How much of your weight/shape is just genetics?
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My story: I've lost this weight three times now and gained it back twice. The first time I lost 30 lbs, then gained it back and then some. The second time I lost 70 lbs, gained it back and then some. This time I've lost nearly 100. Each time I lost I got down to roughly where I'm at now, so I'm pretty sure this is my body's "happy place." This is about what I weighed in high school and college. It's at the top end of a healthy BMI for my height.
I've maintained this time around for about 8 months so far, which is longer than I've ever maintained before. The thing is: I'm not happy with how I look. I carry my weight in my stomach and have really large breasts, so I'm top heavy. My doctor keeps telling me I shouldn't try to lose any more weight and that this is just my body type. I also realize you can't spot reduce, but at this point I'm getting really discouraged. I work out six days a week, and I really truly enjoy working out...but I don't look like I work out. And I've gone back to eating at a deficit in an effort to lose a few more lbs and look slimmer, but the weight really isn't budging.
So finally my question! Am I just fighting genetics here? Is there something more I can do to start losing again and/or see some changes in my body? My greatest fear is getting discouraged to the point where I gain it all back, because that's what's happened in the past. I care less about the number on the scale at this point and more about how I look, but I don't know whether it's better to shake up my diet, change my gym routine, etc. Any advice would be welcome!
I think you are fighting your own mental sour grapes.
You already lost 100 lbs so you know what to do, and how to do it, so keep doing it.
Why are you gaining it back?
I think one of the things you need to do is take a look as to why your gaining.
2nd thing is to find cardio that you like, even if it means doing cardio every other day,0 -
My mom is built pear shapped, shes got the butt and the thighs/hips yet her stomach and waist is small. I am built the same way and my sister is built like my grandmother on my dads side they are apple shaped. I def think genetics play a role bc you distinctly tell in all 3 of us. My sister carries her weight in her stomach and has skinny legs and barely a butt. While I'm over here with a smaller waist but bigger butt and hips.0
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Haha can you picture Angelina Jolie's arms and legs? That's me! Only 3-4 months pregnant
the belly man! It won't go away, pure fat not loose skin and yes I lift/ cardio etc, etc...Genetics! 0 -
Your shape is genetic. This can be enhanced, but you can't change aspects like how wide your hips are or the "length" of your muscles.
Weight is delegated by how many calories your consuming/burning.
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Somatotypes aren't a standard. This was a body gauging method invented by a pyschologist and not a physiologist.Genetics play a large role in what you look like, but they do not determine how fat or skinny you are. Your diet does. Google somatotypes (this is the scientific word for body type).
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You can't defy genetics. You CAN enhance what you already have.Yes genetics plays a role in how we are shaped and where our fat is stored but like a couple folks pointed out, we can defy genetics!! I am defying genetics now by building myself some thicker legs while losing my upper body! It's easy for me to hold weight at the top while losing at the bottom which sucks!! Thankfully cardio and weight training combined is getting me where I need to be.
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trishfit2014 wrote: »You can alter your body to some extent. I am pear shaped and naturally tiny upper body. Since weight lifting I have added mass to my back, shoulders and arms. I catch my reflection in the mirror sometimes and am amazed by my upper body. Lifting weights does shape your body. It will increase your metabolism so you should be able to lose some of your stomach.
This is really interesting, I didn't know lifting weights did that much.. can it increase your boob size or will it just make them look better?0 -
I bet I could go to the lowest on the BMI chart and still have fat in my lower abs, I'm in the middle at the moment...genetics!0
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I used to think I was fat just because my whole family was fat. But then... Hello calorie counting. I am fat because of what I was eating in the past. I don't think it is much to do with genetics in my opinion.0
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You can't defy genetics. You CAN enhance what you already have.Yes genetics plays a role in how we are shaped and where our fat is stored but like a couple folks pointed out, we can defy genetics!! I am defying genetics now by building myself some thicker legs while losing my upper body! It's easy for me to hold weight at the top while losing at the bottom which sucks!! Thankfully cardio and weight training combined is getting me where I need to be.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
You are right, I should have placed defy in parenthesis as I didn't literally mean it.0 -
I bet I could go to the lowest on the BMI chart and still have fat in my lower abs, I'm in the middle at the moment...genetics!
I think that's the case with my ARMS...since I've been lifting they are trying to shrink and shape up now though...do you lift? My core responded very well to body weight exercises but now that I am lifting (albeit only recently at a consistent rate), I am already noticing some newbie progress for sure!0 -
I think your body shape is genetics. But your weight isn't. I do not believe people are not prone to obesity because of genetics. Just because your grandmother was obese doesn't mean you will be too. But they may be prone to larger frames, wider hips, etc.0
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When I had my DNA tested, there were a few genes that were associated with higher/lower weights. For me, it could possibly account for about 4 pounds. There weren't any (known at that time, anyway) genes that could account for much more than that.0
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hopeandtheabsurd wrote: »When I had my DNA tested, there were a few genes that were associated with higher/lower weights. For me, it could possibly account for about 4 pounds. There weren't any (known at that time, anyway) genes that could account for much more than that.
That sounds about right, honestly.0 -
trishfit2014 wrote: »You can alter your body to some extent. I am pear shaped and naturally tiny upper body. Since weight lifting I have added mass to my back, shoulders and arms. I catch my reflection in the mirror sometimes and am amazed by my upper body. Lifting weights does shape your body. It will increase your metabolism so you should be able to lose some of your stomach.
This is really interesting, I didn't know lifting weights did that much.. can it increase your boob size or will it just make them look better?
Lifting weights does wonders for the body, but you really can't increase breast size. In fact for most lifters our chest size goes down due to loss of body fat. The struggle is real.0 -
robininfl: I only know my body fat percentage from my Withings scale (which I know isn't fully accurate), and that gives me a % in the mid-30s, which I know is high. I've only had the scale for a month so I haven't been able to track any changes in that %, but I bought it for that very reason. I'm hoping that continuing at the gym will show me a reduction. My waist (in inches) has not budged since May, though, when I first started maintenance. That's where a lot of my discouragement is coming from!
Hi BerylW. If your bodyfat is mid 30s, you don't necessarily have your final shape yet, that's really good news because if you are holding the fat in your middle, that's where it will have to be lost, and if your legs are thin, they may get bigger with exercise, so the overall look would be more proportionate with more muscle and less fat, even if your weight holds at the same number. And yes, it's slow....building muscle can't be rushed, it happens slowly. But as it happens, the fat decreases and muscle increases, your shape can change, because fat areas shrink and other areas grow. If you are, say, 150lb, and move from 35% bodyfat to 25%, that's 15lbs of fat gone and 15lbs of muscle added - that will look different!
I didn't have high bodyfat at any point, really - mine has held at 20% when I was skinny and now when fit, but can say that adding muscle and weight gave me only 1" more in boobs and waist (aargh, I do wish it could get smaller) but 3" more in hips, 3" more in each leg, that's all muscle, and so the overall look is more shapely, though still pretty much straight up and down. I don't want to be under 20% bodyfat, really, so my shape is not going to change much. My change was from about 120 to 135lb (5'9") so in the course of getting fit I added roughly 3lb fat and 12lb muscle.
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Thanks, Robin! Is there a "best way" to reduce body fat %? (Apologies if there's a thread on this already, as I'm sure there is.) Adjusting macros? Lifting/building muscle? Keeping at it with my current diet and fitness? (Or all of the above...?)0
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There is a recomposition thread, I think it's in Fitness? There are definitely people who know more than me about that! I have heard good things about the book Thinner Leaner Stronger.
Lifting heavy, as far as I know, is by far the most efficient way to build muscle, but not burn fat. Overloading so that they are stressed and grow. Running, as far as I know, is the most efficient exercise to burn calories, raising your heart rate by moving around. If your waist hasn't shrunk with your current routine, then yeah I'd ramp it up slowly until you start getting results, I think for sure waist is your barometer if your bodyfat is high and you are holding it there.
I was going in the other direction (didn't have extra fat, just trying to add some muscle and get better cardiovascular fitness) and did yoga and running (changed from Jazzercise, which kept me reasonably fit and skinny and happy), the yoga was 'heavy' enough for me as far as looks, my arms are lean and have visible muscle and I can do push-ups and pull-ups, that is big progress from where I started.
Also, be happy, you know? You lost a bunch of weight and are getting in good shape, it's a process, there isn't really an end to it...you just have to find a lifestyle that works for you, that either lets you maintain or incrementally changes you for the better, bodies aren't just to look at, they are to live in. If you feel good, you have a good body.0 -
I have read that weight loss is 80% eating at calorie deficit, 10% exercise, and 10% genetics.
It stands to reason that genetics play, at the very least, a part in our body type. We inherit eye color hair color, health issues and so on.0 -
snowflake930 wrote: »I have read that weight loss is 80% eating at calorie deficit, 10% exercise, and 10% genetics.
It stands to reason that genetics play, at the very least, a part in our body type. We inherit eye color hair color, health issues and so on.
That makes sense to me.
There are also certain health conditions (e.g. PCOS, which one of my sisters and I have) that are linked to stubborn belly fat. It can be a bit of a vicious cycle. That's definitely where I tend to carry weight, as well, and have to get to a relatively low BMI to get rid of it. I'm below original goal weight but still eating at a deficit a bit longer to get rid of more of that belly fat. I've definitely made progress and hope to see more the longer I keep up strength training, too.0
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