Most people who are overweight eat more calories than they burn. Most of those eat the wrong type of food...you just have to look around any fast food joint to know that.

I put on weight easily...but I try to eat sensibly and walk. I am 5' 3" and weigh around 115 lbs...when I eat too much (think Christmas or holidays) I can easily put on 8 lbs in a week or two. It can take a few months to lose that extra weight but I eventually do...or the next time I go on holiday I would put even more weight on and look like a little barrel.

Fat people are fat because they eat to much. People aren't born with genes that allow them to break the laws of thermodynamics.

There are some medical conditions that make maintaining a healthy weight more difficult, but it is still a matter of adjusting calories eaten to match calories burned doing things.

The FTO gene predisposes people to obesity, not recognizing satiety.

Obesity gene makes you fat by keeping you hungry - health - 15 July 2013 - New Scientist

Oh, while the solution of eating less is simple I accept that it isn't easy - if it was nobody would be fat. Ultimately though you still have to make the decision to put the food in your mouth as genes don't usually control the executive functioning of the brain.

The thing is once you are fat it gets even more difficult. Being obese leads to insulin resistance, which means you still feel hunger well after you are full. Still I do think that if you get to the point where you need a comfort wipe then maybe it is time for some reflection on the life style you have chosen.

Sort of, but there are training courses that help....it wouldn't work for me, but it really does seem to work for some, so I won't knock it...I can see my husband winding himself up into a tizz wozz and this thing seems to be able to unwind him pretty quick.

The thing is, if Any bit of gadgetry can stop us /start us doing something detrimental isn't it a good thing?

Yes, a good thing. Now we just need an app to get you over your weather troubles.

Exactly.

I suppose the confusion arises because not all fat people have the FTO gene.

But for those who do have the gene, it's not the level playing field that is being implied here.

Plenty of people have that gene and are not fat and corpulence has only really become widespread in the last couple of decades.. I'm not sure what point you are making - just sounds like a bunch of excuses for not taking responsibility for your own actions.

Corpulence has become widespread because of processed food and pervasive marketing.

This particular gene affects appetite. It appears that those with the gene will continue to feel hungry when in fact they have eaten enough (satiety as bats noted). Some will exert willpower some will not. That however is quite a different situation than those without the gene eat a moderate amount and fund they feel full. No willpower is required, hence an un level playing field.

There is also the phenomena that dishwashing describes, where some people appear to eat beyond immoderately but do not gain wright. Although I think some research has questioned whether intake is in fact moderate. It may also be down to metabolism and/or exercise (which impacts metabolism).

Fat people are fat because they're fat. And they eat too much stuff.

Can't dispute that!

Every time I go to the movies in the US I see loads of over weight people walking down the aisles...a huge bucket full of popcorn under one arm and a huge container of soda in the other. They usually go back at least once for refills. Please don't tell me eating and drinking that crap...in those quantities is genetic.

No it's nationalistic

The difference between those with fast and slow metabolisms (for people that weigh the same) is at most 300 calories per day. There is no gene that allows thin people to eat as much as they want and not gain weight, something that would actually indicate a serious underlying absorption issue. Thin people who claim this overestate the amount they eat in the same way that fat people claim not to eat that much.

Genetics, marketing, processed food, thyroid diseases, pcos, etc. Fat people can keep telling themselves that it isn't their own fault, but really it is. Ok, i'll grant that it is not their fault if they have prader willi syndrome where hunger causes physical pain (although this is very rare).

Good point on the metabolism figure.

So we're back to the FTO satiety gene and marketing. And in many cases gluttony. Nevertheless you ought not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.