Why Am I Overweight? - Stop blaming your genes |
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There is a lot of popular attention paid to losing weight. We doubt if there is a single issue of any popular women's magazine that does not include some new diet that is suppose to magically melt your excess fat off. There is a large and profitable weight loss industry. All of this activity implies that there is an explanation for your overweight. If you are told to go on a diet, that implies you are overweight because you eat too much. If you are told to join a gym and exercise, that implies you are overweight because you don't burn up enough energy. If you are told to take a drug or some herbal preparation, that implies that there is something wrong with you body's functioning. These popular ideas are, at best, partial explanations for overweight and often just not true. `It's genetic. After all, it runs in the family. Look at Mum and Dad.' This will only ever be a small part of the cause of your overweight. Researchers have estimated that about 11 per cent of your degree of overweight is determined by your genes. What you are more likely to have inherited from your parents that can contribute to overweight are bad habits about what and how much you eat, including how to cook it. Fortunately these are learned habits and you can always replace them with some healthier habits. That's what developing a healthy Ids style is all about. Healthy weight loss guideline: Stop blaming your genes. Even if every close relative of yours is overweight and has been for generations, the most that could mean is that you have inherited a good capacity for making fat and that accounts for 11 per cent of your overweight. This is not an excuse for staying seriously overweight. It is a reason to accept your genetic bad luck and apply yourself all the more enthusiastically to healthy lifestyling so that this part of your genetic make-up is kept under control. 'I'm not active enough. I used to play a lot of soccer (or netball or whatever). I've been putting on weight ever since I stopped.' Again, this will be, at best, a partial explanation. About equal numbers of researchers have found that overweight are less active and that they are not. Even when they have been found to have a lower activity level, the difference wasn't big enough to explain their degree of overweight. Activity levels are probably more important for a different reason emphasized that unhealthy behavior occurs for reasons. If your overweight reflects unwise eating, you may well be doing that because of depression or other bad feelings resulting from a lack of rewarding activities in your life. Many an unwise snack results from boredom. Many an unwise drink results from stress. Your self-monitoring records of your eating and drinking will tell you whether this applies to you. |
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