Repost: How some people are "naturally skinny"

fastfishyfood · 2026-07-18T23:53:54+00:00

When you have a culture of overindulgence & overeating, you get fat - regardless of your genetics. Humans are not to designed to eat copious amounts of food.

ArkNemesis00 · 2026-07-19T03:25:34+00:00

I like the OOP's post because it brings attention to the less visible habits and cultural aspect of weight - we so often talk about diet and exercise that I find it refreshing to hear something a little different.

In my experience, I've always eaten whatever I've wanted, lived a mostly sedentary lifestyle, and been very thin. Perhaps I naturally have better brain signaling for hunger/satiety cues or a higher metabolic rate than the majority of others, because I wouldn't say I use much discipline.

It's a bit difficult to identify habits and preferences from my own day to day that might contribute, but here are my best guesses:

I love fruit. Pretty much all fruit, but especially citrus or fruits that are a bit sour when not fully ripe. When I was a kid, my mom once commented on me voluntarily choosing orange slices over a brownie for my dessert at my school cafeteria
I'm not a huge dessert person. I remember stating once as a teenager that I didn't think I had even finished a slice of cake in my lifetime due to finding it too sweet. As an adult, I buy cakes from Asian bakeries or bake cakes with homemade whipped cream in place of frosting to cut back a bit on the sweetness. I hate milk chocolate and greatly prefer semisweet or dark. My favorite desserts are things like sorbet, lemon squares, fruit tarts, etc.
I was raised to portion out snacks. My mom instilled the habit of pouring from a family sized bag of chips into an individual bowl and immediately putting the big bag away. It was more important to me to have a small amount of chips every day of the week than to binge them within a day or two so I took this lesson to heart
I love to cook. I don't consider myself a healthy cook by any means, but even when making something like fettuccine alfredo at home you're bound to use less butter/oil/fat/preservatives than a restaurant would. I am confident that the ratio of protein to carbs that I serve at home is much better than the typical restaurant as well

Side note: protein is filling and keeps you full longer; the more protein in your diet the less likely that you consume too many calories

I enjoy vegetables. As a kid I was surprised that broccoli was joked about in media and stuff as being a gross health food. Broccoli is freaking delicious. Most root vegetables taste pretty great if you buy them fresh, toss them in a bit of olive oil along with a generous amount of salt, and roast them in the oven at like 450 degrees
I'm a "live to eat" person. If I'm not enjoying the food, I won't eat much of it. If I can't think of or find something enticing to eat, I won't snack. I'll often go to bed a little hungry before I eat something for the sake of convenience. I usually don't touch leftovers unless it's to utilize them in a new dish. I'm not a big fan of most breakfast foods which often leads to me skipping it or having something very light (though I do snack throughout the day as I get hungry, I don't just eat two meals)
Negative emotion decreases my appetite. I have to believe this is one of the biggest factors in my weight vs others. Emotional eating seems to be a huge deal for a lot of people, whether it's shame, sadness, stress, etc. I can't really imagine the work it would take to psychologically unpack that and find new coping mechanisms but I theorize it's one of the best things someone struggling with weight loss could do

Werevulvi · 2026-07-19T11:14:39+00:00

Both my parents have always struggled with their weight, but not to any huge extreme. Growing up I had no trouble maintaining a healthy weight, eating foods that were... kinda bad but not straight up fast food. Like a lot of bread, pasta, cheese, not a lot of meat and veggies. There were also fairly frequently sweet snacks on the weekends. My family also has a tendency to celebrate everything with very high calorie indulgance foods, and they hate exercise, but live fairly active lives just because they have to. Like pet care, house maintenance, keeping the yard/garden neat, etc, kinda stuff.

Thing is though, I just wasn't very hungry. All my life I've always had naturally very low appetite, and struggled with some version of picky eating. I do have autism, and I think that's probably the biggest reason behind that. Like it makes me not enjoy the sensory experience of eating.

That low appetite paired with kinda unhealthy habits, I think basically just cancelled each other out. Like I only managed to maintain a healthy weight because I had small portions, no snacking, and often skipped meals. But that would come up and bite me in the ass when I grew up and moved out to my own apartment.

Suddenly I had to get my own food, and I was struggling a lot with that. It became a lot of pizza and soda, and I put a lot of sugar and cream in my coffee too. So even though I was only eating once a day at that point, the weight started to pile on. And I started to struggle with my weight, from around age 20. I got up to the lower obesity range, then lost the weight in unhealthy ways, and put it back on again, because I didn't change my habits.

Now in my late 30's I've finally managed to lose that weight a second time, but this time in a much more healthy and sustainable way. I replaced the excess sugary and fatty foods for healthier alternatives, started tracking my calories and protein, and got into fitness. But I also had to teach myself to eat more often, and bigger volumes of food.

Now, I'm at a healthy bmi of 21 with I dunno somewhere around 25-30% body fat. Not quite as lean as I'd like to be, but I'm working on that with body recomposition. I enjoy exercising multiple days a week now, both strength and cardio, and I walk a lot more. I eat 4-5 times a day including 1-2 snacks, mostly whole foods but still have a small amount of sugary cake every day. I'm still not a huge fan of veggies, but I will have fresh fruit every day.

And yeah I like my body much better now. I'm a lot more mobile, clothes look better on me, and apparently people think I'm way younger than I actually am. There's been a few incidents where other women thought I was around 20 years old. While in reality, like I mentioned, I'm 37. But yes I get that it looks like I take good care of my body now, because I actually do, and looking healthy gets tied to looking young, probably more than I realize.

So at this point I'd say I've finally solved my weight issues. It took me a year, but I think I've got it now. But basically I think I always had the genetics for being skinny, but the lifestyle for being overweight. Because of my low appetite, but then eating a lot of processed foods and avoiding exercise.

That said I do have a younger sister as well, and we grew up together. As for her though... she was very skinny when we were young, like she was underweight even. On surface level she appeared to eat a lot, but knowing her, she was an extremely picky eater, so it was only on occasion she ate a lot. But she got the reputation of being a skinny person who "just can't seem to gain weight." Well, until she too becane an adult and got way less picky with foods. Since then, she too got overweight and still struggles with that.

Now my entire family is still obsessed with hyper palatable foods and sweets, still hate exercise, and still wish they could lose weight. I'm the only one who broke the pattern and created my own, healthier lifestyle. For that, I don't really "fit" with my family anymore. We have completely different priorities and views on food now. Like I make time for the gym in my schedule, I track my weight and calories. I may gobble down a huge bowl of oatmeal or eat myself stuffed on plain eggs, but will pass on the extra cookies, and chose diet soda instead of the regular one. And they think I'm weird for it.

Ultimately though, I do agree that genetics are only part of the equation. How you grew up, family dynamics, culture, etc, also matter. But yes I absolutely think it's possible to change, if you want it bad enough and are willing to put in the effort it takes. But I'm not gonna deny that took a lot of effort.

AutoModerator · 2026-07-18T23:31:28+00:00

Title: Repost: How some people are "naturally skinny"

Author ArkNemesis00

Full text: NOTE: I read this post on the vindicta subreddit a couple years back and found it very interesting. After the post today about pursuing weight loss to attract a certain caliber of man, I thought I might share.

I’m sure we’ve all met someone who seems to eat a lot and no matter what stays slim. Some state they don't even like to exercise while others exercise without thinking about it. They state they don't diet or they make very minor changes to lose weight with quick results.

I grew up obese but also from a very scientific family so I spent a lot of time researching and observing the difference in eating habits. Over the years I've adopted the habits of my “naturally skinny friends." I’m at the point it’s much easier for me to maintain my current weight (which is considered “skinny” to many).

Disclaimer: Every person is different and so of course there are variations in lifestyle. I think weight loss/maintenance is more like “death by 1000 cuts.” It isn’t just diet/exercise. It’s diet, exercise, cortisol levels, inflammation, stress, sleep patterns, NEAT, etc. Weight loss is a recipe and naturally skinny people have most if not all the ingredients while those of us who struggle with weight are missing ingredients. Hence why I will state “many” instead of “all” when discussing patterns I've seen.

Here are some of my observations (add any you have in the comments): -Family of Origin: Many of the people I've seen who fall into the "naturally skinny" category have a major advantage with their family. Their family has a family culture of healthiness and very often they don't have to think about weight loss because their family was doing the thinking for them or their culture was focused on it.

Example #1 My friend has always been the size of a runway model. I've come to learn that her mom delivers home made Korean food to her every few days even after 30 years old. Her mom will change the meals when she sees her daughter is gaining weight. She essentially has a private chef who is an expert in weight loss.

Example #2: My friend's mom would wake him up with a shot of fresh veggie juice and then a large water while he was still in bed. He never thought about these healthy habits because he didn't have to do a single thing.

Example #3: My cousin's family would all go on a 20 minute walk after dinner each night, it was their tradition. Whereas my family would put on a movie and we'd all relax. I'm sure you know which family was "naturally skinny." The thing is as an adult, my cousin feels the need to go on a walk because her body expects it so its effortless. By contrast I've had to consciously think about going on a walk because I'm creating this habit from scratch.

The values of the family of origin can help a lot. For example focus on set eating times, high priority on sleep, high priority on movement, etc.

At the same time the Family of Origin might have been pushing unhealthy eating patterns for example "Finish your plate" or running to feed a child if they were only a little hungry (vs. Telling them dinner will be in 10 minutes and they need to learn to wait)

-Cultural Influences: Many cultures have traditions that help you remain at a healthy weight so very little effort is needed to reach "skinny" compared to if you were starting without these traditions.

Example #1: Japan the culture pushes to stop eating when you're 80% full.

Example #2: Korea has many fermented foods and vinegar drinks that help prevent blood sugar spikes. Additionally, foods there are lower calorie count and smaller. When I lived there I noticed all bagels were extremely thin. I see Slim Korean Content Creators mention how they have a bagel for breakfast. Their bagel is not the same bagel you'd eat in the US. Its extremely thin and max 200 calories while most bagels in the US are double that.

Example #3 In France and many other cultures, there are strict set times for eating. When you eat at specific times consistently your body is expecting the food and will begin to produce the stomach acid to break down the food.

Example #4: In Italy there are many rules regarding the order of eating and portion sizes. For example a portion of pasta is kept to 100g/person or Cappuccinos are only for the morning because it can upset digestion.

These are some example where a person is not thinking about weight loss but the culture is pushing traditions that help keep the person at a healthy weight in a more relaxed manner.

-Walkable city/nature: Living in a place you can walk and enjoy is going to help you naturally lose weight. Walking on a treadmill will give similar benefits but it requires more motivation and walking in nature drops your cortisol levels even more. Cortisol causes weight gain so this is important.

Ex. When I lived in Seoul Korea I would walk through a forest/nature filled walks (within the city) to arrive to my destination. I could have taken a taxi/bus and it would be faster but they were such beautiful walks I was excited to go. I started going out more just so I could walk.

-How their mother ate during their pregnancy: What your mother ate during pregnancy creates a big impact on your life. Shockingly, but not surprisingly, if your mother starved herself during pregnancy that is essentially mimicking a famine. Its been shown that fetal malnutrition can cause the baby to have a higher risk of being overweight or obese later in life. Many women in America struggled with Anorexia in the 90s and I've known several Aunts and my own mom who starved during pregnancy and then had overweight/sick/obese children (myself included).

-Genetics: Genetics in regards to a high metabolism do play a part in many of the situations I've seen but by the time most hit 25 years old this advantage starts to disappear. There is also genetics in regards to tendency to store fat.

-Movement outside the gym: Many naturally skinny people move a LOT. They will opt to stand instead of sit, might pace around, get restless after 20 minutes of sitting, etc. Many have even told me they never exercise but I see them clocking in 15k steps daily. Or they randomly use objects as weights for a quick 1 minute workout. Just saw a video of a couple at the beach and the wife was joking how her husband found a giant log and was throwing it around the beach for fun. This is a good example of how this man might not have gone to the gym but naturally turned his surroundings into a gym for fun.

-Doing what works for them and not others: I know two naturally skinny people who got married. The guy ate whatever he wanted and never thought about weight gain. It was the same for her but she was one of the skinniest people I've ever seen who ate the largest amount I've ever seen. I knew her when I was obese and we went on a trip together. She'd finish her food, then eat half of mine (because it was too much for me) and usually look to see who else couldn't finish their food so she could eat more. She was snacking constantly but no matter what couldn't put any weight on.

Her whole family is genetically very thin and can eat extreme portions. If they don't eat extreme portions they get too skinny very fast and so her mom constantly pushed them to eat more. This was fine for them but once her husband joined the family he was pushed to eat like them and is now obese while they are all still extremely skinny.

Opting for High Volume/Low Calorie food and a preference for dessert that "isn't too sweet": This can come from family of origin as well but for those people who were raised to enjoy salads, low calorie fruits, veggie sticks, and low sugar desserts it is of course easier to be "naturally skinny" because they don't need willpower to eat in this way since they naturally enjoy it.

High Water Intake & healthy drinks: A lot of naturally skinny people drink a lot of water, green teas, coffee (without sugar/cream) and enjoy it or do it habitually. A few people joke about how I am always drinking water but it has helped me keep weight off and I feel off when I don't have my water. Its a zero effort habit now.

"You are who you surround yourself with": This one is going to be a very touchy thing to bring up and it made me sad to realize as someone who used to be obese and felt very rejected. My friend told me that her mom, from an early age, instructed her to not spend too much time with overweight friends because if she does she will become overweight as well. She told me many people in her culture think this way and so reject overweight people. It does make me sad but also makes sense. I remember when I was tracking my steps obsessively and the days I spent time with an overweight friend were always my lowest step days compared to my skinnier friends. It was more likely my skinny friends wanted to do something that involved movement like walking, shopping, site seeing, etc and they also had more stamina so they keep at it for much longer compared to my overweight friends.

Over the years I also noticed that if my overweight friends gave me a gift of food it was more likely to be unhealthy compared to my skinny friends. My overweight friends would give me desserts whereas my skinny friends gave me teas or coffees. If my skinny friend gave me a dessert it was a healthier one that was much smaller and focused on quality. Some of my overweight friends would also guilt trip me if I didn't want to eat what they gave me in that moment.

I've also noticed a pattern when I try to lose weight and told friends. My fit friends offer to exercise with me while my overweight friends will suddenly surprise me with dessert literally the next day after talking about my weight loss goal. This has happened too many times to count and I stopped sharing my weight loss goals for this reaso

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FamiliarResort9471 · 2026-07-19T10:16:35+00:00

Very good points. I've made a lot of the same observations.

A friend of mine told me about these two friends he had (brothers) and how one was skinny and the other struggled with his weight. One night at a party, he made an interesting observation. The chubby brother was sitting on a couch chatting with some girl for over an hour. In that same timeframe, his skinny brother must have exited and re-entered the room over a dozen times. He never actually saw the guy sat down.

Maryy_returns · 2026-07-19T01:48:15+00:00

When you eat too much you get fat. That’s it. Why we eat too much; lack of discipline and bad habits. I say this as someone thin; who gained a ton of weight during a miserable time in my life and lost it all. I lost more
Weight than I currently weigh so I speak from experience.

My experience is this: during the years where I was gaining weight, I ate what I wanted. I drank what I wanted. I didn’t move that much. I was miserable and I was very dishonest with myself about the life. I was living. I also stopped weighing myself because I didn’t wanna know the number and kept putting it off I’ll start the diet next week weigh myself after a few weeks and then the next thing you know when I finally get on the scale I gained over 100 pounds.

Now I am what you would call naturally thin, so what do I do? I do not eat three meals a day I eat more protein than carbs if I go out to eat, I never ever finish my plate and I do not take home the leftovers. I’m careful what I order in restaurants, I will on occasion indulge in a dessert, but I never eat the entire dessert.

I give myself a 4 pound window if I go under my weight by 2 pounds make sure I eat a cheeseburger and dessert lol if I go over by 2 pounds we’re having salad.

I do not make excuses such as age metabolism, menopause, stress, cortisol I make zero excuse excuses. I was trying clothes on today. I wear between size 0 and two and the sales lady said ever since menopause. she does not have a flat stomach anymore like i do.

I didn’t say anything, but I thought to myself we’re the same age why am I not using that as an excuse ? I do not allow excuses for myself. I ate too much. Period.

I do have photos posted you’re more than welcome to take a look.

PerryCox-MD · 2026-07-19T06:21:56+00:00

My family are mostly fit (not skinny - fit). Being active is the norm in my family, and we always had an early dinner at around 5pm and only 2 meals a day instead of 3. My grandmother would insist on walking to places and doing housework on her own into her late 80s when she passed. My mom is about the same size as she was in her 20s, and walks everywhere. She’s been active since was a teenager. My dad goes on runs at least 5 days a week, and it’s a habit he’s maintained for decades. My siblings and I always have been involved in one sport or another, and as adults we have our individual interests/separate sports we still do.

My husband’s family on the other hand is the polar opposite. TV is the center of the household and food is the language of love. You’d have food brought to you in between 3 square meals and it’s a way to show care and love in his family. In my family we seldom ever turned the TV on and you wouldn’t have food randomly brought to you aside from the occasional cut fruit here and there. No one really has their individual favorite sports and yeah… they’re almost all overweight unfortunately. Food is always there from the moment you wake up and well into the early hours of the morning if you’re still awake then. It’s easy to overeat if you’ve been grazing all day and haven’t been outdoors much.

Bambinette · 2026-07-19T20:17:26+00:00

I really like the OOP lens because it feels closely related to diet culture, wellness culture, and performance culture. These are all topics I find fascinating, and I’ve been a victim of all of them.
I’ve been skinny my whole life. Like my mom, that stopped coming naturally after my pregnancy. I went from believing that being thin was the result of self-discipline (when, in reality, it really wasn’t) to having to reconcile the fact that I no longer fit those standards.

The funny thing is that I’ve never been heavier (160 lbs at 5’4”), but I’ve also never been healthier. I run three times a week, eat three meals most days, and make an effort to cook nutritious meals for my family—and for myself. I chase my two-year-old around, take him swimming, and recently took up gardening and lawn care as hobbies.

I’m still not losing weight, but my thighs are getting stronger, I have so much more energy than I used to, and I’ve learned to trust my hunger cues and stop eating when I’m full.

I think I’ve finally realized that the goal isn’t to be thin. It’s to be healthy, strong, and able to live the life I want with my family.

Honestly, I wouldn’t trade that just to be skinnier again.

Rugby-Angel9525 · 2026-07-19T20:35:30+00:00

I think this is an excellant write up. My family has a history of anorexia also. Thank you very much.

TradesforChurros · 2026-07-19T21:57:28+00:00

I am naturally skinny and lucky to be 38 weeks pregnant with our third baby with only a basketball belly. I’ve always been a size 0-2 and i am 5’8.”

My mom has always been size 16-20 and is 5’7” - growing up she kept all the name brand junk food in our house and rarely cooked homemade meals. If she cooked it was frozen, instant, or we got fast food, etc

My brother is also skinny and 6’1” and neither of us ever took to the junk food. All my friends and cousins would say our house was like a convenience store with unlimited junk to eat. Ben and Jerry’s, snickers bars, Doritos, anything you could imagine.

Strangely my mom liked salad, fish, and did many diets. My dad never ate much but nuts (almonds, peanuts, etc). And my grandma cooked him southern dinners (like chicken and dumplings) so he could avoid the frozen and junk crap my mom fed us. My mom is still alive with no signs of diabetes, etc. My dad died of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure at 67.

Bodies are weird.

Title	Repost: How some people are "naturally skinny"
Author	ArkNemesis00
Upvotes	53
Comments	17
Date	July 18, 2026 11:31 PM UTC (3 days ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/RedPillWomen
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/RedPillWomen/comments/1v0aqhb/repost_how_some_people_are_naturally_skinny/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/RedPillWomen/repost-how-some-people-are-naturally-skinny.1585365 https://theredarchive.com/post/1585365

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