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?

Same.

I'm always either a small, middle or large size 12 and i do things differently even just for that 1 stone difference.

Slim 12 - no breakfast, low carb eating e.g. soup for lunch, large, high protein and fat salad for dinner, possibly a small chocolate bar later in the evening.

Large 12- toast for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, pie and veg for tea. Usually followed by recreational eating on the sofa, like sharing a grab bag of crisps or bag of chocolates.

For me, recreational eating gains weight and, like PP, I wait for next meal or, if I'm really hungry, I'll bring a meal forward by an hour.

The 00s wrecked us by selling us a lie that we can eat 3 square meals a day, plus snacks, and stay slim. Not possible in the standard office job.

This made me think about the Oprah things. It really resonated with me. Om trying to lose weight and it is constant food noise, food maths and battling. Feeling like an utter failure. Where as I look at my partner who just doesn't struggle with it. I'm just so jealous.

I don't agree that it's bad habits at all. I was brought up with a healthy relationship with food. I have never snacked, just 3 meals a day. I don't even like biscuits or crisps. I have a great diet - no junk food, no takeaways, very rarely any alcohol. If I feel hungry after a healthy meal I have some plain yoghurt. You get the idea. But I think about food all the time. I wake up and the first thing I think about every day is food, and it never stops. I've never been overweight, but the thought of food is constant it's like a battle all the time. It doesn't matter that I never eat processed food or have soft drinks, the food noise is there all the time.

You see that’s lovely for you sticking with two biscuits. But many overweight people stick with one biscuit or none. So what else are you doing?

I’m slim and consciously keep an eye on my weight. Putting on a few pounds is fine but I have a mental “cut off” and reign myself in a bit if I put on too much. I prefer how I look when I’m slim and I like the way clothes fit me. I also think it’s healthier to be slim. I have a good relationship with food in that I don’t think that there are “good foods” and “bad foods”, there’s just food and some of it represents a more healthy choice than others. Ultimately, I take responsibility for what I choose to eat and if I put a few pounds on, I don’t blame society or anyone else for that. I just accept that I’ve eaten a bit more than I needed to, especially after a holiday or after Christmas for example. I get exasperated by people who talk about fat shaming. If you’re fat, own it and either do something about it or accept that it’s the way you are. You’re the same person whether you’re fat or not.

I think that's a good point, but there is arguably enough anecdotal evidence from all that have contributed to these controversial threads, to say not everyone experiences 'strong feelings of hunger'.

Some are simply more easily and quickly satiated than others. I think there is a tendency to remain roughly at the same average weight and your body signals naturally when to eat and when to stop. Problem is for some the switch gets broken and some are compelled to maintain at a too higher level.

There is feeling a bit peckish too and sitting with that is fine and dandy but the wild animal 'I must consume NOW' I think isn't the same for all.

Is it because they just a combinaton of making better food choices, stop eating when they're full, get a reasonable amount of exercise and are determined or have adapted it into their routine over the years. Lucky that I'm in the one third who are a healthy weight. I did put on some weight during the menopause and felt really uncomfortable, so made adjustments to the bad things I eat, ie one biscuit instead of two, making better choices when I eat, ie new potatoes instead of chips. I rarely want that extra biscuit and haven't had a chip for years - I just don't fancy them.

My SIL is lovely but weighs three times more than me. She admits she doesn't eat fruit and veg unless she's entertaining, so she's probably eating other more calorific things to fill her up. Only time I can remember doing anything with them exercise related was a river walk about 27 years ago. She'll stay at home while her DH has fun walking with others, whereas I'd go with DH and enjoys the views and feel good about getting some fresh air and exercise. Her DH had a health scare a couple of years ago and had to adjust his diet, I was hoping she'd get onboard as her own body is starting to show the strain of carrying excessive weight.

I remember my mum commenting about how most nurses seem to have very large bums, I hadn't realised until she said that and then noticed that all the nurses had a disproportionally large bum, even if the rest of them was small.

I would like a larger bum as I have a flat bum but large tum, but I wondered if it was something to do with the job of nursing that gave made the weight go there.

Well ,not for much longer with monjroro around
I'm nearly 4 stone down ,this is my last year ever obese.
It's just given me a small helping hand ,to be able to make better choices and stop when I was full.and not emotionally eat..those things were keeping me fat .
I will go without treats ,clothes and haircuts to be able to afford these injections.
I want to be in the third group of normal weight people

I think another issue is that it's much more acceptable to be fatter now and not seen as a moral weakness or failing in the way it was in the 70s early 80s even 90s. Good in some ways but there is less incentive to change too.

I was always slim but my weight gradually crept up over the years so I went from the bottom range of healthy to the top for my height in my 50s. I started on Slimpod which uses hypnosis and a healthy approach to food. It didn't seem to be having a big effect on my weight although I noticed I would eat fewer second helpings. Then I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic which was a complete wake-up call. I cut out virtually all sugar and focussed on portion control. I ate nuts if I wanted a snack, tried not to eat between 7pm and 9am. Drank more water and less wine. Ate lentils or chickpeas instead of rice or potatoes. Went on an nhs pre diabetic healthy eating course. I really enjoy eating this way so that helps. I lost 10lbs and my latest blood test showed I was back to a healthy blood sugar level. For years I had had a quite healthy diet but in retrospect it had far too much sugar and carbohydrates and far too few pulses. I needed the push of pre-diabetes to finally get to grips with it.

Despite this view that being slim is just some constant state which slim people effortlessly maintain, slim people also put on weight during their lives and find it unpleasant to lose it. I’m slim, though over the last year, I put on over half a stone. I know why I put on over half a stone: I’ve been eating in far too many really nice steak restaurants, and I’ve been drinking far too much wine. I’ve not been doing enough exercise to outrun that. It’s not some sort of moral failing on my part that I really like steak and wine and that I’ve put on that weight, it’s total normal and human, I’m not a failure because I’ve put on some weight and kept it – but it’s also not a mysterious puzzle to be decoded.

I’ve just come to the end of a 30-day very-low-carb diet. I’ve eaten pretty much nothing but eggs, nuts, chicken, ham, liver, tofu, tinned sardines and tuna, spinach, celery, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, okra, cheese, and bone broth. All the right nutrition there, just very very dull. I’ve lost almost a stone. Has it been an enjoyable month? Not really, it and I have been thoroughly tedious. Have I been hungry sometimes? Absolutely I have. Have I had so-called food noise, thinking about food and what I’d like to eat quite a lot? Again, yes.

And it’s easy to see why so many people overeat whilst thinking they barely eat anything when you spend a month reading the ingredients on every package you pick up and logging every single thing you eat. That portion of roast chicken? 600 calories. A recommended portion of plain pecan nuts? 200 calories - and further to that: the portion of plain pecan nuts you pour out for yourself which you think is the correct portion size? Well, turns out that’s more than double the actual portion recommended and you’ve just eaten 500 calories. A small tablespoon of mayo for your salad? 120 calories. You can easily tell yourself you’ve eaten very little where when you actually pay attention, you realise that isn’t the case.

They probably do but are better able to distract themselves with other things so have never got into the habit of eating whenever they feel pangs of hunger.

My DH get's utterly HANGRY. but he eats, is no longer hungry. Does not want to eat the rest of time - he is not battling his appetite every minute of every day.

I'm in my late 40s and have never been overweight on the BMI scale. I've maintained a pretty stable weight throughout my adult life. I feel like there is absolutely nothing special about me that makes me this way. I don't feel like I have good willpower around food and am sometimes quite gluttonous. I don't have an exceptionally healthy diet and I don't do a huge amount of exercise beyond walking to the train station to get to work. I think it's probably mostly genetics and nothing I feel I can congratulate myself for. I don't feel in any way superior to overweight people as I'm not consciously doing anything different to what they are.

For me it is genetics. I eat a lot more than my overweight friends and am just fortunate that I don't put lots of weight on. I will put some but I've never been overweight. I don't eat particularly well either.

@Excie1 I used to be like you but it all changed by late 20s when I went on my first strict diet to lose weight for a holiday. Interestingly, perhaps...

People who say they are overweight but eat healthily should weigh everything they eat for a few days to see where the extra calories are coming from. Literally, every single sip or tiny little morsel that passes their lips, by the gram. If you want to be slim, you must first understand why you are not.

Either it's a chemical equation and the laws of chemistry are no different for overweight people than they are for slim people, therefore they must be eating more than they think they are, or it's the other way round, meaning it's not chemistry and they truly are eating like a slim person.

But I think chemistry is chemistry and it's easy not to "see" the extra 100 or 200 calories a day that differentiates the overweight from the slim once they have accumulated over the years.

And drink I think for many people (me included at times).

Plenty of calories in alcohol.

How realistic is that stat though? I assume it's based on BMI? I'm technically overweight apparently, but I'm a size 10, eat well (probably not eating enough actually), exercise, and look pretty slim. But I guess I'm in that two thirds?

Input more than output for the 2/3.

Nailed it for the other 1/3

I always find I lose weight after drinking, I am not sure if its dehydration but I would lose 3-5 pounds the morning after a party or heavy night out, also when following a diet I ignored the calories in alcohol and still lost 3+ pounds a week (although this was when I was in my 20s and I dont really drink now)

My thoughts on this are that I never felt a physical or emotional hole that needed to be filled, until I hit menopause. I was always slim with little effort, I ate what I wanted but I never wanted to eat that much.

Menopause hit and suddenly I'm hungry all the time and am beginning to understand the term "food noise". I also have long portions of some days of the week where I'm not busy enough to be distracted from food. During those times I have long conversations with myself (in my head!) about "are you hungry or thirsty or tired? If you're hungry, is it for carbs or protein or sugar? What have you already eaten today? What have you planned for dinner? What needs to be finished from the fridge before it goes off? Remember, you don't have to eat all of it, you can always put half back" etc etc etc. It's so boring and tiresome and I never used to be this way. And I'm only 5lbs overweight!

Basically, when I was slim food was just a thing like drinking water and walking to the station and making sure I dressed appropriately for the weather. Now, there's a physical urge inside me to eat eat eat. It's as physical a feeling as my biological clock was.

I’ve a bmi of 23. I don’t drink at all. Don’t have milky or sweet drinks, just water or herbal tea. The majority of my food is vegetables and protein. I will have a treat each day but it’s something like 2 biscuits. If I fancy a cake I would have one, but it would be rare. I do get hungry, but don’t have to immediately eat

I sometimes wonder if the constant snacking which children seem to partition in sets the bad habits throigh their lifetime. No one seems to go anywhere without snacks.

I think it’s self control. I love food and could quite easily scoff cakes and chocolate all day, but I spend a lot of my time hungry waiting for meal times or restricting myself to a small dessert. If I do have a few bad weeks of giving into my cravings they are usually followed by a few weeks of strict dieting to lose the gained weight. I love being a size 6 so that always wins out for me.