To ask why it is that it is accepted that people can be naturally thin, but not naturally fat?

[MrsShawnHatosy]

Just that really. It seems to me that if one can be true so can the other. But fat is seen as something blameworthy, always.

I known a few people like this^
whatever people are saying about willpower - peoples bodies do work differently and absorb calories differently. The inner chemistry is just not the same.

At the moment a relative of mine is struggling with weight gain. She tried different diets etc it didn’t work. And when I say it didn’t work - she ate less and was still gaining weight. She went private and was diagnosed with rare insulin related problem (not diabetes). She was prescribed WLIs and after 3 months the effect was zero. The dose was increased so hopefully 🤞
She is absolutely devastated. She was slim enough before (size 10) both of her parents and her sibling are ok. She is in her 30s and this sudden transformation hit her really hard. She was told that it was kicked in after peritonitis she had 10 years ago.
So yes, being overweight has unfortunately “natural” background in many cases or at least there are contributing factors.
And please don’t tell me about our ancestors and their way of life. All our ancestors who developed peritonitis died straight away. They hadn’t had chance to develop any insulin related issues post surgery.

I have a "naturally slim" DD and DH. The reason DD is naturally slim is because as part of her ASD she just doesn't hear her body tell her when she needs food. DH is the same -- can easily go a full day without eating a thing. Makes him ill (headaches) but his body doesn't prompt him to eat. So neither of them eat more than their bodies need and both of them skirt at the bottom end of OK BMI.

Surely the success of WLI demonstrates that the "eat more" driver in some people is extremely strong, and if you can switch that off, they can more easily eat less and thus lose weight.

Do I think some people are naturally predisposed (for whatever reason) to under eat and some to over eat? Absolutely.

I think you're right. I think I'm naturally bigger than average, because of my metabolism, because I feel hungry a lot of the time. My husband is naturally slim- he rarely feels hungry and doesn't understand that gnawing hunger pain I have.

My great grandmother was 'big boned' and even during the war when everyone broadly ate the same she was bigger than average, not fat.

2 years ago I was started on steroids to control an AI disease.

I never ate sweet things, I just never fancied them. I was the type of person who would have gladly ordered a starter, main and another starter instead of starter, main and pudding.

Once the steroids kicked in I was mainlining chocolate, cake, anything sweet. I put on a stone in a few months.

I used to think I was naturally thin, but I think it was just my preferred foods that kept me slimmer.

It’s not natural. You can have a naturally big or small appetite - and we’re really up against the food industry here in the west - wry difficult to eat “naturally”, or seasonally.

We are socially conditioned to think we need 3 meals a day. My husband is convinced he'll starve if he doesn't get them.

But we don't need them, do we? Very few of us do the hard, grinding manual work we used to do 100 (or even 50) years ago. We mainly sit in front of computers nowadays.

One thing I would say though (and I'm quoting Bee Wilson, a food historian whose written some fascinating books about our relationship with food) is: at earlier times in history either high-calorie junk-food wasn't available at all, or a at least when you went down to the corner shop for a loaf you didn't have to pass through a tunnel of temptation as you now do at most supermarkets, where cheap, sugary, highly-coloured rubbish assails you from every side. I'm as tempted by this junk as anyone, and while I try to avoid it, I can see that for those struggling with healthy eating, it's a very cruel situation.

who's written, no whose written.

Duh.

How do you think drugs like ozempic work, OP? They reduce appetite so people eat less, letting them lose weight. So clearly they were eating too much before.

Bodies are different in that some people need more calories, others need less. Some do better low carb, others do better eating one meal a day, others do better having frequent small meals etc. It all comes down to food intake in the end though.

There are shit tons of fat people in prison. Obesity and depression are closely linked.

You should see the photos of my great grandma in her WW1 nurses' uniform. She was a unit. As was my grandma. As would my mum and I be naturally, if we didn't spend all our time tedious bastard dieting.

Obviously I have great ghrelin- producing genes 🙄

Rollin'

Precisely. It's because most of the food sold in supermarkets is not natural. Natural food will not easily make you fat - it just doesn't have the calorie content.

Someone once said: you won't get fat from what you eat sitting at a table. And there's truth in that in the sense that most meals might be fine - it's the snacking and the takeaways etc which pack the calories in.

There is thin by nature and unhealthily thin by poor nutrition (undereating) or illness.
There is fat by nature and unhealthily fat by poor nutrition (overeating) or illness.

My Dad, who lived through the war, used to say: "There were no fat people in Belsen."

I haven't seen that for years!!

I naturally look exactly like my granny. I have to diet fairly rigidly to avoid having her shape. Her diet wasn't unhealthy. It involved very good quality, home cooked balanced meals. I accept I have to do this to maintain a healthy weight and size but it isn't a normal adult woman's diet I have to follow. I'm naturally a stout, country woman. Fishwife shaped.

And yes, she was solid during the war years. Good country stock.

How often do you see obese animals in the wild? They would likely die because they can’t run away/catch food.

Your body knows what weight you should be. It is designed to automatically regulate weight in the same way that it regulates other things like temperature. Weight is critical for survival.

The problem is the food that we are eating. It’s not entirely the fault on the fat person. The biggest portion of the blame should be attributed to food manufacturers.

Overweight is our natural state these days in an obesogenic society unless you are very careful indeed.

What a charming fellow he sounds.

Because the act of being fat means you eat too much/don't move enough. No wild animal is naturally fat. Except maybe seals or something. It's not beneficial to the human/mammal body to be fat so it would never be natural.

The body in it's natural state would be running on the amount of calories it needs, not more or less. And that would make you slim/average. Not fat or skinny.

I always assume that "naturally slim" means that they have a smaller appetite and don't work at it by dieting.

You’ve clearly not read the threads I have. There are plenty of examples where posters comment on slim people, saying they’re only that size because they don’t eat enough. There was a recent thread on Brandy Melville clothing where a poster proudly claimed her daughter didn’t like the “mean bit*hes” who shop there as their clothes are “tiny”; equating a slim frame to an awful personality.

There is a difference between being big built and being “fat”. Some people are naturally bigger built and will never look particularly slim no matter what they do. That isn’t unhealthy. Being “fat” is different. Being “fat” is invariably linked to a health condition or, more often, simply eating more calories than the body needs. Simply being big does not mean a person is unhealthy. It’s same at the other end of the spectrum. Some people are naturally very slim. That isn’t unhealthy. Being underweight, or “thin” for your build is unhealthy.

Too often though, naturally slim people are seen as fair game for unpleasant comments. I’ve seen it myself. A teacher actually once said to me that calling someone skinny is absolutely okay, and that it’s not mean, but that calling someone fat is very offensive and should not be tolerated.

There are loads of fat people in prison. I work in the justice system , they don't get much exercise and the food is not great

I absolutely agree about the snacking. Since when have we have we become incapable of not eating for more than a couple of hours?! Very active people and those with manual jobs may well need more frequent food. However, for most people with desk jobs for example, I’m sure they can manage to go without food between breakfast, lunch and dinner. A takeaway coffee can easily be 200-300 calories. One a day soon adds up; around 2000 calories a week.

Being big boned is a thing, though. I’m five nine, weigh on average 11 stone, well within my weight parameters , have been as low as 9 stone 10 lb after childbirth and can’t get below a size 16 up top and 14 for jeans/ skirts. Yet a 5 9 model can be a size 10. I’ve got shoulders that can carry calves and sheep and hands like shovels. I’ve been asked if I’m anorexic when I was under 10 stone but I was still a size 16 in dresses, jackets