Fat Genes

Do I think obesity is genetic? Possibly.  Do I think there are people who are predisposed to being fat?  Yes.  Do I think that if you’re fat you can’t lose weight? No. 

Meet my great-great grandmother, Ella Buck Eggert Jacquemann, shown here with her son, Larry. Most people have 16 great-great grandparents. I have pictures of 14 of my great-great grandparents. She’s the only one who was fat

Ella didn’t like being fat. She disliked it so much she went to a doctor. He gave her a weight loss drug, and it worked. She was so happy the drug worked she increased the dosage. It killed her in 1925 at age 45. She was greatly missed by her only son and granddaughter. Her granddaughter, my grandmother, told me stories about her.

Her son, Larry, was also fat. He got so fat he had trouble walking. People loved Larry Eggert. He died the year before I was born, but I met many people who loved that man. He was kind, generous and fat.

Larry’s only child, my grandmother, Audrey, was also fat. She didn't like being fat.

She was also kind, loving, generous and devoted to her family.

I was thin when I entered First Grade

I was the fattest kid in the Second Grade

By the time I was 8 years old my mother and grandmother were aggressively dieting me, trying to fix the problem, it didn’t work.  I got bigger every year.  This is my Fourth Grade picture.

            It didn’t work for them. It didn’t work me. My grandmother and parents were well intentioned. I remember my grandmother telling me repeatedly how much she hated being fat. She prayed not to be fat. She prayed my mother wouldn't be fat. (Both my parents were fat. I don't have a good picture to show you, plus they are both still living, might not like it.) Grandma prayed I wouldn't be fat, etc.,  My grandmother never saw a thin day in her life, and that is sad. 

My pattern of dieting has never stopped.  I do not know that it ever will.

Then I had a daughter. I never prayed my daughter wouldn't be fat because whatever she was I would love her. I did vow to never diet her, and I didn’t.

She always ate whatever she wanted. I’m not advocating that method. It was reactionary anti-dieting. I am sure it led to dental issues, but she’s not fat.  She is also a model.  Follow her on Instragam Lily Lindquist.

 I don’t know if fat people carry a gene that makes them unable to process certain foods. I don’t know if fat people have a gene that made them carry more weight when they moved from physical labor to brain labor. I do think aggressive dieting can make you so hungry you compensate for it in a meal that is too large. The Bible says the iniquities of the father carry over to 3 and 4 generations. Is that how long it takes to learn? I don’t know.

I am my own work in progress and my own experiment. I know it can be learned.  You may have fat genes, but you can overcome them.