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Original poster

To wonder about identical twins?

126 replies

Slitherie · 08/04/2023 07:18

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?

OP posts:
TheWayTheLightFalls · 08/04/2023 15:17

i’m pretty sure the Van Tulleken twins did a program in exactly this and it’s down to gur health. The skinny twins have more good gut bacteria.

The program looked at how one chap moved to the States and started eating lots of crap which messed with his gut. I remember the conclusion being that it was largely environmental/nature?

I have fraternals. I think the sociology around twins / how people react to them / how they are often parented as a set fascinating. Often, sadly, to me it comes down to the fact that I have a whole extra person to deal with and no extra time, hands or headspace.

Glitterstars · 08/04/2023 15:20

Im an identical twin and we do have the same body shape in the fact that if we ate the same and exercised the same we would be very similar however there has been times where I have been a lot slimmer than her and vice Versa. At the moment we are very similar after I lost the baby weight as we are 36

Glitterstars · 08/04/2023 15:21

*and we are 36 not as we are 36 🤣

NotMyDayJob · 08/04/2023 15:28

I knew identical twins where one was fat and one was skinny. I knew the thin one and it was a bit discombobulating meeting the other for the first time.

maddy68 · 08/04/2023 16:07

Slitherie · 08/04/2023 07:18

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?

Well I am currently sitting in a room with identical twins. One is chunky the other very skinny

JudgeRudy · 08/04/2023 16:28

prawnring · 08/04/2023 07:23

I only know one set of identical twins. Both now early forties. One a size ten, the other a size twenty four. The larger person has had kids and eats more.

I'm sure genetics are partly at play, and being raised in the same household with the same food given as children. But once you're grown and living your own life, other factors play a bigger part.

Yes, I agree. Most of us have an understanding of the impact of nature v nurture however nurture could better be understood as 'environment ' or even circumstances which tend to differ as we age.
I know 2 female twins not long turned 50. One looks a lot younger. My friend has wrinkles and back pain. She smokes and had an abusive partner and struggled financially and emotionally as a single parent most of her life, unlike her sister who 'married well' got a full education and works part time in a fullfilling career. That said my friend has a great social life and is now one of the most resilient independent and happy people I know.

I'm sure there are plenty of twins different sizes....with very different life stressor.
I think if it was possible to give twins identical lives the differences would be minimal. Older twins (especially women) tend to stay more alike possibly due to less social mobility and choice. 75 year old twins might well still be living in the town they were born in and married two local men from two local factories. It wouldn't be unusual now for 2 twins now to take very different paths.
A lot of parents now make efforts to give each twin a separate identity eg requesting different school classes, different friends etc.
Genetics is a very an interesting area of study.

JudgeRudy · 08/04/2023 16:50

Slitherie · 08/04/2023 07:31

A few more rabbit hole queries ….

could identical twins travel on each others passports?

I read a story about a man who went to visit his identical twin in prison and they had planned between them to share the jail time … the wrong twin walked free! They did get caught but the naughty twin was free for a while and I can’t remember how they got found out

How often do you reckon IDs share boyfriends/girlfriends? I was at school with a set of identical triplet boys and they were found to be sharing girlfriends and the poor girls didn’t have a clue

is it common for IT to actually dislike each other? All the ones I’ve known have been so incredibly close

I know a woman who travelled from UK to Turkey for a holiday on her SISTERS passport in the 80s.

If you wanna go down a rabbit hole look at chimeras! (1 whole person made of 2 twins)

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/human-chimera-man-fails-paternity-test-because-genes-in-his-saliva-are-different-to-those-in-sperm-a6707466.html

https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/case-lydia-fairchild-and-her-chimerism-2002

Man fails paternity test because his unborn brother is the father of his child

It is thought cells from a miscarried sibling were absorbed by the man while he was in the womb

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/human-chimera-man-fails-paternity-test-because-genes-in-his-saliva-are-different-to-those-in-sperm-a6707466.html

spiderlight · 08/04/2023 17:00

@JustDanceAddict - there was a girl on my course at uni who was sometimes really friendly and sometimes blanked me if I saw her outside lectures. It took me months to work out that she had an identical twin on a completely different course 😆 I saw them together one day and it suddenly made sense!

TheObstinateHeadstrongGirl · 08/04/2023 17:01

I know identical twins who are fat and skinny.

I also know a pair where one is attractive and the other ugly, somehow 😂

FinallyHere · 08/04/2023 17:07

The twin's study

https://twinsuk.ac.uk/staff/prof-tim-spector/

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 08/04/2023 17:22

Could a previously undetected triplet be trapped inside the body of the larger twin?

JMSA · 08/04/2023 17:27

Another rabbit hole question, but how could the partner of one identical twin not be attracted to the other? Blush

LoobyDop · 08/04/2023 17:44

I have identical twin siblings. They look pretty similar- same height, colouring and build- but I haven’t mixed them up since they were about 11. They don’t get on very well and go out of their way to look as different as they can- one always wears black, and the other favours very bright colours. As far as I know they don’t ever spend time together unless our mum facilitates it, and they have fairly frequent massive fall-outs, but I think they’re in more or less constant contact. A pretty dysfunctional love/hate relationship, basically. On the other hand they quite often gang up together on third parties, and they make quite a devastating tag team.

NellePorter · 08/04/2023 18:10

My DSis and I have always been different weights, we're very close and have lived very similar lives (middle-aged now).

We don't think we look like each other at all, but we're always being mistaken for each other, so I always says hello to people who greet me in the street.

I can't imagine ever travelling on her passport, and I totally don't get the sharing boyfriends thing. Despite the fact that we like all the same things, I do not find her DH attractive at all, and I'm sure she feels the same about mine (they are very different).

We have 4 children between us, and even though they are genetically half-siblings, none of them look anything like each other, and they are all have very different personalities.

People are always very surprised when they find out I'm an IT, I don't make a point of telling people because whilst it's not special/unusual to me, it's such an ingrained part of who I am, it doesn't feel like it needs to be said.

ChickenDhansak82 · 08/04/2023 18:22

They grow up in the same household and learn the same eating habits, so will generally end up the same size.

Body shape is genetic (e.g. where you store fat), but your weight is entirely down to diet vs exercise.

Take a look at any overweight child, and you will nearly always see an overweight parent too...

ladygindiva · 08/04/2023 19:27

JMSA · 08/04/2023 17:27

Another rabbit hole question, but how could the partner of one identical twin not be attracted to the other? Blush

Because attraction is not just about looks.

JMSA · 08/04/2023 23:04

Yes, but it's a big part of it, whether we like it or not.

Apollonia1 · 08/04/2023 23:38

I love twin studies!
I've fraternal boy/girl twins. When they were babies, I once mixed them up. I went to change the nappy of the "girl" and found a boy.
I went to school with identical twins, but there were subtle differences, so it was easy to tell them apart.

montysma1 · 08/04/2023 23:51

I have identical twins of 14. I don't think they look any more alike than siblings, yet people can't tell them apart. It's ridiculous, they aren't that alike facially and one is 2ins taller. It's like something happens in folks brains that makes them think they can't tell them apart because they are twins .

The one who was larger at birth (4.5lb) and a plumper baby, is now taller and thinner .

The tinier one, (3.5lbs) is shorter and 4lbs heavier .

They arent very twinny as I didn't encourage that or the weird same clothes stuff. They get on well without being freaky close and rarely argue. They are broadly similar academically. They are both good at sport.

TrenchVagina · 09/04/2023 13:51

I have a question for parents of ID twins - are you totally sure that they've never been swapped over and the one you think is X is actually the same X that was originally labelled as X in the hospital and not actually Y? Just thinking of a tired short sighted parent who is bathing two naked identical unlabelled babies ....

EastAngle · 09/04/2023 14:10

Interesting thread, reminds me of the story that is currently doing the rounds on social media, ‘the most inbred family in USA’. Two cousins got married and had a family, genetically the cousins are half siblings as their fathers were identical twins.

Badbudgeter · 09/04/2023 15:31

TrenchVagina · 09/04/2023 13:51

I have a question for parents of ID twins - are you totally sure that they've never been swapped over and the one you think is X is actually the same X that was originally labelled as X in the hospital and not actually Y? Just thinking of a tired short sighted parent who is bathing two naked identical unlabelled babies ....

When they were very small I identified them by their stork marks. For identical twins they are very different, or they are to me at least!

Greenpalms · 09/04/2023 17:57

TrenchVagina · 09/04/2023 13:51

I have a question for parents of ID twins - are you totally sure that they've never been swapped over and the one you think is X is actually the same X that was originally labelled as X in the hospital and not actually Y? Just thinking of a tired short sighted parent who is bathing two naked identical unlabelled babies ....

Yes certain. When newborn we kept hospital tags on for a bit longer, but actually I could tell them apart easily. Looking back at pictures now though I have no idea who was who as babies!

Redebs · 09/04/2023 18:06

There are several conditions where one twin grows less than the other in the womb, such as TTTS and sIUGR