4 ms·

A lot of skinny people have high metabolism, how do you explain that?

by m3kw9 3y ago

cpncrunch 3y ago
Likely genetic, such as beta adrenergic receptors.
arpinum 3y ago
Fidgeting.
- paulpauper 3y ago
  Then why can't someone just make an exercise program that replicates this fidgeting. How is fidgeting more potent than 10,000+ steps/day , which a lot of people do but still stay fat.
  - arpinum 3y ago
    The question is about base metabolic rate, not energy expenditure from exercise. Fidgeting is a non conscious act performed throughout the day, it is not exercise. Exercise can actually reduce fidgeting and this shows up in athletes lower BMR that needs to be taken into account for meal programmes. It is easy to eat more calories than are used in taking 10.000 steps.
  - jodrellblank 3y ago
    You may as well ask if John Carmack is so productive because he's really motivated, why can't someone "just" make a productivity program that replicates this motivation, and then we can all be that productive. How is 'motivation' more potent than 8hrs/day which a lot of people do and still aren't as productive.
    - paulpauper 3y ago
      it's not at all the same thing. fidgeting is a movement. so is exercise. productivity is something more vague.
      - jodrellblank 3y ago
        What makes you say fidgeting is /a/ movement? Fidgeting is likely a combination of many positive and negative things; I can imagine: more anxious people are subconsciously wanting an escape from a situation and fidgeting more, more energised and impatient people are itching to hurry things up, more musically or rhythmically interested people are grooving with internal beats and earworms, uncomfortable people are pushed to move by their chair/clothes/posture/tools, it could be a form of stimming behaviour such as enjoying the feeling of the movement of clothes against skin or the finger movements taking some concentration and helping focus. And on the negative side, non-fidgety people might be more depressed or anxious mentally, more physically drained or fatigued or lethargic physically, may have had upbringings where movement drew negative attention from adults telling them to sit still, may have social upbringings where fidgeting was seen as 'acting out', may have been part a band or group where being still was trained into them, may find their own movements distracting or annoying...
  - robinson7d 3y ago
    Fidgeting can make a big difference, at least it’s appeared that way in a couple sources I’ve seen referenced here in the past - failing to have those handy I found this: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15681386/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15681386/ No idea how accurate it is, but an extra 350 calories burned is a pretty big improvement over _not_ having those burned. I doubt fidgeting alone is sufficient to keep most people skinny. There’s a lot that impacts our weight. But if somebody’s automatically burning calories because they have a hard time stopping fidgeting, that might ease the load a bit so they could eat a bit more or walk a little less than would be the case without it. EDIT: it feels worth mentioning that fidgeting can be an all day activity for some people, 8+ hours. Walking 10k steps takes maybe 1.5 hours, more or less depending on the persons speed. It wouldn’t be as much of a workout replacement as a whole lifestyle change.
  - 1270018080 3y ago
    People walk 10k steps a day and stay fat because they eat too much.
  - toast0 3y ago
    The problem is fidgetting seems to be a feedback mechanism. Often those who fidget a lot will fidget less on days where they have used significant energy intentionally. Or will fidget less if they are restricting calories. It would be hard to purposefully fidget a significant amount, but I suppose it could be trained with the right monitoring and stimulus. It would probably be better to train some other behavior though.
- petemir 3y ago
  Well, now I have an excuse for when people asks me to stand still. "Sorry, I cannot, I'm burning calories".
darkerside 3y ago
Casual factor. Higher base metabolic rate means less energy available to build body mass.
logicchains 3y ago
I'm not saying metabolism doesn't vary among individuals, I'm saying for a given individual, their overall metabolism could decrease as they age due to having less muscle mass even if their rate per kg muscle didn't change.
- m3kw9 3y ago
  Yeah I agree muscle is a big factor, given you use it too
- adrian_b 3y ago
  What you say is true, but the main point of the paper is that they have measured a decrease of the metabolism after around 62 years even after correcting for the body composition, so the less muscle mass explains only a part of the decrease of the metabolism for older people. The rest is likely to be due to slower rates of protein synthesis for the renewal of various body parts.
medler 3y ago
Over my life I’ve been close to a small handful of perpetually skinny people who thought they had high metabolisms. In every case, when I watched them closely, I realized they barely ate anything. My ex-gf was one of these people and would routinely tell people about how she could eat anything and not gain weight. But when I would go on a severely calorie-restricted diet I was still eating more than she did on a normal day. I don’t think she was lying about being able to eat anything, I think she just didn’t realize how little she actually ate.
- brigadier132 3y ago
  > In every case, when I watched them closely, I realized they barely ate anything I know people (mainly Asian guys that are trying to build muscle) that seriously struggle to eat at a calorie surplus. So maybe it's not "metabolism" (which there are significant differences between humans) but also differing levels of hunger.
  - stanford_labrat 3y ago
    There is a biological feedback loop that dictates how hungry you are via hormones such as ghrelin and leptin. My little brother is about 50lbs lighter than me at the same height and we have very different builds and all his attempts to bulk fail for the same reason: no appetite. Meanwhile I’m overshooting my bulks and have to cut harder because I love eating too much.
    - username135 3y ago
      Eating enough food is the most exhausting part of trying to bulk. Its not hours in the gym - thats easy - its calories on the plate.
      - ses1984 3y ago
        Everyone’s different.
  - paulpauper 3y ago
hombre_fatal 3y ago
Show me their Cronometer.com food/calorie diary and we'll see if the proposition even holds. Until then I'm not even willing to grant it's a thing. In every case I guarantee they eat a normal amount of calories but feel like they eat a lot because they eat slightly more calories than normal in a single meal. Like me eating two entrees at dinner at 16 and wowing everyone even though I skipped breakfast before school to play Runescape and had a tiny school lunch.
- gjulianm 3y ago
  One time I tried to gain weight just to check if I was able to, as I have been unable to gain any significant weight in a variety of situation (sport, not sport; young, not that young, better/worse diet). I ate a calorie surplus diet (I don't remember the exact numbers, it was a few years ago), which meant eating more than usual but not too much either. This was measuring calories, weighting everything, all the drill; meanwhile I wasn't doing exercise other than walking/biking to places. Again, I don't recall the numbers but I gained maybe 10% of what I was supposed to gain. I've also seen how eating the exact same as other people (sometimes more) results in the other person gaining weight and me losing it, despite the differences in exercise being fairly irrelevant.
  - NavinF 3y ago
    > I gained maybe 10% of what I was supposed to gain Multiply the lb/week you were supposed to gain by 450. Your TDEE calculation was incorrect by that amount.
civilitty 3y ago
Those skinny people most likely have a very inefficient metabolism or at the very least a very adaptable one. Their mitochondria use UCP1 [1][2] to generate more heat when producing ATP, thus wasting energy that would otherwise be converted to fat. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncoupling_protein https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncoupling_protein [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermogenin https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermogenin
- paulpauper 3y ago
  so built-in DNP
nradov 3y ago
How do you know those skinny people actually have high metabolism? Have they quantified it with a resting metabolic rate test?
lm28469 3y ago
I have two friends like that, both were diagnosed with thyroid issues So to answer you question, hormones

A lot of skinny people have high metabolism, how do you explain that?

by m3kw9 3y ago

A lot of skinny people have high metabolism, how do you explain that?

cpncrunch 3y ago

Likely genetic, such as beta adrenergic receptors.

arpinum 3y ago

Fidgeting.

paulpauper 3y ago
Then why can't someone just make an exercise program that replicates this fidgeting. How is fidgeting more potent than 10,000+ steps/day , which a lot of people do but still stay fat.
- arpinum 3y ago
  The question is about base metabolic rate, not energy expenditure from exercise. Fidgeting is a non conscious act performed throughout the day, it is not exercise. Exercise can actually reduce fidgeting and this shows up in athletes lower BMR that needs to be taken into account for meal programmes. It is easy to eat more calories than are used in taking 10.000 steps.
- jodrellblank 3y ago
  You may as well ask if John Carmack is so productive because he's really motivated, why can't someone "just" make a productivity program that replicates this motivation, and then we can all be that productive. How is 'motivation' more potent than 8hrs/day which a lot of people do and still aren't as productive.
  - paulpauper 3y ago
    it's not at all the same thing. fidgeting is a movement. so is exercise. productivity is something more vague.
    - jodrellblank 3y ago
      What makes you say fidgeting is /a/ movement? Fidgeting is likely a combination of many positive and negative things; I can imagine: more anxious people are subconsciously wanting an escape from a situation and fidgeting more, more energised and impatient people are itching to hurry things up, more musically or rhythmically interested people are grooving with internal beats and earworms, uncomfortable people are pushed to move by their chair/clothes/posture/tools, it could be a form of stimming behaviour such as enjoying the feeling of the movement of clothes against skin or the finger movements taking some concentration and helping focus. And on the negative side, non-fidgety people might be more depressed or anxious mentally, more physically drained or fatigued or lethargic physically, may have had upbringings where movement drew negative attention from adults telling them to sit still, may have social upbringings where fidgeting was seen as 'acting out', may have been part a band or group where being still was trained into them, may find their own movements distracting or annoying...
- robinson7d 3y ago
  Fidgeting can make a big difference, at least it’s appeared that way in a couple sources I’ve seen referenced here in the past - failing to have those handy I found this: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15681386/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15681386/ No idea how accurate it is, but an extra 350 calories burned is a pretty big improvement over _not_ having those burned. I doubt fidgeting alone is sufficient to keep most people skinny. There’s a lot that impacts our weight. But if somebody’s automatically burning calories because they have a hard time stopping fidgeting, that might ease the load a bit so they could eat a bit more or walk a little less than would be the case without it. EDIT: it feels worth mentioning that fidgeting can be an all day activity for some people, 8+ hours. Walking 10k steps takes maybe 1.5 hours, more or less depending on the persons speed. It wouldn’t be as much of a workout replacement as a whole lifestyle change.
- 1270018080 3y ago
  People walk 10k steps a day and stay fat because they eat too much.
- toast0 3y ago
  The problem is fidgetting seems to be a feedback mechanism. Often those who fidget a lot will fidget less on days where they have used significant energy intentionally. Or will fidget less if they are restricting calories. It would be hard to purposefully fidget a significant amount, but I suppose it could be trained with the right monitoring and stimulus. It would probably be better to train some other behavior though.
petemir 3y ago
Well, now I have an excuse for when people asks me to stand still. "Sorry, I cannot, I'm burning calories".

darkerside 3y ago

Casual factor. Higher base metabolic rate means less energy available to build body mass.

logicchains 3y ago

I'm not saying metabolism doesn't vary among individuals, I'm saying for a given individual, their overall metabolism could decrease as they age due to having less muscle mass even if their rate per kg muscle didn't change.

m3kw9 3y ago
Yeah I agree muscle is a big factor, given you use it too
adrian_b 3y ago
What you say is true, but the main point of the paper is that they have measured a decrease of the metabolism after around 62 years even after correcting for the body composition, so the less muscle mass explains only a part of the decrease of the metabolism for older people. The rest is likely to be due to slower rates of protein synthesis for the renewal of various body parts.

medler 3y ago

Over my life I’ve been close to a small handful of perpetually skinny people who thought they had high metabolisms. In every case, when I watched them closely, I realized they barely ate anything. My ex-gf was one of these people and would routinely tell people about how she could eat anything and not gain weight. But when I would go on a severely calorie-restricted diet I was still eating more than she did on a normal day. I don’t think she was lying about being able to eat anything, I think she just didn’t realize how little she actually ate.

brigadier132 3y ago
> In every case, when I watched them closely, I realized they barely ate anything I know people (mainly Asian guys that are trying to build muscle) that seriously struggle to eat at a calorie surplus. So maybe it's not "metabolism" (which there are significant differences between humans) but also differing levels of hunger.
- stanford_labrat 3y ago
  There is a biological feedback loop that dictates how hungry you are via hormones such as ghrelin and leptin. My little brother is about 50lbs lighter than me at the same height and we have very different builds and all his attempts to bulk fail for the same reason: no appetite. Meanwhile I’m overshooting my bulks and have to cut harder because I love eating too much.
  - username135 3y ago
    Eating enough food is the most exhausting part of trying to bulk. Its not hours in the gym - thats easy - its calories on the plate.
    - ses1984 3y ago
      Everyone’s different.
- paulpauper 3y ago

hombre_fatal 3y ago

Show me their Cronometer.com food/calorie diary and we'll see if the proposition even holds. Until then I'm not even willing to grant it's a thing. In every case I guarantee they eat a normal amount of calories but feel like they eat a lot because they eat slightly more calories than normal in a single meal. Like me eating two entrees at dinner at 16 and wowing everyone even though I skipped breakfast before school to play Runescape and had a tiny school lunch.

gjulianm 3y ago
One time I tried to gain weight just to check if I was able to, as I have been unable to gain any significant weight in a variety of situation (sport, not sport; young, not that young, better/worse diet). I ate a calorie surplus diet (I don't remember the exact numbers, it was a few years ago), which meant eating more than usual but not too much either. This was measuring calories, weighting everything, all the drill; meanwhile I wasn't doing exercise other than walking/biking to places. Again, I don't recall the numbers but I gained maybe 10% of what I was supposed to gain. I've also seen how eating the exact same as other people (sometimes more) results in the other person gaining weight and me losing it, despite the differences in exercise being fairly irrelevant.
- NavinF 3y ago
  > I gained maybe 10% of what I was supposed to gain Multiply the lb/week you were supposed to gain by 450. Your TDEE calculation was incorrect by that amount.

civilitty 3y ago

Those skinny people most likely have a very inefficient metabolism or at the very least a very adaptable one. Their mitochondria use UCP1 [1][2] to generate more heat when producing ATP, thus wasting energy that would otherwise be converted to fat. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncoupling_protein https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncoupling_protein [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermogenin https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermogenin

paulpauper 3y ago
so built-in DNP

nradov 3y ago

How do you know those skinny people actually have high metabolism? Have they quantified it with a resting metabolic rate test?

lm28469 3y ago

I have two friends like that, both were diagnosed with thyroid issues So to answer you question, hormones