Anyone have Obese/Overweight parents or grandparents?

[Nessa Bug]

Just wondering if anyone has overweight family members. I know I have overweight family members on both my mother's and my father's side of the family. My mom (God love her) is a very large woman, as well as all of her sisters and my grandmother and my great aunts. I'm not talking a little pudgy either. They are very large, obese women who have more than just a few pounds to lose.
I do not want to believe I will never be able to achieve my fitness goals due to genes (Of course I realize there ARE some things I can't change) but lately I feel as though I'm fighting a losing battle. Although I am by no means fat or overweight it just seems like I have to work 10 times as hard to maintain a decent level of leanness. Has anyone else had to deal with really horrible genetics? If so what kind of diet/training has worked best for you?

Thanks in advance!

 

[jenscats5]

I'm adopted so I don't know what my bio father looks like but from what I understand my bio mom is very heavy & has been fighting her weight for years. I'm still trying to figure the diet stuff out, but with the help here I'm making progress. But I know what you mean & I get frustrated at times.

I've started lifting heavy & due to advice here am tweaking my diet. I've cut out fruit except for 1 svg in the am, eat more often (love this!), eat more protein & try to keep carbs to b-fast & lunch. Try posting your diet for a day or 2 & see what suggestions you get.

 

[Puddles]

Both sides of my family are obese...as was I when I gained 60 lbs when I was pregnant and couldn't get it off for years. I've always had to battle the tendancy to be overweight since I was a young girl, but after having my daughter, it got much harder. I found the training and diet advice on the women's board here to be key in getting back into shape...and better than ever. The support and inspiration of the women here is amazing.

I lift 5 days a week, don't really do cardio although I should, and I eat clean with one cheat day a week. Protein is probably about 60% of my diet with 20% carbs and 20% fats to make up the ballance and drink lots of water. In the last year since I started lifting and really watching what I eat I've gained about 10 lbs and changed my bf from about 25% to 16%.

If you do a search for Spatt's Cutting Diet you can use that for a really good base for clean eating and tweak it to fit your needs.

 

[Nessa Bug]

Thanks ladies,
I was just wondering if I was alone with this type of genetic background. I got to thinking about it the other day when my Mom was talking about my great aunt. I asked her if she was big like my grandmother and she told me she was very large and is currently in the hospital about to undergo an operation for her heart. Also, I went shopping with my mom today and I never want to have to buy 22/24 clothes like she did today. I love her and I now she is "okay" with her weight but I wouldn't be comfortable with myself if I ever got that big. (Dear God please don't let me get that big!!!) Like I said I have a tendency to gain fat VERY easily and that has been made worse because of disordered eating behaviors I adopted in high school and continued for years afterward.
However, I am trying to find a way of eating and working out that works best for me. I've come to the conclusion that I am definitely not "normal" in that I can't eat the same amount of food as every one else and expect to still be lean. I am trying to slowly adjust my cals, fat, protein, and carbs to levels that allow me to fuel my workouts and muscles but not put on lots of gross fat. Right now my cals are still low in comparison to every one else's on the board but are up from what I was eating.

I'm eating about 3-4 times per day. Breakfast is egg whites and oatmeal, lunch is salad and grilled chicken, dinner is usually some type of lean meat and vegetables (non starchy) and I usually have a protein shake at some time during the day. I know that is low but it is better than what I was doing. I tried to increase my intake more but I was gaining some pudge and when you have an ed that is not what you want to see. It makes you want to restrict again. So, I thought it would be better to just go really slowly and avoid freaking myself out.
As far as working out goes, I've been doing a very basic split. Chest/tri, back/bis, Legs, shoulders, abs. I'v been doing 3-4 exercise per bp, 3 sets 10 reps. However I think I'm about to change it up this week. I'm going to try lifting a lot heavier on upper body focusing on adding some mass to my chest, arms, shoulder, and back. I do cardio about 6 days per week. This week I'm going to start doing an early morning workout before breakfast. I plan on walking on a steep incline on my treadmill for 45-60 min and then doing a shorter more intense workout (HIIT or more intense steady state) later in the day.
I think this will be okay for me. When I've done cardio this way on the past it has helped a lot with fat loss. Also, I really want to increase the upper body size and definition. I'm looking forward to seeing those cuts come out more!

Thanks again!

 

[jenscats5]

I know how you feel!! I was brought up to eat cuz it was time to eat & not cuz you are hungry. Plus you eat what's on your plate cuz it's there. It's hard to retrain yourself to eat for performance and health. There's so much disordered eating in the world today & everyone is bombarded with it constantly. Supersize everything, $1 menus of junk, etc.

Good luck!! I've already learned a lot by being here & look forward to learning more.....

 

[flexygrl]

My mom is about 50-60 lbs over weight. My dad keeps telling me to accept the fact that no matter what I do, I will be heavy. I am stuggling with my weight and diet everyday. I am so scared to have a child, because I feel that I will get heavy. I know I have control over what I eat, but I am so weak. My sister has a body type like me too. She is struggling. I'm thinking of joining weight watchers again. I just can't do this on my own.

 

[makedah]

Flexy - I've seen your pics. You have a lovely figure. I think that as long as you eat healthfully and keep working out, you don't have to get overweight.

My mother's family is overweight. My mother is about 5'5" and now weighs about 220#. She was slender until she got older (and more sedentary), quit smoking and started stress-eating. My father has had a belly since his 30s, but he is very muscular (mesomorph) and folks in his family are either mesomorphic (his mother and my brother) or ectomorphs (my 2 uncles and my sister). I am built like my mother's people. It is easier for me to gain weight than it is for other people. I've accepted that about myself and know that I will just have to work harder to acheive and maintain a weight that is comfortable and healthful (easier on the knees!) for me. I've given up the idea that I can be reed-slim. It just ain't happening - unless I'm willing to give up desserts for ever. And like I said, it just ain't happening!

 

[Nessa Bug]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one. FLexy-My mother used to tell me that I would always have big legs and a big butt. To an extent I know she was right in that I can't change my genetics or where I tend to store my fat, but I don't have to give up and have gargantuan, fat butt! In a way her comments have helped me, if you disregard the ED I launched myself into to get rid of my "big legs and butt". If she had never said anthing I might have continued to eat crap and be sendentary and indeed be a very large person at this point. Also, about having children, I've heard some women say it was easier to lose weight after they had children !?! SO, maybe's there's some hope! But, even if that's no the case, you aren't doomed to be big just because you get preggers. At the gym where I work there are 4-5 aerobics instructors in various stages of prenancy. One actually just had hers about a month ago and she has already lost about 30 of the 50 pounds she gained. I'll have to wait and see how everyone else fairs.

 

[wend]

I've got that same body type...the good thing is, that if we're storing it in our thighs and butts, we're NOT storing it in our bellies and chests...which means we're not as likely to have a heart attack.

The women on my mom's side of the family are all large...some lean, some fat. I've got aunts and female cousins who are over six feet tall. (Good Mohawk genes.) I'm the shortest one at almost 5'8".

It breaks my heart the way some of them have just given up on their fitness. One of my cousins decided to change things, though, and went from being obese to being really lean (NOT skinny) in just a year or two.

We can't change our genetics, but we certainly can take control of our own bodies. Nobody HAS to be fat.

 

[spatts]

Most of the women, and some of the men, in my family are overweight. Most of the women, and some of the men, do very little exercise and don't eat well.

Genetics? If you say so...

On a positive note, almost everyone in my family has the physique to be a great athlete, and my brothers and my brother's kids were/are phenomenal. One of my sisters has calves the size of my head, and has never worked out consistantly in her life, that I know of.

It's about attitude and lifestyle. Some are athletes, some are overweight, but both made that choice through their own decisions about how to live life. That choice could change tomorrow, and their lives could change tomorrow. That's not genetics.