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 think this is a very interesting question- and also why were a greater proportion of people thinner in the past. I think it is to do with today's food and it setting off unhealthy metabolic patterns due to too high sugar and other additives. Even fruit is higher in sugar than it used to be due to genetic modification. Maybe some people are just more immune to the food changes.

While some antidepressants make you gain weight others suppress your appetite.
I specifically asked for one of those because I had problems with EDs in my youth.

yes, that’s what I was saying 🤦🏼‍♀️

I think a lot of overweight women have undiagnosed hypothyroid and don’t know it

Wonder how much of it is due to antidepressants? I've been on them (plus anxiety meds) since I was 16 and I find it very difficult to regulate my appetite. A significant number of people in the UK are on antidepressants - perhaps that is partly why we tend to struggle with weight.

Not saying antidepressants are bad. I might not be here without them. But they do tend to be associated with mild to moderate weight gain.

@enkelt2 for sure about East Asian fat shaming as mentioned in my post above I was at a family wedding I was the biggest at size 8/10 and the fat Auntie. Everyone else was a size 4/6 that was Chinese and these were women ages from 45 to 65. when I’m with my white mates I’m the slimmest. It’s quite odd really to be viewed by some as big and by others as skinny. I was a 4/6 till after menopause.

Oh good for you 🤣

@kattaduck, one of the things I loved about France and Italy was the intense appreciation of food. (This was a while back; I don't know how well their food cultures have survived modern pressures.) People would start discussing lunch straight after breakfast - what to have, which ingredients to buy, how to cook them - and make a ritual of preparing the meal, sharing it, discussing whether this meat/cheese/fruit was better than last week's.

Once it was done and the table cleared, the same would begin for dinner. They spent the whole day thinking about food! The difference was that their thoughts weren't about eating as an end in itself; they were like artists seeking the best materials, sharing ideas and creating a fresh work twice every day.

It's hackneyed to call this 'sensual' but it's exactly the right word. I was anorexic when I went there, anorexic soon after I came back, but had no trouble with three good meals a day in this environment of joyous food appreciation.

Also lifestyle can add those hidden calories that sometimes we don’t account for. We rarely have takeaways - maybe a couple of times a year and we only eat out for special
occasions because quite simply we can’t afford it and have to budget quite strictly with food. I do make most meals from scratch although occasionally use shortcuts! Don’t often buy ready meals. I don’t buy takeaway coffees etc again from a budget point of view.
we have a treat once a week as we do a family night with some snacks and a few drinks (I generally don’t drink for the rest of the week)
I also eat very little bread as this tends to make me gain weight quite quickly.

don’t get me wrong I’m no saint and if there are biscuits/sweets/chocolates lying around at work then I struggle to resist!

Body weight is very highly correlated with the environment and financial circumstances people live in.

In some areas it is very hard to find and afford fresh food and to cook. But it is easily to buy ultra processed foods pretty much anywhere.

UPFs have been engineered to taste great, are quite addictive, very easily available, often much cheaper than fresh whole foods, and they keep very well. Hence many people eat them - and why wouldn't they? However, they are also very high in kilojoules, low in nutrition, don't need much chewing and way too easy to overeat, hence many people who eat them are overweight.

Also our bodies have not evolved quickly enough to be able to cope with stuff that is basically not even food, hence the many health problems that abound when eating UPFs.

If we treated UPFs as an addictive substance we might get somewhere. I say this knowing it is a highly controversial view and that people also don't want to be told what to eat.

Until governments get serious about cracking down on multinational UPF manufacturers like Nestle and Coca Cola and start making it difficult for them to advertise, and also reduce the fast food places everywhere it will continue to be very hard for most people not to be overweight.

To the OP's question then: why are some people not overweight? Well it's the opposite side of the coin isn't it? In general people who are not overweight have more money and greater ease of opportunity to eat fresh whole foods as opposed to UPFs.

In my own case, which is kind of irrelevant because it's a sample size of one, but I'll mention it for interest: I am bordering on being overweight. I have been slimmer and I have been heavier. I hate diets and cannot sustain them. I decided to make a lifestyle change and I cut out UPFs. I don't buy them because otherwise I would mow my way through them as I have absolutely no willpower. That made a big difference. (The YUKA app is very helpful to use at the supermarket. You scan the bar codes and it gives a score out of 100 and also recommends healthier items. It's an eye opener to see the crap in some of these so-called foods.)

All this is easy for me to say this though, as I live near easily available fresh food, and can afford it.

I think it depends on so many factors. There will be people that are overweight because they consume more calories than they burn, there will be those on medication that can cause a gain in weight, there will be those that food is more than just fuel but an emotional support. Genetics can play a part but then is it nature that means families are either overweight or not or is it a nuture thing where certain habits or behavior has been learned from our family.

I’ve been overweight and I’ve been a normal BMI. I’m currently on the higher end of “normal” at present because I do have a higher muscle mass due to the sport I do. I think I’ve managed to maintain my weight because of the level of exercise I do. I can be an emotional eater so I have to keep myself in check.

DH is overweight and has been so pretty much all of his adult life. His parents had very little money when he was growing up and they always cooked traditional meals which were not particularly healthy. They also always had biscuits, cakes etc and always had a supper each evening. However they actually served very small portions and DH says he was always hungry so as he got older he bought his own food/snacks which led to over eating.
The weight now doesn’t budge because he doesn’t exercise and has a sedentary job. He also eats large portions.

My parents were slightly better off when I was growing up. They also served fairly traditional meals (my Dad was definitely a meat and 2 veg kinda guy!) but healthy portions so I can’t remember that we ever snacked a lot. We had treats but not all the time.

DC are very aware of nutrition as both interested in fitness so they like to eat good food and they see it as fuel which I think is a really healthy mindset.

Perhaps she thought it was a fishcake 😂

I'm overweight. Spent my teenager years being told how fat I was by my mum and dragged to weight watchers
I was a size 12, she was a 26
She went on about how much smaller her shoulders were than mine, her thighs, bought me size 28 clothes so they would be "flattering"
Basically wanted me to be the 5ft petite blonde daughter she wanted

Her brother (my uncle) was a heavyweight boxer described as having spades for hands. Her dad (my grandad) was a wrestler

Funnily if I stand next to the men in the family I look normal, tall, broad shoulders, big frame
If you stand me next to an average height woman I look like a giant. The doctor has asked if I had lead for bones when weighing me
My frame will never ever be a size 10 but I would like to get back to a 14

As a teenager growing up in a dysfunctional and abusive family, food became a source of comfort and I was very overweight. Once I left and made my own life, my relationship with food changed and I lost the excess weight and have remained slim.
I do have certain rules. If I don't feel particularly hungry, I don't force myself to eat a meal, I'll have a healthy snack instead. I don't fry food and rarely eat takeaways other than the occasional pizza or fish and chips. I cannot stand fat on meat and will cut fat off bacon and buy low fat organic mince for cooking. I eat little red meat as I prefer chicken or tuna. I don't add salt to my food. I love smoothies but restrict myself to one a day as they are high in natural sugar or I'll have pure orange or pineapple juice instead.

I love Skyr and Greek yoghurt and one is always part of my breakfast (high in protein). I eat pasta (with a side salad) most days as it releases energy slowly. Treats are mini chocolate bars, nuts of all types with raisins, a piece of cheese, small on the vine tomatoes, the occasional bag of Wotsits and Tiramusu. I rarely eat crisps and don't drink anything fizzy. I do drink alcohol - Aldi's equivalent to Baileys - sometimes a few glasses a week, sometimes none, I can take it or leave it.

Well according to the NHS the highest obesity rate is in the 45-54 and in the 65-74 group so the 80s and 70s group.
https://www.issuesonline.co.uk/articles/1-obesity-statistics

Obesity is called 'a normal reaction to an abnormal environment' that being the abundance of food. If we're surrounded by food, we'll take the opportunity to indulge, or overindulge. Our food environment only partly explains why obesity is on the rise, though. As questioned in the OP why isn't everyone obese? Why are some, like you, better able to self-regulate in the face of abundant energy-dense food?

Well I am permanently hungry that's why. I eat a meal, I am still hungry, my brain doesn't get "you are full signals". It is very difficult to ignore the "I am hungry" message because the urge to eat is a fairly primal instinct. It therefore becomes impossible to sustain a lower calorie diet for any period of time.

There is two generations between people brought up in the 70s/80s and today's children.

They're not addicted to chocolate (or any other foodstuff) I genuinely think that the way I think/feel about chocolate is the way drug addicts or smokers feel. If I'm not eating chocolate I'm thinking about the next time I can eat chocolate, I eat far too much of it every day. If I could I would eat it for every meal and never get sick of it.

My mam has always been very slim and after a recent conversation with her I realised she barely thinks about food. She's happy with small portions and doesn't snack. I think the fact it's just not on her radar is very helpful.

Well this is the generation who is overweight now.
What happens to the next generation remains to be seen. Most children are not overweight now.

I think it would be interesting to ask why

• obesity has risen so much from the 90s ti the 2020s. Is that down to a change in genetics or more to the food that's available?

While I concur there are a lot of outside influences that can't be changed like genetic makeup for example. But concentrating on those is probably not helpful if we want to change the way people eat ( apart from medical solutions like Mounjaro)

I have experience with addiction myself and now that "noise" feeling. So it must be a lot harder concerning eating because we need food to survive. Still one of the first things you learn in addiction counselling is that it is partly a choice. Because if it is not you won't be able to change it.

Pretty decent displine when it comes to food. And awareness of my self image. I think I might see myself as larger than I look - espesh after having a baby- and I hate it -so triggers me to eat better and excercise.

I've always been slim - 5'8 and around 9st. While I don't really exercise, I do eat a well-balanced, whole foods diet, low in UPFs, sugar and caffeine (I'll have a little bit of chocolate every evening and will have the odd packet of crisps!)
Interestingly, a little while back, I was taking a medication that made me gain weight without realising (largely because it was giving me an increased appetite yet slowing my metabolism). Because I'm tall, the weight gain was barely noticeable - but I hated it nonetheless!
As soon as I stopped these meds and resumed my normal diet the excess weight fell off. Result! 👍

People often talk about processed foods now.

Am I the only one who grew up in the 70s and 80s on a diet of Smash, Angel Delight, Nesquik and Findus pancakes?!

What is different about the people who are not overweight?

Posters are answering the question 🤷🏼‍♀️ I haven’t seen many saying they eat once a day? I also haven’t seen much fat bashing etc.

I agree with you about the doctor. That made me cringe.