Genetics and weight

The_Enginerd wrote: »

krisb1701d wrote: »

Bacteria outnumber our cells ten to one, and if the drive you to eat... There is little you can do in the short term to combat that.

This is not true, the ratio is closer to 1:1
http://www.nature.com/news/scientists-bust-myth-that-our-bodies-have-more-bacteria-than-human-cells-1.19136

Interesting paper, thanks for that. While his findings are still under review it does note that there is still a higher concentration in the gut. I believe the point about the GI microbiota driving us to eat still stands.

My Nutrition teacher (who has her degree in exercise physiology) believes someone can be healthy/athletically fit/metabolically normal and still be overfat. I would say it is normally an excuse but she says there are some people whose bodies are just really good at storing fat. Twin studies have shown that genetics can play enough of a part that fat-prone children will still weigh more than their peers when they are adopted by a normal weight family.

Having a larger frame would mean your 'ideal weight' is a little bit higher but it isn't like we're talking about 30 lbs higher. The difference between medium frame and large frame is only like 10 lbs, and it is likely at least some of that is going to muscle and bone mass.

I was slim my whole life, and started gaining weight at around age 39-40. Can i blame genetics or big boned and/or having a large frame??
I'm more inclined to blame my inability to stop stuffing food in my mouth, lack of willpower and an "i dont care" attitude. .

Chances are high that if the parents are obese, their kids will follow suit. They don't know any better, nor were they taught a healthy lifestyle from birth. Eating to the point of obeseness is their normal.

I don't think you can just say my parents are big so I will be too. My mother's side of the family are all overweight and there's a lot of them! But only because they're all lazy and eat crap. My father's side are mostly slim. My father has never been overweight as far as I can remember. I seem to have inherited my father's build (wide shoulders slim waist) but my mother's ability to eat huge amounts of crap - not sure if the latter is genetics. I'm overweight now but not yet classed as obese, never have been. My two siblings are well into being obese and getting bigger. I seem to be a lot more like my father than they are, but I also have a different way of thinking to them - is this genetics, or just self-mental conditioning?

As others have said, my opinion is that it's probably more likely to copy family traits rather than genetically inherit them. If I ate what my mother ate, I'd probably be obese too. My siblings take after my mother, I take after my father, but surely that's choice. My siblings can't possibly be genetically swayed to eat crap, surely they just choose to copy what they think is 'normal'?

Over half of my immediate family is overweight or at least they struggle to keep weight off. My father,one of my sisters,and I,are/were the opposite and struggle to put weight on. I grew up in the 50s and 60s and we all had the same diet. The difference was in the amount we ate. The thin ones like me tend to eat smaller portions,only eat when we're hungry,stop eating when we're full and rarely snack in between meals. And we tend to be more active.(In my recent efforts to gain weight,I've had to reverse those habits) So in my experience,yes genetics may play a part but it's eating and exercise habits that have shaped me and my family.