Im Obese because my family is Obese! True/False
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In order for genetics or epigenetics to even be applicable or relevant here, there would need to be people somewhere whose observed TDEE was way lower than expected without any other explanation. Lots of them.sheldonklein wrote: »There's also epigenetics
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/07/epigenetics-heredity-diabetes-obesity-increased-cancer-risk
"There are many definitions of epigenetics, but simply put, says Professor Marcus Pembrey, a geneticist at University College London and the University of Bristol, it is a change in our genetic activity without changing our genetic code. It is a process that happens throughout our lives and is normal to development. Chemical tags get attached to our genetic code, like bookmarks in the pages of a book, signalling to our bodies which genes to ignore and which to use.
For decades, we have thought of our offspring as blank slates. Now, epigeneticists are asking whether in fact our environment, from smoking and diet to pollution and war, can leave "epigenetic marks" on our DNA that could get passed on to subsequent generations. They call the phenomenon epigenetic inheritance."
Stated generously, the article, and epigenetics, is highly speculative and controversial. Less generously, it is dangerous hooey. I'm not feeling generous.
There is nothing speculative or controversial about epigenetics.
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There's also epigenetics
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/07/epigenetics-heredity-diabetes-obesity-increased-cancer-risk
"There are many definitions of epigenetics, but simply put, says Professor Marcus Pembrey, a geneticist at University College London and the University of Bristol, it is a change in our genetic activity without changing our genetic code. It is a process that happens throughout our lives and is normal to development. Chemical tags get attached to our genetic code, like bookmarks in the pages of a book, signalling to our bodies which genes to ignore and which to use.
For decades, we have thought of our offspring as blank slates. Now, epigeneticists are asking whether in fact our environment, from smoking and diet to pollution and war, can leave "epigenetic marks" on our DNA that could get passed on to subsequent generations. They call the phenomenon epigenetic inheritance."
Epigenetic inheritance can be undone by environment.0 -
LiftAllThePizzas wrote: »
A few decades ago there weren't really very many obese people. The genetics of people in developed nations didn't just suddenly change in the last few decades. It's the fact that we now have easy access to as much highly caloric food as we want and little reason to do things that burn extra calories.tiffanyslimdown wrote: »Okay!!! Looking for opinions here. I come from a pretty "large" set of family. Are ppl really fat because of genetics? How much of a role DNA play in obesity? I'm a larger woman & look/built exactly like my aunt, large arms, thighs & big buttocks, small breast for my weight and not much of stomach for a 380lbs woman.
Don't want my children in these footsteps of foolery! (Genetics/over eating etc)
Question is: Do people really "get it from they momma"?
Since that availability isn't going to change (or at least I hope it doesn't) we need to adapt our lifestyles to our new environment if we want to avoid the negative effects.
Half of my grandparents--my mother's side--were overweight or obese by middle age. My grandfather's sister was THE FAT WOMAN in her nursing class. It was really quite dramatic. Every other person was in a healthy weight range. She was obese.
And a huge number of my great-aunts and great-great aunts and second cousins on that side were by middle age, too.
My mother and her brother and all our families are healthy weight.0 -
LiftAllThePizzas wrote: »
In order for genetics or epigenetics to even be applicable or relevant here, there would need to be people somewhere whose observed TDEE was way lower than expected without any other explanation. Lots of them.sheldonklein wrote: »There's also epigenetics
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/07/epigenetics-heredity-diabetes-obesity-increased-cancer-risk
"There are many definitions of epigenetics, but simply put, says Professor Marcus Pembrey, a geneticist at University College London and the University of Bristol, it is a change in our genetic activity without changing our genetic code. It is a process that happens throughout our lives and is normal to development. Chemical tags get attached to our genetic code, like bookmarks in the pages of a book, signalling to our bodies which genes to ignore and which to use.
For decades, we have thought of our offspring as blank slates. Now, epigeneticists are asking whether in fact our environment, from smoking and diet to pollution and war, can leave "epigenetic marks" on our DNA that could get passed on to subsequent generations. They call the phenomenon epigenetic inheritance."
Stated generously, the article, and epigenetics, is highly speculative and controversial. Less generously, it is dangerous hooey. I'm not feeling generous.
There is nothing speculative or controversial about epigenetics.
There is up to 30% of measured BMR not accounted for my fat mass, fat-free mass, age, and gender.
But then that pretty much disappears when you include afterburn.....
We know what happens when the metabolism actually slows. Among other things. core temperature drops. It happens in extreme anorexics. It never happens in the obese.0 -
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CGAQtwIwCQ&url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAQr77QMJiw&ei=GNWZVbU9yOmwBY3vs6AC&usg=AFQjCNHQBLXYqv98Lmj0qKrjsjaIrfzqrA&sig2=ZKWGXYjDuZVJc8HNj8pyFQ
Watch this it explains how people are different too.
At the beginning, a body used to processing not very much food will simply rebel and food goes straight through not very well digested.
I've been hanging around 1200 cal a day. If I suddenly ate 900 cal at a sitting, I would get sick. I wouldn't gain much weight from it because it wouldn't be absorbed. It would take at least a week to put on much weight.
In addition...thin people can lie about their food diaries, too! Anorexics do. The people trying to force themselves to eat might log the whole thing and only eat half. It's not a lab situation, so that becomes a factor. It's been found that very lean people (not even anorexic)--not exercise fans who eat a lot but people who just don't eat much--overestimate how much the eat as much as obese people underestimate--by percent.+
They also all DIDN'T eat the same amount. They ate "twice as much as normal"...if the did it (which they didn't always manage to) while uniformly slashing their activity level. The guy who used to eat 3.2k and work out a lot will add a ton more than the girl who used to eat 1.5k and was already sedentary.
I'm also an enormous grazer. I can plot through a box of chocolates or a bag of anything salty like crazy, left to my own devices. I eat happily when I'm not hungry. I've never, ever been obese. Because I still usually cut back when my pants get tight.
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I see it happen often on this site (and I see it has happened a few times in this thread) - this idea that some people are just lucky or something. I have had the experience of being on the other side of the table, so to speak.
My sister was always saying, and still does, that as children, she used to eat the same as me and she gained weight and I stayed skinny. She felt very sorry for herself as a result. I was the skinny one, but I was also well aware that we very definitely did not eat the same amount - not ever. Although my mother prepared our meals the same way, what my sister forgot about is her snacking, her nibbling (grabbing a roast potato from the serving tray before the dishing up was done, and a slice of cheese from the fridge) and her tasting as well as the extra soft drinks and milk she drank during the day. She also forgot about how I would jump in the pool for a swim every day and she preferred the couch and the TV.
It used to irritate the hell out of me that she would always claim that I had some special biological advantage. The one time I even suggested to her - ok - if you really think we eat the same, eat exactly what I eat, when I eat it, for our whole two week holiday. She only lasted a day before she was adding extra.
Time has proven my case as this so called naturally skinny person has had to take pretty dramatic action throughout her adult life to not get fat, a struggle with which I have varying levels of success. My sister however is obese and still does not take responsibility or ownership for it.
It is not fun to say - "It was me. I am fat because I ate all the foods" - but I really do think it is what we need to do to get on the path to long term weight control and admit that there is no favoritism and no fat bogeyman that has it in for you.0 -
I get that it somehow helps people feel better about eating too much and not exercising enough. They can just say their fat not because of that but because it runs in the family. My whole family is skinny, I'm the only one that has ever struggled with it. When I was younger my sister made fun of me because her and her idiot friend had just spit out a couple of pups and were like 10lbs over their pre-pup weight and they asked me why I was so fat because they were just fat because they couldn't keep their legs closed, I didn't have a reason. I'm also the only non-smoker, so are they all smokers because of their genes? Or is it just how they were raised? Are my genes so hipster they can comply with the rest of my relatives genes?0
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I think this is a very interesting topic. I believe it is more habit than genetics.
My direct family (including me) has always been skinny/normal. Some of my grandmothers siblings and their children are overweight.
But the reason I think obese families are obese because of habits stems from me joining those families for dinner. Some really healthy balanced meals have been served at those dinners, but the other people were eating portion 2-3x as large as my portion. Furthermore, they finished dinner before I did....0 -
I have a hard time believing that our genes have an effect on everything but our weight. How much is genetic and how much is bad habits, I don't know, I don't think anyone knows, honestly.
Genetics can not alter the laws of physics, if you have gained a pound it's because you have consumed 3500 calories above maintenance. Period.
People who use the gene card to justify weight or lack of physicality are on the wrong side of history. Just like the people who believed only an elite few were capable of reading centuries ago.
The difference in genetic potential between the most elite athletes and the most sedentary couch potato is immeasurably small, it's simply not a valid excuse.0 -
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"?[/quote]
A few decades ago there weren't really very many obese people. The genetics of people in developed nations didn't just suddenly change in the last few decades. It's the fact that we now have easy access to as much highly caloric food as we want and little reason to do things that burn extra calories.
Since that availability isn't going to change (or at least I hope it doesn't) we need to adapt our lifestyles to our new environment if we want to avoid the negative effects.[/quote]
Absolutely, it's also interesting that obesity seems to effect the poor to an even greater extent than the general population. It's something likely never seen before where calories are so cheap and easy to come by that people that struggle to keep a roof over their heads are able to over eat like only kings used to be able to.
We may have genetic predispositions to glut when possible and to refrain from physical activity when possible due to millenia of harsh consequences.
Something to keep in mind also is that the availability of food and medical care also allows people everywhere to reach levels of strength and performance that not so long ago would have been either extrordinary or unheard of. While we are definitely seeing an epidemic of unhealthy weight throughout the developed world we are concurrently seeing an "epidemic" of un heard of health and physical performance.
The potential exists for either extreme in all our genes, where you end up is entirely up to you0 -
I agree with most of the comments above. Some of it comes from genetics. But mostly it is from the eating habits that are learned from your family and the lifestyle you live while around them. I've struggled most of my life with weight, more so than either of my two younger brothers. The older my brothers get the more they have to watch what they eat because they do have a tendency to put on weight quite easily when they are not as active and/or watching the types of foods. But a few changes in diet can usually take it back off of them quickly. Since March I've ramped up my exercise and really watched what I've been eating and have lost 50 lbs. A big change for me, and fairly quickly, but again it would seem it's more of the habits that I grew up with keeping the weight on. I've really had to work on some of those. We all do have similar body types in where we store the weight though - in the stomach area. I noticed that is true for my parents as well. So that probably is more genetic.0
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tiffanyslimdown wrote: »Okay!!! Looking for opinions here. I come from a pretty "large" set of family. Are ppl really fat because of genetics? How much of a role DNA play in obesity? I'm a larger woman & look/built exactly like my aunt, large arms, thighs & big buttocks, small breast for my weight and not much of stomach for a 380lbs woman.
Don't want my children in these footsteps of foolery! (Genetics/over eating etc)
Question is: Do people really "get it from they momma"?
It's not in your DNA
It's in your learned behaviours - and normalisation of behaviours that lead to obesity
(I am now going to read the thread to see who I agree with)0 -
Whether because of genetics or learned behaviors, there's definitely a pattern of obesity in families. However, that's no excuse - you're still capable of achieving proper weight and fitness if you put your mind to it.0
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While I generally agree that it's the food habits we pick up from our family that matter, there is a history of thyroid disease in my family that has a definite genetic component. My grandmother's children by her first husband all have it, but none of her children by my grandfather have it. Mammaw outlived both husbands, by the way. Any who, about 1/3 of my cousins also have thyroid disease and are overweight because of it.
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False - you are eating more than you burn.
end thread/0 -
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This is really a yes and no.
I grew up eating the same as my relatively skinny family. We were all competitive swimmers-so exercise wasn't the issue. BUT. We are also half native, and I'm the one who carries most of the native traits. In December I stopped with the sugar and carbs (well, I lowered them significantly anyway, no way to stop them completely!), including natural sugars and natural carbs, opting for a ketogenic diet.
For the first time in my life I'm losing weight consistently (almost 60 pounds yay!)
It's a fact that Aboriginals don't deal well with packaged foods or carbs, and that's genetics.
It's also a fact that I grew up with potatoes and desserts from my family.
So....both 0 -
When I was a child, I was overweight. I hit my max at 14. I weighed almost 200lbs (at barely 5 ft tall) and was a size 20. My mom was obese and still is obese. When I left home and went to college, I changed my eating/exercise habits and lost 65lbs. At 35 years old (and after having 2 children), I am a size 2.
I have had DNA testing done. I DO have the "obesity gene." I WAS obese. I am no longer obese. Genetically, I have the predisposition to become obese. My behaviors seems to influence my body more than my genetics.0 -
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This is really a yes and no.
I grew up eating the same as my relatively skinny family. We were all competitive swimmers-so exercise wasn't the issue. BUT. We are also half native, and I'm the one who carries most of the native traits. In December I stopped with the sugar and carbs (well, I lowered them significantly anyway, no way to stop them completely!), including natural sugars and natural carbs, opting for a ketogenic diet.
For the first time in my life I'm losing weight consistently (almost 60 pounds yay!)
It's a fact that Aboriginals don't deal well with packaged foods or carbs, and that's genetics.
It's also a fact that I grew up with potatoes and desserts from my family.
So....both
It still boils down to cals in vs cals out... Period. Yes there are genetic traits that cause some people to respond to certain foods differently. I'm part native and that likely contributes to my lactose intolerance but it has nothing to do with weight.
You didn't lose weight because you started eating natural, you lost weight because you started eating less. Processed/packaged food makes eating to much easier but that's about it.
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While genetics might play a part in this. The answer is still no OP. You are the person who can gain control of your weight. This is not like height which past generations can dictate.0
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DNA might have a small, small, SMALL role. Maybe. Kinda. Sorta.
But for the 99.999999999% other percent of that, it's all about learned behaviors, family dynamics, cooking methods (I'm looking at you, Paula Deen) and good ole caloric intake. Also consider how readily and easily available foods are these days, combined with less mobility (cars, trains, etc) and more sedentary lifestyles, it's a perfect storm for Obesity.
At least for me, it was. I can't speak for the rest of the population. I never learned moderation from my parents or that I didn't have to put butter on absolutely everything or that even going for a walk would help keep my weight down. My mother didn't teach me any of that. In school all they taught back then was the food pyramid.
My daughter just finished kindergarten and they had a whole section on nutrition already. At first I was taken aback but then I was like... really?????????? Sweet! I tell her all the time about exercising being good for her and helps keep her healthy, etc. Because I don't want her to grow up the way I did, without any understanding of health, exercise or nutrition. And if she ever comments about how I haven't exercised in a while, I tell her, "Well, let's go for a walk then!"0 -
It still boils down to cals in vs cals out... Period. Yes there are genetic traits that cause some people to respond to certain foods differently. I'm part native and that likely contributes to my lactose intolerance but it has nothing to do with weight.
You didn't lose weight because you started eating natural, you lost weight because you started eating less. Processed/packaged food makes eating to much easier but that's about it.
But I am literally NOT eating less-I'm eating DIFFERENT. I'm now eating foods that are better for MY body. I'm still at 1200 calories. But I grew up thinking the weight watchers way- 1200 calories is 1200 calories, while for me, that's just not true.
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If I were to hear someone saying they are obese because there parents are then I would know that for them they might stay that way for as long as it takes for them to talk responsibility and stop blaming everyone else but the person who needs to be blamed.0
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It still boils down to cals in vs cals out... Period. Yes there are genetic traits that cause some people to respond to certain foods differently. I'm part native and that likely contributes to my lactose intolerance but it has nothing to do with weight.
You didn't lose weight because you started eating natural, you lost weight because you started eating less. Processed/packaged food makes eating to much easier but that's about it.
But I am literally NOT eating less-I'm eating DIFFERENT. I'm now eating foods that are better for MY body. I'm still at 1200 calories. But I grew up thinking the weight watchers way- 1200 calories is 1200 calories, while for me, that's just not true.
Science says otherwise. 1200 calories IS 1200 calories, no matter the source. What you're referring to though is a difference in macronutrient breakdown. Macros/nutritional breakdown will cause different reactions. Carbs vs. Protein vs. Fat, etc. But macros don't dictate weight loss. Calories do.0 -
It still boils down to cals in vs cals out... Period. Yes there are genetic traits that cause some people to respond to certain foods differently. I'm part native and that likely contributes to my lactose intolerance but it has nothing to do with weight.
You didn't lose weight because you started eating natural, you lost weight because you started eating less. Processed/packaged food makes eating to much easier but that's about it.
But I am literally NOT eating less-I'm eating DIFFERENT. I'm now eating foods that are better for MY body. I'm still at 1200 calories. But I grew up thinking the weight watchers way- 1200 calories is 1200 calories, while for me, that's just not true.
You sure you don't have a medical issue?
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Science says otherwise. 1200 calories IS 1200 calories, no matter the source. What you're referring to though is a difference in macronutrient breakdown. Macros/nutritional breakdown will cause different reactions. Carbs vs. Protein vs. Fat, etc. But macros don't dictate weight loss. Calories do.
So I guess you could say instead that my reaction to those macros are genetic...and then we're back to the beginning
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That's not what I said at all.
Science says otherwise. 1200 calories IS 1200 calories, no matter the source. What you're referring to though is a difference in macronutrient breakdown. Macros/nutritional breakdown will cause different reactions. Carbs vs. Protein vs. Fat, etc. But macros don't dictate weight loss. Calories do.
So I guess you could say instead that my reaction to those macros are genetic...and then we're back to the beginning
ETA: Carbs for example, give a short burst of energy. I don't mean, a different reaction for everyone.0 -
No, that's what I said The reactions I get from certain foods are not the same as other people.
(And I'm not avoiding the rest of this, but I gotta go to work!)0
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