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 run a lot to deal with my poor mental health 😅I find it quite hard to even keep the weight on when I’m so active and I’m already at the lower end of a healthy bmi

I think this plays a role. As a child, I was expected to eat what I was given, even if the portion was too big or I wasn't hungry.

I find it interesting that when my mother cares for my kids, she is very determined that they should eat a "good" dinner... to the extent of actually feeding them even though both, including the toddler, are very able to feed themselves. My older one does need a big of encouragement as he isn't very interested in food, so will leave his dinner and then ask for unhealthy snacks later on. But the younger one has a perfectly good appetite and, if she's not eating, it's because she's had enough or isn't very hungry. And yet my mother's approach is always "just a little bit more". Whereas I put food in front of the DC and remove it 20 minutes later and that's that (and if the older one hasn't eaten, there's toast and fruit later on but that's all).

This stat makes no sense

I was 9st -BMI 21 until 35

I am now 11st BMI 23

in a few years i could be overweight- BMI 25

in a few years after that I may be obese - BMi 30

34 year old me didn’t know the secret. She was just skinny 🤷🏼‍♀️

This is so fascinating to me as someone currently on Mounjaro, because I didn't realise I could feel like this. Someone else upthread mentioned how they 'just stop when they feel full' - I don't get that, I have to be physically uncomfortable before I notice I'm full. Same when people say they're upset or not well or stressed and therefore can't eat - my brain's answer to most things is and has always been to eat something.

It's been so interesting to experience life where I'm not thinking about food until I'm actually hungry, to feel full much more quickly etc. I wouldn't even have said I had a 'problem' before - it wasn't like I was consciously thinking of my life as ruled by eating - but having experienced what it's like without that requirement I do think some people are just wired differently (or made that way - for me there are a number of reasons why I think food had become such a compulsive thing, both health conditions and upbringing and parental relationships with food). I'm very envious of people who have this very freeing lack of food noise as their default.

First thing to point out is that the "other third" aren't automatically eating healthily or living healthy lifestyles. Being overweight is not the only driver of poor health. You can be a healthy weight but eat appalling food, you can be underweight, you can have an eating disorder.

I would like to see some actual statistics that go deeper into the backgrounds and lifestyles of people of every weight. My personal feeling is that a lot of bad eating habits are primarily caused by a combination of stress and relative poverty. Give people the resources they need to make good choices and often they will. People need the money and the time to live a healthy lifestyle.

Just as the rich like to think they are rich because they worked hard and therefore the poor are only poor because they don't work hard, people who are not obese like to think it's all down to their own willpower.

I think this is actually a really complicated question with no easy answer.

One thing I've realised is how healthier, low calorie choices equate to so much more food, which also take a lot longer to eat.

Compare the amount of food in a plate of vegetables/leafy salad compared to a portion of chips to the same calorie value. It's significantly more and will take you much longer to eat. Same with fruit in comparison to cake or chocolate. Healthy choices reduce the risk of over-eating whether it's due to calorie density or portion size.

But we all know that and yet plenty of people do not make the healthier choice. There's no moral superiority involved. There are reasons. I suspect it's a different reason (or complicated combination of) for individual people.

For some it may be deeply psychological. For others it may be that what started as a habit has become an addiction because we're now learning how UPFs are deliberately produced with a salt/sugar balance to stimulate the feel good centres in the brain and stimulate desire for more. Others are facing food poverty and can only ensure they/their family are fed by choosing low-cost UPFs. The solution is not a sugar tax, which simply makes it harder for people in food poverty.

Evolution hasn't caught up, we're supposed to have periods where we effectively water fast for a few days. Then eat in times of plenty. Those whose ancestors had access to food are generally taller and leaner and the rest of us proletarian build whose ancestors have survived famine are primed to lay down fat. Including me :)

I’ve no doubt that hormones and genetics play a part, but I also refuse to believe that hormones and genetics have radically altered in the last 50 years! At primary, there was usually one overweight kid in the school. Now there are often several in each class.
The issues:-
The marketing and variety of all food 24/7 - particularly fast food/UPFs
Social change - more families where both parents work so harder to prepare food from scratch. Kids outside to play less etc
If you come from an overweight family you see overweight as the norm and pick up the same bad habits re portion size etc
A general lack of taking responsibility for you and your family’s diet. It takes time and effort to teach your kids good habits.
And I speak as someone who has had weight struggles and loves food. The vast majority of people lose weight by eating healthily, plus smaller portions of normal food. I know so many people who have meal replacements etc and the weight always goes back on. It’s about re educating eating habits and learning a bit of willpower. Preferable to injecting yourself with stuff for the rest of your life. Or ending up with type 2 diabetes and arthritic joints due to carrying all the excess weight for years. That’s the best incentive for will power for me.

We could also ask why were most people of a normal weight in the (recent) past?

• More active - not just deliberately partaking in actual physical exercise, but on a day-to-day level, walking rather than driving, even having to go out to (multiple) shops to get groceries rather than having them delivered. Jobs/housework were more active.

• Less junk food available and less emphasis on eating for pleasure, rather than fuel

• More personal responsibility

So the shift in population lifestyle is probably a big cause and it's down to individuals to remedy it. Which is trickier.

It’s simple. Those who aren’t overweight don’t over eat.

They're not 'doing' anything 'right'. There are simply a different set of complex, interrelated factors at play compared with some who has obesity and hence different outcomes.

You've misunderstood the question. We all know that people who over eat are overweight. The question is why do some people find it normal/easy/possible to not over eat?

This.

I think it is a really interesting question as to where that food noise comes from. I'm a bit overweight and have the food noise all the time it takes a huge amount of restraint not to eat constantly.
What causes the food noise?
And why do some people be unable to ignore it and some not?

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.

^ This. Kate Moss was absolutely crucified for saying that 'nothing tastes as good as skinny feels' because it was seen as encouraging anorexia, particularly in the modelling world but I kind of get what she means. I used to have a very active outdoor job and never had to think about what I ate but now as a 50 something menopausal women it's much easier to put on weight. I feel hungry at times but so what, I have a coffee and think about the lovely tea that I have planned for the evening.

But for others I think there are medical or psychological reasons for being overweight and those are far harder to unpick or solve.

Actually the airport/meal deal as per PP above, is a good example.

When I'm travelling through airports I have a flat white and a boiled egg/spinach pot from Pret. I carry dark chocolate in my handbag for a treat.

I'm not bothered about dinner as I like to sleep early and can't bear feeling full at bedtime.

I take my own lunch to work, today it was roast veg and chicken breast.

So I think it is often a cumulative thing. It's almost always making the better food choice.

It's being prepared. I always have nuts in my office drawer. I make the effort to weigh out my oats and flax for breakfast.

I don't think about food really or crave it other than when I feel hungry. I know that biscuits make my teeth feel grimy and sick so I'm not tempted by those when I'm peckish.

I am lucky though. I can afford the good ingredients. I know how to cook (despite being raised on findus crispy pancakes and frey bentos pies), I learnt how to exercise and was able to afford personal training sessions to teach me what to do. Also I have private healthcare so when I'm injured from exercise I can access a consultant and physio with speed.

I’m 4 foot 10 and have a constant battle with my weight.
I like to be slim because I don’t carry weight well but I have to be very restrictive with what I eat.

My ideal weight is 7 and a half stone and I was for several years but recently I’ve gained weight and I’m only 9 and a half stone but that’s very overweight for me.

I have been trying to lose weight and been doing dry January and swimming 5 times a week for an hour, the weight is coming off but it is depressing to know that if I want to be a healthy weight that I can rarely drink alcohol or have any treats or takeaways and have to drastically reduce my calorie intake.

My biggest weakness is alcohol, I like a couple of glasses of wine or a drink at the weekend, since cutting it out completely I have lost 10lb this month.

It is depressing having to be so strict with my diet but I’d choose being a healthy weight over food any day. I went up to 10 stone after a holiday and I felt unfit and lost all confidence, my feet hurt because they are tiny and not designed to carry so much extra weight and I struggled to buy clothes because I usually fit children’s clothes.

My best friend is only a few inches taller but is very overweight, she complains about it constantly and it was frustrating me because she knows what to do in order to lose it. I understand exactly what it’s like to struggle with weight and I’d never judge her for her size, I just don’t see the point in complaining about something only you have the power to change.
It was because of this that I made my own changes, I thought it was hypocritical of me to be thinking like that but then not doing anything about my own weight!

My target weight is now 8 stone but my BMI says I can be 6 stone and still in the healthy range, if I was 3 inches taller I’d be classed as severely underweight if I dropped under 7 and a half stone, I don’t think people realise how hard it is for us small people!

I’m slim - A UK size 6.

I don’t over eat
I don’t drink excessively
Takeaways are a once a month thing but I can go months without one
I’m active and exercise

I often see what overweight people eat in a day on TikTok and it can be 3-4 meals out/takeaways in ONE DAY. Becki Jones I’m talking about you. You must be very miserable to eat to the excess some do.

For me it was realising I am an emotional eating. That was 90% of the battle.

Lots of slim people having eating disorders too- that’s just the reality. Orthorexia is epidemic amongst gen X/ millennials

FFS - I’m amazed at the level of wilful ignorance of some people on here. Perhaps they could be encouraged to do a bit of reading on science and psychology.
Your size is not just determined by ‘eating less’.
Yes, personal responsibility does come in to some cases, but you surely understand that for some people eating less does not simply result in losing weight. It can depend upon genetics and insulin resistance, medication etc….
I say this as someone who only tipped into mildly overweight in my 40s due to my body suddenly refusing to process carbs in the same way. Once I learned the reason, I was able to go back from a size 12 to a size 8. Never ate big portions, junk food or stopped moving.

Interesting thread. I think a lot is down to genetics. My friend does at least 3 hard gym classes a week, walks everywhere & has a reasonably physical job. She cooks from scratch & is still overweight.
Thinking back to when I was a child ( 50's) now. We didn't snack between meals & sweets, crisps etc were a treat. Now they're part of a meal, think meal deal. I remember being shocked when my friend asked if I wanted crisps with my sandwich!
I think the emphasis should be on health rather than Bmi. A lot of skinny people eat crap too, no fruit, veg etc. Remember that program Super size super skinny.
This will be a debate until the end of time.

Although I'm reasonably slim and so are most of my friends, I don't know anyone who stays like that without making an effort.

Unlike those who found it easy to be slim when they were young, I was overweight in my late teens and early twenties, not surprising perhaps as my mother died of cancer when I was eight. Eating for comfort meant eating stodgy food.

At some point I realised that I hated being overweight and how clothes looked on me and changed my eating habits. That doesn't mean I don't have a sweet tooth or enjoy some stodgy food, but if I put on a few pounds over Christmas I cut back on the extras immediately, before I go up a size.

One advantage I had was spending some time in a couple of European countries where eating habits were more moderate. I learned a lot there.
Once you get used to eating mainly healthy food and not too much, you feel so much better that it makes the effort worthwhile. I'm convinced that a lot of people in this country don't know what that feels like.

I know I can put on half a stone in a week and keep going but I don't let myself because losing several stones would be so hard I don't think I could do it.

I wait until 4pm to eat most days, a cup of coffee with sugar when I wake up, another at 11. I don’t think about eating before early afternoon. Then, it’s only a couple of hours to
wait, not too hard, but I think it’s essential to switch from having “food noise” to being really hungry. After 4pm, anything goes and I m a snacker, but I overall eat less than with a regular 3 meals diet.

Came here to say this. Also Dr Karan Rajan recently did a video on Oprahs interview and explained complexities of how metabolisms vary and it really isn’t about just having more/better willpower than the next person.

I’ll admit to being quite overweight at the moment, for me it’s a combination of a lifelong condition and the medication to treat it, Co-morbid conditions that go along with my main condition, usual life stresses and an injury…. Should I be judged better or worse than someone who apparently just can’t stop cramming their face with food? On the surface we look and act the same so how can anyone tell why someone is overweight?

There are as many reasons/explanations for people to be overweight as there are fish in the sea…