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.

[H0TK]

This was a comment I read elsewhere. I thought it was an interesting comment.

Rather than wondering what is wrong with overweight people and why they eat like they do. What is different about the people who are not overweight?

I haven't RTWT because I can guess what some posters are saying.

I was never fat, couldn't keep weight on, I was incredibly fit and healthy. Then a chronic illness reared it's ugly head. I was still exercising and eating healthily but nothing could stop it. The sheer prejudice people who are overweight face even from medical professionals is utterly astonishing and disgusting, the advice on weight loss is truely shite and the attitudes of others are wholly unhelpful.

You have no idea it it will ever happen to you - I didn't carry an extra lb for over 30 years. Belly could well be going to get you however healthy you think you are.

I came across this article that makes far more sense than anything the WHO or my GPs or anyone else claiming to be an expert. Such a shame people and especially those who could do the research or set the policies are so fucking blinkered to suit their own nasty personal little bigotries about obesity.

https://www.statnews.com/2021/09/13/how-a-fatally-tragically-flawed-paradigm-has-derailed-the-science-of-obesity/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

I think the culture around finishing your plate as a child is huge. Babies are born able to stop when full and regulate their appetites.

As a culture we lose this ability by forcing children to finish their plate either through you can't get down until you are finished or you need to finish to get pudding. Children need to be trusted to follow their body ques so that we retain the ability to listen to our bodies.

Naturally there are other factors but I think this is a huge influence in the overeating.

My family has a genetic predisposition to type 2 diabetes, so I have done a lot of reading about it to try and avoid getting it myself. One theory was that the gene that causes type 2 diabetes is the one that causes people to hold onto fat and cause it more efficiently in times when they have no food available. Our bodies were not designed to live in times of constant good availability, and the people who survived were the ones who stored fat most efficiently, and also were more likely to pass on those genes because they held fat around their organs in order to feed babies even if the mothers hadn't eaten for days.
Now we live in a place where there is easy access to food all the time, those genes are working against us. So willpower is far easier for some than others, and as I said above, food companies spend millions trying to make food mire and more palatable and addictive, and they know exactly how to do it.

I'm finally starting to lose weight after years of failing. For me the difference is eating smaller meals, more frequently. This stabilises blood sugar and turns off the food noise.

Confused. If you think that what your cousin said is distasteful why are you repeating it?

I came on here to say its the food chatter in your head. Some people have it, some don't.

I am very overweight, but working on it by taking mounjaro. I was chatting with some friends, over a few different occasions about how it helps quieten the food noise in your head. A few of my friends nodded in understanding and 2 were baffled and didn't know what I meant. Those friends are naturally slim and just don't have that voice in their heads. Its been enlightening being on mounjaro tbh, at how little food I can eat and still feel satisfied. It gives me shame though that I've gone so many years overeating and gotten myself into such a state

It’s the UK Climate and the U.K. culture especially education and work.

weather isn’t good so not a lot of outdoor activities/ sports unless you’re really driven. Even dog owners now aren’t the outdoors types walking dogs daily as everywhere is ‘dog friendly’ so they go shopping or sit in cafes with their dogs.
Kids are put in nurseries very young as Parents either have to work to maintain a lifestyle or are forced to work by UC and the nurseries are sometimes not good and don’t promote a healthy lifestyle or diet.

We just aren’t an active nation. We tend to lean towards convenience as we are too busy and it can be so grey and depesssing here that we look to food to cheer us up but often the wrong type.

Weight loss injections will hopefully help and it will give that push we need and help people to feel better when slimmer and cause positive change . It’s difficult though with the cost of food so high and reliance on food banks as that’s not the healthiest sort of food sadly.

I know I will get lots of 'fuck offs' etc, but these people have a self discipline.

My DH is slim and he does not think about food. He does not need to make any efforts to stay slim. He eats when he wants, what he wants - and it's not that often. Rest of the time, he does not want to eat.

Me, I think about food constantly. I want to eat all the time. I need to put so so much effort into not eating myself huge and I've been able to stay slim or sligtly overweight most of my life even though I fight myself every minute of every day.

But according to you, DH is the one with willpower and self discipline. Got it.

There was never any waste in our home growing up. DM cooked appropriate amounts of food according to your age/size so you had what was necessary for healthy growth - very little in the form of processed foods. I’ve always been slim and if my clothes start to feel a bit tight then I just watch what I eat until they feel normal again. So self discipline.

A former colleague was clinically obese and would always be on a diet but would often be spotted in the kitchen if there were cakes/treats available eating several and then wonder why the diet wasn’t working!

I've always been slim/size 8. I think the fact my DM was very into fitness and healthy eating did play a role. My parents did let us eat way too much crap growing up but we were very active kids so I guess we burned it off. Both of my sisters have fluctuated with their weight.

How do you know slim people aren’t battling constant food noise too? Judgy much? I know I’d be a pudding if I gave into every craving so I work hard not to. DH prioritises treats over being slim.

I think it’s both environmental and genetics, you can’t change your genetics and for some people it is much harder to keep weight down. I read ‘ultra proceed people’ and for me this was a life changing book. I find processed food addictive, I couldn’t understand how some people can open a pack of biscuits and not scoff the lot. for me I released that this ‘food’ is awful and I went cold turkey on processed food, I no longer have cravings and have a take it or leave it approach. The first month was hard work but now it’s a revelation! I have also noticed a host of upsides, heartburn gone, more energy, more concentration. I really believe that our food industry has a lot to answer for and it is so badly regulated, companies can put whatever chemicals they like in food with no testing (our drug industry has much higher standards of what we can actually put in our bodies). Those ‘diet’ foods also are a complete scam and actually contribute to weight gain.

I don't have food chatter. Occasionally in winter I feel the need for too many carbs, but not all the time.

Some people can also have really different metabolisms too so it can often be luck not willpower

I live in a country where people are not hugely overweight generally, although the rate is rising like everywhere else.

I think there are multiple factors at play but shorter working hours, more public holidays, longer annual holidays allows time for proper shopping and home-cooking and to lead a more "ordered" life for want of a better description.

People don't generally commute a long distance to work. They work intensively when there but you are not expected to be in the office late, and work is balanced with proper holidays

There's time to sleep properly, to be with your DC, cook for them and with
them, time for family meals, time to exercise and properly relax and get your headspace in order.

Many people eat their main meal of the day at lunch time and eat vegetable soup in the evening.

I think the nipping in the bud is another very valid point.

I've been a fairly consistent weight my entire adult life. As a result I only have one size of clothes.

If they start to get tight I make sure I eat better.

I was talking about this to someone at work and she said 'oh I've got clothes in every size from 10 to 20'.

Basically I'm too tight to have to go and buy new things and gaining a few pounds is a logistical problem most easily solved by walking a bit more and cutting out the evening biscuit.

They eat the same amount that they burn off each day.

Once the weight is on it’s hard to get off. I was obese in my teens (undiagnosed pcos) and it was very hard work getting it off.

Been slim for years now and eat a balanced diet but it’s hard to gain weight as I’d need to be eating over 1800 calories daily to gain any.

An obese person may well eat the same as me but will maintain the same weight at 1800 calories. They’d need to be on a calorie deficit to lose a significant amount. One thing that keeps the weight off me is not eating takeaways. A few takeaways and my weight will easily creep up.

This is based off people's BMI which we all know isn't a good way of measuring.

You could have a man who is 18 stone, all abs & muscles and he would be classed as obese....

I weigh 13 stone 11 & I'm 5ft 4, size 14 but have GG boobs and I'm classed as obese. It's all a bit mad...

I think I am one of the people you are referring to here. I have never dieted, I do enjoy food and alcohol, and I really like exercising and being outdoors. I find it helps me clear my mind. Thinking about it, there is an 'everything in moderation' ethos at home. It's genuinely not something I think about unless I'm asked, which happens sometimes when people are curious as to how I returned to my pre baby weight. The answer is that I did a huge amount of pram walks and ate when I was hungry. Breast feeding might have helped a bit too. I don't recognise the concept of 'food noise'. I just don't really think about food unless I'm hungry, and I don't consider it a 'treat' to eat. I read a saying once, 'Do not reward yourself with food, you are not a dog' and it stuck with me. I try to reward myself in other ways, like having a bath or going for a walk in the woods.

Interestingly, I walk my kids to and from school, which is about a 20 minute walk each way, twice a day. I can see how a generational pattern might develop, as they both really like being on their scooter/bike, and they both eat whatever we eat, which tends to be healthy and home cooked meals.

All that said, I think I have massively benefitted from genetics and a supportive partner, who does his share of the domestic work as well as pulling in a good income, which has enabled me to go part time, and I am also able to work from home 2 days a week which helps with logistics. I'm not working night shifts or constantly rushing around trying to make a train to get to the nursery, for example. I wouldn't dream of judging anyone for their weight as I think it is a complicated and nuanced issue, and I sympathise with anyone struggling with their weight, whether overweight or underweight.

ETA I'm a size 6-8, 5ft 5, about 52kg (I think, I don't have scales)

I think I need to move 🤣

Since the majority who take weight loss medication successfully lose weight, it suggests that it's more about hormones and chemistry than being greedy and lazy...

Age is rarely if ever mentioned on these threads or in real life and IME it makes a HUGE difference. How many of us were effortless size 8-10s into our mid 20s? Those on jabs tell me they eat whatever they want whenever they want, just not much of it. How liberating! The 'French women don't get fat' principle. A little of what you fancy...

I watched a programme about foetal development and the point was made that there are off and on ‘ switches’ for food that are laid down early on in the embryo. One was the “ I am full” switch and another was the sweet/ savoury switch. IIRC observations of children eating fell into two camps — no more I’m full and there’s more food I’ll eat it.

I'm just in the obese category. It's because I have Binge Eating Disorder. I was bulimic and very slim when younger.
There is no treatment available because I am autistic and they won't do CBT on autistic people here.