Best way to diet with obese genetics

geneticsbroken

Best way to diet with obese genetics and not good at consistency.

tomcustombuilder

You don’t get obese from genetics, you get obese by taking in too many calories. You may genetically be programmed to have a higher weight set point brain wise however you can’t gain weight unless you take in more calories than you burn. You need to be consistent with a calorie deficit in order to lose weight.

Obese people generally get that way because of poor food choices. If you just start with eliminating it minimizing ultra processed foods like chips, cookies, white bread, etc and alcohol and any liquid calories and put a priority on lean meat and veggies you’ll start dropping weight in a few weeks. At some point you can start counting calories to keep track.

PAV8888

There are some people with real medical problems. They seek diagnosis and get care from MD's. The forum can provide limited input to them.

There are people whose whole family is obese. The problem of nurture and nature can always be debated. Some lose weight and keep it off. Most don't. I don't know that their success rate differs from the general population.

You control weight by controlling the effective balance of your calories in vs calories out.

Period. Full stop. Nothing else matters for the long term control of weight.

Achieving that balance and control... that's where all the "best way" arguments come in.

You want to know a secret? The best way is the one that actually works for you.

Now. Based on research and experiences we can make some guesses as to what may work. But it will still be individual.

I happen to believe that a moderate decrease in caloric intake and moderate increase in activity such that you achieve a 0.5% to 1% of body weight per week deficit over the long term while making choices you believe you can continue to make for the foreseeable future has a higher probability of success.

AnnPT77

I'd start with don't blame genetics, and work on some amount of consistency (which is under your direct personal control), personally.

There can be genetic factors; our family's habits tend to become our definition of "normal" eating and exercise. The influence of each of those is hard to sort out.

What matters, IMO, if we want to create change in our lives, is identifying the parts of the situation we personally have control over (or at least major influence), and using those things as the levers for change.

Focusing on things we can't control (like genetics) is IMO a waste of time and energy. The only reason to think about obstacles is to plan how to get over, around, past or otherwise through them. Don't focus on the wall, focus on your wily escape route.

The others are right: It's calories that directly control body weight. That can be calories we eat, and calories we burn.

I can eat 400 calories (maybe one peanut butter sandwich on hearty whole-grain bread) in less than 5 minutes. Burning 400 of them (for me, as a non-big but pretty fit woman) takes more like an hour of pretty intense work. That can be some fun thing (bike ride, say), but to me that arithmetic suggests that eating is a key place to focus.

Exactly what is eaten has only indirect effects on fat loss, via energy level, fatigue, satiation, or appetite/cravings. That implies that those may matter in a practical sense, but the direct impact is still through calories. (That's true whether we count the calories or not. Calorie counting isn't the only way to lose weight.)

A word or six about "consistency": Think about how to make hitting your calorie goal relatively easy. Think in terms of "on average over a few days to a week", not "perfect every moment of every day".

The process can require much less of white-knuckled, high-discipline "consistency" than you might imagine, if you think how to make it as easy (rather than, say, trying to make it happen fast, or trying to force-fit yourself into some tricksy, restrictive named diet).

Think how to establish relatively pleasant, easily repeatable new routine habits that you can continue almost on autopilot after you put them in place. Use rare bursts of things like consistency, willpower or discipline to experiment, identify those new habits, and practice them until they're pretty automatic. Next burst of "motivation", pick another habit and groove it in. Rinse and repeat.

If weight management truly required strict consistency, discipline, willpower or motivation, I'd still be fat, like I was for around 30 years . . . before the last 7 of staying at a healthy weight. Consistency, discipline, etc., are not my strong points. I figured out how to game my own preferences and inclinations to get where I wanted to be. You can do that, too.

I can't answer your poll. I'm not you. You can figure out what the easiest-for-you grab-on point is.

The only things I'd say are that:

Three of those poll options (eating healthy, diet, calorie count) seem to have a lot of potential overlap. Logging my food, looking it over, adjusting habits forward to better meet my goals - that worked great for me on all those fronts. (But logging isn't great for everyone, might or might not be for you. The only way to find out is to give it a fair test drive, say for 4-6 weeks.)

The fourth option, "hard workouts", are for sure optional for weight loss. They're not usually the best side bet to aid weight loss (too fatiguing), and they're definitely not the best way for a relative beginner to make progress on fitness (but that's a whole different essay). Just find fun ways to get more movement into your life, maybe something that's a mild but manageable challenge. That'll be fine.

Best wishes!

neanderthin

It appears the "genetic jean" that predisposes a person to become obese only emerged from the primordial ooze around 1980 for the most part and how many generations to allow mutation has occurred from then? Interesting boogeyman but not one that I would agree with. Yes some people have been involved with generational family obesity but I would probably put that down to a large degree from social and economical parameters, mostly. Cheers

tomcustombuilder

neanderthin wrote: »

It appears the "genetic jean" that predisposes a person to become obese only emerged from the primordial ooze around 1980 for the most part and how many generations to allow mutation has occurred from then? Interesting boogeyman but not one that I would agree with. Yes some people have been involved with generational family obesity but I would probably put that down to a large degree from social and economical parameters, mostly. Cheers

obese parents obese kids. Dietary habits passed down and implemented by the next generation to some extent.

AnnPT77

There are some indications that epigenetic factors imply a grandmother who went through a famine can pass through some kind of "famine efficiency" genetics to subsequent generations, among other weirdness. **

It still doesn't matter. One of my personal core principles is that the smartest sign in the whole world is one you see in a bunch of places. It says "You Are Here".

"Here" - wherever we are - is the only place we can start from. A month or so of careful logging can shed light on where "here" is. Believe those results, adjust accordingly, it can work out OK.

MFP estimates are around 25-30% off for me, compared with almost 8 years of calorie logging experience. So are those from my good brand/model fitness tracker, one that - according to reports here - comes close for many others. It doesn't matter. I can use my experiential data, know what I need to eat for particular outcomes. That works fine.

** To be clear, I'm not saying one way or another whether I credit that. I have no idea, and I actually don't care if it's correct. There's increasing evidence IMO that genetics (from separated twin studies), epigenetics, and similar things have some impact. It doesn't matter, IMO, in a practical sense. Ditto for arcane microbiome factors, some of which we can influence, and others we probably can't. Who cares? Run your n=1 experiment, figure out your personal calorie needs in the context of your personal genetics, current microbiome, and logging habits, and you can succeed at weight management. JMO, though.

neanderthin

tomcustombuilder wrote: »

neanderthin wrote: »

It appears the "genetic jean" that predisposes a person to become obese only emerged from the primordial ooze around 1980 for the most part and how many generations to allow mutation has occurred from then? Interesting boogeyman but not one that I would agree with. Yes some people have been involved with generational family obesity but I would probably put that down to a large degree from social and economical parameters, mostly. Cheers

obese parents obese kids. Dietary habits passed down and implemented by the next generation to some extent.

Yeah, happens for sure.

paperpudding

Leaving aside debates about genetic propensity to obesity


I dont think the poll makes sense - one doesnt pick one of those things it is a combination of all, in various degrees - eg it isnt eating healthily OR counting calories

sollyn23l2

paperpudding wrote: »

Leaving aside debates about genetic propensity to obesity


I dont think the poll makes sense - one doesnt pick one of those things it is a combination of all, in various degrees - eg it isnt eating healthily OR counting calories

True. I would say: all of the above combined

paperpudding

sollyn23l2 wrote: »

paperpudding wrote: »

Leaving aside debates about genetic propensity to obesity


I dont think the poll makes sense - one doesnt pick one of those things it is a combination of all, in various degrees - eg it isnt eating healthily OR counting calories

True. I would say: all of the above combined

Well, maybe not hard workouts

Great for those who want to do them but not neccesary from either a weight or health perspective.

But some degree of exercise or physical activity, sure.

Which is what I meant by in various degrees.