weight loss and chemicals

Good morning.....First, I must admit that when I reread some of my entries, I see an amazing amount of typos and misspellings....I offer up this excuse: first thing I do upon awakening is write these entries...I do not put my contacts in until after I run, so I am kind of visually-challanged in the wee hours of the morning...I promise you that your Doctor writes at a better-than fourth grade level, so I am blaming the typos on my vision without contacts....am I forgiven?

A number of patients ask me whether their weight issues are all "genetic" and are they fighting a battle they cannot win because of hereditary factors.

We, to a large extent, are a product of our genetics and upbringing. We inherit our eye color, hair color, height and predisposition for being overweight. However, the other major component is the learned behaviors we adopt as a product of our environment. Did our parents base all rewards around high-caloric foods? Did our family shame us when we did not stuff our faces at a family get-together?

The genetic predisposition is no doubt a contributing factor...some of us inherit a faster metabolism than others. We watch some people eat all the crap they want, and not gain a pound when others just look at food and the pounds pack on. Not fair, but reality.

We cannot change our genetics...it is the cards we have been dealt. We can change behavior patterns though and even despite our chemical flaws, we can sometimes work harder on the behavioral end to achieve the results we want.