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Is Body Weight Genetically Predetermined?
Achieving weight loss is simple. You might say well, "I don’t
agree, I have tried almost every diet method out there and I’m
still overweight - what are you talking about?" I said it
was simple, I didn’t say it was easy. Although many people
can lose weight by dieting, very few can keep it off.
Most people that have been unsuccessful with dieting give up
out of frustration. They begin to believe that they were destined
to be overweight. They think that their weight condition is a
product of their genes – they were born that way, and nothing
can be done to change it. This is not true. Well it’s partly
true. According to studies only 25% - 33% of our weight has been
genetically predetermined; (1) the rest is a product of our lifestyle.
That’s right, lifestyle.
Your body’s fat content is made up of the total number
of fat cells and the size of these cells. A person of average
size has between 30 – 35 billion fat cells. The number of
fat cells grows from birth to adulthood. At a point between adolescence
and adulthood the number of cells stops increasing. From that
point on you are stuck with that same number of cells. But you
can control the amount of fat stored in those cells. The bottom
line is this: Eating more calories than you burn increases the
size of your fat cells. It’s that simple.
One reason why some people have more body fat than others is
they have a higher number of fat cells. That doesn’t mean
however that they are destined to be fat. Remember the majority
of body weight is a product of lifestyle. These people have to
do a little more work to achieve and maintain weight loss.
Have you ever noticed certain famous professional athletes or
Olympic gold medalists ten to twenty years after retirement? Some
look like they haven’t aged a bit while others are difficult
to recognize because of the weight they have put on. The point
is that these athletes have let themselves go. They stopped doing
what they were doing when they were fit, lean and muscular. They
began living excessive lifestyles and acquired poor habits. They
strayed from their plan.
Benjamin Franklin said that to be a successful in life you need
a goal. Then you have to create a plan of action to reach that
goal. And finally, you need enough determination and persistence
to overcome obstacles and setbacks on the journey towards your
goal. This advice is timeless and also holds true for weight loss.
You can do it. Many others like just like you have done it and
are doing it. Good luck in your success.
References:
www.merck.com, “Obesity: The excessive accumulation of body
fat”, retrieved Aug 28 2004 from <http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/section1/chapter5/5a.jsp>
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