Ripped Women

[Provost Harrison]

Please don't tell me you actually believe this. You might have a disproportionate or even downright freakish frame, but that has nothing to do with whether you can be thin. Either you burn more calories than you consume, or you don't.

Well short of virtually starving myself of course. We all tend to have different rates of propensity to burn and store energy. My body is very good at storing it. Great for an ice age. Not so useful at the moment.

[Al B. Sure!]

Well short of virtually starving myself of course. We all tend to have different rates of propensity to burn and store energy. My body is very good at storing it. Great for an ice age. Not so useful at the moment.

If you were expending more energy than you consumed, what could your body possibly be storing for this hypothetical ice age?

Even if it took more work to expend the same number of calories than it takes person X, that just means you'd have to work harder. That hardly makes you Sisyphus. Suck it up and work harder.

And muscle is more calorie-intensive so maybe strength training in conjunction with everything else will improve your body's ability to expend calories. You say you're muscular but that means you're BETTER at burning calories than someone who isn't!

What do you do in terms of diet and exercise? I bet there's plenty you're doing wrong if you act like it's this impossibility.

[DanS]

I'd agree with Al in that it's a pretty simple equation regarding fat. But in my experience, being in my 30s and having a low metabolism, getting to the point where I'm burning off that last bit is difficult. You have to be in great shape and working your everliving ass off. For me, the crossover is 120 miles of riding my bike a week consistently (about 1.5 hours a day of riding), while keeping the carbs very low. And the pounds don't come off quickly.

[Dinner]

Well short of virtually starving myself of course. We all tend to have different rates of propensity to burn and store energy. My body is very good at storing it. Great for an ice age. Not so useful at the moment.

Look on the bright side: You'll out last all of the rest of them in a concentration camp and you'll get the last laugh as each of them croak while you still look healthy.

[onodera]

Albie, there's basal metabolic rate to take into account. If you put everyone into a concentration camp then yes, everyone will be slim. But in better conditions some people will be slimmer than the others. Yes, everyone can be slim, but different people need different amounts of food and excercise to achieve that.

[Dinner]

If you were expending more energy than you consumed, what could your body possibly be storing for this hypothetical ice age?

Al, there have been lots of studies into body types and, yes, what PH is saying is correct. Some bodies natural want to keep more fat on them then others so that they'll go into starvation mode (trying to save calories by shedding muscle or slowing down the metabolism) if they don't have the amount of fat they want. For some people that trigger point is very low so that they end up easily maintaining a lean body while for others the trigger point is higher so they carry more fat. They can still lose weight via a strict diet and working out but they're trying to fight their body's nature so it's much harder to maintain. I also understand that the number of fat cells in your body is set in childhood so if someone was over weight as a child it because much harder to get fit as an adult.

Personally, I was always skinny until about 26-27 and even now I'm not bad though I could stand to lose 20-30 pounds. I'm just lucky while other folks aren't I guess.

[rah]

Yeah, I'm 6'3" but have never weighed over 160 no matter how much junk food I eat. I'm currently around 145. It's easier for some than for others.

[Al B. Sure!]

Whatever, keep giving PH excuses. I already said it's not Sisyphean, even if it's harder for him. Just got to suck it up and work harder.

[giblets]

Whatever, keep being a dumbass.

[dannubis]

Whatever, keep giving PH excuses. I already said it's not Sisyphean, even if it's harder for him. Just got to suck it up and work harder.

Yeah, until your legs break... right ?

[Al B. Sure!]

Darius and DanS, care to back me up again while everyone enters the Apolyton Twilight Zone?

[giblets]

What does DanS have to do with this? And it's really sad that you need two people to help you get your point accross

[rah]

I don't think anyone is disagreeing that it's harder for some than for others.
And I don't think anyone is saying it's impossible.

[DanS]

No, I think PH was saying it was impossible. I disagree with that fundamentally, but am ambivalent about whether keeping absolutely trim is worth it for many people.

For me, once I take the pounds off, it's easier to keep them off. Taking those last pounds off has proven very difficult for me, but my small progress shows that it's by no means impossible.

[Al B. Sure!]

Let's see...

I'm naturally pretty chubby so keeping my weight down is a phenomenal battle, and I think in the long run a losing battle.

Oh there is mate, I have a different body type to you so I am never going to be thin

Sounds like he thinks things are impossible to me. Okay, the first one, he says phenomenal battle and he says he thinks a losing battle so an affirmation of his belief that weight loss is impossible is not completely supported by that first quote but it can be reasonably implied. The second one, he categorically states he will never be thin.

Darius, DanS, and myself all took PH as saying it is impossible to lose weight.

So I take it everyone opposed agrees with PH that it is impossible for some people to lose weight; to 'never be thin', to paraphrase PH.

It's not exactly an unfamiliar cop-out. You hear people make the genetics argument all the time and use it as a rationalization for them being in bad shape.

Now, PH is probably healthy. His body composition is only deleterious for him from an aesthetics perspective, not a health one. But, if it bothers him enough, or he thinks he would be more successful in certain affairs with a leaner frame, then he can work on it. It's not a Sisyphean struggle, even if it is harder. A better explanation for his lack of success lies in that impossible attitude and the fact that he's likely not being particularly productive with his exercise selection and eating.