While I agree that smoking may have a part in explaining why Europeans are generally thinner, I don’t think it is the main parameter, nor do I think that “eating nothing” is. They just do tend to have healthier eating habits there.
How the heck do you get that many calories? I eat CONSTANTLY and have trouble getting in even 3000. I’m training about 20hrs a week right now and haven’t been getting enough energy and I’m starting to feel it.
Don’t kid yourself. Europeans EAT. The feasts I have had at some ex girlfriends houses prepared by their European parents are freakin unreal. The difference is they eat better. Lots of big salads, lots of fish, and lots of beans. They eat better than we do over here. Simple as that.
No kidding myself, just thought that one wildly generalised comment deserved another…
Here’s a typical day during a 20-hour training week.
Breakfast at 8am after working out. A large bowl of bran flakes with plenty of milk. A yogurt. Maybe a pop tart.
That gets me to the lunch workout, with maybe a powerbar if I am riding at lunch.
Lunch at 1 pm. another yogurt. maybe fruit of some kind. apples or pears. A frozen dinner, usually pasta based, then grazing on wheat things or cookies through the aftenoon.
Grazing for 30 minutes before dinner. Dinner with the family between 6-7 pm. Grazing before putting the kids to bed at 8:30. More grazing after putting the kids to bed.
Basically three main meals and grazing for the entire day. It can be tedious. I we eat dinner earlier, say 5:30 or 6 pm then I just eat another meal at 9 pm. You get used to going to sleep on a fairly full stomach. If I don’t eat the 9 pm meal then I wake up hungry enough to eat a cow. Well, at least a sheep.
Chad
Let’s be honest here. Most triathletes are too skinny. (Let the flaming begin!) At least, I believe so. I propose that the label “skinny” is not sufficiently deflected by a body fat percentage. Are your upper arms the size of your wrists? Is your waist circumference within a few cm’s of your chest circumference? Guess what, you’re too skinny for the rest of the world! 
(As a triathlete, you’re pretty normal, though.)
-Jay
This really isn’t describing the majority of triathletes I’ve seen at the several triathlons I’ve been a spectator at. Not even close. Most of the guys look like they spend more time in the weight room than they do running. What you are describing is the crowd and competitors at a distance carnival in track & field.
Another data point…5’10 155lbs…and I can’t remember the last time someone told me I was too skinny, maybe it has something to do with how you carry yourself.
Here is 6’3" 160lbs. If you are turning some of the fastest run and bike splits, you are lean, not “too skinny”.
It’s amazing what people say to someone thin that they wouldn’t say (the opposite of) to an overweight person. My husband is very thin because of health reasons. Complete strangers will approach him and say things like “How much do you weigh!?”, “Wow, you’re thin!”, “Boy you look like you could eat more”, “You remind me of a concentration camp survivor”, or the one that boils my blood “Looks like your wife needs to learn to cook”. A stranger even recently offered him a tub of potato salad, with spoon, because he “looked like he needed it”.
Now, would these same people go up to an overweight person and say “How much do you weigh?”, “Boy you look like you could eat less”, “You remind me of something I saw in the zoo”, or “Damn you’re fat maybe you should eat less”. I don’t think so because it would be considered rude.
I use weight training to supplement the power work I do on the CompuTrainer. I do two different circuits/week and I will pare that down over the ‘off’ season to what I feel I really need to develop power and speed in the water and in my legs.
I have definatly noticed a difference, especially in my cycling. I do weighted 4-point lunges (27.5lbs in each hand), 3 sets of 6-8 with the last set to failure. Those have single-handedly cured my ITB by developing all of the supportive muscles in my knees and hips.
I do the other stuff (leg press, adductors, abductors, etc.) mainly to develop a little muscle and for a bit of definition.
If you are turning some of the fastest run and bike splits, you are lean, not “too skinny”.
That depends solely on your definition of skinny. If you’re a triathlete, you’re going to say that “lean” is a normal triathlete body. If you’re a bodybuilder, you’re going to say that a triathlete is “too skinny”. 
My definition of “lean” is simply a lower bf%. I can be 5’4" and 160 and still be lean. (No, I’m not really 160.)
-Jay
Yeah, sorry, europeans and good eating habits?? No way. I’m a naturalized UScitizen, now living back in europe. I’m still shocked at how unhealthy the eating habits of folks here are. Just quickly comparing highschool and college-age kids here and in the US provides the real reason people here are skinnier. Noone has any muscle. The bodyfat percentages here are fairly similar in both groups of kids, it’s the difference in musculo-skeletal development that makes the most difference. There is no compulsory exercise for kids here, and 90% of the population doesnt engage in sports. At all. The people who do, are generally more dedicated and devote more time to sports, hence thin, unlike the casual jogger in the US. Unless you are an athlete in europe, you are thin and weigh little because you never work out, eat irregular meals of small portions of unhealthy foods, and most likely smoke. Even all the national team athletes here I know have extremely bad eating habits, but stay thin due to smaller portions and much more irregular eating habits, which adds up to fewer calories in the end. The folks I see in the hospital (Im a medstudent) are generally all overweight, or at least their BF% is too high, the big difference is the smaller % of morbidly obese people as compared to the US.
Thats an awesome picture! I wish race photographers would take pictures like that. I’d be much more inclinced to buy them in that case since I’d look fast.
5’11 and 170lbs doesnt sound too skinny. Sounds good to me.
My BF is 6’2, 155lbs and usually around 4-5%bf. That’s too skinny. He gets sick and overreached all the time, and his bad eating habits and consequent weight loss are directly related to that. ‘Too skinny’ IMO comes down to BF and whether you are healthy or not at chosen body composition.
Well, I too have lived both in Europe and the USA and my experience is opposite to yours. I see many more people skipping breakfast, or having a very small lunch only to have their main calorie intake at diner. If that constitutes good eating habits to you, then we’ll have to agree to disagree.
Thats an awesome picture! I wish race photographers would take pictures like that. I’d be much more inclinced to buy them in that case since I’d look fast.
Thanks! I love taking pictures. I was pretty happy with how that one came out too. It helps to actually be fast, like Lutz who turned the fastest run and bike split that day in Santa Barbara '04, but with photography you can make for some great illusions.
Yeah I graze all day too. I tend to have 6 or 7 minimeals throughout the day (minimeal = bowl of cereal, bowl of pasta, bagel w/ pb, couple of pieces of fruit, huge bowl of yogurt…)
I’m always eating! My friends would like to know how I stay so thin… they seem to forget the early morning and midday runs and swims!
Threads about body weight are always popluar. 5’11" 165lb. **after **a work out. Too chicken to weigh myself prior. Body fat is probably at 12%. I can barely see my abs which makes sense as the general consensus is that a guy can’t see them until he’s at about 10% or under.
If I cut out the beers the abs would probably show up. But therein lies the rub…which six pack is more fun??
Most of the guys look like they spend more time in the weight room than they do running.
**yeah… lots of beefcakes out there… i would hate to have to carry around all that excess… oh wait that’s i used to do ******and as for women that want a beefy man… geez ill cross them off my list… size means nothing… speed is everything
What you are describing is the crowd and competitors at a distance carnival in track & field.
bingo… look at the FOP’ers at any local race or the lead pack (in any AG) in 3 weeks at IMH… they all exhibit lighter features and therefore are not burdened with carrying “extra meat” around. It’s all about efficiencies.
Here is 6’3" 160lbs. If you are turning some of the fastest run and bike splits, you are lean, not “too skinny”.
hey that’s me… just kidding
Guess I am in real trouble. I am 6’5" and weigh 178 lbs
(This is better than high school where I was 145 lbs)
But, I sure love not knowing what the word diet means.
Dave
I’ve had the “skinny” term tossed my way quite a few times this year - I’m 6’2.5" and 185lbs. Hello?!?!?
Yup…societal norms have certainly shifted. I think someone with my height and build wouldn’t be considered ‘normal’ unless they were carrying a soft 205+lbs.
ot
right now I’m 6 ft tall and weigh around 172. Back in the 80’s I weighted about 150. Hard to believe I was ever that thin. I don’t see how I could ever get down to 150 pounds again, and don’t want to. I would like to get down to 168 but time is running out.