Size 8 Jeans -- Size 12 Genes
by Viv Groskop
Are you naturally disposed to being bigger?
Why do some people struggle to maintain their ‘ideal’ weight while others remain effortlessly slim? It could be down to genetics.
Why is it that some people never get fat? And others – present company included – can’t seem to stay slim for very long at all? Does the answer lie in our genes? Is there really such a thing as a ‘natural’ weight that’s personal to each of us?
Last year American catwalk model Crystal Renn talked about her fight to find her natural weight while maintaining her career as a model. From the age of 14 she dieted obsessively and by the age of 17 she had slimmed down to seven stone, a US size zero. She then started to gain weight again and the following year, in 2004, she was photographed by Steven Meisel for US Vogue.
Six years on, she is a British size 14 (US size 10), weighs around 12 stone and is one of the most successful voluptuous models in the world. Nature, she believes, always meant her to be larger. ‘Each pound was a discovery,’ she said of her weight gain. ‘I liked it. I felt myself becoming more who I am. I had a cleavage suddenly. I started wearing heels, short dresses, colour. I was becoming the weight I naturally am. It felt like I was a woman finally.’
So are some people meant to be larger as Crystal suggests? Yes, says Susie Orbach, psychotherapist and author of On Eating: ‘Our bodies come in different sizes and there is nothing else to it. I don’t see how anybody can have peace with their body unless they take it as a starting point that it’s their body and not somebody else’s.
Just as we all need to sleep different hours, so is body size a personal stamp.’
Dr Rudy Leibel of Columbia University, New York, has researched this phenomenon and concludes that we all have a biologically predetermined weight that our bodies will try to maintain. Our body tries to get back to this weight, even after we diet. Ignoring it is fighting against nature. ‘Individuals have a biology that determines how tall or short they will be and how skinny or fat they will be, and wishing it one way or the other really cannot change it that much,’ he says.
‘Individuals have a biology that determines how tall or short they will be and how skinny or fat they will be, and wishing it one way or the other really cannot change it that much’
In that case, could there be such a thing as a fat gene? It appears so. Earlier this year a study by the University of California suggested that some of us may carry the gene for the MGAT2 enzyme, which means that we retain up to 50 per cent more fat than others. The research was carried out on mice: the ones without the MGAT2 enzyme gained less weight on a high-fat diet. Humans carry the same gene.
Circumstantial as well as biological factors can affect our long-term weight gain; for example whether we were breast- or bottle-fed. A British Medical Journal study found that 4.5 per cent of bottle-fed babies were obese by five years old, compared to 2.8 per cent of breast-fed babies.
It does seem that, for many people, fat is a genetic issue. Some struggle to gain
weight while others will always fight to lose it. In a recent documentary for BBC2’s Horizon, ten ‘naturally slim’ volunteers ate almost double their usual calories (3,500 for women, 5,000 for men) for four weeks. Eight gained weight but two were physically unable to eat that amount of calories, and one of them even lost weight over
the month. Most interestingly, they all reverted to their previous weight within weeks of the trial ending, without dieting.
Dr Susan Roberts, author of The Instinct Diet, has found similar results. ‘I have conducted food trials where we have enlisted “naturally skinny” volunteers to increase their calorie intake and they really struggled to overeat at every meal. Left to their own devices, their instincts were to skip a meal or go light on supper to balance out their intake.’ So your annoyingly ‘naturally skinny’ friend will in fact be unconsciously eating less and regulating her meals.
Having a fast or slow metabolism is commonly believed to be the reason why one person puts on weight and another doesn’t. But it’s largely a myth, says Dr Roberts, who has measured the metabolism of hundreds of men and women, ‘Although in theory it seems logical that a slow metabolism must be linked to weight gain and obesity, research evidence doesn’t really support this belief. It is rare to find somebody whose metabolism is more than ten per cent higher or lower than average,’ she says. A person with a low metabolism would need fewer calories but not that many fewer – the equivalent daily calories found in one small latte.
Scales
Genetics? Why is it that some people never get fat?
Those who are naturally slim may actually be burning off calories without even realising it by being naturally active, adds Claire Williamson of the British Nutrition Foundation. ‘It’s the idea of the “fidget syndrome” – even though these people may work in sedentary jobs, they are constantly on the go. They burn more calories minute to minute than somebody who doesn’t behave like that.’ (Indeed two of the female volunteers in the Horizon documentary were surprised to learn that they had been subconsciously regulating their weight by upping their fidgeting.)
Personally, I am definitely more in the static category. I don’t fidget and I struggle with my weight. When things are going well I am in the upper body mass index (BMI) range – a healthy range is between 18.5 and 25. When I was three stone heavier my BMI was 31 – obese. But should I be trying to force my BMI to be in the lower end of the range? I could lose another two stone and still have a healthy BMI of 20. That doesn’t seem like a good idea, however. I feel like I’m not naturally supposed to be as skinny as that. Or am I just making another excuse?
No, says Claire Williamson, it’s OK. ‘It doesn’t matter if you’re at the top of the BMI range – it’s still healthy. But remember, BMI only gives a rough idea of healthy weight range. You might need to look at body fat percentage [which you can have measured at a gym]. BMI doesn’t work for everybody. If you have somebody who works out a lot – particularly men who have a lot of muscle – their BMI could come out as “obese” simply because muscle weighs more than fat.’
This is, in fact, the case for Ian Marber, consultant at the Food Doctor Clinic and author of How Not to Get Fat. ‘If I were to use BMI as my barometer, I would have to go on a diet. But I know that if I lose a pound, I’ll look gaunt. BMI is just one barometer of several.’
Williamson suggests something much simpler than BMI: look honestly at how your clothes fit and whether you feel healthy. Obese is probably not a ‘natural weight’ for anyone, says Ian Marber, but a BMI of 25 or 26 is OK, as long as you’re not then creeping up to 27 or 28.
‘I liked putting on weight. I felt myself becoming more who I am. I had a cleavage suddenly. I was becoming the weight I naturally am’ Crystal Renn
Dietitian Alison Clark advises simply using a tape measure. ‘Waist circumference is useful to know. For women it should be under 31.5 inches, for men under 37 inches. If you’re under that you’ve already reduced your risk of cardiovascular disease, certain cancers and type 2 diabetes.’
You can’t change your genetic make-up but you can reduce the health risk that
comes with extra body fat – and that shows up in your waist measurement. She thinks people can get too hung up about being slim and find it difficult to accept that they may naturally be in the higher BMI range. ‘As long as you eat healthily and exercise for about 30 minutes a day, then you’re doing all you can.’
Victoria Beckham
Distorted: Because of what¿s represented as ¿normal¿ by celebrities, many of us have a thinner ideal of ourselves than we are naturally meant to be
All of the experts agree that we would do ourselves a favour if we recognised that we all have a natural weight. Depending on your build, this can vary by up to four dress sizes. Some of us will be healthy in the lower BMI range of around 19 – almost verging on underweight (for example, five-foot-five and weighing just under nine stone – a size 6 or 8).
Others will be perfectly healthy in the BMI upper range around 25 (five-foot-five and closer to 11 stone – a size 14). It’s hard for us to know, though, what ‘feels’ right as we see so many examples of celebrities in the low-BMI category – ie, a size 6 or 8. Their weight is represented as natural and normal, whereas in fact they are in the unusually low BMI category. The safest place to be, of course, is in the middle.
Because of what’s represented as ‘normal’ by celebrities, many of us have a thinner ideal of ourselves in our heads than we are naturally meant to be, something that Ian Marber comes across frequently. ‘I see so many people who are over-strict and over-optimistic about how thin they should be,’ he says. ‘They think they are half a stone overweight and they’re not even at the upper end of the body mass index. They have an unrealistic idea of what their natural weight should be. I have clients who sit in front of me and say, “I really need to lose weight.” And I think, “No you don’t.”’
These people would be better off accepting who they are and never dieting in the first place. Because the biggest problem with disrespecting natural weight and trying to become slimmer than you were ever meant to be is that it actually makes you fatter in the long run.
‘Yo-yo dieting and extreme dieting play havoc with your metabolism,’ says Alison Clark. ‘Cutting out certain food groups or taking your calories right back to 500 a day really affects that. The only way to maintain a healthy body weight is to do it through a healthy eating programme and by increasing the amount of activity you do.’
So when does acceptance of larger size tip into being unacceptably unhealthy? What’s the difference between ‘the right weight for you’ and ‘slightly overweight’? After all, many of us eat more than we should unconsciously or for emotional reasons. A US study of 1,600 people across four cities found that dieters who kept a written daily record of what they ate lost twice as much weight as those who didn’t keep food diaries. Part of this is about being honest with yourself about what you’re eating and why.
A sensible diet involves maximum weight loss of one or two pounds a week, says Marber. And what’s the cure for the obsession with slimming to below your ‘natural weight’? Rediscover your real hunger, says Susie Orbach. ‘It is about being curious and noticing when you’re really hungry for food and not hungry for something emotional. It’s about being in the present when you eat and learning to savour the food. Then you’re able to stop because you’re actually tasting it.’ So no comfort eating. No eating because you’re bored. No mindless scoffing. Accept who you were meant to be.
And don’t forget: lots of fidgeting.
SOURCE
Are you naturally disposed to being bigger?
Why do some people struggle to maintain their ‘ideal’ weight while others remain effortlessly slim? It could be down to genetics.
Why is it that some people never get fat? And others – present company included – can’t seem to stay slim for very long at all? Does the answer lie in our genes? Is there really such a thing as a ‘natural’ weight that’s personal to each of us?
Last year American catwalk model Crystal Renn talked about her fight to find her natural weight while maintaining her career as a model. From the age of 14 she dieted obsessively and by the age of 17 she had slimmed down to seven stone, a US size zero. She then started to gain weight again and the following year, in 2004, she was photographed by Steven Meisel for US Vogue.
Six years on, she is a British size 14 (US size 10), weighs around 12 stone and is one of the most successful voluptuous models in the world. Nature, she believes, always meant her to be larger. ‘Each pound was a discovery,’ she said of her weight gain. ‘I liked it. I felt myself becoming more who I am. I had a cleavage suddenly. I started wearing heels, short dresses, colour. I was becoming the weight I naturally am. It felt like I was a woman finally.’
So are some people meant to be larger as Crystal suggests? Yes, says Susie Orbach, psychotherapist and author of On Eating: ‘Our bodies come in different sizes and there is nothing else to it. I don’t see how anybody can have peace with their body unless they take it as a starting point that it’s their body and not somebody else’s.
Just as we all need to sleep different hours, so is body size a personal stamp.’
Dr Rudy Leibel of Columbia University, New York, has researched this phenomenon and concludes that we all have a biologically predetermined weight that our bodies will try to maintain. Our body tries to get back to this weight, even after we diet. Ignoring it is fighting against nature. ‘Individuals have a biology that determines how tall or short they will be and how skinny or fat they will be, and wishing it one way or the other really cannot change it that much,’ he says.
‘Individuals have a biology that determines how tall or short they will be and how skinny or fat they will be, and wishing it one way or the other really cannot change it that much’
In that case, could there be such a thing as a fat gene? It appears so. Earlier this year a study by the University of California suggested that some of us may carry the gene for the MGAT2 enzyme, which means that we retain up to 50 per cent more fat than others. The research was carried out on mice: the ones without the MGAT2 enzyme gained less weight on a high-fat diet. Humans carry the same gene.
Circumstantial as well as biological factors can affect our long-term weight gain; for example whether we were breast- or bottle-fed. A British Medical Journal study found that 4.5 per cent of bottle-fed babies were obese by five years old, compared to 2.8 per cent of breast-fed babies.
It does seem that, for many people, fat is a genetic issue. Some struggle to gain
weight while others will always fight to lose it. In a recent documentary for BBC2’s Horizon, ten ‘naturally slim’ volunteers ate almost double their usual calories (3,500 for women, 5,000 for men) for four weeks. Eight gained weight but two were physically unable to eat that amount of calories, and one of them even lost weight over
the month. Most interestingly, they all reverted to their previous weight within weeks of the trial ending, without dieting.
Dr Susan Roberts, author of The Instinct Diet, has found similar results. ‘I have conducted food trials where we have enlisted “naturally skinny” volunteers to increase their calorie intake and they really struggled to overeat at every meal. Left to their own devices, their instincts were to skip a meal or go light on supper to balance out their intake.’ So your annoyingly ‘naturally skinny’ friend will in fact be unconsciously eating less and regulating her meals.
Having a fast or slow metabolism is commonly believed to be the reason why one person puts on weight and another doesn’t. But it’s largely a myth, says Dr Roberts, who has measured the metabolism of hundreds of men and women, ‘Although in theory it seems logical that a slow metabolism must be linked to weight gain and obesity, research evidence doesn’t really support this belief. It is rare to find somebody whose metabolism is more than ten per cent higher or lower than average,’ she says. A person with a low metabolism would need fewer calories but not that many fewer – the equivalent daily calories found in one small latte.
Scales
Genetics? Why is it that some people never get fat?
Those who are naturally slim may actually be burning off calories without even realising it by being naturally active, adds Claire Williamson of the British Nutrition Foundation. ‘It’s the idea of the “fidget syndrome” – even though these people may work in sedentary jobs, they are constantly on the go. They burn more calories minute to minute than somebody who doesn’t behave like that.’ (Indeed two of the female volunteers in the Horizon documentary were surprised to learn that they had been subconsciously regulating their weight by upping their fidgeting.)
Personally, I am definitely more in the static category. I don’t fidget and I struggle with my weight. When things are going well I am in the upper body mass index (BMI) range – a healthy range is between 18.5 and 25. When I was three stone heavier my BMI was 31 – obese. But should I be trying to force my BMI to be in the lower end of the range? I could lose another two stone and still have a healthy BMI of 20. That doesn’t seem like a good idea, however. I feel like I’m not naturally supposed to be as skinny as that. Or am I just making another excuse?
No, says Claire Williamson, it’s OK. ‘It doesn’t matter if you’re at the top of the BMI range – it’s still healthy. But remember, BMI only gives a rough idea of healthy weight range. You might need to look at body fat percentage [which you can have measured at a gym]. BMI doesn’t work for everybody. If you have somebody who works out a lot – particularly men who have a lot of muscle – their BMI could come out as “obese” simply because muscle weighs more than fat.’
This is, in fact, the case for Ian Marber, consultant at the Food Doctor Clinic and author of How Not to Get Fat. ‘If I were to use BMI as my barometer, I would have to go on a diet. But I know that if I lose a pound, I’ll look gaunt. BMI is just one barometer of several.’
Williamson suggests something much simpler than BMI: look honestly at how your clothes fit and whether you feel healthy. Obese is probably not a ‘natural weight’ for anyone, says Ian Marber, but a BMI of 25 or 26 is OK, as long as you’re not then creeping up to 27 or 28.
‘I liked putting on weight. I felt myself becoming more who I am. I had a cleavage suddenly. I was becoming the weight I naturally am’ Crystal Renn
Dietitian Alison Clark advises simply using a tape measure. ‘Waist circumference is useful to know. For women it should be under 31.5 inches, for men under 37 inches. If you’re under that you’ve already reduced your risk of cardiovascular disease, certain cancers and type 2 diabetes.’
You can’t change your genetic make-up but you can reduce the health risk that
comes with extra body fat – and that shows up in your waist measurement. She thinks people can get too hung up about being slim and find it difficult to accept that they may naturally be in the higher BMI range. ‘As long as you eat healthily and exercise for about 30 minutes a day, then you’re doing all you can.’
Victoria Beckham
Distorted: Because of what¿s represented as ¿normal¿ by celebrities, many of us have a thinner ideal of ourselves than we are naturally meant to be
All of the experts agree that we would do ourselves a favour if we recognised that we all have a natural weight. Depending on your build, this can vary by up to four dress sizes. Some of us will be healthy in the lower BMI range of around 19 – almost verging on underweight (for example, five-foot-five and weighing just under nine stone – a size 6 or 8).
Others will be perfectly healthy in the BMI upper range around 25 (five-foot-five and closer to 11 stone – a size 14). It’s hard for us to know, though, what ‘feels’ right as we see so many examples of celebrities in the low-BMI category – ie, a size 6 or 8. Their weight is represented as natural and normal, whereas in fact they are in the unusually low BMI category. The safest place to be, of course, is in the middle.
Because of what’s represented as ‘normal’ by celebrities, many of us have a thinner ideal of ourselves in our heads than we are naturally meant to be, something that Ian Marber comes across frequently. ‘I see so many people who are over-strict and over-optimistic about how thin they should be,’ he says. ‘They think they are half a stone overweight and they’re not even at the upper end of the body mass index. They have an unrealistic idea of what their natural weight should be. I have clients who sit in front of me and say, “I really need to lose weight.” And I think, “No you don’t.”’
These people would be better off accepting who they are and never dieting in the first place. Because the biggest problem with disrespecting natural weight and trying to become slimmer than you were ever meant to be is that it actually makes you fatter in the long run.
‘Yo-yo dieting and extreme dieting play havoc with your metabolism,’ says Alison Clark. ‘Cutting out certain food groups or taking your calories right back to 500 a day really affects that. The only way to maintain a healthy body weight is to do it through a healthy eating programme and by increasing the amount of activity you do.’
So when does acceptance of larger size tip into being unacceptably unhealthy? What’s the difference between ‘the right weight for you’ and ‘slightly overweight’? After all, many of us eat more than we should unconsciously or for emotional reasons. A US study of 1,600 people across four cities found that dieters who kept a written daily record of what they ate lost twice as much weight as those who didn’t keep food diaries. Part of this is about being honest with yourself about what you’re eating and why.
A sensible diet involves maximum weight loss of one or two pounds a week, says Marber. And what’s the cure for the obsession with slimming to below your ‘natural weight’? Rediscover your real hunger, says Susie Orbach. ‘It is about being curious and noticing when you’re really hungry for food and not hungry for something emotional. It’s about being in the present when you eat and learning to savour the food. Then you’re able to stop because you’re actually tasting it.’ So no comfort eating. No eating because you’re bored. No mindless scoffing. Accept who you were meant to be.
And don’t forget: lots of fidgeting.
SOURCE
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