Genes and weight

[HeadacheAgainToday]

I've always been a bit meh, when it comes to anything other than diet and exercise impacting your weight, and kind of saw 'genes' as a bit of an excuse for tubbiness (I'm not slim! So I was judging myself more than anyone!! And I do know I could do more exercise and eat better)...

But ... My world view had been somewhat shattered by my own kids!!

DS1 is thick-set. He's not overweight, but just looks Fuller and more solid. Pretty sure he would be overweight if he did 'normal' levels of exercise for his age.

DS2 is a skinny thing!

Now here's the weird thing!...

DS1 is v v athletic! In a swim club, plays football, never stops moving. He doesn't eat as much as his younger brother and what he does eat is v healthy! He doesn't naturally have a sweet tooth and hates chocolate (I wish I did!!). He's not keen on carbs really and mainly eats lean meat and fish and vegetables.

DS2 does not stop eating and what he likes to eat is chocolate, cake, ice cream etc... We are careful with how much rubbish he's allowed to eat, but at school he always has sweet puddings, sweet snacks when offered and when both r offered a treat at home DS1 usually says no and DS2 always says yes!!

I can only conclude that there is some biological contributor to weight, and DS2 has DH genes (skinny) and DS1 has inherited mine (more thick set)

Seems so u fair!!

And I feel I've been wrong about this whole thing for 40 years!

(Unless DS1 's thick-setness is muscle?? Could an 8 year old have muscle in a way that makes them appear more thick set??)

How you're built and how quickly you burn calories can have a genetic element.

However there are no genes in the world that can produce weight out of thin air. In order to gain weight, you still need to be taking in more calories than you burn. And vice versa for losing weight.

It might be unfair if you burn calories more slowly than others, but unfortunately that's biology!

He's not keen on carbs really and mainly eats lean meat and fish and vegetables.
Perhaps healthy carbs would suit him more?

I’m not overweight but I spend a lot of time in the gym and eating healthy (and go on Keto for a month at least) to maintain my fat levels. When once I let myself eat while I was ill, I put on weight so fast it was scary.
My DD and DH as not only very tall but “narrow” people with zero fat, same with as my MIL. I can almost wrap my hands around her hips. My hipbones are twice as wide as hers and I’m 6 inches shorter.
As a baby, my daughter never had dimples or even thighs. Her weight was at 30 percentile and her height at 90.
Genes play a massive roll, I’m afraid. I have no solution except instilling good habits to kids with diet and exercise so they can be healthy, irrespective of size.

How old are they both?

Does younger DS fidget a lot?

While it’s true that weight loss/gain is technically as simple as calories in vs calories out, where your body stored fat is genetic and that definitely has an impact in how you look.

For example, my body clings to fat on my hips and thighs. I have to lose a ton of weight from other areas which makes me look quite gaunt before il starts loosing it from my legs. Therefore even when I’m a healthy weight I still look curvier and rounder than my beanpole sister who seems to ‘evenly’ store her fat all over her body. Both healthy, two different looks.

You're missing a part of the story; read about epigenetics.

Interested in this, I’m not massively overweight but was super slim until about 25 years old. Ten years down the line and most of my friends are slimmer than me (marginally) but they seem to probably eat what they want whereas I have a 1350 calorie diet per day which I can’t control pmt week but do otherwise. Everyone else seems to maintain weight. I yo-yo like buggery and find it hard to maintain. My dad in particular is big. Just feel like it’s a constant battle