I can understand you disagreeing, and I respect that. That said, it's not as if we can outright trust the ADA or AHA, since they've been wrong so often in the past.

I believe that there may be genetic tendencies towards metabolism, but to say that some human beings are genetically inclined to be obese is somewhat out there, IMO.

Of course, I am not a scientist, so this is all my opinion.

What could be genetic is a tendency to carb addiction and insulin resistance. By eating low carb, if that is the case, you avoid the things that have made and kept other relatives heavy. A$$holes are everywhere and the best way to deal with him is to succeed. Nyah Levi

I do think there might be a genetic component involved, but it is not as simple as people make it sound. No one who is otherwise healthy is destined to be morbidly obese. No one.

Genetics affect behaviors we are predispositioned to engage in and put ourselves in, and they also effect the way our bodies respond to environments out of our control. I think genetic predisposition to obesity is one part being predisposed to an addictive personality (gorge on food, abuse carbs, etc) and another part being predisposed to pack on weight a little quicker than other people because their temperment is one which likes to exercise less than thin people.

It is true some people have fast metabolisms and eat whatever they want without gain, but then again it has been shown in studies fat peoples metabolisms are normal. Meaning, it would seem fast metabolisms are more common than slow metabolisms. Besides, a slow metabolism can account for only like a 10 pound extra gain... slow metabolism does not cause morbid obesity.

The answer is clear, like alcoholism and drug abuse, morbid obesity is a disease caused by lifestyle more than anything else. It is not primarily caused by genetics or something out of our hands. Simply said, the biggest contributing factor to developing morbid obesity is eating gross amounts of food... end of discussion. You can argue genetic temperment puts someone at a predisposition to have an addictive personality (and by the way, obesity also positively correlates with substance abuse too) but nothing in your genes made any of us fat.

I used to tell myself that there was nothing I could do about my weight, but that was because I was ignorant about health, nutrition, and in denial. I didn't want to make a lifestyle change, and I didn't think I could ever live hungry all the time (low fat diet nonsense made me believe dieting is synonomous with starvation).


The the more pertinent question is, once someone has let themselves become morbidly obese, are they destined to be that way forever? I think the answer to this question is a little darker than the question of whether or not it is in our control to avoid morbid obesity. While avoiding morbid obesity is 100% in our control, reversing the damage of morbid obesity is a bit tricker. Once we have become morbidly obese, your body changes forever. Constantly gorging on large meals and eating high quantities of food floods the brain with neurochemicals as does abusing drugs, and studies have shown that the brains of super morbidly obese people are similar to drug addicts. Drug addicts and obese people, after prolonged abuse of their drug of choice, eventually experience a "burn out" where they become totally dependent upon their drugs just to feel normal. The obese person started eating for fun, but they soon find themselves hopelessly addicted to "food highs" just to cope with the every day nuances of living.

More research still shows that extended time spent morbidly obese can raise the bodys set point level, as high levels of leptin burn out leptin receptors (thus, the body requires more leptin before it percieves "starvation", meaning you can only diet down to a certain abnormally high weight before your body feels uncomfortable letting go of more fat). Also, cyclical bouts of starvation (dieting) and prosperity (rebound gorging) can do this too. It is very important that you not do is yo-yo diet, as this has the effect of permentantly affecting your set point level. This is why yo-yo dieters eventually find the weight stops comming off as easy as before.

All in all, there is no point crying over spilt milk for those of us who became morbidly obese. Yes, it is true, obesity changes our physiology forever. Like in drug addiction, once you are a (food) addict, you are always a (food) addict and can only control your addiction but never cure it. Atkins is our way of controlling our addiction. However, the sooner you intervene and the shorter time you spend fostering your morbid obesity, the less damage has been done, and the easier the transition will be into eating normally and obtaining a normal weight. Emotional and physical habits are harder to break.

Morbid obesity needs to be looked at in the same way as substance abuse. In short, saying someone is destined to be obese is like saying someone is destined to be alcoholic. It is completely and totally untrue. Just as alcoholism runs in families (partly because of genetic temperment towards being addictive coupled with environmental examples of abusing alcohol to deal with problems), it doesn't mean you are doomed to live your life an alcoholic. Predisposition is not our destiny. The sooner we interviene in our morbid obesity, and commit to perminent lifestyle changes (NOT quick fix diets... they do not work any more than going into detox but reabusing once on the outside does), the better chance we have for rehabilitation.

By the way, your uncle really sounds like a toxic personality. No one has the right to treat you like that, family or not. He is disrespecting you as a human being. I would cut him off asap.

Hi Leigh,

What a terrible man! If he (or any other bully) ever asks you again what 'diet' you're on, you should tell them you're on the "Low tolerance for A-holes" diet.

Quote:
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He's adept at finding people's weak spots and taking advantage of them. And here's the part I don't understand....no one ever does anything to stop him.
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No one ever does anything to stop him because they're afraid! I agree with an earlier post which said you shouldn't throw your eventual weight loss into his face- why let him take any of the credit for your hard work?

I hope you can keep him out of your life forever. Good luck!
Kathy

I personally believe that it is in your genes, I mean most overweight people that I know had overweight parents. But, who cares, that doesn't mean that you have to be fat for the rest of your life. And really, it probably isn't so much of a gene thing than the fact that your parents passed on and raised you with bad eating habits from the beginning. I can reflect on my southern child hood to back this statement up. Breakfast tables filled with biscuits and sugar gravy, lunches that were mostly bread, all of my snacks were filled with sugar, and there was flour gravy on EVERYTHING!

Your uncle should learn to keep his opinion to himself. Maybe we can all just wish really hard that he'll all of a sudden gain 75 pounds and then he would know what it's like.

Keep up the great work!

I agree there's probably a significant component of the tendency to gain weight, and once gained, how it's carried, that's genetic. Our shapes run in families. But were our families this fat before white sugar and high-fructose corn syrup hit the menu? Across the United States, at least, the answer is No or else the surgeon general wouldn't be concerned about the outbreak of obesity. This is new to us.

Pretty hard to control for variations in diet across generations. My grandfathers would not recognize most of what's in the grocery store today as food. (And quite possibly, many of the people in grocery stores today would not recognize the original form of most of those food products.)

DANG...Ditto to "It's the Woo"

my whole family is fat even my grand parents were on my moms side... My family line have all had addictive personalities. Both of my parents are alcoholics (Did you know that most children of alcoholics are fat?). My grandparents smoked and were alcoholics.... I do NOT feel destined to be fat..but I AM destined to have an addictive personality and eating with MY family is challenging becuase no matter what they all still eat anything and everything and WAY too much. I am just blown away sometimes thinking about how much I used to eat in one day...scarey! and I know I am STILL prone to "secret" eating... like I wont gain weight if I eat in a closet or something! GEEESH! I am trying to conquer these large issues and use Atkins as my tool.

I don't know who my genetic grandparents were (both parents were adopted my mother has no clue who her genatic family is and all i know about my dad's side is his dad was an acholholic and his mother had mental issues and that was genetic cause him and his brother both have them) but my parents adopted parents were really thin, my mom was thin until she got away from her mom who kept her on diet pills from the time she was 7 or 8 and she gained weight really fast her metablisom is so screwed up and she has so many health problems that can be traced back to that. my dad has always just been a big guy.
anyways I think more then anything it was the diet (or lack there of) that I ate as a child not genetics that made me gain weight.. that and just not caring about myself - alot of depression.. I was active but I hardly ate, when I did I ate to much and mainly cheap foods like ramen noodles and such

Crysania I can identify with what you say. I was a lot like that, depression caused me to have totally unregulated behavior (I cared about NOTHING, not even if I lived or died)... some days I would only eat a few things, but then others I would eat everything in sight. Totally bi-polar behavior like that. Yes, ramen noodles were one of my favorites too .

Genetics may very well play a role...but that certainly doesn't mean you're destined to be overweight. We have the tools (Atkins WOE) to change that if we so desire. I just wish I would've been more aware years ago! The power for change lies ONLY with you... I'd love to see you prove your Uncle wrong!!

I agree with ItstheWoo. Disposition does not equal fate. In life, some of us get dealt better hands than others in a lot of ways - economic, health, socially. That doesn't mean we are cursed to be poor, unhealthy, or uneducated. It's all in our control.

That is the great thing about this. We have the power. We always did. Our destinies aren't decided by our predispositions.