Can you be "genetically obese"?

[Newbie 0]

Ok, i was just watching something on overweight kids, and i was wondering - although it's not a new topic - what's the latest on whether someone can be "genetically fat/obese"? Is there a "fat gene"? I must admit, i haven't researched this much, but was hoping some of the more scientific amongst the community could clarify for me.

I don't understand how, if you eat well, and in the right quantities and exercise a little, you can be obese, but would love to know more if there is something that causes certain people to become huge and there is nothing they can do about it etc.

Thanks

"Skydiving is a door"
Happythoughts

[unformed 0]

Yeah, there are some hormones which make you obese. A friend of a friend had to take certain medication every day or he would gain about 50-100 lbs within a week.

That said, the majority of the obese are just slobs.

This ad space for sale.

[tcnelson 1]

i think that there could easily be a genetic predisposition for putting on excessive weight but, remember that that weight is energy that that person consumed. there's a new diet called the thermodynamics diet out now...you can eat whatever you want and you just need to expend more energy than you consume!

"Don't talk to me like that assface...I don't work for you yet." - Fletch
NBFT, Deseoso Rodriguez RB#1329

[AggieDave 6]

I think you can be more prone to being overweight, but that doesn't mean you're doomed.

Hell, I'm a big guy, I'm prone to have a gut, even though I'm very active. I have to bust my ass to loose weight and keep it off.

Saying "i'm fat due to my genetics and I can't help it" is a total bullshit approach. That just tells me that you are lazy (you as in whoever I'm talking to).

That doesn't mean everyone will look like a damned model or a body builder, you can only do what your body will let you do if you're doing it naturally, BUT you can get and keep your body in the best shape it can be in. It just takes motivation.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[SpeedRacer 1]

well, I think yeah. there are a few people you see out there who aren't just the usual fat-couch-potato-American type fat, but really abnormally-enormous, walking-Deathstar type fat. And I'd say they probably have some congenital problem re. hormones, etc.

Speed Racer
--------------------------------------------------

[wmw999 2,589]

Prader-willi syndrome leads to unbelievable and unjustified appetite. That can lead to obesity.

I've seen, and known, people who obviously require more exercise and more food to lose or maintain a healthy weight than others. Just as I've known some people who can stay thin with more food and less exercise.

Life is not always fair. Some people have more obstacles in their way maintaining a healthy weight than others. I can understand why some of them would prioritize weight lower than something else more important.

But right now, in the US, there are probably too many.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[DrunkMonkey 0]

This is horseshit, designed to get the insurance companies to pay for peoples' obesity-related illnesses....

[TomAiello 26]

I knew a guy who had an accident (major trauma) that caused some kind of weird hormone imbalance (due, IIRC, to a damaged pituitary gland) and caused him to put on more than 100 pounds. I'm not sure if such a thing could happen genetically (rather than via trauma) but I'd assume it's possible. Not real common, but still, possible.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[larsrulz 0]

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Yeah, there are some hormones which make you obese. A friend of a friend had to take certain medication every day or he would gain about 50-100 lbs within a week.

By exaggerating that badly, how can people possibly believe you? No genetic disorder can force someone to eat 50-100 pounds in a week. That said, genes certainly have an effect on people, controlling primarily their metabolism, but also a number of secondary effects. No matter ones genes, they are never the sole blame. Any overweight person can eat right and use more calories than they eat (whether or not they excercise to do this), it may be more difficult for some, but never impossible.

I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

[lawrocket 3]

I think that there are genes that lead you to be susceptible to certain conditions. For example, I may have a gene that pre-disposes me to being a heroin addict. Of course, I have it within my control to never try it, too.

Am I pre-disposed to being fat? Maybe. I used to pack 245 pounds of flab on my frame. Remarkably, and without any gene therapy or surgery,

I got down to 165, which means that I may be pre-disposed to being skinny.

So I put on wieght and eventually got up to about 210, which means I may be geneticaly pre-disposed to being of an average build.

So I lost weight and am now at about 185, which indicates that I may be genetically pre-disposed to........

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[tigra 0]

While it may be a valid question, what you've actually managed to do is start another "Fat People are Lazy Slobs With No Will Power" thread since that will be the most common sentiment expressed here. Just what we needed, another thread to express hatred!

Obviously, people have different body types and metabolisms and that is genetic and can contribute to obesity.

[kelpdiver 2]

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Obviously, people have different body types and metabolisms and that is genetic and can contribute to obesity.

Contributes is the key.

The genetic pool of America didn't change substantially over the past few decades, so it's pretty clear that there is more to it.

[AggieDave 6]

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Obviously, people have different body types and metabolisms and that is genetic and can contribute to obesity.

That's why I talked about me. I don't eat quite right, but I excersize a lot. Lifting weights, martial arts, 12oz curls, etc. So I'm heavy, I've got a gut, but I'm also in pretty good shape and am very strong.

I believe my body tends to carry fat, hell, when I was a fish in the Corps of Cadets I got down to 190lbs, nearly sickly looking thin for me and I still had a bit of a spare tire.

Now I'm just now getting back under 260lbs but I by no means look obese.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Shotgun 1]

I have read of a study in mice where they found an obesity (ob) gene that codes for leptin, which has a role in regulating appetite. Mice that had defective ob genes would eat about three times as much as their body needed and therefore become obese. They were able to control the weight of these mice by giving them leptin injections. Apparently they have tried this same treatment on humans, but without success so far. (There was another gene in mice that coded for leptin receptors. If this gene was defective the mice would also become obese but the leptin injections would not help because having more leptin doesn't do any good if there are not enough receptors for it; this is where gene therapy may come in to play eventually.) But in answer to your question, yes I think it is possible to be genetically predisposed to obesity. (Though I am certainly no expert!)

You can also be predisposed to obesity if you are overfed as a child. In children, fat cells are still growing and dividing, so an overfed child will end up with an excess of fat cells. As an adult, fat cells usually do not divide; an adult generally gains or loses weight as a result of changes in the size of their fat cells (not an increase in number). So an adult that was overfed as a child is likely to have more fat cells than they would if they had not been overfed.

[cloudseeker2001 0]

Everyone in my step-dads family is huge. Over 6ft tall and 300+......even the women!

"Some call it heavenly in it's brilliance,
others mean and rueful of the western dream"

[Lindsey 0]

Genetically, humans have not changed in 30,000 years. If you consider how we lived that long ago, it's clear that being able to hold onto fat was a survival advantage. Fat that we hold in our mid-sections is particularly advantageous, as it is easily mobilized. The fat that we hold around our butts and thighs is not . It's that same fat in our guts that is particularly unhealthy if it is NOT mobilized and just sits there. People with excess fat can live for 60 days or more without food. Skinny people can live about 30. Of course that's a continuum, so please don't flame me for these numbers....of course they're not exact, but you get my drift. However, these studies were actually done during the Vietnam Conflict (I believe) with conscientious objectors. Anyway....I do know that genes are being localized that help us hold onto fat. I think Shotgun mentioned Leptin....that's actively being studied. I think that there's no doubt about genetic influence here. We're only scratching the surface in terms of our knowledge in this area though....

Peace~
linz

--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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People with excess fat can live for 60 days or more without food.

I don't know how many people would know the name Bobby Sands. But back in 1981 while being held in a British prison, he went on a 66 day hunger strike until he finally died.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Michele 1]

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what you've actually managed to do is start another "Fat People are Lazy Slobs With No Will Power" thread since that will be the most common sentiment expressed here. Just what we needed, another thread to express hatred!

Yepppppers. I think I'll go have dinner after working 12 hours today. Hm, I wonder what I'll have? Hey, I know. Some soup (it's raining; the hearty vegetable one looks just about right) and a salad...spinach and romaine, some kidney beans, red onion, and vinegar dressing.

Yepppppers, fat, lazy and slobbish. That's me!

Ciels-
Michele

Ciels-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[blackdog 0]

i think you can be 'genitalically obese'

[Newbie 0]

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While it may be a valid question, what you've actually managed to do is start another "Fat People are Lazy Slobs With No Will Power" thread since that will be the most common sentiment expressed here. Just what we needed, another thread to express hatred!

Obviously, people have different body types and metabolisms and that is genetic and can contribute to obesity.

I think the most common sentiment expressed seemed to be that although genes might have *something* to do with it, it's not solely down to that, but people can become obese for all sorts of reasons, medical, scientific and otherwise, most of which were not down to them just being "lazy and lacking in willpower", as you put it.
I know people have different body types and metabolisms - but what i don't understand is sure, if you have trouble burning off fat, how does that matter if you have a low fat intake and exercise more than you otherwise might have to if you had a high metabolism.

I'm being curious to know more about how this works, given i saw a program on obese kids and was wondering if when i have kids of my own, they might end up being obese through something like genes which i have no full understanding of right now. I was just wondering if that were a possible scenario, not trying to spread bad feeling or hate as you say.

"Skydiving is a door"
Happythoughts

[rmsmith 1]

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This is horseshit, designed to get the insurance companies to pay for peoples' obesity-related illnesses....

Agreed; we are now being conditioned for the additional expense.

[tigra 0]

Sorry Newbie,

This isn't the first thread on obesity that I've seen over the years and typically regardless of the intent it ends up as a thread to bash and or judge fat people. It gets tiresome. If I was too quick to judge, I'm sorry but so far the responses to this thread have not proved me entirely wrong.

[Newbie 0]

No they haven't and i agree with you on that, but that's sort of why i put "scientifically minded" in my original post (and given that i put this in speakers corner i think i was pretty lucky to actually get some level of genuinely good insight from people who seem to have knowledge in certain aspects of this area, or related topics.)

I guess other corners of the internet might be a better place for me to start my research on this - thanks to those that helped me try to learn more though.

"Skydiving is a door"
Happythoughts

[tcnelson 1]

not a single poster in this thread has bashed or judged fat people so yes, you jumped the hair trigger there turbo.

there are only valid concerns and good points in here so far.

"Don't talk to me like that assface...I don't work for you yet." - Fletch
NBFT, Deseoso Rodriguez RB#1329

[peregrinerose 0]

I think there are genes that regulate metabolism, and genes that tend to make people hungrier/eat more. But if you eat less than you burn, you can not become obese.

If metabolism is slow, you will need to eat less than a highly metabolic person. If you are genetically wired to eat more for whatever reason, you will need to be more aggressive with working out/controlling food intake.

A lot is environmental. Fat parents have fat kids, and often eat a lot of total junk. It isn't necessarily genetic. If parents don't teach good nutrition and keep kids active, they will be slugs.

Part is psychological, 'comfort foods' can/do affect mood, and depression can easily lead to over eating.

There's a combination of factors with this (obviously) but all can be overcome. Obese does not mean carrying an extra few pounds in the gut either. People store fat in different areas, and if fat is stored in the gut rather than extremities, that's where you'll see it. Only way to get rid of it is virtually no body fat, which is extremely unhealthy.

Jen

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda