[Closed] Ectomorph alert ! Anybody else resigned to being skinny forever ?

6'2 and 10.5 stone here. Terrible posture, knobbly knees, weak as a kitten, ill fitting clothes. Somehow managed to get a wife and child though, don't know how that happened!

I was/am. 6ft tall and 10.5 stone most of my life. Crept up to 11 stone between ages 30 and 39. Tried weight training, protein/creatine etc etc, no use at all. Just have very small bones and can’t develop muscle .... However over the last couple of years due to meds I take and not being as active as I should ( and eating shite) my weight ballooned up to 13.5 stone, all fat and all around my waist (yes, still skinny everywhere else, looked terrible) not a good look at all! I’m down to 12.5 stone now and will be happy when I’m back at 11 and have a nice flat stomach again... Well when it’s not also bloated due to ibs.... excuse me for this, but only way I can accurately describe it is likening it to those pictures of starving kids, skinny but with a distended stomach 😣

Had the pee taken out of me for most of my life, and due to this my body image/self confidence is non existent.

I wish....

5 ft 8 and hover around 13.5 to 14 stone. Got to 12 12 at one point but the effort it took wasn't worth it....

Though I am quite big boned if I could drop the beer n get to 13stone I'd be happy. But I'd miss my beer🍺

@duncancallum, are you me?

I'd rather have your so-called problem! I was a very skinny, tall youth, then hit my mid-30s, knees need major surgery, and in the interim have just sat around and have blown up like a beachball.
Thank your lucky stars - so many health problems are correlated with obesity, after all.

6'6" and 13st. Whether I eat more or less I stay the same. Apart from 1st year at uni when I dropped to 11st. I looked like an Auschwitz escapee.

6' 2" here and about 12 stonne that's the most I've ever weighed usually hovered around 10.5 to 11.

I carry a bit of a pot and many of my old jeans don't fit me anymore.

I'm 1.8m and 70kg, and can take off my 32" waist jeans without unfastening them.

Just shut up. The lot of you.

“Ooh, i’m so skinny.”

Meh.

Yeah, shut up hey.... Not that some of us have had years of borderline bullying and piss taking because of it

Yeah I do realise that its a double-edged sword,for instance its always meant that getting really fit again is never more than a week or two away,and every girlfriend/wife ive ever had would have killed for a sleek physique like mine. Little things like being able to wear shorts socially without people tossing money at me due to my polio-like legs,and men many years older than me calling me Son due to my physique I could manage without though.
Although tbf I wouldn't swap any of my height for weight,so maybe I should just accept the burden of being able to eat and drink what the hell I like,like the god-like athlete that I obviously am..... 🙂

I’m the complete opposite. 5 foot 8 and 67kgs.
My weight can change quite a lot. Was 95kgs when playing rugby league. Took up cycling when injury meant I couldn’t play anymore.
I also have the problem of looking at a pint of beer or a burger and putting weight on. The good side of it is that i can lose weight reasonably quickly when necessary.

182cm and 76kg. Used to be same height and about 72kg , my wife said I was skeletal when we met albeit very very fit ! Got up to 82kg and looked like sh1t , slimmed back down but still couldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding.

6 foot 2 here. My weight usually hovers around 11-11.5 stone. My diet of no cheese, meat or beer probably keeps me trim. Chocolate and cake keep me from wasting away.

Better that way then the other. I’m 90kg not fat but ‘stocky’, obviously have some Neanderthal genes in me, and struggling to get my weight down to mid 80’s kg. Have lost weight in terms of going down a few notches on my belt and a clothes size or so but the scales remain stubbornly on 90kg, which is not good with the etape du tour looming in a couple of months where every gram of weight shaved will be worth months of training. Been a gym monkey most of my life but now being the big bulky hulk of a man that I aspired to me now looks ridiculous. Far better off being lean and mean rather than a big, slow lummox of a man.

So, was Kate Moss right then?

“Nothing tastes as good as thin feels” or whatever it was.

5'10" 144lb here. On the whole, think its great. I'm the same weight and size as I was when I was 18 (now mid 40s).

Going uphill on the bike is great. I reckon descending is easier too - I may lose out a little in pure speed, but I'm still fresh when the biffers have knackered themselves out and their brakes are toast. I do suffer like a dog on the road bike in headwinds though! Less kinetic energy to expend too, so I've got away with some pretty horrible crashes <<touches wood>>.

I have to be a bit more careful around food than I used to be, but that's no bad thing as I can and do eat like a horse given half a chance, and I'm a wee bit paranoid about putting the weight on and finding I don't have the self control to get it off again.

I got the odd bit of piss take at school, but not since then - and the ones who used to take the piss are now mostly walking heartattacks (or heavy smokers), so I think I'm in the better position overall.

The only bit that annoys me is quite how quickly I detrain. If I'm riding lots or climbing regularly, with a lot of graft I can make decent improvements. Let life or laziness get in the way for a week and it all vanishes.

Wish I could revert to skinny days. Okay not fat bastard, but beer belly or just belly you get post 25 (still there 20 or so years later).

11st-ish, fluctuating to 11.5, heading towards 12. Sounds great? Not at 5'7" as 11.5 and bit is considered overweight for my height and age. It's okay but is a fight to keep in low. Hit near 13st once but bike riding keeps it on check.

Worst humblebrag ever!

5' 7" normally around 9.5 stone. Often known to eat like a horse. Have been up to 10.5 when a fit rock climber - all muscle, honest. Over the past couple of years I've carried a bit of lard but since retiring and getting more active my weight is back to what I consider normal.

I'm actually feeling a bit fat after seeing some of the other heights and weights 🙂

I do suffer like a dog on the road bike in headwinds though!

Eugh. You poor thing.

I though weight was all calories in less expended, all your horses must be of the toy variety

At just shy of 6ft and never heavier than 12st,and despite eating like a horse I just never gain weight

Impossible! You're all lying! Calories in Vs calories out! You can't change physics!

Or at least that's what the STW diet experts would have you think. Interesting that none of them have shown up when they can't use the thread to feel superior, isn't it?

179 cm and 68-69 kg. I weighed the same 30 years ago. Not cycling at all this season as I’m “resting” (glandular fever). Curiously I lose weight when resting. Always been slim and have a very small frame. Wrist is still tiny even with a plate in it! Inherited it from both my mother and my father. My two sons did not inherit my ginger recessive genes.

I drink about one unit a week. Eat modestly now but tend to like carbs. I did once weigh 74 kg. When I was driving 12 hours a week.

6ft1 and have only ever been between 64-70kg
Recently upped the mileage and doing some planks/yoga and have lost the handles that crept up over the last few years and feel fitter than I have in ages. Don’t eat as much as I used to as that means a pot belly (though not a very big one)
Will never be huge but quite happy being slim in what is turning into a world of chubsters (the obesity stats for older men in the uk are shocking)

Impossible! You’re all lying! Calories in Vs calories out! You can’t change physics!

Or at least that’s what the STW diet experts would have you think. Interesting that none of them have shown up when they can’t use the thread to feel superior, isn’t it?

Do we have to start that again?

It's entirely possible to eat lots and lots of food but not process it properly, hence not get the full energy benefit. Plenty conditions (my IBS, for example) can cause exactly that issue.

Anyways, 6'2 here and vary between 10.5 and 11 stone. Strong I am not, but it does have its benefits for going up hills.

Metabolism, innit.

I have the same issue as the OP but with the opposite problem. I am a shade under 5ft 10’ and weigh just over 13 stone which i believe according to most weight/bmi charts puts me in the overweight category. I have a head the size of a peanut and thin veiny cycling legs, no moobs or belly yet i weigh more than most of the tall people on here. I reckon my bones must be filled with rebar for added strength.

Do we have to start that again?

No, because this thread vindicates me entirely (of course). I was told on the other threads that anyone who said they ate a lot and didn't get fat was lying about how much they ate (including my own father who've I seen eat loads for most of his life and remain skinny). The normal crew are curiously absent here which I find amusing 🙂

I'm the same. Eat a lot, can sit an eat a packet of biscuits after dinner, but still weigh the same as i did in my early 20s. I reckon i fidget more than most people - that might have an impact, but I must surely metabolise differently to other people.

I've been going to a personal trainer for 90 minutes a week over the last 2 years and focused core and weight training has completely changed my upper body shape and I'm filling out my clothes to the extent my super-slim shirts are straining at the buttons.

As a point of difference: I'm 6' and 12st so by most people's reckoning I'm slim - though this puts me pretty much in the middle of the 'healthy' BMI range and I'm evidently nowhere near as skinny as some on here! I also love eating cake / chocolate and can polish off a massive slab of chocolate without too much difficulty. I'm sure onlookers might find this irritating.

HOWEVER, I find staying this weight quite challenging. I watch what I eat (most of the time) and I exercise enough to keep the chub mostly off. I'm almost always either hungry or (probably more likely) craving something. Either way I'm thinking about food a lot. If I don't watch out I can put on a stone over winter when I'm riding a bit less often.

So what I'm saying is: not all slim people have it easy!

It’s entirely possible to eat lots and lots of food but not process it properly

Not really. There's isn't THAT much variation between people. Yes, it depends on a number of things (including gut microbiome, and certain medical conditions) so there are people who absorb more efficiently but the effect is not that great. There is probably more variation in basal metabolic rate and definitely more variation in the amount people move (either consciously or subconsciously).

So whilst the calories in - calories out calculation is a bit simplistic, it's more because of variance in how the absorbed calories are used (total daily energy expenditure). That is to say: There isn't anyone healthy who can eat lots whilst sitting still in a chair and expect to be thin. Moreover, people believing they are genetically predisposed to be heavy is unhelpful in the fight against obesity.

(My two cents, opinions expressed are not necessarily the views of stw.com etc).

In some ways i am very jealous and i do believe that it is a balance between genetic disposition and diet/ exercise.

My best mate at uni was 6'2" and weighed just over 10 stone, his diet was one of chips, Stella Artois and kebabs, and never exercised, he used to steal the protein powder when he worked in the hospital kitchens and still couldn't put weight on we used to worry about him when the wind got up....

I played rugby for 20 years, and at my heaviest i was 18 stone but could run 100m in just over 11 seconds and played for my country. This was great when i was young, but now loving cycling and being well into my 40's, i am one of those people that only has to look at food and i put weight on, even commuting 38-58 miles a day monday to friday, i lost half stone, but no more over a year, even though diet was pretty good. It has always been a balance of dieting, but then not having energy to get up the hills or ride to much against family life and work, i would love to be slim.

It would be nice to buy some cycling kit that didn't have lots of "XXX" in the sizing and even though i still enter lots of events with a lot of climbing in, it would be nice not to have constant comments of "come on big lad" or "blimey you sweat some"!!

Nah.
I remember yonks ago reading something the skinny man's hero Ian Brown off of the Stone Roses said - that he hated the feeling of being full, so never ate much.
I, on the other hand love stuffing my face until I can't bloody move.
😆

178cm, 61kg, or 5'10", 9 1/2 stone. Lost a few kg since starting to concentrate more on running than biking. Did get to 59kg while experimenting with veganism, but didn't think that was entirely healthy. I suppose when running 100 miles a week it's a challenge to eat too much and put on weight 😀

188cm & 82.5kg or 6'2" & 13st.

I found my weight crept up a bit over the past few years, but have gone back from 90kg at Xmas to where I am now, which is where I spent most of my life. Struggling to go lower, as my waist has shrunk, but due to gym work, everywhere else has grown! Aiming for the waist to shrink a little more, and the rest to grow a bit, but it's hard, really, really hard. I bloody love beer, sweet things & burgers 🙂

Impossible! You’re all lying! Calories in Vs calories out! You can’t change physics!

Or at least that’s what the STW diet experts would have you think. Interesting that none of them have shown up when they can’t use the thread to feel superior, isn’t it?

Nah, that's just because you wanted to pigeon hole yourself into some weird (mostly) physics defying category, mostly because you were too lazy/weak willed to have a proper crack at losing weight... 😉

I can say that after 5 months of averages of 1700 balanced calories a day & ~8 hours exercise a week.

OP if I could share some of the weight gain gene with you I would, I can appreciate that neither side of the extremes are much fun. I've dropped 2.5 stone this year so far and I'm still over a healthy weight by NHS guidelines (not that they take my 'solid' build into account) for my height anyway. Currently ok with the 14ish stone I am, but worried I'll relax too much and it'll all come flying back on!

I think science has proved that calories in vs calories out is true and not even to do with metabolism, but skinny people overestimate what they eat and heavier people underestimate what they eat. A mate of mine is a lightweight and always complains he eats loads but can’t put weight on, but after going on a skiing holiday with him a few years ago and witnessing first hand his eating habits I brought it to his attention he ate sweet fa. Sure when he sat down to eat he could eat as much as me, but he would ‘forget’ to have lunch and hardly ever had breakfast so most days he was only really having one proper meal a day with a few snacks through the course of the day - usually beer. Compare to me where my whole day and next thought revolves around planning my food through the course of the day. I have to know when my next meal is coming from and when it’s going to be. The concept of ‘forgetting’ to eat a meal is just not possible.

Thanks for the responses and perspectives everybody,fascinating isnt it.
Ive always been tempted to completely abandon any form of exercise and eat nothing but junk food for a while,but I just know Id end up looking like some skinny-fat abomination like Rhys Ifans in the famous doorstep scene in Notting Hill,or even worse still Wilfred Bramble as old man Steptoe.

I think science has proved that calories in vs calories out is true and not even to do with metabolism, but skinny people overestimate what they eat and heavier people underestimate what they eat.

It's PARTIALLY true. In the same way that if you ride a bike your heart rate will go up, but different people's heart rate will go up to different numbers depending on a ton of factors.

As I keep saying - I've sat and watched very skinny people who do little exercise eat shitloads on a regular basis. Look at the people on this thread trying as hard as they can to put on weight and not managing it. I know a bloke like this; his weight does go up and down depending on exercise and diet, but the centre line is much skinnier than me due to genetic or possibly environmental or historical differences. He's also very different in lots of other areas in terms of performance, so there's no point pretending we are all the same.

188cm & 82.5kg or 6’2″ & 13st.

Is there a thread for average weight people? 🙂

Think I explained last time. Everyone eats enough to weigh what the do. That’s thermodynamics. But... there is a huge difference in satiety signals and to a lesser extent basal metabolic rate. What that means is that I run a little hot and feel stuffed on 1700 kcal per day. Someone else may run a little warmer and not feel stuffed until about 2000 kcal per day. That person, other things being equal, will weigh more than I do. That’s genetics and physiology.

That’s thermodynamics

But humans aren't heat engines.