https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68492504

Labradors are genetically prone to feel constantly hungry and burn 25% less calories at rest and it’s likely to be the same in humans.

Might be interesting to some on here who like to preach how it’s just simply willpower and calories and if you’re fat you’re weak willed and over eating.

That article doesn’t say it isn’t willpower and calories, it just says that some dogs need more willpower and fewer calories.

Scientifically interesting, but also ‘1 in 4 labradors is a right chozzer’ is going in my No Shit, Sherlock! file.

Damn boy, he thicc!

Also: That there is a genetic element to some people’s weight gain is hardly groundbreaking stuff

Thread title 👏

Thread title 👏

Lawyers will be in touch shortly 🤣

Anyway, I always thought I was a mongrel, so I must be part labrador.

Point is in any weight loss or diet threads in the past some seemed to delight in saying that it’s easy to not be fat and that genes had nothing to do with it. It’s been suspected for awhile that metabolism and calories values isn’t as clear cut as previously thought and this is up to date evidence that it is much more complicated why some are fat and others not and it’s not purely laziness.

See also recent information on calories on the Zoe podcast. Very interesting that the basic measurement of calories is flawed.

Notoriously greedy dogs. My last one was slim though, but then she did work and would join me out on the bike.

Thing is, the breed standard for Show Type Labradors is the heavier chunky body shape on shorter legs, so this is considered “championship class”

Working labs are a different shape, leaner with longer legs.

Here’s mine, an 8 year old spayed bitch:

And Buck , my son’s 2 yr old entire male

People who own dogs often  forget who is in charge of what their dog eats, and how much exercise it gets.

Labradors are renowned for joint issues in later life. Our responsibility to make sure those joints aren’t overloaded!

Just to clarify, I’m fat because of what I eat, have/can be thinner, but cake and chocolate are good and crappy injuries hamper any exercise.

Oh and my dog is a 5/9 on the vets scale, so pretty central which is good considering she did years of steroids.

Flabradors.

Point is in any weight loss or diet threads in the past some seemed to delight in saying that it’s easy to not be fat and that genes had nothing to do with it.

Sure weight loss threads are always a mix of truth, lies, and statistics, nothing new there.

Oh and my dog is a 5/9 on the vets scale, so pretty central which is good considering she did years of steroids.

Trying to imagine a buff Lab with roid rage….

Over centuries dogs have been genetically altered by inter-breeding to do various jobs and conform to various breed types.

So by using that same logic that Labs are genetically likely to be fatter, should we only allow skinny humans to breed if being fat is genetic? Breed out the fat!

So by using that same logic that Labs are genetically likely to be fatter, should we only allow skinny humans to breed if being fat is genetic? Breed out the fat!

I’ve already done my bit by not shagging any fat gals.

Sure weight loss threads are always a mix of truth, lies, and statistics, nothing new there.

Anyone want to buy a personalised diet plan?

Aye

I’ve already done my bit by not shagging any fat gals

They wouldn’t have you you mean.

Yeah, my partner has a part lab (small) and a big German Shepherd and the small dog definitely has a bigger appetite. Always goes for a lick round the big dog’s bowl after they’ve finished eating. Always finishes off the other ones treats if he leaves them. But she’s kept very active and her food intake is controlled, so I think she’ll be ok 🙂

Those ones up there will be expelled from Flabrador club, even the breed example.

After my Mum died we went through a load of photos and found this one. It’s me and my mum and dad, and my uncle and his son / my cousin. And in the corner, is Sherry, who was my Nan’s labrador. Nan and Grandad had a pub (we’re in the beer garden there) and a pub labrador is the pinnacle of fat; any crisps left on tables in the garden were fair game and if she didn’t steal them the locals fed them to her anyway. I reckon she must have done 8 packs a day at her peak.

I was in a talk yesterday about caesium fountain atomic clocks – that are so sensitive that they can detect minute changes in gravity so that clocks tick faster or slower depending on how close they are to massive bodies (bodies with different mass). Hence can be used to detect eg: underground pipes without digging stuff up.

Sherry was so big she was virtually in a different time zone to the rest of us

I’ve already done my bit by not shagging any fat gals.

More for the rest of us. Happy is always more attractive than skinny.

Just to clarify, I’m fat because of what I eat

That’s fine but the point isn’t about you but for helping others understand/not beat themselves up if they are overweight despite eating healthy and exercising a comparative amount compared to others who are thin. Understanding why you might be hungrier than someone else or not able to eat as much as someone else is more useful than giving up because you or others think you are a pig.

@Scapegoat. I had a working black lab. She was small and never overweight. She was food orientated but obviously had the good genes for metabolism and lived a very active life. Sadly she still suffered from arthritis from the age of 8 and it ended her life aged 13.

Very lucky that my lab isn’t a greedy one. Very fussy about food. Will never touch the majority of human food. Loves meat and that’s it. I could leave a sandwich on the floor and he wouldn’t touch it. He gets fed raw and he’s in phenomenal shape but he’s a proper working lab

Working labs are, for my money, the absolutely most handsomest dogs in existence.

Might be interesting to some on here who like to preach how it’s just simply willpower and calories and if you’re fat you’re weak willed and over eating.

might just be my interpretation of it but that’s exactly what the article says… just that some dogs (and by extension people, I guess) will need a bit more of one and a bit less of the other…