alt Hacker NewsSeconding this without straying too far from the topic.
My entire life I have been underweight and also ridiculously hooked on caffeine. At work I would easily go through 5-8 cups of coffee in a day.
I quit caffeine to become a parent a few years ago and suddenly I am able to put on fat and muscle so much easier.
I think the fact that 95% of our society consumes one of the best weight loss drugs (caffeine) anyway really skews a substantial portion of the data.
Speaking of which, nicotine is another effective weight loss drug. I have to wonder if some portion of the increase in median BMI (ignoring the morbidly obese) in America over the last 50 years is it becoming less socially acceptable to chain smoke.
Looks like it's typical to gain 5-10lbs when quitting smoking.
Edit: pulled up the data and there's been a 30lb increase in median weight in America, so (loosely guessing) the smoking effect is probably somewhere between 5 and 10% of that change.