My birthday was last month. It was not a momentous birthday or one that held a lot of meaning, but, nonetheless, I turned a year older. The day after my birthday, some of my friends on my tennis team gave me some goodies to celebrate: a balloon, a beautiful bouquet of flowers, and a delicious cupcake. While I count these ladies as friends, I would not say that we are the kind of friends that know everything about each other. We know about each other’s lives marginally but not deeply. One of these tennis friends wanted to guess how old I was and I obliged. When I told her, she was in disbelief, as she had thought that I was a decade younger than I am. “Your skin is amazing! How do you keep it in such good shape?!” she commented. And then she proceeded to ask me about my skin care routine and all the ways that I was keeping my youthful skin. The honest answer that I gave her was “genetics.”

I have always had “good” skin since I was young. I did not get tons of acne breakouts as a teenager, and I do not have many wrinkles now. But this is not due to any beauty regimen or skin treatments. Yes, I cleanse my face and I moisturize. I wear sunscreen, drink water, do not smoke, and rarely consume alcohol. But other than that, I do not do anything special. The only thing I can attribute my skin’s youthfulness to is my mom’s genes. She is going to be 83 this year, and her skin is still in really good shape. My youthful skin is mostly due to luck.

This interaction with my tennis friend got me thinking about genetics and weight. We are all born with a specific genetic makeup that is a major determinant of our physical features. According to one research paper, the author found that genes account for 40-70% of the variability in body mass index (BMI). Other research has found that genetic influence on BMI can be as high as 75-80% for some individuals. Genes have been found to affect body composition by way of appetite and satiety signaling pathways, metabolism (resting energy expenditure), and fat distribution (where one’s body stores or does not store fat). This means that there is a genetic predisposition for our bodies to gravitate towards a certain weight range and distribution. We all know people who, no matter how much they eat or move their body, their weight is always in the “slim” range. And I’m sure we know people who, no matter how much they eat or move their body, their weight is always in the “large” range. In the scheme of things, weight is largely outside of our control.

My impression is that most people are not aware of or choose to ignore the fact that while environmental factors and behavioral factors do play a role in weight, the main determinant of our weight is our genetics. Yes, some people can temporarily lose weight through dieting, but as we know, 90-95% of dieters regain all or most of the weight within five years, with one to two-thirds of them gaining even more weight than they had lost in the first place. We also know that weight cycling, or losing and regaining weight repeatedly, results in more weight gain over time, not to mention the numerous health risks including, but not limited to, higher overall death rate and an increased risk of dying from heart disease. Of course, there are outliers, or people who have lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off for over five years, but they are the exception, not the rule. Fighting one’s biology is almost always a losing battle. At the end of the day, your body weight is going to land where it is mostly predestined to land, even with extreme habit manipulation (e.g., restriction, exercise, medication, and surgery).

Instead of fighting our biology and trying to make our bodies fit what society feels is acceptable, we could save so much time, money, and energy by accepting our bodies for what they are and taking care of them in ways that feel good.