We eat the same things but...

[Nanareed]

Hi I currently live and work on site in a place. All meals are included in a canteen.

There's only one choice of meal a day at mealtimes.

I sit down with my colleague and ive noticed that she eats EXACTLY the same things that I eat every day.

Yet she is very very thin, and I am overweight.

I just wondered how its possible. I've asked her what exercise she does. She goes to the gym twice a week and runs on the treadmill. I go for a run outside twice a week.

It could be various things. Did you both start at the same weight? Do you have a slower metabolism? Are there underlying health things that may impact it for either of you? Do you both drink equal amounts of water? Do you both eat the same snacks outwith work? What are your families like, are they identical in shape/weight/etc? My point is it is not as simple as just eating the same things and with the exercise- we can’t outrun a poor diet.

I don't eat any snacks at all. We are on a worksite that is very remote. It is not near any shops. And it has no vending machines. You'd have to go for a long drive to get to a shop. So I never eat any snacks.

I guess she has a faster metabolism than me.

I'm just constantly trying to lose weight, and I go for runs and I eat healthily, and I never seem to lose weight!

Perhaps you’re already at your ideal weight for you. We do tend to have a weight we stabilise at so maybe you’re at yours and being too harsh on yourself. Also not snacking at all maybe isn’t helping.

I mean I don't snack on junk food as there is none at all available where I am.

I snack on fruit

Thanks for the kind words.

But I'm overweight for my height. I checked it on a bmi.

I've definitely been thinner in the past. But no matter what I do now, I can't seem to lose weight.

I guess her metabolism is different to yours

How long have you both been eating the same diet?

i forgot to ask are you the same age, same ethnic background and same height? If your bmi is sitting around 26/27 I wouldn’t be so harsh on yourself. I’m at 27 at the moment but still a size 8/10 so it’s not always the be all and end all way to gauge your overall size/health. I also wonder if being somewhere so remote is maybe not helping your confidence (though I could be way off).

Does she do weights at the gym or just the treadmill? And is she younger than you?

Are you in Antarctic? I'm curious sorry..
But to your question. I can just take my neighbours' two girls as example. They both eat the same things, same activities. One is very skinny and the other is slightly overweight. Metabolism.

No not in antarctic!

There's actually quite a lot of remote work places in Europe in my industry, where people go and live on site for the contract duration .

Yeah I was just curious how we eat the exact same things, yet are such different weights.

I guess metabolism plays a big part in weight

Your weight reflects your diet and lifestyle over the long term. Her long term diet etc is likely to be different to yours.

There was once on tv, two girls eat exactly the same, one was slim, one was not. Same exercises.
The slim one moved so much more. Getting up often, took stairs, permanent moving some part of the body.
So yes, while it's metabolism speed too, often people miss the smaller differences.