Big Parents = Big Kids?

kr1stadee

Just looking for your thoughts. There are those out there that swear if your parents are big, then you're predisposed to being big.
(weight, not height).

I call BS. My parents are, and always have been, healthy weights. I wasn't given the best introduction to foods - not all this much information regarding food choices were available. My brother and I developed bad habits, and are both struggling to change those habits. We are both big.

My husband and I both have gained weight over the duration of our relationship. We are both overweight.
We have 2 kids. Our son is tall and thin, very muscular and active, and our daughter is right on track with weight and height. I am doing everything I can to not relay my bad habits over to them. I also don't let them see me obsessing over the scale/treadmill/food. I don't want to create body issues.

So, to me, the idea that having fat parents will make you fat is total crap. Agree? No?

LoraF83

Having fat parents who are unwilling to teach their children correct eating and exercise habits will predispose their children to being overweight.
Having fat parents who are taking steps to break the cycle, get healthy, and educate their children about nutrition probably won't.

My parents were/are naturally thin. My mom doesn't care about food too much, and so it's not big deal for her not to eat. My dad is a highly active person and can eat a lot without gaining weight. So, they never really taught us about nutrition or exercise, because it wasn't relevant to their reality. My brother is just like my dad, so it hasn't affected him. However, I got fat because I ate too much and never exercised. Those were my choices (as an adult), but I wasn't taught differently.

Edit to say that I don't blame my parents - most people didn't know too much about nutrition in the 80's, they worked a lot and did the best they could. But, that doesn't mean I have to repeat the cycle with my daughter.

thebigcb

Can of worms. This is going to be good

waldo56

Eating and exercise habits tend to be passed from parents to children.

Not always, but any population study will likely show this trend.

I've read many times though that there is a stronger correlation between a fathers eating and exercise habits and his kids than there is with mothers.

vim_n_vigor

Me and my husband are well over our ideal weights. Our two children are under their 'ideal' weights.

kr1stadee

I mean genetics.

I've heard SOOO many times that because the parents are fat, the kids will be fat, saying it in the same manner as the parents are both brunettes, so the kids will be brunettes

VelociMama

Having fat parents who are unwilling to teach their children correct eating and exercise habits will predispose their children to being overweight.

This is how I feel also. I was raised by my grandparents who were very overweight when I was little. They never taught me how to balance and control my eating habits. The only reason I wasn't a fat kid was because I was so active in sports in school, but that changed in college. I don't really blame them for my adult habits, but it would have been nice to be raised in a family that discussed proper nutrition and fitness.

There may be some component that is genetic, but I think the environmental impact is far stronger except in cases where a medical condition is genetically passed down.

blink1021

No I do not agree my entire family do not have weight issues except for me. In fact when I lived at home and my dad controlled what we ate I was at a healthy weight. It was when I left home and found out pizza could be delivered till 2am and McDonalds was way more convenient than cooking myself things got out of control. Right now my son is at a healthy weight for his height and although he still loves a burger every now and then he still goes for apples and banannas for snacks. Right now I am 7 months pregnant and hopefully this little one will be fine weight wise too.

rml_16

There are so many factors to this ...

My mother's mother was never heavy, but her father was. Both she and her sister have always had weight problems.

My father's family is similar. My grandmother was tiny, but my grandfather has pretty much always been heavy. My father and uncle were always healthy weights, but their sisters , one a half-sister, who had a different mother who was also a healthy weight -- and a pediatrician to boot, are both overweight and pretty much always have been.

I've never been an especially alarming size. I was very tiny until I was 28 and at my largest ever, I was a size 12.

My best friend comes from two skinny parents and she and all three of her siblings have always been thin.

Oh -- and my daughter has weight problems.

martintanz

It isn't BS. My parents were both overweight and had poor eating habits. My Dad ate large amounts of food, including high fat/high cholesterol foods. My Mom tended to like foods that were rich, mushy, bland, or sweet, and that is how she cooked. Both parents eventually developed diabetes. Neither parent focused much on exercise. My mother has managed to control her weight somewhat better in late middle age to early retirement years and she is still relatively healthy. My Dad became morbidly obese, had two heart attacks and is now deceased.

When you have overweight parents, there are both biological and behavioral factors that contribute to being overweight.

sgthaggard

Seems logical that having parents who model poor health habits would predispose children to be unhealthy.

Krizzle4Rizzle

Both my parents are on the thinner side..welll they were. But my Dad's side has always had weight problems.

jessicayoung82

I don't believe in most cases that it is a trait passed down, but learned habbits. If the parents are making bad food choices for themselves... what chances do the kids have? I see it everywhere. But sounds like you are making the changes in your life so your children won't have this issue which is FANTASTIC. Your kids pick up on more than you realize, keep making the right choices with food and exercise and they will pick up on it also.

LoraF83

I mean genetics.

I've heard SOOO many times that because the parents are fat, the kids will be fat, saying it in the same manner as the parents are both brunettes, so the kids will be brunettes

I don't know about genetics......but I can say that the fat families I know eat too much and feed their children too much. The fat parents with skinny kids either feed their children healthy food or have them in a lot of sports/activites so they are very active (but this may not last to adulthood).

Edit to change "crap" to "too much" - because I really don't think McDonalds now and then is bad.....but too many calories every day is the problem.

toberdawg

To a degree maybe.

I come from a long line of woods workers and farmers, my Grandfather used a horse and his muscle to do his forresting. He refused to use machinery to do his work until the day he died (1989). Most of us (my family) are of the sturdy/stocky type. I think in part this can be attributed to evoloution and what my family was doing for work. I am stronger and "thicker" than most females of my height, even at a healthy bf%.

Also, in my family a lot of emphasis is placed on rich, heavy foods. Furthermore when I was a child, the adults would fix my plate and I had to sit there and eat it all until there was nothing left. To this day I have issues with leaving food on my plate. I have had to train myself to appreciate lighter foods.

I cannot change my build. I can change my eating habits, its a struggle but it can be done!

NaturalinCO

My dad's side, esp the women, are morbidly obese. But I'll be darned if I'm that way. It makes the battle tougher for me but I def am predisposed to being quite large My kids are thin, like you said, and I hope they can learn healthy eating/living from me and hubby.

sgthaggard

You're saying that two overweight parents aren't predisposed to have an overweight child because your two thin parents didn't have a thin child? In my books, one doesn't have to be true for the other to be true as well.

paine016

I don't think the reason for this is genetics, but because of learned behaviors. The example parents set is more often than not followed by their children. That's why so many smokers had parents who smoked. Even if told it's bad behavior, some children will still follow it. Unfortunately, "do as I say, not as I do" does not work.

I think there are certain genetically inherited factors that can contribute to this, but I think that sometimes it can be used as an excuse or justification for being overweight. If obesity were caused strictly by genetics, there would have been more obese people throughout history throughout the world. The main factors causing obesity in this country are not genetic, not like people think of genetics.

You do not inherit fat. You do inherit a body that acts a certain way because of how it evolved to fit its surroundings (ie desiring sugars and fats, conserving energy, etc). You also "inherit," over the years, a set of behaviors and attitudes from your immediate environment: your family.

I think a lot of it has to do with what we eat, the quality of foods available to us. We eat things we are not meant to eat. It's cheap, so we eat a lot of it. It's convenient, so there you go. Add to that a bad example regarding food, and it's going to be a tough mountain to climb. I fear that saying "oh, it's just genetics," will discourage people from attempting that climb, because they will resign their unhealthy state to fate.

BeingAwesome247

"Obesity runs in my family....NO, the problem is NOBODY runs in your family"

I personally do not think obesity is genetic. Thyroid/metabolism - yes can be

Poor eating habits, emotional eating, crap food, yo-yo dieting are LEARNED behaviors

I watched my mom go on every diet as a kid. Pizza and nachos were the regular at my house growing up. Family functions with OBSCENE amounts of food - the usual. I'm sad - have a cookie. Celebrating something - eat a cookie. I'm angry - eat a cookie.

If I wanted to just quit a sport growing up, my mom just let me. No talking to me about it or anything. I won't let my daughter just quit and I encourage her to ENJOY gym class! I encourage eating veggies and the kid loves soup, broth based soups haha
Soup and salad for dinner and she is THRILLED.
Broccoli and chicken - heck yes

When she's with my grandma, she is ALWAYS snacking...ALL DAY bc my grandma is.
I don't allow that. You have breakfast, lunch & dinner, mid-afternoon snack and sometimes an evening snack but not this constant mindless snacking just because - drink some water

bcattoes

So, to me, the idea that having fat parents will make you fat is total crap. Agree? No?

I disagree. Having fat parents is not a guarantee that you'll be fat, but it does up the odds that you will be fat. So, I don't think it's total crap. I do think having fat parents is more likely to make you a fat adult, whether or not you were a fat child.

kr1stadee

"Obesity runs in my family....NO, the problem is NOBODY runs in your family"

I personally do not think obesity is genetic. Thyroid/metabolism - yes can be

Poor eating habits, emotional eating, crap food, yo-yo dieting are LEARNED behaviors

I love this!! All 3 statements!! lol

fortysixpounds

Big parents may not equate to big children

However

Big children nearly always have big parents

bcattoes

"Obesity runs in my family....NO, the problem is NOBODY runs in your family"

I personally do not think obesity is genetic. Thyroid/metabolism - yes can be

Poor eating habits, emotional eating, crap food, yo-yo dieting are LEARNED behaviors

Genes do play a part in obesity, though it rarely causes it. But, those with the genetic predisposition for obesity may have to work a little harder to avoid it.

This is an interesting article on obesity genes:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-causes/genes-and-obesity/index.html

Genes influence every aspect of human physiology, development, and adaptation. Obesity is no exception. Yet relatively little is known regarding the specific genes that contribute to obesity and the scale of so-called "gene–environment interactions"—the complex interplay between our genetic makeup and our life experiences.
...
Several rare forms of obesity result from spontaneous mutations in single genes, so-called monogenic mutations. Such mutations have been discovered in genes that play essential roles in appetite control, food intake, and energy homeostasis—primarily, in genes that code for the hormone leptin, the leptin receptor, pro-opiomelanocortin, and the melanocortin-4 receptor, among others.
...
In the 21st century, obesity is a health problem affecting rich and poor, educated and uneducated, Westernized and non-Westernized societies. Body fat level varies from person to person, however, and some people have always tended to carry a bit more body fat than others. Evidence from animal models, human linkage studies, twin studies, and association studies of large populations suggests that this variation in our susceptibility to obesity has a genetic component. But rather than being controlled by a single gene, susceptibility to common obesity is thought to be affected by many genes (polygenic).
...
Work on obesity-related gene–environment interactions is still in its infancy. The evidence so far suggests that genetic predisposition is not destiny—many people who carry so-called "obesity genes" do not become overweight. Rather, it seems that eating a healthy diet and getting enough exercise may counteract some of the gene-related obesity risk.

Shrelana

I think it depends....
If the parents are large, but are teaching their kids how to eat and exercise in a healthy way - the kids will hopefully not be big.

But, what if you end up with a situation like my husband is battling, his mom raised him on fast food, and to get him to eat anything REMOTELY healthy is a fight. So, we compromise, I find ways to make healthy alternatives to what he grew up eating (and we have a little variety when the paychecks are nice enough to afford it!)

Or, what if the family, as a whole has health issues that cause the weight to just STAY. We are not sure if this is what causes it, or if it's a matter of not eating right and not exercising, but I don't have a single aunt on my father's side who is NOT large. My grand mother was large, and my father has to fight it nearly constantly. We're talking over an hour on the treadmill and 20 minutes a day on the bowflex, and he still has some issues...So, I tend to give it the benefit of the doubt, but at the same time, healthy habits would help. Granted in my case, I grew up eating food for hard labour (earned my horses by helping in the hay fields every summer), and then went to college, and those hours in the field turned into hours sitting at a desk, did not understand I needed to change my diet/portions, and so, the weight piled on. That's what I'm fighting now.

_kannnd

Having fat parents who are unwilling to teach their children correct eating and exercise habits will predispose their children to being overweight.
Having fat parents who are taking steps to break the cycle, get healthy, and educate their children about nutrition probably won't.

THIS!

kr1stadee

Big parents may not equate to big children

However

Big children nearly always have big parents

Didn't consider it like this! Thanks!

I love hearing the different views!!

quiltingducky

No necessarily true, at least in my family. My husband is a big guy and I am a big girl. We have 2 sons, ages 15 and 26, both over 6 feet 4 inches tall with one weighing 160 and the other 195 pounds. I can't figure it out, but I am glad that being heavy has skipped over them (for now). I think they are taking after one of their grandfathers who was tall and lanky.