Is WEIGHT GAIN caused by genetics or not? **For my Paper**

kathleennf

MrsRatfire- I read your post

Here is a good reference: http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/2712/Weight-Physical-Health-GENETICS-BODY-WEIGHT-OBESITY.html

Bottom lines:
1> Genetics plays a role.
2> There are some (relatively small number of) people with serious metabolic disorders.
3> #1 and #2 are beyond our control. We have to focus on what we can do. The overwhelming, vast majority of the population can (and should) maintain their weight within the normal range by their chosen combination of diet and exercise.

Message me if you want more info. I have done some research on this too.

MattyFTM

Genetics certainly plays a role in your metabolism. Everyone burns off calories at different rates, and that is ultimately a result of your genes. But the vast majority of people, myself included, are obese because they eat too much. Except in cases where people have serious medical conditions that impact their metabolism, you cannot deflect blame for your weight onto your metabolism. It's the amount of food that you eat.

MrsRatfire

I replied to individuals to read my post, as many people do not follow and entire thread but do look back at there own post to see if anyone replied to it. I thought I was replying to the individual comments to get their attention. Does it just post to the bottom on one gigantic thread, then have them deleted. This issue is important to me, obviously. I have been judged my entire life by these attitudes and bought into them myself. Your a moderator- delta anything you can order to do so. It does not bother me if you do. But please stop posting your discontent with me or a post I made. I am a human being and subject to error. Instead of criticizing me, I think it would make more sense to correct me and order the thread to be fixed.

jwdieter

Genetics controls everything. Going to war against genetics in a paper is pretty pointless.

Normal systems provide normal results for input/output. Those normal results are directly controlled by genetics. Abnormal results are as well.

msf74

Genetics may give a person a predisposition or increased likelihood of weight (or specifically fat) gain but that does not mean the gain is inevitable.

Heredity is not destiny as the saying goes...

_KitKat_

I replied to individuals to read my post, as many people do not follow and entire thread but do look back at there own post to see if anyone replied to it. I thought I was replying to the individual comments to get their attention. Does it just post to the bottom on one gigantic thread, then have them deleted. This issue is important to me, obviously. I have been judged my entire life by these attitudes and bought into them myself. Your a moderator- delta anything you can order to do so. It does not bother me if you do. But please stop posting your discontent with me or a post I made. I am a human being and subject to error. Instead of criticizing me, I think it would make more sense to correct me and order the thread to be fixed.

I am honestly not trying to be rude, I think you are reading insult where there was not any. People do have these severe disorders, nobody after your post discounted that fact. The other fact though is most disorders are able to be managed, not saying it is easy but it is possible. The other fact is the majority (not you) of people that place blame of their weight on an unnamed "metabolic disorder" are in fact just having a hard time facing the truth that they made themselves fat. I read up some on FOD, God help the individual and/or parent of a newborn diagnosed with that disorder. I did see patients can not have periods of fasting and suffer from hypoglycemia. It is not a condition I would wish on an enemy.

MrsRatfire

KPOST-- no no no. Your posts are fine. I did not understand that a thread just keeps flowing to the bottom, and the post in person person is not where the reply lands. I was wrong. What i criticized was the person who was exasperated with me and asked why I was posting as it was being read.

I do not mean this at all about the entire thread. I thought if I hit reply under you post, you we're notified or something that I replied to you. The whole thread did not criticize me, and my understanding of posting was not correct.

there was another post from the person with the yellow bag in the picture asking for references to scientific journals- as well as what I thought, was not the way to tell me I did not understand posting in this thread. Kindly post a second request, any one, that wants links to the specific diseases I have mentioned. As there are thousands of them, this is an overwhelming topic. I apologize K Post- I thought your posts were very good.

Please understand, I have been judged, misdiagnosed, told off and everything in between my whole life. I myself hated myself for not being able to stay slim. Even though, I had fought my way down to 155 at 5, 9", I was still told I was fat. All of the time. I was a heavy, picked on child, and the comments from people, have never stopped. In the 1960's and 1970's, the world was very harsh to anyone with weight. Especially physicians.

I was wrong about how the thread worked. I apologize.

mike_ny

Genetics affects your body type, metabolism, and how well you may absorb some nutrients, but weight gain is still from consuming more calories than you burn above your individual TDEE.

There are plenty of people on this site who were fat kids from fat families and carried that weight for any years, yet still managed to lose it and keep it off by cutting calories, eating a better diet, and exercising. If it was all due to genetics, those success stories would not be possible.

MrsRatfire

K Post-I actually thank you for looking up FOD. No one usually does- I do not blame them. This is my issue not theirs. The glycogen storage issue is prone to weight gain too. there are thousands of these things. May be in all of this, someone that has a problem will eventually, due to this thread, understand to look elsewhere for the answer. If could save their life. thank you again for your kindness.

MrsRatfire

mike-ny Yes, of course that is true. But it is not true for many disorders. It is just is not true that some genetic disorders cause weight. However, the majority of people do not fall into there categories. No matter how many times I would answer this, there will always be people that are ingrained with their opinion and say these disorders do not exist. But they do.Here are two basic sites on the glycogen Storage Diseases. And this is just the one disease- there are thousands.


http://www.patient.co.uk/health/glycogen-storage-disorders-leaflet


http://www.agsdus.org/index.html

nomeejerome

I do not mean this at all about the entire thread. I thought if I hit reply under you post, you we're notified or something that I replied to you.

If you hit the quote button instead of the reply button, it is easier to follow who you are talking to in the thread.

MrsRatfire

Thank you so much no mee jerome.

I get it now! Again, my fault!

rockmama72

Genetics may give a person a predisposition or increased likelihood of weight (or specifically fat) gain but that does not mean the gain is inevitable.

Heredity is not destiny as the saying goes...

BEST answer!

KezJB

I think it's more "eating habits that get passed on from parents to offspring" than "genetics" that produce families and families of overweight people.

This.
Ever had a friend who's whole family are big people and they say "it's our genetics" then open their fridge and realize it most certainly isn't!

jchadden42

I come from a chunky family. My mother is 5'0" tall and weighs about 180lbs. I am 5'5" tall and weigh 125. My dad's family are not heavy people, but they are all active people. The heaviest is the youngest who eats more than she moves.

KezJB

You are not correct. Please take the time to read my posts. thank you.

You are obviously very unfortunate, but, for the vast majority those who blame genetics only have their diet to blame!

MrsRatfire

Thank you - I will look up your recommendations. If there is something else you recommend I look up, please post or send to me. I probably would mess up contacting you, as I did this post! But thanks for the tip. Technically, we know what disorders I have, most people do not. My diagnosis is still fuzzy though as there are indicators of other things needing testing to verify- so I am treated my "shot gun" and hope it works. As well as the diet, attempts at exercise, etc. Thank you for your kind support.


MrsRatfire- I read your post

Here is a good reference: http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/2712/Weight-Physical-Health-GENETICS-BODY-WEIGHT-OBESITY.html

Bottom lines:
1> Genetics plays a role.
2> There are some (relatively small number of) people with serious metabolic disorders.
3> #1 and #2 are beyond our control. We have to focus on what we can do. The overwhelming, vast majority of the population can (and should) maintain their weight within the normal range by their chosen combination of diet and exercise.

Message me if you want more info. I have done some research on this too.

FatFreeFrolicking

Genetics affects your body type, metabolism, and how well you may absorb some nutrients, but weight gain is still from consuming more calories than you burn above your individual TDEE.

There are plenty of people on this site who were fat kids from fat families and carried that weight for any years, yet still managed to lose it and keep it off by cutting calories, eating a better diet, and exercising. If it was all due to genetics, those success stories would not be possible.

If you have an endocrine disorder (PCOS, insulin resistance, diabetes, Hashimoto's, etc.), weight gain still happens even if the person is burning more calories than they are consuming.

kassiebby1124

Genetics controls everything. Going to war against genetics in a paper is pretty pointless.

Normal systems provide normal results for input/output. Those normal results are directly controlled by genetics. Abnormal results are as well.

What do you suggest I write about?

@everything else: Aside from the side debate about rare disorders, lol, this thread is extremely helpful!

@Determinedbutlazy- I figured that picture would pop up in here lol

psuLemon

The electrolyte issue is huge for these disorders. I was once ordered back to the hospital from a routine blood test as my sodium was so low, they said I was going to have a heart attack. I love salt, but it does not metabolize well enough in me. Hence, I MUST eat sodium. Your wife's disease does sound genetic to me, but I am not familiar with it. In contract, all of us in both disease groups much eat low fat, higher carb. Exercise is very difficult. When I was young, I could. And I did, for grueling hours a day trying to keep my weight off. Now at age 54, I go into spasms - which is running out of fuel- without exercise. When I say spasms- I have what I consider a normal level, for me. What I try to avoid is ones that are like a woman screaming in labor. I am going to try marching in place at at least 120 steps per minute and see if I can add ANY exercise at all. I am all about avoiding crisis, I do house work in bits and pieces. I would love to have my energy back- I do all kins of things and take all kinds of things to improve it. Again, I will not win, but I can make it better!

this is how I am going to calculate MARCHING IN PLACE:

Timing your walking while on your virtual treadmill, along with performing some simple math, will tell you how many calories you are burning. For each half-hour you march in place at a normal brisk pace of 120 steps per minute (about 3.5 miles per hour), you will burn an amount of calories that equals your weight in pounds.

In other words, if you weigh 150 pounds, marching in place on the virtual treadmill will burn 150 calories each half-hour, or 300 calories each hour.

To find out how many calories you are burning per minute, simply divide 150 calories per half-hour by 30 minutes, or divide 300 calories per hour by 60 minutes, which, in this case, equals 5 calories per minute.

keep in mind I am not trying to discredit your disorder and I completely understand what you go through. I spend the last 3 years with my wife in and out of hospitals. No only does she have an orthostatic intolerance (inability to regulate blood volume/pressure), she had a ruptured gallbladder, pancreatitis, and diverticulitis. With her condition, like yours, she has an electrolyte imbalance. In fact, water dehydrates her. When she drinks water, she adds an electrolyte tablet to ensure she maintains a healthy balance. She also drinks coconut waters as they are naturally high in electrolytes. Her diet has to be high fat, low carb, no gluten. Her resting heart rate is generally around 85-100 bpm and after she goes from sitting to standing it can go as high as 140. Due to her bodies inability to regulate her heart beat and blood pressure, cardio is not an option for her. In fact, I have developed a weight training program that works at her pace, to help aid the blood flow process.

Is POTS genetic.... probably not. There hasn't been any evidence in the community, that I have seen, that would suggest it is. But based on the information someone posted early, there aren't many genetic diseases that effect weight. I apologize if you think I was attacking you (BTW, my avatar is a lemon on a skateboard) but I wasn't. I was suggesting that genetics do not play a lot in terms of weight management. Even those with these metabolic disorders CAN be skinny or overweight. Those overweight, can become skinny through the understanding of nutritional requirements and dietary needs. Also, take into consideration that most of these metabolic disorders are RARE. And when write a paper, you want to address the majority first and caveat those outside the normal.

ndj1979

If you are in school, don't you have access to research, journals etc?

To answer your question:
Calorie surplus=weight gain

I was thinking both of these..

is that what thesis research has come to...trolling MFP for lings to studies?

when I did my thesis, I actually read books, highlighted what I wanted to use, and typed out the information ....

Nakafia

Hey All!!!

I am a biologist in the UK. I thought you'd be interested in a new area of genetic biology called epigenetics. To put it simply epigenetics shows that while something, like being fat , is not part of your genetic data (which it isnt the vast majority of the time), it can actually be hereditary. If you are doing a paper on weight gain and inheritance then studies into epigenetics are a must! It is a very very new area of genetics so most of the research is in the newborn stage but it is something to consider.

While most of the time it is true that its input vs output there are also some rare genetic/thyroid conditions that can cause excessive weight gain and loss. Although most of these tend not be hereditary and are a single mutation within a single individual.

For all who are interested I have attached the wiki link to epigenetics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics

MrsRatfire

You can still write about calorie count, weight control, fitness- it does not make the topic wrong. Genetics is too vast to include. As you need a topic with something you can state and defend, I guess weight issues is too general. Maybe narrow down your health interest. As you need references from things that will come up in a college library, not Ask.Com, look for references to proposed topics there. Your paper will be much easier to write if you know you have the references to back it. That is how I wrote English papers- I went to the data base and looked at abstracts and articles. If I found something well supported and not overly complex for me, I wrote that. It was easier to find my topic by locating references first. After all, I was not a scientist, I just wanted to get an "A" and make it easy on myself.

Genetics controls everything. Going to war against genetics in a paper is pretty pointless.

Normal systems provide normal results for input/output. Those normal results are directly controlled by genetics. Abnormal results are as well.

What do you suggest I write about?

@everything else: Aside from the side debate about rare disorders, lol, this thread is extremely helpful!

@Determinedbutlazy- I figured that picture would pop up in here lol

MrsRatfire

Hello K-Post- when I apologized to you, I still did not know to hit the quote button. I posted a reply, but was concerned you may not see it as I did not do it correctly. Again, I am sorry and my mistake.

I replied to individuals to read my post, as many people do not follow and entire thread but do look back at there own post to see if anyone replied to it. I thought I was replying to the individual comments to get their attention. Does it just post to the bottom on one gigantic thread, then have them deleted. This issue is important to me, obviously. I have been judged my entire life by these attitudes and bought into them myself. Your a moderator- delta anything you can order to do so. It does not bother me if you do. But please stop posting your discontent with me or a post I made. I am a human being and subject to error. Instead of criticizing me, I think it would make more sense to correct me and order the thread to be fixed.

I am honestly not trying to be rude, I think you are reading insult where there was not any. People do have these severe disorders, nobody after your post discounted that fact. The other fact though is most disorders are able to be managed, not saying it is easy but it is possible. The other fact is the majority (not you) of people that place blame of their weight on an unnamed "metabolic disorder" are in fact just having a hard time facing the truth that they made themselves fat. I read up some on FOD, God help the individual and/or parent of a newborn diagnosed with that disorder. I did see patients can not have periods of fasting and suffer from hypoglycemia. It is not a condition I would wish on an enemy.

in_the_stars

Genetics? hmmmm... where our ancestors came from, how they adapted to the environment and where we live today have a significant impact on our health. CYP2D6? CCR5-A32? ALDH2*2? And so on.

Nature Genetics is a very prominent journal.

lrmall01

I'm curious how you can make point 1 and 3 at the same time, as they seem related to me.

In point 1, you state that genetics creates an ideal weight.

In point 3, you state that people aren't putting in the effort.

This only seems to work, in my opinion, if you make the assumption that the person in question is above their ideal weight. How would you explain, for example, someone whose ideal weight is 180lbs but they have decided they want to weigh 160lbs. In this case, their weight loss attempts are fighting against their genetic set point. Wouldn't genetics affect weight loss in this case?

Honestly I have no good comments regarding your actual question, I just wanted to point out the possible hole in your thesis as your instructor may do the same. You may want to address this is your paper.

Good luck!

nancy10272004

Off topic but since you're writing an English paper, may I make a suggestion? It's best to avoid all or nothing statements in thesis statements.

You wrote

Thesis: While genetics play a role in how quickly food is processed and where is is lost first when one loses weight, it is in no way associated with weight gain.

The answers in this thread make me think that genetics is in some way associated with weight gain.

FatFreeFrolicking

The electrolyte issue is huge for these disorders. I was once ordered back to the hospital from a routine blood test as my sodium was so low, they said I was going to have a heart attack. I love salt, but it does not metabolize well enough in me. Hence, I MUST eat sodium. Your wife's disease does sound genetic to me, but I am not familiar with it. In contract, all of us in both disease groups much eat low fat, higher carb. Exercise is very difficult. When I was young, I could. And I did, for grueling hours a day trying to keep my weight off. Now at age 54, I go into spasms - which is running out of fuel- without exercise. When I say spasms- I have what I consider a normal level, for me. What I try to avoid is ones that are like a woman screaming in labor. I am going to try marching in place at at least 120 steps per minute and see if I can add ANY exercise at all. I am all about avoiding crisis, I do house work in bits and pieces. I would love to have my energy back- I do all kins of things and take all kinds of things to improve it. Again, I will not win, but I can make it better!

this is how I am going to calculate MARCHING IN PLACE:

Timing your walking while on your virtual treadmill, along with performing some simple math, will tell you how many calories you are burning. For each half-hour you march in place at a normal brisk pace of 120 steps per minute (about 3.5 miles per hour), you will burn an amount of calories that equals your weight in pounds.

In other words, if you weigh 150 pounds, marching in place on the virtual treadmill will burn 150 calories each half-hour, or 300 calories each hour.

To find out how many calories you are burning per minute, simply divide 150 calories per half-hour by 30 minutes, or divide 300 calories per hour by 60 minutes, which, in this case, equals 5 calories per minute.

keep in mind I am not trying to discredit your disorder and I completely understand what you go through. I spend the last 3 years with my wife in and out of hospitals. No only does she have an orthostatic intolerance (inability to regulate blood volume/pressure), she had a ruptured gallbladder, pancreatitis, and diverticulitis. With her condition, like yours, she has an electrolyte imbalance. In fact, water dehydrates her. When she drinks water, she adds an electrolyte tablet to ensure she maintains a healthy balance. She also drinks coconut waters as they are naturally high in electrolytes. Her diet has to be high fat, low carb, no gluten. Her resting heart rate is generally around 85-100 bpm and after she goes from sitting to standing it can go as high as 140. Due to her bodies inability to regulate her heart beat and blood pressure, cardio is not an option for her. In fact, I have developed a weight training program that works at her pace, to help aid the blood flow process.

Is POTS genetic.... probably not. There hasn't been any evidence in the community, that I have seen, that would suggest it is. But based on the information someone posted early, there aren't many genetic diseases that effect weight. I apologize if you think I was attacking you (BTW, my avatar is a lemon on a skateboard) but I wasn't. I was suggesting that genetics do not play a lot in terms of weight management. Even those with these metabolic disorders CAN be skinny or overweight. Those overweight, can become skinny through the understanding of nutritional requirements and dietary needs. Also, take into consideration that most of these metabolic disorders are RARE. And when write a paper, you want to address the majority first and caveat those outside the normal.

I also have POTS and Supraventricular tachycardia. My resting heart rate goes as high as 210 bpm (at which point I am hospitalized). From the research I have done and what I have studied in school, I also don't believe POTS is genetic. No one in my family has it.

kjo9692

I believe that it depends. If you have metabolic disorders that will affect weight gain then yes. If you don't, then no. But these metabolic disorders can be controlled most of the times, so there is no direct impact of genetics and boom weight gain, it's not like that.

On the other hand, someone can have the genetics of having more adipose tissue in their body than others, but again this is not related to weight gain.

EvanKeel

I'm writing an English paper and my thesis is defending the idea that gaining weight is not ruled by genetics but I'd like to see some of you all's opinions and if you have references or links to data, that would be appreciated. What do you think? Is it's genetics fault or other factors?


These are the points I'm addressing in the paper:

Thesis: While genetics play a role in how quickly food is processed and where is is lost first when one loses weight, it is in no way associated with weight gain.
Point one: Genetics play a role in an individual’s “ideal weight,” not how much they gain.
Point two: Weight gain is caused by increased caloric intake; if you eat more than you burn, you gain weight, if you eat less, you lose it.
Point three: Many people focus on blaming genetics when they do not want to put in the effort it takes to lose weight or to maintain weight loss.

I didn't read all the responses, but I take issue with your thesis. If you contend that genetically-controlled variables can affect metabolism, I think you've bound yourself to accepting that they can affect both weight loss and gain. You're tip toeing around your real thesis, which is more in line with your third point. That being the case, it's really just an issue of stats. What medical conditions (related to genetics or not) hamper people's attempts to lose weight, which does happen, and what percentage of the population is affected.

It's really just a thinly veiled way of saying, "Put down the fork."

A more interesting topic might be looking at why people don't put down the fork. It's not a simple one, and you'd need to narrow the scope.
-Are there psychological issues at play?
-is there a lack of knowledge?
-are there cultural influences going on?

It seems like there's a fine line between placing blame/personal responsibility and doing a realistic root cause analysis for an individual's behaviors.