[cdavoren]

This is backed up by medical knowledge. It has been repeatedly shown that metabolism varies very little between people when corrected for body mass. What does vary considerably is appetite, and this is the major contributor to body weight.

[mv]

Do not say 'backed up by medical knowledge' unless you plan on citing sources.

I don't have much time right now, but I did find a good starting point: http://www.ajcn.org/content/53/6/1561S.abstract "In this regard, the proneness to store energy primarily as fat or as lean tissue is a major determinant of the response to a caloric surplus."

Also: http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v8/n7/abs/oby200063a.html Talks about insulin secretion being different between races even after accounting for other factors.

gasp we all aren't created equal! We all don't have the same benefits. Some people are born disadvantaged and must work for things!

And to the comment a few levels up, my ~3,500kcal diet would make some people obese even after accounting for my activity levels! 1 kcal for you is not the same as 1 kcal for me, bodies differ in conversion, storage, and utilization.

I have a hard time understanding why people don't like admitting that just as we differ on the outside (beauty, fitness) we are also different on the inside (metabolism, disease susceptibility)

[abstractbill]

I have a hard time understanding why people don't like admitting that just as we differ on the outside (beauty, fitness) we are also different on the inside (metabolism, disease susceptibility)

I can only speak for myself, but "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" sums it up pretty well for me.

Beautiful to whom?

Fit for what?

Susceptible to which diseases? Concrete example: Carrying a gene for sickle-cell disease is obviously bad... unless you want some resistance to malaria. So which is it now, good or bad?

Of course people are different, and that's awesome. But the idea that you can give people "scores" on a bunch of axes like the ones above, and then figure out who is "better" or "worse" seems to me naive at best.

[mv]

it is awesome that people differ. Everyone has advantages and disadvantages but people aren't equal. Some people will have lots of advantages with minimal disadvantages, and yet others will have the opposite. I don't understand why people like to deny this.

[geden]

It's not so very hard to understand. Historically people used (and still use) 'differences' as a reason to enslave, murder and other wise subjugate tens of millions of other humans.

So there is a backlash against that. Thankfully. And along the way, in the push back, facts may get lost. Fact's that really, in the context of war, were not helpful.

And now humanity's leading edge seems to be becoming comfortable with that fact we are all different and actually kind of the same and are accommodating of wonderful multiplicity.

Whilst watching the shadow aspects of our egos, in case they come out to grandstand.