To wonder about identical twins?

[Slitherie]

How come you never get identical twins where one is fat and the other is skinny?

They always seem to be the same size?

I’ve been thinking about this since watching dogs behaving badly earlier in the week. Is it because IT are likely to have a very similar appetite? Or is it a clue that weight is largely down to genetics?

My DH is an older identical and family/close friends easily tell them apart especially when they are in the same place. But when they are separate and bump into old friends (they've shared a hobby over many years so have a wide circle of friends over the years) they are almost always mistaken for each other.

I'm an identical twin and I can use Face ID to open my sister's phone. Her face doesn't work on mine though weirdly.

Also I sometimes get accosted by complete strangers thinking I'm her, but she never gets the same thing happen to her.

We do sometimes holiday together so maybe we should try the passport thing 😁

My I'd twins could definitely travel on each others passports. Their Face ID on apple phones opens each others phones. There's lots of things we could only get one of but it would be illegal but they could get away with it. They are inseparable always have been I could not imagine them falling out ! They could also easily take exams for each other including driving tests and theory tests !

This! There’s a podcast OP - A Thorough Examination

If they were travelling and the passport was checked by a human then yes, probably.

but if it’s scanned through facial recognition - maybe not. My twins look identical on the face of it but their bone structure is quite different (twin 2 has a slimmer face).

Twin 1 has been bulking and is very muscular and twin 2 is slim with a little muscle so their bodies are slightly different. Also, ironically, twin 1 is dating an identical twin who is slightly slimmer than her sister, but only by one dress size (because one is a gym bunny and the other isn’t)

But when they’re living together I think there’s a pressure on them to look similar - I know that mine wouldn’t want to be known as “the fat twin” for example!!!

there was IT in the year above me at school. One was very skinny the other a wee bit chubby. Still see them now and againg and they are still the same but older lol They done alot together but also with their own friends. My aunt and uncle were fraternal twins both very tall and skinny as rakes. Absolutely hated each other to the point if their was a family wedding etc they had to stay in different hotels because they would literally be throwing fists at each other by the end of the night.

That’s another interesting one … I was reading about two identical twin brothers who married identical twin sisters … their children were genetically sisters rather than cousins or something to that effect!

My husband is an identical twin, his brother was over 8lbs, he was 6lbs at birth.

They've evened out over the years but apparently my husband was smaller for the first 6 years of their lives.

At what age are you talking? As toddlers, young children they tend to be very similar especially in things like height and weight. Identical twins don't necessarily have identical DNA even at birth and epigenetic changes in twins' genomes (their entire hereditary information) increase as the twins' age and become greater the longer they live apart.

The only adult identical twins I know look and are very different from each other. You'd know they were sisters but you'd never guess they were twins. One is overweight and one is skinny, they don't look the same height anymore either. They've lived very different lives and that has affected them, though they still have a very close relationship.

I know a set of identical twins where one is very overweight and the other not.

I have id twins. They are very identical. They can open each others phones, google photos can't tell them apart for example. They are wildly different in personality.

That was likely TTTS that was undiagnosed at the time. Some are born wildly differently and the smaller one never catches up. Mine had but one was 3lb and the other 3lb3 so not much difference.

I know two sets of twins - both female - and in both cases, one is quite overweight whereas the other isn’t!

I was going to say look up Tim Spector, but someone already has!!

@Slitherie There’s a show on TLC called Extreme Sisters. It features a set of identical twins called Anna and Lucy who see themselves as one person and even share the same boyfriend. https://m.facebook.com/uktlc/videos/anna-and-lucy-get-matching-haircuts-extreme-sisters/1254323192159997/?wtsid=rdr_0zeZ0tHvZEk7zn4zx

I have identical twins age 11. One is curvy but healthy weight just above average (plays musical instrument but favourite activity is to sit on the sofa in her onesie) and the other is a super skinny always moving, dancing etc.

i don’t think you’re theory is very scientific but as dc they will be being raised on the same food etc so it’s hardly surprising they have similar builds. As adults that can and does change.

My twins are part of Teds. I got a newsletter from them last week, about the ongoing studies on DNA at the moment.

I have never looked up their research, because my twins get the booklets to do, as part of the research and we get the newsletters. I also met quite a few identical twins, through my twins club. DD has a friend, who is an identical quad.

Have a look at Teds, if you are interested in identical twins.

I’ve known loads of twins but never identical twins, all fraternal.

Twins can be semi identical apparently, when one egg splits and is fertilised by different sperm, but it’s extremely rare as only one half of the split egg survives.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-47371431

I used to know a pair of twins who were very much alike. Could easily tell them apart in the flesh but sometimes confused them in photos. Have often wondered if they were actually semi identical.

I once said hello in passing to an acquaintance who lives locally. She looked at me a bit strangely and I thought maybe she hadn’t recognised me or she was distracted (was when out shopping). I later found out she has an identical twin sister that I had no idea about who is also relatively local - that explains it then 😆 now when I see this woman I do think - is it her or her sister?

I suspect you're basing this on... Assumptions? You really can't know that many adult identical twins who have lived exactly the same lifestyle?

DM is an identical twin. She can also use Face ID to open her sisters phone 😁 both are a bit overweight now which I’d attribute to stress, menopause etc.

As an aside, DM’s sister has always been adamant that she can ‘feel’ when something happens to DM, like falling asleep when DM had an operation or pain if she breaks a bone which her sister will always say she ‘felt’ retrospectively. I know other twins have said similar.

DM is currently experimenting … she’s getting various tattoos and piercings to see if her sister feels the pain if she doesn’t tell her she’s getting something done. So her sister has mentioned nothing 😁 it’s proving an interesting exploration.

My paternal grandmother was an identical twin. She and her sister didn't get on at all, although I suspect that was my great grandmother's fault (she wasn't expecting twins and left my grandmother with her paternal grandparents for the first 5 years...). They aged the same though, liked wearing twin sets and pearls and sounded the same.

They also died 14 years apart. For some reason I thought it would have been closer together although that might be due to watching Blood Brothers at an impressionable age whilst feeling sorry for my grandmother.

My cousins are identical twins (males in their 40s). One is a builder and the other is a chef. The nature of their work means that they have developed totally different physiques.

Or identical. I have twins and you'd be surprised how many people with clearly ID twins who havent checked because their twins had different sacs. Identical twins regularly have different sacs, it all depends on when the egg split.

I know a set of older twins who look so alike that people still mistake then for each other, yet they insist they're non-identical. Newsflash - fraternal twins are just like any brothers/sisters, they may look similar but are never confused for each other by people they know well.

The Van Talluken twins (both doctors) have studied this too and covered it in a podcast.

There's probably also nothing like seeing a slimmer version of yourself walking around, and knowing you 'should' match but you don't, for being motivational!