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A lot of people I've spoken to say that they're genetically predisposed to be overweight and it would be incredibly challenging or even impossible for them to lose weight, or that it runs in the family. Now while obesity can absoloutely run in families, it never does so because of genetic predisposition, it does so because of a collective, passed on lack of knowledge regarding nutrition, physical health and exersice.
"But what about genetically passed down metabolic rates?"
Fast/ slow metabolism aren't real and they're definitely not passed down genetically.
What IS real is your BMR (Base Metabolic Rate), which depends on your sex, age, level of exersice, height and weight. Your BMR not only determines how much you burn a day in total, but also how much you burn while simply doing nothing. Now, you can change your BMR by for example building muscle -> more muscle -> more calories burned when being lazy and sitting on your ass.
"But what about that one skinny friend i have that eats way more than me and is still super lean?"
Your friend might exersice more than you, be taller, have higher amounts of muscle, they also might have a higher NEAT (non exersice movement) expenditure so they fidget more, randomly tap things or shake they're leg while sitting the enire time and could be burning an extra 300 - 500 calories.
Now that doesn't mean genetics don't play any role at all. Someone with the same measurements could have a BMR difference of 200 - 300 calories and while that can make minor changed, it's not enough to be the difference between obesity and lean.
The truth is, in order to lose weight you need a calorie deficit. That's all. "I have a slow metabolism, so i can't lose fat no matter what I do" no, you're just not in a deficit. Track your calories more accurately. Oil, that handful of cashews, and the "little bite of cake" you took during the day matter more than you think.
"But what about genetically passed down metabolic rates?"
Fast/ slow metabolism aren't real and they're definitely not passed down genetically.
What IS real is your BMR (Base Metabolic Rate), which depends on your sex, age, level of exersice, height and weight. Your BMR not only determines how much you burn a day in total, but also how much you burn while simply doing nothing. Now, you can change your BMR by for example building muscle -> more muscle -> more calories burned when being lazy and sitting on your ass.
"But what about that one skinny friend i have that eats way more than me and is still super lean?"
Your friend might exersice more than you, be taller, have higher amounts of muscle, they also might have a higher NEAT (non exersice movement) expenditure so they fidget more, randomly tap things or shake they're leg while sitting the enire time and could be burning an extra 300 - 500 calories.
Now that doesn't mean genetics don't play any role at all. Someone with the same measurements could have a BMR difference of 200 - 300 calories and while that can make minor changed, it's not enough to be the difference between obesity and lean.
The truth is, in order to lose weight you need a calorie deficit. That's all. "I have a slow metabolism, so i can't lose fat no matter what I do" no, you're just not in a deficit. Track your calories more accurately. Oil, that handful of cashews, and the "little bite of cake" you took during the day matter more than you think.
