Everyone knowsthatguy – the one who can chug more than his reasonable share of beer , scarf down an full pepperoni pizza , grab an ice ointment , and make a donut start the next morn , all without gaining a Syrian pound .

Meanwhile , others go easy with the dressing on their salad , bind to something lighter at felicitous hour , and perhaps , maybetreat themselves to a few piece of candy , hopeful that a cool 30 minutes on the treadmill will keep the weighing machine in stoppage .

What gives ? Is n’t everyone playing by the same rule of caloric intake ?

some people can eat garbage

Oren Aks/Thrillist

Not on the nose . Anew studysuggests that people ’s bodies respond to the same food for thought in very different ways , which means that at least one measure of food ’s impingement on metabolic process –the glycemic index , or how a food affects blood sugar – is n’t as reliable as once thought . And if the glycemic index is inaccurate , and intellectual nourishment do n’t elicit the same blood sugar response in everyone , it help explain why so much victuals advice does n’t harbor up .

" If you have two citizenry who are pass the same precise dieting , they wo n’t necessarily weigh the same , " pronounce Dr. Judith Korner , director at the Weight Control Center at Columbia University Medical Center . " There is a genetic fundament for how much they can deplete . "

Here ’s what ’s going with those friends who use up whatever the hell they desire , without experience the little alteration in their waistlines .

They’ve got good genes

Not felicitous with the way your physical structure look when you stray from your otherwise intelligent dieting ? Blame mom and dad . Dr. Korner says genetics program your " solidifying full stop , " the weightiness your soundbox strives to maintain . Some people may have a dictated point at a BMI of 22 , while other bodies have a tendency to uphold a BMI of 28 or 30 , depend on their factor and hormones .

" If you try and spay that set point , your consistency definitely crusade against it , " Dr. Korner continues . " There have been studies where you take people of any size , thin or rotund , and if you underfeed them , there are changes in the body that examine to get them back to their original weight . It also execute the other path too – the body will attempt to burn up that extra food for thought to get them back to the set point . "

That skinny friend who chows down on immobile food for three meal a twenty-four hours , well , his soundbox does what ’s necessary to keep the weighting off naturally . the great unwashed with a higher set point , however , are in a incessant conflict with their body to keep that number on the scale scummy .

" A lot of people can turn a loss weight , but it ’s fighting to keep that free weight off that ’s very difficult . Your trunk is working against you to get that weight back , increasing hunger signals , lowering metamorphosis , all the things to get you back to that higher weight , " say Dr. Korner .

Their metabolisms are at roadrunner levels

The normal for weight increase is pretty simple : ware more calories than you burn , and vice versa . But how many calories you combust daily is much more dependent on your metabolism than minute spent at the gymnasium . In fact , canonical functions , like breathing and circulation , answer for fornearly three - quartersof the gram calorie you burn day by day , and your genetics determine this basal metabolic pace .

" [ If your friend ] is really having many more calories than you are , then his metabolism is probably fast and his body use up Calorie much , much more chop-chop . That ’s probably how he was deport , " says Dr. Korner . " [ It ’s like how ] some people are born with blue eyes and some with brown eyes . "

Age , body composition , gender , and physical activeness storey also impact metabolic rates , but genetics are the with child constituent , concord to Dr. Korner . Unbeknownst to you , that supporter who eats whatever they want might secretly schedule Barry ’s Bootcamp socio-economic class five twenty-four hours a workweek … or they might burn off that junk food just by vegging out in front of the TV . No one said lifespan was fair .

They’re eating less energy-dense foods

A Cypriot pound of lettuce may weigh the same as a British pound of deep-fried Gallus gallus , but they certainly do n’t have the same gist on the consistence . That inveterate fragile friend who ’s constantly use up might actually be deplete food that are less thermal than you imagine , Dr. Korner points out .

" It can look like someone ’s eating a lot , maybe they ’ll have this giant trough in front of them , but the bowl may stop a salad of beans , crybaby , and no stuffing , " she says . " It looks like they ’re just masticate and chewing and chew , but their foods are less vim heavy . "

There are people who say they wipe out whatever they want without gaining weight – and they ’re not consist . While that might conjure up feasts of deep-fried wimp , mac & cheeseflower , and cream puff in your creative thinker , their palates may prefer less - caloric foods , allow them to eat a much magnanimous amount .

They probably don’tactuallyeat that much

world is not always as it seems . mass tend to corrode more and indulge in their favorite foods when they ’re out with supporter , large calorie counts be damned . Even if you check your friend consume more Gallus gallus nuggets last night than you eat on in six months , their unconstipated diet is likely more modest .

" I think that it ’s an exaggeration . They may be eating what they need , but belike the number of calories they ’re consuming is not huge . If they startle eat thousands of kilocalorie a twenty-four hour period , I suppose that they would gain weight , " says Dr. Korner .

The opposite is true too , enounce Dr. Korner , who has seen patients that claim they ’ve cut calories but still have n’t see the scale budge . Their perception of their diets are probably off .

" If you take care at their food diary , you ’ll see a granola bar , and the patient conceive that it was salubrious but did n’t empty the number of calories in thissupposedly healthygranola bar was somewhat significant . It ’s thermodynamically impossible to take in less [ than you burn ] and not lose free weight . "

The bottom tune is that intellectual nourishment affect everyone in unlike ways . Some hoi polloi are allergic to gluten , others can fulfill a lucre craving with the bantam square of dark chocolate , and a prosperous few can on the face of it eat enough calories to flow an elephant , without ever looking like one . The best dieting is always the one that works for you , not someone else ’s plan .

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