[quote=Ren]I’m a fitness fanatic, so the subject comes up a lot around me, and 100% of the obese people I’ve talked to blame their genes and/or age. This gives them the excuse they need to not make the lifestyle changes that would enable them to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Of course they always say I’m lucky to have gotten the “good” genes. When I point out that I control my caloric intake and exercise, they dismiss it with a wave of their hand and quickly move away, so they won’t have to face the idea that they might have to do some actual work.
If someone doesn’t correlate taking in 4,000 calories of fast food and beer every day (while getting no exercise whatsoever) with their ever-increasing waistline, that’s sheer laziness and stupidity – not the evil food industry. God forbid they get their heart rate up and pay attention to what they’re shoveling in their mouth. When they finally do, what do you know – the fat falls off. There’s no way around the math.
Case in point – my wife’s dad weighs 550 (not a typo), while she looks great in a swimsuit after two kids. Same “fat” genes, same love of food. The difference? She exercises and has a little self-control. It doesn’t take much.
Obviously we need some regulation – the kind where they make manufacturers and restaurants publish the content of food. What we don’t need is someone telling Ben and Jerry’s they’re not allowed to cram 1,200 calories into a pint.[/quote]
Regarding the “genes,” you can have five different siblings, but only one or two might have the “bad” genes. Just like eye color, hair color, height, intelligence, disease risk, etc.; you can have a family with certain genes, but they only manifest themselves in certain people.
Case in point: my sister was born 11 pounds, 2 oz. I was born 6 pounds, 8 oz. All our lives, I could eat twice as much as she did, but she would rapidly gain weight, while I would lose weight or remain stable.
Up until I started having kids, people would ask how I did it. I ate total crap — tons of sugar, fat, and fast food, but never gained weight, and looked very athletic. That all changed once I started getting pregnant. The hormones caused some sort of shift in my body, and it’s never been the same since.
When the overweight people used to ask me what my secret was, I shamefully admit that I used to think they were sneaking ice cream every day and lounging around on the couch all day; after all, when I watched them eat, they were eating better than I was, and they were always going for walks and trying to remain active. Of course, they had to be cheating, or else they’d be slim and athletic looking, right? I was one of the “lucky” ones who was arrogant and thought every overweight person was just lazy and lacked self-control. Now, I know better.
We now have three kids of our own. Our eldest is endomorphic, just like her dad and my sister. Our middle is “average.” Our youngest is more ectomorphic/mesomorphic. They all eat the same foods, and generally get the same level of exercise, but they have totally different bodies — and have had these totally different physiques, from birth. What I have noticed is that they metabolize food differently. The skinny one is what some might call “hyperactive,” while the heavy one is what some might call “lazy.” But neither of them is trying to be active or inactive; it’s innate.
I firmly believe that some people’s bodies are born to store food/energy, while other people have bodies that immediately convert food to kinetic energy.
It’s easy to look at a heavy person and claim that they are “lazy” and lack self-control, but that kind of thinking is too simplistic. It doesn’t account for the fact that they have to FORCE their bodies to move, whereas the “hyperactive” ones (fast metabolizers) have bodies that move themselves! Think of how different hormones and medicines can make people quickly gain or lose weight, regardless of what they eat or how much exercise they get. There is far more involved in our “obesity epidemic” than some might like to believe.
