I have a weight problem. Over the years, my weight fluctuated like a yo-yo, the gain and loss syndrome that supposedly dooms one to obesity in later years. Perhaps this phenomenon is a function of the real problem rather than it s cause. What fitness gurus never tell us is that it is possible destiny alone can cause you to be overweight. Science is currently finding evidence for a theory I have suspected for years: Your weight at middle age is largely determined by your genes. Yes folks, look at your mamma, it's that simple.
Barry Levine of the NJ Medical School, Dept of Neuroscience gives us this study: The Obesity Epidemic: Metabolic Imprinting on Genetically Susceptible Neural Circuits. Here, Levine outlines ways in which we are assigned a body weight by heredity and so far, there is not a thing we can do about it. He says that medication can be helpful but is not long-term. Here is the Abstract:
The apparent obesity epidemic in the industrialized world is not explained completely by increased food intake or decreased energy expenditure. Once obesity develops in genetically predisposed individuals, their obese body weight is avidly defended against chronic caloric restriction. In animals genetically predisposed toward obesity, there are multiple abnormalities of neural function that prime them to become obese when dietary caloric density and quantity are raised. Once obesity is fully developed, these abnormalities largely disappear. This suggests that obesity might be the normal state for such individuals. Formation of new neural circuits involved in energy homeostasis might underlie the near permanence of the obese body weight. Such neural plasticity can occur during both nervous system development and in adult life. Maternal diabetes, obesity, and under-nutrition have all been associated with obesity in the offspring of such mothers, especially in genetically predisposed individuals. Altered brain neural circuitry and function often accompanies such obesity. This enhanced obesity may then be passed on to subsequent generations in a feed-forward, upward spiral of increasing body weight across generations. Such findings suggest a form of "metabolic imprinting" upon genetically predisposed neural circuits involved in energy homeostasis. Centrally acting drugs used for obesity treatment lower the defended body-weight and alter the function of neural pathways involved in energy homeostasis. But they generally have no permanent effect on body weight or neural function. Thus, early identification of obesity-prone mothers, infants, and adults and treatment of early obesity may be the only way to prevent the formation of permanent neural connections that promote and perpetuate obesity in genetically predisposed individuals.
How does that make you feel? Personally, I knew it all along, but still I punished myself with psychological assaults, diets that almost killed me as I hid myself behind baggy clothes. Obesity doesn't stop at how you look; it takes away so many enjoyable activities as well. Socially, overweight people are shunned by society, taunted by their friends and family. Truly, the life of a heavy person is not fun at all, trust me on this.
I believe that more and more findings like the ones in Levine's study will surface and we will find out that genetics have a bigger part to play in our make up than ever imagined. So, where does that leave us till they work their way around the gnome? Nowhere, as far as I am concerned. Acceptance? Impossible!
Here is a tidbit I picked up on Oprah many years ago. Through scientific studies, it was concluded that black women were more comfortable with their body image than whites. So, part of the problem is cultural. There are some countries where fat women are revered. Does that mean we should all move there?
Not at all, but I can look at my body with lowered expectations for now, not being so hard on myself. I can eat good food, exercise for better health, without expecting I will wind up with a body like a movie star or fitness freak.
When we look at people that lost a huge amount of weight like Susan Powter and Oprah, we see that the struggle to keep it off seems harsh or perhaps impossible for the average person. Oprah once said that she gains weight when she runs 3 miles instead of 5. Susan Powter devotes her life to her the cause. Obese people can lose weight and possibly keep it off, but it seems to need obsessive levels of vigilance. And how healthy is that?
Fitness gurus are beginning to acknowledge the genetic component, but don't expect they will tell the whole truth, it isn't good for business, and obesity is a heck of a business!
