Heredity.
If you have been overweight since childhood or have a parent or parents who are overweight,
You are probably concerned about what effect heredity has on your tendency to be overweight.
This is particularly true if you have been unable to be successful at losing weight and keeping it off.
So let's spend time discussing this issue.
First,
Overweight parents tend to produce overweight offspring.
This holds true even when their baby is adopted and raised by a thin couple.
Second,
Identical twins remain remarkably close in weight until early puberty.
This is when environmental factors start exerting a strong pull.
Third,
Heredity seems to be particularly influential in where fat settles.
And it also determines the strategy your body uses to get rid of excess calories.
In other words,
You cannot affect the pattern your body has for either gaining or losing fat.
So,
Heredity seems to have an impact upon your weight.
This genetic fact partially explains why some individuals can eat enormous amounts of food and stay thin,
While others may eat much less and gain weight.
I'd like to elaborate on this.
You see,
Hearty eaters who are thin are less efficient at using the calories in food.
They're like the car that gets only a few miles to the gallon from gasoline.
Therefore,
If you are overweight,
There is a chance that your body is a more efficient food burner.
So,
It takes less food to fuel your body for a longer period of time.
You may have inherited the ability to use food efficiently and store the excess,
Unused calories as fat.
But all is not lost and you aren't doomed.
Just because you are genetically inclined to be overweight doesn't mean you have to be.
All it requires is that you get to know yourself well regarding what role you want food to play in your life and what is appropriate for you.
By doing so,
You will be meeting your needs and therefore will be the weight that is appropriate for you.
You will have the advantage of truly enjoying food because you do not feel guilty about your eating pattern and you are comfortable with yourself and the choices you make.
