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?

I often think about meeting a long lost identical twin who had an entirely different upbringing to the other with access to money, better education etc. I think about how different they would look, especially if one was a drinker or smoker and ate crap .

Really interesting about Face ID as my two
daughters who are 2 years apart can open each other's phones. I don't think they look that alike but they obviously have the facial features Apple ID need to work!!

I was going to mention the dr twins too as their research has been really interesting

I think looks are a thing but personality is more.

I once had a gorgeous electrician come to the house who I had seen around our town. When I met him properly he was sooooooo dull any attraction completely disappeared!!

A study was done on this actually. Apparently a lot is to do with the gut microbiome.

I have identical twin DDs, but one had a congenital limb defect (since corrected); nobody knows why. One has a couple of allergies that the other one doesn't.

In terms of appearance, my feeling is that they have the same face, but they do different things with it: so when they're really relaxed or asleep even I sometimes get them mixed up, but when they're awake and alert they look (to me) so obviously different.

I know a pair of identical twins where one is taller. The shorter one had a few ongoing stomach issues in their teens and eventually after a number of years at 18yo was diagnosed with coeliac disease, they were quite malnourished due to the coeliac disease flattening their villi. Once they went gluten free they grew a couple of inches after not growing for the previous 3 years. But never enough to catch up.

the non coeliac twin will have the gene for coeliac but it hasn’t been triggered yet (might never be). Coeliac twin had shingles and their stomach issues seemed to stem from then on and they do say that it can be triggered by a virus.

There is definitely a genetic component to size, there was a really interesting documentary about this a few years ago, I think BBC? I can't find it now, but they showed that not only do genetics play a part in how easily we put weight on or lose it, there's also a gene that determines whether we prefer the taste of fat, salt and sugar (including carbs) or the taste of lean meat, fish and vegetables. Plus there is a learned component to appetite. And activity wise, this is also generally learnt but skinny people also tend to generally move and fidget more.

So depending on your genes you might want to eat more fattening food vs less fattening food and your genes also play a part in how that food affects your body and how much you naturally want to move.

Then there will be parts that come from your upbringing and family such as portion size, ideas about food, and the amount of exercise or activity you tend to think is normal.

On top of that is adult behaviour and experiences. So it's quite likely that identical twins would have identical genes and identical upbringings.

I’ve a colleague who’s an identical twin and it was hard to tell him and his brother apart. I saw them both on Saturday and my colleague is now considerably chubbier than his brother especially about the face, so not so similar any more. Agreed that child identical twins tend to be a similar size as were these 2 men until recently!

They also did a more recent program as Xand had gained 20kg over his brother. It turned out junk food was to blame🤷‍♀️

I'm one half of a mirror twin ( only 1 in 5 million sets of twins are mirror twins )
Me and my sister even now as adults are exactly the same in figure, despite having kids etc.
We tested the facial recognition on each others phones and it works for us because as the name suggests, it is like looking at yourself in a mirror, right down to mole placement on the body. Handy for trying new outfits.
We are very close and see each other daily, and we mothered each others children.
We used to have a set of twin boys in our class at school, one was tall and skinny with dark hair, his brother was short and plump with blonde hair.
My father is a twin and although you recognise that he and his brother are actually brother's and are close in age, you wouldn't think they are twins.
They share the same height and colouring, but facially you can see the difference, for example my father's nose is straight, almost Roman, whereas his brother's is more rounded and slightly flatter.

My twins are part of TEDS, too. Amazing work.

My mother struggles to tell me from my (2 year younger) sister in old photos! She looks for clues in the background to see where it was taken!

With identical twins, you have the nature/ nurture debate but also epigenetics. Identical twins can also be different due to the way their DNA is wrapped in the nucleus. This affects the expression of proteins resulting from their DNA.

Actually I've got twins and when they were toddlers it quite often happened that one would fall and graze a left knee and later that day the other one would fall and graze the right knee. Honestly not making it up - they have mirror image scars! Twins are weird 😁

I do find it fascinating what I genetic and what isn't. I assumed moles on the skin would be genetic but one has them the other doesn't.

I have 13 year old IT DDs. They had TTTTS but weren't massively dissimilar weights albeit quite prem due to it. I just measured them yesterday for new wetsuits and one is everso slightly slimmer, always has been but not enough to be a different dress size and proportions are identical. The slightly slimmer one doesn't like sweet food, could take it or leave it, whereas her sister is often 'on the prowl' for it.

I've always felt they look completely different but I too now struggle with some baby pics and have to look for clues in clothing etc. DH took till 4 months to feel confident knowing who was who. Their older brother never had issues telling them apart. He was 3.5 when they were born.

I describe it that they are broadly cut from the same cloth. Their personalities are broadly similar. But there are definite differences. One is slightly fiery and prone to anxiety whereas the other matches this with a calm quietness. One is slightly more academic. They are 95% best friends but when there is a falling out the sparks fly in a way they don't when there's a falling out with their brother. It's a fascinating dynamic to have front row seats for.

Haha yes actually you’ve reminded me, my mum has the same with my older sister and younger sister! 5 years apart but apparently looked identical as babies . I don’t feel so bad now 😂

How do you know for sure that you are a mirror twin? I have wondered if mine are - hair partings opposite sides, teeth came through at the same time but on opposite sides and one left, one right handed..

@Greenpalms we were taken to the specialists, who got very excited, when we were toddlers.
They carefully measure, photograph and compare every aspect of both bodies, right down to voice, eye pupil size and colour, amongst other stuff.
It's all amazing scientific stuff that's better explained by them than me.

What did all your twins weigh at birth?
Mine were known as the 'giants' in hospital, 7lbs 4ozs & 7lb 8ozs!
I think I was hours away from exploding.. ;-)

My twins were 6lbs and 5 10 ozs which I thought was impressive!

You most certainly do get fat and skinny ones. DH’s ex is an ID twin and she’s about a size 22 whereas her twin is about a size 8 🤷‍♀️

i am like this with my 2youngest sons. 2 and a half yrs between them but they were identical as babies til around 5months olds. Only can tell the difference when you look at the colour brightness lol

could identical twins travel on each others passports?

I knew someone who did this. He had lost or forgotten to renew his passport so borrowed his twin's to go to france. They were fairly easy to tell apart in the flesh, but I did once experience one coming into my office, having a conversation about some sporting equipment a colleague had brought in, then a little while later the other (who worked in the same place but a different department) for some reason showed up and had almost exactly the same conversation.

When I got my twins home from hospital I painted twin 1's toenails pink! However, they got put in the wrong cot once in the middle of the night and I didn't notice until I'd changed her the following day!

When the twins left primary school, they were given a photo montage of their time in school. For months, MONTHS, no one noticed they had got the wrong twin in some of the pictures and if twin 2 hadn't noticed it, I doubt that we'd know now.