Can You Inherit Obesity from your Parents?

How many times do you hear overweight people saythat habit as well. If your parents always ate high
things like, "I'm only this way because I'm big boned" orcalorie snacks at night while watching TV, well, you get
"both of my parents are big so it's in my genes" orthe picture.
even "all of the women/men in my family areAnother downfall to losing the weight gain battle is
overweight".physical inactivity. While just being physically inactive
So now the question is, if other members of yourdoes not add extra fat by itself, most overweight
family are overweight and have always been, does itpeople are inactive and that means you will burn less
mean that you might have inherited the "fat" gene andcalories throughout the day. When an inactive person
are predisposed to being overweight yourself? Is thereeats even a normal amount of food daily which is
anything that can be done about it, or are you doomedusually still more than they need, they are more likely to
to be overweight for the rest of your life?store the extra calories as fat.
There are some facts that must be considered beforeYour age plays a part in your weight also. When
you assign blame for your weight problem to yourpeople age, they typically become less active. Also,
family tree. Genetics do decide what the shape of youafter age 30 or so, an inactive person will lose around 1
body will be as well as determining your height and2 to 1 pound of muscle tissue per year. This makes
possible risks to your health. If there is a history ofyour metabolism slow down being that muscle is
obesity in your family, you may have a higher potentialactive tissue and the more you have, the higher your
for it, but it does not mean that you are doomed to ametabolism, the less you have, the lower your
life of plumpness.metabolism. This will account for weight gain.
The fact is, even though you may have inherited aMost overweight people are not that way because of
higher concentration of fat cells from your family genethe genes they inherited, but because of the bad habits
pool, it is the bad habits that you inherit from them thatthey inherited as well as ones they developed on their
will contribute more to your weight than your genes.own. According to the American Medical Association,
Here are the facts about what makes you overweightless than 2% of all obesity can be directly attributed to
that you must know to help you break the familyany kind of metabolic disorder or hormone imbalance.
tradition of living with that extra padding.The bottom line is all of the excuses in the world for
For openers, the food choices that you make play abeing overweight won't take one pound of fat off of
very important role in whether or not you will becomeyou. The whole thing comes down to modifying your
overweight. Not knowing what a proper portion size islifestyle to one that is conducive to proper weight
during mealtime will also hurt your weight. If as a kidcontrol. That means eating less than you've been used
growing up, your parents always went back forto eating and being more physically active than you're
seconds during meals, you probably will have inheritedused to being.