by Samantha Overmyer

Created on: April 13, 2009

It's easy for thin people to blame overeating and fast food restaurants for obesity. The problem with that is that it doesn't make sense for most cases. Why is it that thin people with high metabolisms can eat pizza on a Saturday night and go out to get ice cream on a hot summer day, but if a larger person is standing in line to get an ice cream their obesity is caused by that ice cream? Obesity has to do with genetics. Having a high metabolism and being thin is a genetic trait, just as much as an obese family with diabetes that runs in their genetics.

It doesn't seem fair to me that a thin person can eat junk food all day long and remain thin, while an obese person has to diet and exercises for countless hours and not lose weight. The worst part is that diets don't work. The cause for that is genetics. It's a great excuse for thin people to say, "This diet worked for me and it can work for you too." What they don't tell you is that they already had the thin gene in their family and that is why they are thin.

What that means is that if your parents, your siblings, your grandparents, and almost everyone in your family is thin, but you are not, then maybe you gorge yourself on unhealthy food too often. However if that skinny gene runs in your family, it's in you too and it may be possible to get thin. But if your parents, siblings, grandparents, and almost everyone else in your family is on the big side then it will be very difficult to become thin because of the genes.

If you look at different sets of photos of parents and children you will notice that they they share similar eye colors, hair colors, skin tones, facial structure, and "body type." Why is it so hard to believe genetics is to blame? Thin people want to feel better about themselves. From the time they were in grade school yelling names and throwing food at the fat kid to now- they have always wanted to say that they are thin and they are the reason why they are thin, and that we are fat and we are the reason why we are fat.

Finally obese people are telling it how it is- genetics is why every calorie goes straight to our thighs while our skinny best friend's calories burn away. As a side note, blaming genetics wasn't made to be an excuse for large people that actually have eating disorders. I admit that some extremely obese citizens that can't leave their beds because of their weight will need help. That kind of situation is definitely overeating to cause such a thing to happen, not genetics. But as for the rest of us plus size people, we continue the good fight- battling diets, exercises, tempting foods, thin people criticism, and our own genetics.

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