Two thirds of adults in England are obese or overweight. It would make as much sense to ask what is different about the other one third.

I was a size 8 and mega slim/fit until I hit 30. As in could sink 10,000 calories and not put an ounce of fat on. I’m 36 now and pre pregnancy was a 12, so not massive, but I do need to be careful now. I’d like to get back to a 10 post pregnancy. I have done but it takes will power and it creeps back on as soon as I’m not careful.

It honestly staggers me in that some people live entirely off UPFS and takeaways. I used to work with someone super morbidly obese and she had by her own admission 5 takeaways per week as she didn’t have the energy to cook. She snacked ALL day long, and I mean all day. Food was an addiction for her.

It’s a mixture of lifestyle and genetics.

I agree with this. I was brought up on home cooking, no snacks, no fizzy drinks, and as children we were only allowed sweets on Sundays. My father took us to the shop and we were each allowed to choose a small chocolate bar or bag of sweets. We were given the choice to eat it all at once or eke it out over the course of the week, but whatever happened there'd be no more sweets or chocolates until the following Sunday. It did help to instil an appreciation for delayed gratification.

I imagined that when I grew up I'd have big classes of Coke for breakfast, and eat endless sweets, but in the end my upbringing must have conditioned my tastes as I hate fizzy drinks and sweets.

Saying that my mother did do home baking which we were allowed during the week, but very small amounts and only after dinner. And I still love homemade cake or pudding now, but am quite disciplined about how often/portions.

Immigrants are often poor and yet slimmer. There was not a single overweight person in my Asian immigrant community up until their 50s, when suddenly genes kicked in.

Yes, otherwise ancient humans who walked miles across the plains of Ethiopia hunting food would have starved to death. Weight is primarily about what you eat. I have a theory that naturally slim people like me would not have survived as well back then, because we can't overeat therefore we wouldn't have stocked up any reserves for the famine!!

There is a lot to this.

Eating less and moving more.

Its not rocket science

I found that I tend to eat much slower when surrounded by friends and colleagues.
I usually talk more and I'm just distracted by other things.
Eating more slowly is one of the easier hacks when it comes to loosing weight.

https://www.issuesonline.co.uk/articles/1-obesity-statistics
I found NHS links too but those were PDFs so I didn't want to link those.

A vegetarian diet may not have worked for you but it's misinformation to write it off as "really unhealthy".

Following a vegetarian diet (also lactose-free due to an intolerance) helps me manage my PCOS and weight.

Many cultures (such as parts of India) and religious groups (Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism) have followed vegetarian diets for thousands of years.

Thank you fascinating and very relatable post

@Twiglets1 , I'm so weary of it all.

I've found this a really interesting discussion, and a lot of factors have been brought up already.
I'm also of the opinion that obesity is down to genetic predisposition x environment. Chris van Tulleken's output is always interesting, as a self confessed person with genetic obesity markers, and I recognise some of what he says in myself- for example, eyeing up your companion's food in a restaurant after you've finished your own! (and I wolf my food down, which I was interested to learn is also a genetic predisposition).

I'm not overweight though(although I was in the past),although I can't seem to get below the high end of a normal BMI. I achieve this with constant annoying diets though- low carb at the moment, and intermittent fasting on a permanent basis. I can only do this because my life is stable and I have enough bandwidth, though. Cooking 2 dinners for myself and the DC is not easy, and that would be the first thing to go to the wall if life was just that bit harder.

In addition, the people around you matter. Few of my friends are overweight and nearly all of them do some kind of outdoor exercise- sea swimming, hiking, cycling etc. It's a beautiful part of the world, and outdoor leisure is enjoyable and easy.There are no overweight kids in DS2's primary class- I don't think there are any in the school. There might be a few overweight kids in DS1's secondary school, but it's definitely not the norm, and he and his friends' pastimes include surfing, hiking and jumping off quays 🙄.

So, there's nobody around us going "Eat, eat, have a treat, a little bit of what you fancy does you good, nothing wrong with being curvy", etc etc. The only time I feel this pressure- basically validating the food noise inside my head- is at Christmas, when I cave in to the national madness, and put so much weight on in 10 days that it takes a month of punitive dieting to undo.

So, I'd say we live in a less intensely obesogenic environment than the rest of the country. Certainly, when tourists from other parts of the UK descend in the summer, I'd say the average BMI of the county increases sharply 😬.

Regarding genetic predisposition: I'm currently dating a thin man....at least he was...🤔. For his whole life, he has been extremely thin/ underweight, due to having little appetite. He just hasn't wanted to eat, and in fact used to envy people who could enjoy a full meal! And his mother is very similar. But he wasn't healthy- he smoked, drank too much, and had very complex mental health issues, and has had an intense desk bound job all his working life, meaning he's never done much exercise.

Nowadays, he's given up smoking and, crucially, is on a new drug regime that has made him more stable- and given him an appetite! It's one of the notorious drugs for weight gain, and suddenly he's enjoying eating like a normal person! He's finding it all very novel, but is also perturbed that a small belly has appeared. He previously would subsist mostly on unhealthy snacks, and I am finding myself in the position of sharing all the knowledge I have accrued over many years experience as a greedy person- stop the snacks! Eat vegetables and protein! Embrace exercise! etc.

But I have found his experience fascinating- it's like a reverse Mounjaro, and I'd love to know how that drug works in stimulating appetite. And it's demonstrated how much appetite- and weight- is dictated by our body chemistry- genetically determined, but also able to be overriden by drugs.

I have always been pretty underweight.
I'm just not interested in food.
I just can't eat if I'm not hungry, I take absolutely no pleasure from that, quite the opposite. And even when I'm hungry, I may not have an appetite at all.

I also noticed recently that when I'm with friends and family for a meal, I barely eat at all. It's like being with people "fills me" so I don't feel hungry anymore. Weird.

Is it people in their fifties who are most overweight? My peers aren’t, but anecdata is ofc useless. Will go and google.

We are a thin household. I have never weighed more than 9stone (other than put on a couple of pounds when hit 40). I have oftened wondered why we are thin as I love chocolate. I think this is why:

1. sport and exercise is integrated into our daily lives. It’s just part of our family makeup. My husband and I don’t do lots of cardio but we both walk a lot, I do yoga and we play some sports.
2. We eat healthy dinners that are small in size. Fish or a piece of meat from the butchers with 1 / 2 new potatoes and veg. We all like pudding and danish pasties for breakfast though!
3. We both drink but only a few units a week. While my husband drinks indoors, I only drink when I’m out.
4. We do have takeaways. But thinking about it, we would choose something healthier, have 1 rice between two, no naan and a veggie based curry with veg sides. This isn’t due to health reasons but just what we enjoy.

I was told never to eat bread at in a restaurant. If eating out a lot with work to stick with fish. I still would have a pudding. In a hotel I’d order an omelette for breakfast but would not eat toast.

Whilst lifestyle choices are important, it is not as simple as that. I'd be interested to see a break down by age in each of the groups.
In my experience (my own and pretty much all my friends) age is a big factor. I ate so much when I was younger and didn't put on weight even if I tried, I eat much less and more healthly now but I am at least 10kg heavier.

If I’d not done that, I’d be fatter than ever to be honest.

I sometimes think the same thing.

But it’s possible I would be 3 stone overweight if I didn’t occasionally go on diets when my size 16 clothes feel tight (not going up to an 18 for both cost & vanity reasons).

I'm sure if I hadn't spent the last 50 years constantly dieting and regaining, I wouldn't be 2 stone overweight now.

It’s not though :) been vegan ten years and haven’t eaten meat since I was 16! It’s a perfectly healthy way to eat and is recognised as such by most health organisations.

Honestly not trying to be nasty, being a ‘carnivore’ is really very bad for you. I’ve actually done a lot of research as I was absolutely fascinated by why anyone would choose to eat such a terrible diet when I first heard of it! Seeing people complain of constipation/diarrhoea, dizziness, sluggishness and of course the famous blood test posts surely didn’t do anything to convince me of the healthiness of the diet! It’s really quite worrying and a good example of people being unable to think for themselves and follow silly influencers/conmen who want to sell supplements. Just so silly- but also pretty concerning actually.

Well fruit itself - when I was younger, fruit was expensive and a treat. We didn’t have all these “posh” berries and melons on a daily basis. Now you are constantly told to eat a million portions a day. I know of dentists who comment on how bad this is for teeth too.

There is no magical answer to your question OP, slim people are individuals with their own exercise regimes, diets, stresses and health issues. For me, I've always been slim but have had a period of being slightly overweight, when I was drinking alcohol and eating shit food as a student. Staying slim in my case is mainly genetics, and as I have aged and my stress levels have increased my appetite has reduced significantly. I have seemingly lost the ability to recognise hunger and have no drive to eat. This is NOT healthy, I am too thin now, my boobs are empty my hair is falling out and I feel so weak and tired all the time. Being thin isn't all it's cracked up to be, you don't necessarily see the suffering underneath..

I was vegetarian for over a year. It nearly killed me. Literally. In fact that's where my health issues actually started. Vegan/vegetarian is really unhealthy actually but you do you.
You know absolutely nothing about why I turned carnivore and clearly no nothing about it so maybe actually do your research and keep your nasty comments to yourself and keep eating your oxylates and your processed carbs love.

On society level, UPFs certainly play a role. THis is very evident when developing countries are suddenly introduced to them and in no time, the previously slim nations are struggling with obesity.
Moving is a more interesting topic - people who are generally more active do not seem to burn more calories, our bodies simply become more efficient. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-exercise-paradox/

I find sugar incredibly addictive. I lost weight a while ago through cutting out sugar and most carbs. I managed to keep it off whilst reintroducing occasional carbs but for the last two years my diet went haywire in December. I now realise this is because I got a Hotel Chocolat advent calendar and once I reintroduced a small amount of sugar, my body went haywire and I was hungry and craving more food all the time.

So sadly for me sugar needs to be off the menu, but it's worth it to feel healthy and fit my clothes again.

A lightbulb moment has gone off for me thinking about all this. I was a very skinny small child - was even teased about it at school - until I visited USA with my DPs. I absolutely loved McDonalds when there and could eat a Big Mac, fries and a chocolate milkshake.The family legend is I went there thin and came back fat. It's probably true, UPF is so addictive.