One quarter of all Australian children are either overweight or clinically obese – a condition known to have detrimental health effects in both the short- and long-term. At a population level, obesity is known to increase the risk of serious disease, such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and cancer. However, this risk does not appear to be equally spread across those with established overweight/obesity – some individuals appear to be at much higher risk than others and severity of obesity is not the sole predictor. Within this talk, I will outline our current understanding of what the future holds for the obese children of today, explain current research in the area and discuss how life-course modelling from large-scale longitudinal studies may hold the key to properly identifying individual risk.