Genes say if you are born fat, you'll die fat

[kaypeeoh]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/08/healthscience/snfat.php?page=3D1

An interesting article, worth the time it takes to read. This researcher has looked at obesity since the 50's. His finding is if you are obese, you can lose weight and be thinner but you will always be hungry. And without a huge effort of will, you will regain the weight sooner or later. However he never met Dr Atkins, I assume.

[322432]

BS-- I was born fat, grew up to be fat, and now weigh 190lbs. I eat more than I ever have. Genetics? BS--neither my mother
(97 yrs.) or my dad (passed at 88) are fat or are or were diabetic, nor am I; but all three of my brothers are. The only difference is our WOE, Too bad these so called experts can,t save a life or do something else worthwhile, rather than spout lies and make fools of themselves. What a waste of time. If any of us that work for a living were to do our jobs no better than they do theirs, we wouldn't last a day.

[glendarc]

I wonder if the converse is true? I was born light and was underweight until I hit my 40's - then all those attempts to gain weight finally took! Maybe there's hope yet!!!

[doobie]

Born fat (as in obese) or born HEAVY? Most newborn babies have a great deal of body fat, so that doesn't really make sense. Of course some people have a genetic predisposition to obesity, but that doesn't mean that the main causitory factor in obesity isn't a POOR DIET and sedentary lifestyle.

[TarHeel]

I don't feel like looking for my birth certificate at the moment, but I'm pretty sure that I was a normal to low weight baby. Both of my parents were in the underweight range for most of their lives.

So the only excuse I have for becoming obese was that I ate too much, and too much of the wrong things and got little to no exercise.

Mea culpa.

Kay

[southbel]

All seven of my aunts and uncles were over 12 pounds at birth but they varied in their weights as adults. My sister and I were both over 10 pounds at birth and we both were thin as children and I didn't gain weight until I had my daughter. My sister was fine until her pancreas quit due to a botched galllbladder surgery. She is now on the transplant list and has gained weight dramatically but I certainly wouldn't blame that on genetics. So, according to this though, we should ALL be obese, right? Humph! I call the BS flag on this one.

[eryalen]

I wonder if the converse is true? I was born light and was underweight until I hit my 40's - then all those attempts to gain weight finally took! Maybe there's hope yet!!!
Me too! When I was 20 I was 6' tall and 120 lbs. In my late 20's I started to put on weight until I was close to 200 lbs. I blame my diet entirely.

[jschwab]

I think there is some truth to this, but a major flaw leaps out at me right away. The adoptees might be living apart with other parents with different biological weights, but they are likely living under similar conditions. No Dutch child was likely adopted by a nomadic tribe from the bush, but rather they were living in the throes of inustrial Western society. A better example would be two people separated at birth, one left to eat US-style with a sedentary life and the other growing up with a totally different eating culture and lots of exercise. Immigrants to the United States and nomadic people who settle into "civilization" almost immediately develop obesity and other chronic health problems.

Janine

[kaypeeoh]

It sounds like jschwab is the only one who actually read the article. Mainly he was saying some are naturally slim and if made to eat enough to become heavy they have difficulty doing so and naturally lose that weight once they're not made to eat excessive amounts. Others are naturally heavy and tend to regain whatever weight was lost through diets.

There's an important point here; The point is if you lose a lot of weight, you must still be hypervigilant to prevent regaining it eventually. That's why I run seven days a week. I don't trust myself to control my diet enough to not regain lost weight. I lost over 40 pounds fifteen years ago and it's a constant battle not to regain it. I'll get lazy and gain 5 pounds and have to work hard to get rid of it. It's a cycle that I repeat year after year.

Lowcarb makes it easier to lose weight but nothing has cured me from wanting more food than my body needs. That's the state many on this web are in whether they want to admit it or not.

[Nancy LC]

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=334151

Is basically the same article, different newspaper.

I think it is striking how hard the body works to regain the weight and thinks it is starving. You have to be super vigilant for your entire life.

The times when I've relied on exercise to control my weight, I usually end up with an injury when I can't exercise and my appetite is still huge from exercising and that defeats me. Of course, those were higher carb days too.

[dina1957]

It sounds like jschwab is the only one who actually read the article. Mainly he was saying some are naturally slim and if made to eat enough to become heavy they have difficulty doing so and naturally lose that weight once they're not made to eat excessive amounts. Others are naturally heavy and tend to regain whatever weight was lost through diets.

There's an important point here; The point is if you lose a lot of weight, you must still be hypervigilant to prevent regaining it eventually. That's why I run seven days a week. I don't trust myself to control my diet enough to not regain lost weight. I lost over 40 pounds fifteen years ago and it's a constant battle not to regain it. I'll get lazy and gain 5 pounds and have to work hard to get rid of it. It's a cycle that I repeat year after year.
I tend to agree with the theory. My father was think despite eating tons of carbs: grains, fruit, etc. My mother was obese ( but i was born in her late 30s) so it could be due to being perimenopausal too, but her earlier picture show that she was always overweight. She never dieted or tried to lose weight at all. I was not born obese, I was 3.5 kg baby, which is average weight, and was a slim kid until puberty. I have gained some weight but again I was not fat just not as slim as some of my peer.
But I dieted all my life for stupid reason, I did not understand that even being at my skinny weight, I will never be as slim and thin as someone else. I never could kept weight off for really long time ( couple years to the most), it was always cycling: losing/gaining, even if it was only 5-10 pounds.
OTOH, I personally know ppl who want to gain weight, eat tons of food, junk, washed down with milk shakes, enitre pizza in one sitting, lots of ice cream, whatever, and never can gain an ounce despite lack of exercise.
I have to kill myslef dieting and working out to stay at certain level, and as get older, it gets harder and harder to keep the weight off.


Lowcarb makes it easier to lose weight but nothing has cured me from wanting more food than my body needs. That's the state many on this web are in whether they want to admit it or not.
this is also true, the true value of the LC diet is that it curbs appetite. But I think it has something to do with metabolism slowing down too, since I eat now much less than I would eat 5 years ago. I also can eat only small portion of any food without getting indigestion. But it does not result in major weight loss.
I agree with you, there is genetic factor, unless how we can explain why some can eat tons of food: fat, suigar, junk, whatever and stay slim, while other are obese from childhood and then baloon to 300 pounds as adults.

[waywardsis]

Anyone ever read any Bruce Lipton? He's a cellular biologist. I'm working on a book of his now and his research seems to point to genetics NOT being the be-all-end-all...more that it's the environment in which your cells find themselves that triggers certain genes to express themselves. Certain exceptions of course (like MS, etc). Change environment, change gene expression.

I'm not that far in the book but this is the gist so far. Interesting stuff.

[Nancy LC]

Well, its certainly true that environment plays a big role in genes for some critters. Like there's one beastie that changes sex depending on temperature, or something like that.