Can you be thin AND have a low metabolism?

[wealthofwisdom]

I know metabolism is a key indicator of health. My question is: if a person is naturally thin does that indicate that they have a high metabolism by default?

Or can you be thin and still have a low metabolism?

I'm wondering if one precludes the other... or not?

 

[TheSir]

Most definitely, since the factors that undermine metabolism can also undermine appetite. Muscle mass would be a better indicator of one's state of metabolism. Someone with poor lean mass is typically guaranteed to have subpar metabolism, regardless of how thin or fat they are.

 

[wealthofwisdom]

Most definitely, since the factors that undermine metabolism can also undermine appetite. Muscle mass would be a better indicator of one's state of metabolism. Someone with poor lean mass is typically guaranteed to have subpar metabolism, regardless of how thin or fat they are.

Thanks. Is there a good way to measure muscle mass? Or is it more a question of eyeballing it?

 

[TheSir]

Thanks. Is there a good way to measure muscle mass? Or is it more a question of eyeballing it?

I'd say eye-balling is sufficient for a quick estimate. How much muscle tone you can maintain without exercising, how easily you will put on muscle, that sort of thing. A bony person would have something wrong with their metabolism or diet.

 

[wealthofwisdom]

I see... so naturally thin plus having fairly good muscle mass would indicate high metabolism.

I guess a follow up question would be (and maybe I should create a new thread for it): can you be naturally high metabolism but still have low energy?

I'm wondering how interrelated (or not) all if these things are...

 

[wealthofwisdom]

And a follow up question would be: can you have high metabolism and low appetite? Or do they preclude each other?

 

[wealthofwisdom]

Reason I'm asking is because body wise i have all the signs of a high metabolism. But symptom wise I have signs of a low metabolism.... so I'm really not sure what my deal is

 

[TheSir]

I see... so naturally thin plus having fairly good muscle mass would indicate high metabolism.

I guess a follow up question would be (and maybe I should create a new thread for it): can you be naturally high metabolism but still have low energy?

I'm wondering how interrelated (or not) all if these things are...

I think it's possible for you to have next to nothing wrong with your body yet feel low energy because you're suffering from a lack of purpose, meaningful activities or social relationships. Though, these in turn would affect your metabolism negatively over time too. In general though, lack of energy would point to a metabolic problem in spite of how healthy you feel otherwise.

And a follow up question would be: can you have high metabolism and low appetite? Or do they preclude each other?

This is a bit of a grey area since the term 'high' may or may not be interchangeable with 'efficient'. An efficient metabolism would mean that you require very little food because you would be able to extract so much value from the little amount of food you are eating (plus you would be receiving less metabolic damage in your daily living which would lessen the need for food too). But if this is not the case, then they would most likely preclude each other.

 

[wealthofwisdom]

Hmmm....interesting. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Herbie]

Ray said that when he was hypothyroid he couldn't put on weight or muscle even though he ate 9000 calories a day but when we started taking thyroid his eating requirements went down to 4000 calories and he could put on muscle.