To think it's possible that being overweight could be genetic?

[hooliodancer]

In the last few years I have started to look more and more like my late mum, to the point that I now look in the mirror and see her in my clothes, which is a bit disconcerting.

My body shape has changed radically since perimenopause started. I am now exactly the same shape and size as she was at my age.

The thing is, I exercise like a bastard (4 or 5 times a week), do Pilates, eat healthily 90% of the time, walk when I can. She ate quite badly (1970's diet if you see what I mean plus loads of chocolate bars) drove everywhere and went to one exercise class in her life (keep fit at the village hall in 1977 .She hated it.)

But at the same age we look exactly the same despite totally different lifestyles.

I have struggled with my weight (as she did) all my life. At key weight putting on times (puberty, giving up smoking , now menopause) my body seems to grab all the weight it can!

It makes me want to give up this constant struggle and just accept what I look like now. Despite all the exercise and the seeds and nuts and avocados I'm still a short fat person.

It feels like my body WANTS to be a size 14. I was size 10 until 4 years ago and I haven't changed what I eat or my exercise regime.

Is it all down to genetics?

*working out

Having a FitBit has been interesting.

All my thin friends are very active in terms of numbers of daily steps, not necessarily from exercise classes and the like.

Thinking about the identical twins, I know two pairs of identical twins who are very different in body shape now they are in their 50s.

There ain't a lot of fat people in the jungle so no, it's mainly food/lack of exercise. that makes people fat.

Even an extra biscuit a day over what you need can really add up over the years...

Plus, as Secret Eaters has shown us, people underestimate what they eat...

I do think people on here are very quick to insist that any weight is strictly and entirely due to gluttony.

In reality of course the amount people can eat before putting on weight differs.
My DH and his sister have their maternal genetics and tend to chubbiness.
Their other sister takes after the paternal side and is lean and eats like an absolute horse, she's always eaten the most of the three of them.

Unless you weigh and measure your food accurately you'll have no idea how many calories you're eating. I knew one friend complaining about gaining on one healthy meal a day, and when she finally measured it, it turned out she was eating close 2k calories in one go. It is about calories in, calories out, and the only thing inherited is the lifestyle and eating habits you learned from her. A slim body is made in the kitchen.

Genetics may make us predisposed to certain things but our lifestyles are the biggest influence, so someone can be predisposed to putting down fat but that doesn't mean it's inevitable. You say you eat healthily but have you ever worked out how many calories you need Vs how many you're consuming?

It's so much more complicated than the amount people eat or exercise. There is such a huge combination of things at play to determine weight. Hormones are def a big part (pcos suffered here!) medications also can have an effect and people's general health can effect how active they are. I would also imagine vitamin and mineral deficiency probably plays a part too as your body will crave what it's missing. Add on to that things like sleep patterns, mental health, access to fresh ingredients etc and the whole thing gets rather complicated. You def can't say gluttony = fat and any one who is slim just has more self control.

My sister is "naturally skinny" and appears to eat a lot but it is not true. Yes she eats a fair amount of crap but the total calories does not add up to that much. Her portions are small she tends not to finish them, she barely touched booze and while she will eat crap she will also go long hours without eating anything and forget to eat at times sometimes for most of the day. She eats quite slowly too which I think both gives the impression that she has eaten more to an observer and also allows the satisfaction signals to reach her brain/stomach. I can practically inhale my food and when I feel full it's suddenly at the point that I feel sick having eaten too much.

You can lose weight eating sugar and crap and can gain it eating healthy stuff if your calories in V calories out does not add up.

For me I think I need to change my attitude. If I calorie count and stick to it I always lose weight. But when calorie counting I become obsessed with food and end up eating total rubbish! I then feel deprived having obsessed over calories all day even though I have eaten more rubbish than normal .

Genetics may help determine your body shape but how under/overweight you are is mainly just what you eat v exercise. Others have advised you that nuts seeds and avocado are really high in fat. I was sure myself I was rapidly gaining weight because I had a really low metabolism but I think I was just lying to myself! I have recently been using an app to log everything I eat. Ive discovered I've been packing away far more calories than I need even though it hasn't looked like much food. Try the myfitnesspal free app to see how you are doing. I'm finding it a good help. Good luck OP.

Most of my family are obese. 2 of us are 'skinny'
We both move a lot and at family events it's noticeable that we eat less than the rest of them.
I think a lot of people are in denial (excluding the small number of medical causes)

3 of my good friends are overweight. What I ah e noticed and wouldn't dare to point out to them, is that whenever their child falls over or is upset for whatever reason they seem to get them some chocolate or whatever. I thought that this could possibly be how comfort eating starts.

OP says that she put on weight when she got older. There are lots of reasons why getting older is a risk factor for being overweight.

When I was 38yo I had a summer at home with small children, could barely get out of the house. It felt like I completely stopped eating for 6 weeks, but I didn't lose any weight. That's when I realised how easily middle-aged spread happens. You either massively cut down food or you put on weight.

I have a huge extended family. Most of my relatives including most of 5 half brothers are overweight. There's no genetic reason why I'm not chubby like them.

I do believe there is a genetic component, also some people know when they are full, others don't.

My dad was never overweight in his life. He ate 3 meals and no more, never snacked- even in later life - because he didn't get hungry. My younger DS is the same. He eats until he is full and then stops whether he is 10% or 90% through a meal.

My dad was very active all his life...DS2 is not active at all - DS1 has always been far more sporty yet significantly bigger. So active/ not active isn't always the difference.

I don't know when I'm full, and if I let myself I eat to excess, as does my elder DS. We are both overweight. We can lose weight, and will, but for us it will be constantly policing our weight, rather than having the natural off switch that my DS has.

Yes, there have been studies on it too. Forgot what the gene is called, but there is a "fat gene" but can be overcome by diet and exercise.
Some people also just put weight on much more easily than others and can't just eat what all their friends eat and remain the same.
If you can be slim genetically, you can be fat too! Some people can eat and eat and even try hard to put on weight and still stay skinny or slim, and others put weight on very easily

If you can be slim genetically, you can be fat too! Some people can eat and eat and even try hard to put on weight and still stay skinny or slim, and others put weight on very easily

My mum was skinny as a rake, as am I. I really struggle to put on weight

But that's not my metabolism. It's just that genetically I have a smaller appetite. Turns out although I was eating loads of calorific junk food I was actually massively over estimating the total amount I was eating a day - like a PP said, I forget to eat meals and get full really easily. When I'm stressed or sad my appetite completely disappears. I have limited interest in food

But when I needed to get my BMI up to 18.5 up from 17 I was able to do it, it wasn't a case of my genetics not allowing my body to put on weight. I just had to try really hard to overcome my natural desire to eat less. I had to track my food with MFP to make sure I was eating enough. I couldn't believe how much I needed to be eating to get 2000 calories!

I'm not genetically slim per se, I just genetically seem to have a naturally smaller appetite, which therefore leads me to be slim.

I have just left hospital. No thyroid issues and 1 meal a day consisting of red split lentils and water of which I ate 3-4 spoonfuls. ( the rest of the time I was throwing up). I put on 3lb in 1 week despite the nurses asking my husband if I had an eating disorder( I don’t) !

So far this year, despite spending most of it with d&v, so no snacks, 1 very light meal, water only, I have gained 3 stone.

I’ve now been taken off what they believe is the offending medication, but i’m Living proof that it’s not as simple as calories in/out.

How do you explain slim people who eat crap, don't exercise and stay slim otherwise?

Portion control. I know many ppl who are slim and eat crap, but they eat irregularly. They don't seem to feel hunger and so they would eat maybe one real meal a day with a snack or two whenever they remember to eat. And some of them have this superpower that allows them to reject an apple pie after just one bite because the apples don't taste very apple-like!

Watch The Obesity Myth, if you can.

World-leading medical experts in the field know that there is a large genetic component to obesity.

They don't seem to feel hunger

Bingo.

Genetics must play a part - of course, we all come in different shapes and sizes. It's just the extent of the part it plays.

Some people are effortlessly slim. They are sinewy and lean, and never seem to put on an ounce of weight, no matter what.

But - that's only part of the picture. They may also have smaller appetites, eat more nutritious food, move around a great deal more (and I don't mean actual exercise).

The amount of food that an average person needs each day is, I think, surprisingly small. Most people eat more than they need, by a marginal or significant amount. Even eating a marginal amount more than you need will slowly but surely result in weight gain.

And that's why there a very few slim people around these days.

I like being slim, but i am categorically not one of those mystical people who can eat whatever they want, and stay slim. I am hungry a lot of the time.

I'm almost 50 and recently have noticed that I am becoming more like my mother, shape-wise. This morning I weighed myself, and discovered to my horror that I am the heaviest I have ever been! Will be eating less and moving about more as of now!

I know that I've put the weight on because I've been eating too much crap, and even more significantly because I've been taking much less exercise than usual. Genetics would explain the way the weight is distributed about my body, but not the actual weight gain.

I like being slim, but i am categorically not one of those mystical people who can eat whatever they want, and stay slim. I am hungry a lot of the time.

'Hunger' is also quite different for different people. I learnt that when I started taking antidepressants that gave me a huge appetite. Previously, as someone who stayed at a healthy weight with little effort, I'd been a bit judgemental of overweight people who always seemed to be eating, thinking that they should be better able to put up with being a bit hungry. The thing is, I hadn't felt this hungry before. It constantly felt like I hadn't eaten in days. I couldn't concentrate on my work unless I ate a lot more than I had before. I said to the doctor that this drug had made me put on weight and she said 'no, it just makes you want to eat more. Eating more is what makes you put on weight', making it very clear that the problem was my will power. Which was both true and completely unhelpful - my new appetite would have meant that (somewhat unhelpfully for an antidepressant) I would have been totally miserable on my old diet. I'd not known hunger like it before - but I think for some people that's how they always feel.

I very rarely feel hungry or even thirsty. I have to actively remember both. I'm a nightmare with the thirst one.

It's a. I tire of genetics and am obesogenic environments coupled with a hunter gather brain.

We no longer need to hunt for our bar of chocolate...we can drive tit he cloak shop and get it. Manufacturers market to us in a way designed to ensure we eat more calories than we need.

Movement is also important, our bodies were designed to move .

Eat less and exercise more is seriously bad advice.

You need to eat more....and mostly unprocessed foods.
You need to move more.

Weight loss is slow but you will keep it off unlike the quick fix diet plans which have a 95% failure rate.

Have a read if Professor Traci Mann and what she has to say about earring and dieting. You will never go on a diet again.