Did You Inherit Fat Genes?

I recently stumbled upon a write up that said, ‘Battle Your Biology? Fat Chance’. In a nutshell the article was focused on how our weight is genetically determined, but does that mean ‘its not our fault’ to have put on excess weight? Not really. Your genetics are definitely one of the many factors that determine your weight, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to start believing that you have inherited fat genes, because this will be the most self defeating attitude you can ever adopt to hamper your weight loss goals.

The only way you can keep motivating yourself for a healthy weight loss is to take the responsibility for your condition and also acknowledge the fact that only you can change it with your hard work and dedication, no matter what you are born with.

To understand this whole concept of ‘did you inherit fat genes’, lets start with a plain simple fact. Obesity cannot be inherited. However, several studies have proved time and again that it gets transferred from one generation to another. Ironically, there are some theories that suggest that people who mostly suffer with fat genes are those whose ancestors might have faced the situations of starvation at some point in their life. The irregular food supply increases body’s genetic ability to store fat and those ‘Fat Genes’ might still be present in your body because of the threat of starvation.

There’s no denying that heredity plays a major role in how difficult it will be for you to lose fat. You inherited a body type, a predetermined number of fat cells, a metabolic rate and body chemistry just as you inherited your eye color and hair color.

A study conducted in 1930 by a Harvard psychologist Dr. William H. Sheldon classified the different body types under the term Somatotyping, wherein there are three types of somatotypes classified as:

Ectomorphs: The one who are lean and lanky fall under this category. They are mostly born with bony and thin structure, however their metabolism is very fast and they have extremely low body fat. It is being said that an ectomorph can eat like a horse without gaining even an ounce of weight.

Mesomorphs: This type is referred to as the genetically gifted because of their lean and muscular frame, which makes them athletic. This category can easily gain muscle and lose fat with much ease.

Endomorphs: Now they are the mighty fat gainers who usually fall under under fat genes category because of their round features, large joints and excess body fat. People falling under this category face a lot of difficulty in losing weight as their metabolism is very slow. Most of the time they are sensitive to carbohydrates and tend to gain weight quickly because of their poor diet and no exercise. Even if they adopt healthy eating patterns and exercise they take a lot of time to lose fat.

Most of the time they are sensitive to carbohydrates and tend to gain weight quickly because of their poor diet and no exercise. Even if they adopt healthy eating patterns and exercise they take a lot of time to lose fat.

Another explanation of fat gene theory for obesity claims that, it all boils down to your lifestyle and diet behaviors when it comes to determining whether you accumulate fat or not. The theory goes on to explain that your genes surely influence how your body handles food, along with that the amount of physical activity you do also determines whether you will gain weight or not. In simple words, if two people are following same exercise and diet plan, then their genetic make-up will be a decisive factor in determining their caloric balance, because they both have entirely different sets of genes.

While the role of genetic influence in obesity might seem clear, but its true nature is still not confirmed. So, the bottom line here is that indeed there is a connection between your weight gain and your genetic makeup. Fortunately, this doesn’t mean that if your both the parents are obese, then you will be doomed by this situation for your lifetime passing it on to your children and further. You might find it to be genetic in the beginning but ultimately its up to you to create a balance between your caloric energy intake and output, just the way everyone else doing for their weight management.

A major confronting factor in whether you have inherited obese genes is the fact that you might inherited your lifestyle and eating habits from your overweight ancestors. To put it across simply, you might have grown up in a household where every other food is laden with ghee, sugar, salt and other empty calories and where physical activity means moving from couch to dinner table only. If this is the case, then dear you have inherited something far worse then your fat genes.

You have inherited habits that have played a major role in you being over weight. So if you have grown up in a place where the calorie intake and output has been consistently out of balance and exercise never made it to your to do list then your weight issues are most likely because of your lifestyle and not because of the genes you are born with.