Being Fat / Getting Fat..

I'm around 6'1" and just under 20 stone in weight.

I have no idea what happened, always been big - I don't eat loads (seriously, I can't afford it).

It just happened.
 
I've put a bit weight over the past couple of months (73kg to 77kg) which I only have myself blame for not watching what I'm eating (not through a doing any less running) but I'm confidant I can shift it in the new year.
 
Being skinny despite eating a lot of junk food can be really deceptive and make people think they're fit as a fiddle but in actual fat are doing serious damage to their body.
 
Not been fat for probably a grand total of just under a third of my life. Skinny child, fat kid, pretty well built teen, fat adult.

In my case, it's pretty much down to drinking and lack of exercise. Managed to drop nearly 2 stone during 2011, but have put one back on since last Christmas and losing the time/will to get to the gym regularly. I just take on too much in my life - work, writing, dogs, responsibilities, that I'm burned out and don't want to do anything with the little free time I have but watch movies, play games and drink.

2013 is the year of sorting it out, though. Got some gym kit for the house including bike and treadmill, and come January it's blitz time. I dropped it easily before through just sticking with it (my usual diet isn't really an issue... just the exercise, or lack thereof), and I'll do it again. For realz, y0.
 
Hedge said:
This is something people have always said to me too. Ever since I was about 16 and stick thin. I got all the way to 25-26 when I started going to the gym and actively trying to gain weight before I actually put on any pounds.

Is there any truth in this statement though, do people naturally become less able to stay slim, ignoring activity levels.
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The more muscle mass you have at a later age plays a bigger part in good health than being too concerned with the amount of bodyfat you have.

Bodyfat in and of itself isn't necessarily "unhealthy" it's more about your overall body composition.

A lot of people seem to come under the "skinny fat" rating when it comes to body composition, where they will look "thin" but will actually have quite a high percentage of bodyfat.

It's because their muscle mass is so little that they can look like they're a healthy weight, or even be a "healthy" weight whilst being not particularly healthy.

This is why BMI is a load of nonsense too, it just doesn't take any such thing in to account. It simply references weight to height and that's it.
 
I have always been on the skinny side, not so much during my teenage years when I enjoyed some 420 time on a regular basis (filled out but not fat), hit my later teens and discovered uppers and partied for many years. I'm 28 now and I've knocked everything but a few beers on the head for the last 4 years.

I pretty much eat what I want when I want but at the same time I don't over eat (does that make sense?), all this stuff about metabolism is crap. I'm at the stage now that I know I'm at a good weight and I know when I've had enough or when I'm under eating, I can make a conscience decision to go either way. I know the balance. I genuinely believe some people cannot stop eating even when they know its bad, like alcoholism I think it's a disease except its almost socially acceptable or at least excused.

Anyhow, bite me.
 
monkentage said:
Once or twice a day but it would be a large bar of chocolate, half a cheesecake and/or a 750g bag of crisps. And if there were free cakes at work 6+ doughnuts etc and that would be on top of a normal healthy-ish diet.
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Dude that is incredible.
750g of crisps is 0.75kg of crisps. Are you sure you mean 0.75kg of crisps?
When I was under 18 (before I got the fitness bug), I could easily get through 6 donuts with ease, so that is certainly doable...but 0.75kg of crisps, thats pretty damn impressive.

As for weight gain/loss and getting fat: I'm 38, so my basal metabolic rate has certainly decreased but I compensate for this by exercising and watching my diet strictly.

My rule of thumb is that when I can't see my top 2 abdominal muscles, I know I am getting too fat and start reducing my caloric intake.

For the last 2 weeks, for the first time in my life, I have been experimenting with a low carb diet. I think I will be ending this pretty soon. It isn't making much difference to my body composition and without having access to big glycogen reserves in my muscles, my weight training is not going as well as it would, had I been eating lots of carbs. There is no "zip" in my training.

For me, a virtually fat free diet is what works best for me.
 
estebanrey said:
I can vouch for this. In my early 30s and seeing that already. The trouble is when you're naturally skinny you tend to get a pot belly rather than fat all over.

So next time you go to the pub and see a bloke in his 50s with a huge beer belly but with one chin, it's probably not the beer but the fact he was naturally skinny and his metabolism has gone to pot.
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That's not really part of being "naturally skinny". You simply hold bodyfat around your middle.

The way your body develops when your bodyfat percentage goes up is down to genetics.

It's got nothing to do with the actual foods you're eating in terms of bodyfat.

If it's not bodyfat, it could be a number of things, distended abdomen or bloating for example.

You could very well be "skinny fat" yourself, a lot of people seem to be.

I'm about 22 stone, or just under 140KG and I carry bodyfat around my middle mostly too.

However, despite me being 22 stone, I'm also naturally heavy set as well and have a fair amount of visible muscle mass.

Not to say I couldn't stand to lose some weight though, but for me, with how I carry most of my visible body fat around the middle, I'd still be in late teens (in stones) without a belly. :p

Moothead2 said:
Being skinny despite eating a lot of junk food can be really deceptive and make people think they're fit as a fiddle but in actual fat are doing serious damage to their body.
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That would be the skinny fat type of physique, it's not really the fat that's doing the damage, it's the lack of lean bodymass with that. People with low lean bodymass are more susceptible to illnesses, things like brittle bones and so on.
 
sunama said:
Dude that is incredible.
750g of crisps is 0.75kg of crisps. Are you sure you mean 0.75kg of crisps?
When I was under 18 (before I got the fitness bug), I could easily get through 6 donuts with ease, so that is certainly doable...but 0.75kg of crisps, thats pretty damn impressive.

As for weight gain/loss and getting fat: I'm 38, so my basal metabolic rate has certainly decreased but I compensate for this by exercising and watching my diet strictly.

My rule of thumb is that when I can't see my top 2 abdominal muscles, I know I am getting too fat and start reducing my caloric intake.

For the last 2 weeks, for the first time in my life, I have been experimenting with a low carb diet. I think I will be ending this pretty soon. It isn't making much difference to my body composition and without having access to big glycogen reserves in my muscles, my weight training is not going as well as it would, had I been eating lots of carbs. There is no "zip" in my training.

For me, a virtually fat free diet is what works best for me.
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Types of fat are what are most important. Fat free isn't particularly healthy.
 
I was skinny until i got to about 40, after which I've steadily put on weight.
It does catch up with you, and it becomes harder to lose weight when you're older too - I'm slowly losing a bit of weight now, but it isn't easy !
 
Just because you are "thin", doesn't mean you are healthy. You could have a very high percentage of visceral fat if you don't eat a balanced diet.

I am also quite lucky that I can eat a lot with very little change to my weight - it still hasn't caught up with me :)
 
spoffle said:
Types of fat are what are most important. Fat free isn't particularly healthy.
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Indeed. I know the theory.
But living life on a low carb diet is not enjoyable...for me.

When I am on a low fat diet (under 30g per day), I eat pretty much what I like, as long as it is low in fat. I also dont restrict myself on quantities. Because low fat food is generally high in fibre (fruit, veg, cereals, bread), and I drink lots of water, I believe this is what keeps my belly full (fibre swells up in the belly, when mixed with water). This means that I can keep my calories within my target range, without ever restricting the quantity of the food I eat.

In 38 years, this is the first time I tried a low carb diet and my body just does not like it. Due to the low glycogen reserves (due to the lack of carbs), exercising is tough, for me. I honestly don't know how other people train, without eating lots of carbs. If I didnt do so much exercise, the low carb diet might be an option, but my performance in the gym has been poor ever since I lowered the carbs.
 
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I got away with eating anything and everything in my teens and never gained weight. Come age 20, and my body waved a white flag and surrendered. Nowadays at 34, I only have to look at food and I put on weight.
 
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