We all have that one friend.
Like the one who passes out with their shoes on and the one who conveniently always forgets their wallet, there’s no doubt a skinny friend who eats like a powerlifting pig but never gets fat in your life.
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While regular humans have to endure counting calories and exercising regularly to keep their weight at a healthy level, this unicorn-like skinny-fat creature doesn’t give such mortal concerns a second thought.
As irritating as it is, there’s a science behind it, and who better to explain than sweet uncle Dr Karl Kruszelnicki on triple j:
So people have done studies into this phenomenon, and it turns out that “lucky skinny friend” keeps the weight off because they’re unconsciously moving all day. Dr Karl’s co-science man, Ruben Merrman, explained the study:
What’s been discovered through a very clever experiment with a whole bunch of people is that they overfed some people and some got fatter than others. The people who didn’t get fat, it turns out that they’re fidgeting. The big fancy word for this is Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). But, if you watched yourself 24 hours a day, you would probably note that although you don’t think you’re exercising, you’re probably jittering and fidgeting more, you’re moving more, you’re doing little motions, they all move muscles, they all consume energy. So you don’t look like you’re doing exercise, but actually your physical activity level is a little bit higher than those unlucky, not skinny friends.
Great. So, annoy your coworkers by jiggling your leg up and down all day every day and you’ll keep your weight in check.
Dr K capped the segment off with a fact that will blow ya friggen mind:
“By fidgeting, [you can] burn up more energy per day than it takes to run a marathon.”
Source: triple j.
Photo: Date Movie.
