thyroid issues and that is where appetite, dieting etc work.
I know a couple of very thin people
1 did have an ED webt down to 6st or so and is still very thin with hypothyroid.
The other 2 are nearly 6ft and so clearly can eat loads.
Oh and my dad but that is not natural as he exercises obsessively even at 71.
Certainly 1 person on here sounded like they had an ED.
Also as someone said any smokers can stay thinner and i think they should probably ID this in their posts

[highlighta]

I don't agree there is always a disorder of some sort. I am slim, at age 44 now I only weight 3 kgs more than I did when I was 16. I have only ever fluctuated in weight by a few kgs either way naturally. This excludes pregnancy and the time I was on the depo injection but that to me was not my natural weight.

I do have IBS, but this only started about 2 years ago, so I wont say the ibs is linked to my weight. If I have a bad bout of ibs then I will lose some weight I agree, but once I'm ok again I will again just get to my usual weight and stay there.

I do think though, that food choices and exercise do play a part though. I don't eat cakes, pies, biscuits etc. And its not that I have high morals and wouldn't eat such a thing - I would, but I don't really like them. I don't have a sweet tooth at all. I don't put sugar on cereal or in tea/coffee, purely as I prefer it less sweet. I can though, polish off a whole bag of nuts and some salty crisps like some would eat a box of biscuits on a bit of a binge. I never ever have dessert. If we eat out I will have a starter and a main, where the rest of the table would have a main and a sweet.

Its genetics I am sure. My grandmother was the exact same and I am built and have the same shape as her. She was slim until the day she died, also never fluctuated weight over her lifetime.

Again, my ds is exactly the same as me. Doesn't eat much sweet foods, but will polish off crisps, nuts, and savoury foods the same as me. Dd, however, is just like her dad - she has such a sweet tooth. Ds is shaped just like be, a bit of a beanpole with more fat on a chip, but dd is more stocky and although she isn't overweight, is definitely more rounded with some meat on her bones.

[loveareadingthanks]

I think when it comes to the super skinny, very underweight, then there has to be a medical reason/eating disorder, yes. Those women you see walking down the street in leggings and their knee joints are twice as wide as their little thighs, that isn't right. I worked with a woman who claimed to be naturally slim but she had all sorts of odd food things going on, and was permanently freezing cold, and once she bent over and her top rode up and we were all stunned at seeing every single vertibrae popping out on her back. She must have had an eating disorder but was in denial (or not telling us about it, fair enough). I know another very skinny woman who thinks she was just made that way, but then she also talks about food a lot, and will 'not want to eat/just not feel hungry' for several days in a row.

But to be Slim/verging on skinny, that can be natural.

I was the skinniest kid you've ever seen. Comically skinny and bony. Ate like a horse. Had an active lifestyle. When I got to 30 and suddenly got a sedentary job, bam, turned into a fatty. It's taken me a while to learn that I can't eat like I used to :-( and get away with it, I got unhealthily overweight, and I'm just dealing with it properly now.

Activity levels play a massive role in this.

[Wishtoremainunknown]

I'm certain it's genetics in my case.

Relatives in my mums side have always been tiny. I am probably the biggest at 5,1 and a size 4/6. Ofcourse we have better nutrition now.

Also it is about thinking food isn't a treat. I always have chocolate in the house and probably eat a piece every day but only one or two. I don't even think about it. I still have stuff from Easter !!

I don't think ooh chocolate is bad must eat too much. I'm sure this is what leads to eating a while cake/supersize bar.

[Roomba]

My ex-MIL is a size 8, 6 foot tall, very slim and very healthy in her 60s. She has always been this way, though was a size 6 until she was about 50.

All of ExP's female relatives are like this. His cousin is late 30s, 5' 11", size 6-8, eats loads but never outs weight on. Same for his niece (late 20s), aunt, late GM.

I used to feel like a midget weeble stood next to them (5'2", weight has varied anywhere between 7.5 stone - 10 stone)!

[Inthedarkaboutfashion]

Few interesting things. People thin until having DC. Well pg can affect thyroid -> metabolism.

It's actually natural and healthy to gain some weight in pregnancy and doesn't necessarily indicate a thyroid or any other health problem. The body lays down fat stores in later pregnancy in preparation for breast feeding.
I gained weight during both of my pregnancies but I didn't continue to gain weight once my babies were born. I gained what would be considered a very normal and acceptable amount of weight with each pregnancy.

As for the comment about smokers staying thinner: there are plenty of fat smokers too. I have never smoked and I am not fat. I don't have an wasting disorder. I don't have any adverse health issues. I am not skinny, but I am reasonably slim. We really seem to have lost sight of the difference between skinny and slim because the amount of overweight and obese people has skewed the average. The average British woman is now a UK dress size 16 (which is probably an old size 20). How on earth did we get so big as a nation?

[TalkinPeace]

The alternative to being thin is to lose up to 18 years of healthy life
No thank you
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30327777

[naty1]

Of course no amount of smoking will keep people thin if they are seriously overeating but smoking speeds up your metabolism. (And suppresses your appetite)
I wasnt saying its abnormal to gain weight in pg, clearly.
More that it can have long term (or short-term under a yr) affect on your metabolism. From postpartum thyroiditus (around 7% of women) leading to hypothyroidism (half of 7% in 4-8 yrs)
But again some people will have just been struggling with little sleep, and snacking after having a baby.
Its just a possible explanation for pp saying they were thin until having kids.
I assume im losing weight now back to my natural physique and what im eating rather than my slowed down metabolism. The body knows what optimal metabolism - hence increasing miscarriage rates when thyroid is struggling (or overactive) but at levels still considered fine for general health by gps.

[FreudiansSlipper]

I have a few friends that are very slim no health issues or eating disorders

One friend is so laid back, has a huge appetite and is a great cook when you eat round there your portions are huge so I have learnt not to eat before

Another friend is very highly strung and always on the move

[TheBigBumTheory]

I've just skimmed the thread.

I'm not underweight BMI 19-20 I think, but tall so I'm seen as skinny.

To me the opposite of skinny is fatty, and although I am called skinny several times a week (even 'skinny cow-we hate you' said 'jokingly' by good friends) I would never call them fatty, even when they've just commented themselves on being overweight. Of course, to not laugh along would be seen an humourless i.e miserable skinny cow.

'Excessive exercise' is an interesting idea-I run 30k a week, plus do strength training to prevent injury from running. Walk dog an hour a day, walk for short journeys. I don't feel that's excessive as it keeps me happy and healthy.

I eat well, but some might say I've got disordered eating because I rarely eat cakes, biscuits, chocolate, crisps, sweets, juice, processed food. I choose not too as I'd rather eat nutritious food which helps me to stay fit and healthy.