Here's to the underappreciated, UNnaturally thin

I am never satisfied. I am a sucker for chocolate, ice cream, cookies, you name it. I hate excercise. I love fast food and pizza buffets. Simple carbs give me orgasms. I eat them slowly, like those Barbie women on food commercials, closing my eyes and shuddering as it goes down. That food porn you guys post to supposedly motivate us? I'd eat that and call it heaven on earth. McDonald's? Sure. A purple snail from some strange island in Indonesia? Yes, please. If it's exotic, I'll eat it. If's it's cheesy, if it's greasy, if it's dripping with cholesterol and heart disease... oh gods. I am a bottomless pit. My blood glucose levels skydive after three hours, no matter what I eat, and I feel irritable, dizzy, weak. I've verged on BED for years, and I'm just now "recovering" (ahem, exercising so much self-control that I regularly feel like banging my head on walls). If I had my way, I'd eat 1000 calories over maintenance everyday, but if I did that I'd be obese.

I am 5'4", 123 lbs. I have never been overweight in my life. I'm the queen of buffet lines, the hog at birthday parties, and my friends call me "naturally thin." What they don't know is that when I'm home alone on a regular day, every meal is a struggle.

Yes, I know I'm a self-pitying brat. Yes, I know people like me don't have to deal with health problems or whispers behind backs. Yes, I know there are overweight people who would love to slap me right now, and I know that I know nothing about being obese, and I'm truly sorry and I try not to judge. But here's the other side of the story. I can't be the only one out there. Please give me your thoughts, as I don't get offended easily. But the point of my rant is - think carefully the next time you toss "naturally thin" around.

I'm a little puzzled.  What is it you are asking for?  And for that matter, why are you here at all? 

I've seen a lot of posters throw "naturally thin" around. For instance, "All my friends are naturally thin and can eat whatever they want!" I'm simply begging them to reconsider how they view their "naturally thin" friends. Someone who is "naturally thin" in public may actually struggle for it on a day-to-day basis. A person with a healthy weight is not necessarily without his/her struggles.

Why am I here? Because I love the community. You guys comfort me about my binges and weight struggles. I'm forced to count cals to keep my weight at check, and CC has been a big support.

So is the idea that you WORK to be thin, and stay thin? And you can't stand when people assume that it's easy and you don't work at all?

If so, I'm totally with you. I work my butt off to stay healthy and in shape. Literally.

I eat healthy, but it's not easy. Hell yes I would rather eat fried cheese and bacon and greasy fast food. But I refrain from meat and only occasionally, rarely, allow myself greasy junk. And I run. A lot. But each day I fight the lazy woman in me who would rather sit on the couch and veg.

So yes its hard to maintain. I won't say harder than losing, or harder than gaining, or whatever; I am making no comparisons. But it isn't easy. And it is annoying when people think it is.

thank you.

Oh, a pizza buffet!  I would love to go -- we've got a Shakey's that has just opened up in our area...  I'm just waiting for the perfect time and place to go, as in I have to be feeling very comfortable in my skin, and be ready for unlimited pizza!  Also my usual dining out partner (my kid) would definitely not like it, and my other dining out partner (bf) would rather go to Soup Plantation :/

I have to pick and choose my pigouts.  Too many and I'm gaining weight rather than losing or maintaining.  It's a delicate balance.  Glad to see your post helionix.

As a formerly obese person, I have to admit that in the past, I felt some jealousy for the "naturally thin".  Now that I have gotten down to a healthy weight and have kept it here for awhile, and people who didn't know me at my heavier weight start tossing that kind of jealousy at me, I realize there was nothing natural about it most of the time.  It boiled down to - get this - watching the calorie intake and working out.  I would also love to eat as much as I used to, but my choice has been made to stay healthy.

It was really weird the first time someone got after me in the break room at work for being naturally thin.  Snort, I actually think I'm naturally fat - maybe that outlook will change in another few years.

I feel you and appreciate your post.  I think that there are VERY few "naturally thin" people out there.  My BF is one of them funny enough :).  Most people really have to work at it and exhibit discipline and self control.

I'm roughly 136 lbs. now and am almost 5'8" and 37 years old.  I've struggled with weight since my late teens mostly.  I would like to get down a little more and tone my body A LOT more.  I still have flabby trouble spots that may not be so obvious when I'm clothed, but I see myself naked everyday and it's not really pretty.  I've been as low as 120 and as high as 170.

I loooovee pizza buffets- frankly buffets in general.  I could eat a whole pan of CiCis cheese bread with salad and pizza galore.  I LOVE TASTY, UNHEALTHY JUNK.  I love what figurethefat said though, "I have to pick and choose my pigouts."   I'm the same way or I would be 170 again in no time.

Thank you so much.  I'm sick of people saying things like "you're naturally thin anyway, why would you choose an apple over a cookie?"  what they don't get is that I'm "naturally" thin BECAUSE I choose the apple.  Although junk doesn't appeal to me as much anymore, I daydream about making a batch of cookies and eating every single one, or trying one of everything at an all you can eat buffet.  It's almost insulting...they don't realize that when I do pig out with them all, I've either already been to the gym that day, or am planning on going as soon as I can, and that everything else I've eaten was healthy, in preparation for the pig out. 

Thank You!

I agree. I have been under 100 pounds and over 160 for 5'8" and it is work to stay at a healthy 122.
There are many people who put in a good amount of effort to maintain slimmer healthy. 
To think they don't seems silly.  I don't know anyone who truly doesn't like to indulge in something, whether it be sugary or fatty or just caloric I think most people enjoy eating.

and congratulations for maintaining healthy.

I see your point, and will certainly make an effort to assume that the 'naturally thin' are working just as hard as I am at being healthy : )

Thanks

Wow. Thank you for these amazing replies, and kudos to you all for staying happy and healthy. You guys are such an inspiration, especially those who have been unhealthy in the past and are now taking responsibility for your bodies.

Of course there will always be people who are truly "naturally thin" (I hear ya, oddfunk. Don't we all wish we had guys' metabolisms). But there are also thin people who are genetically predisposed to being overweight, and overweight people who are genetically predisposed to being thin. You never know.

Minda, I've read your rants, and I do understand where you're coming from. Life is bumpy, and you never know... in ten years even a thin person may end up being the biggest one at the table. We're all in this wagon together. I admire you for taking responsibility for your body and turning your life around.

Oh, yeesh. Pizza buffets. I've been avoiding them after my last pigout at CiCi's. Whyyyy does CiCi's have to make such good garlic bread whyyyyy *wail* And, dear me, their deep dish. Disaster just waiting to happen. I spend ages agonizing over where to pig out as well :P

I now pronounce you "Queen" of nothing important to me.

Original Post by mommakitty:

I now pronounce you "Queen" of nothing important to me.

Whoa. Did you mean to type that?

Original Post by mommakitty:

I now pronounce you "Queen" of nothing important to me.

 WT...? Sarcasm is under-rated! Too funny.

helionix--Can you imagine if the same rules applied to Food Porn as it does to regular Porn...ha ha ha.

• All meals are delivered in desceet packages.
• Companies would charge you per minute to hear different types of burgers sizzle. (lmao).
• In restaurants you are "escorted" to seats which are concealed by black curtains in the back.
• Hugh Heifer opens Bigboy mansion--for portly men to engorge themselves

 (edited to say engorge instead of indulge--like it better)

Original Post by mommakitty:

I now pronounce you "Queen" of nothing important to me.

Hah. Thank you, my dear. I will soon be handing out the soup.

dkiesser: No effin way, dude. I don't know about you, but I'd soon be broke.

My best friend and I had a long conversation yesterday of the horrible foods we love. DQ blizzards and Sonic tatertots. Deep-fried ice-cream and cheesecake..

It did feel a little dirty : ) but then we went and ate salad.

dkiesser: Hilarious. Pay per minute webcams in restaurant kitchens?

Original Post by minda_spk:

dkiesser: Hilarious. Pay per minute webcams in restaurant kitchens?

 lmao! That is sooo funny. In the background you can hear Emeril, "Bam--Bam...oh yeah baby."

edit (maybe a little too enthusiastic about this post)

A friend of mine eats constantly and found out her resting metabolism is like most people's running rate... she has a heart condition that makes her model thin even if she eats a bunch of bad stuff a day and doesn't work out.  People have said she has an eating disorder. Most of the time she eats well balanced meals - sometimes she pigs out. Ask her why she's thin, she'll tell you about her faulty heart.

On the other side of the spectrum, I have a friend who has to take a medication to stay alive. It has nasty side effects, including weight gain. She hasn't let herself go, she's not lazy, she cares about being healthy - she's trying to stay alive.

The point is: Be careful about judging others weight. You never know what the real story is.

Yeah! A chance to rant about this!

I often hear "you're so lucky..", though it wasn't luck that got me here.

It was a struggle and still doesn't feel easy or natural maintaining, though its getting better. After I eat a large slice of my favorite pizza, and want another ever though I'm not hungry, and I'll pass. But then I obsess about how badly I want another piece. I may want a blue cheese burger, but I'll get a veggie burger. I want a heath bar, but I eat an apple. So goes my day, everyday. 

And when I get home after an 11 or 12 hour shift, I want to veg out in front of the tv with a bag of butter lovers popcorn. Instead, I drag my tired butt to the treadmill and put in a couple miles. 

It isn't easy, for sure. But now that it's routine and I'm learning to moderate some of the decadence, people perceive that I eat whatever I want and whenever I want it.

I know not to mention my weight or any health advice to an overweight friend of mine because it just enrages her. I also know she thinks I just *poof* have it easy because she doesn't see the effort I put into it. This is mainly frustrating because I feel like we have some struggles that are the same and it would benefit both of us to discuss ways to get through it. But nope. I'm thin, she's not, so she's a real victim and I'm just a whiner.

Whew. I've been holding that in for a long time. So good to know I'm not alone.

Edited to add: As far as food porn...cookbooks and cooking magazines would be presented in black, cellophane wrap.