My father was up visiting over the weekend. We had a good time, eating, drinking (Well, i drank) and visiting a couple of scenic towns.
I don't really remember how we got onto the subject of energy balance, but on the way home from Arran yesterday, that's what we were talking about.
See my father, and then Emma, pointed out that when you strip everything away from us, and look on the inside we're basically all the same. So why do calories affect different people differently?
Emma then said it was because of genetics. Genetics decided whether you were big or small, strong or weak.
And to a certain extent, they're right. But actually, they're not. Whilst you can be genetically predisposed to various things, such as weight gain, diabetes or heart disease that doesn't mean because your parents were diabetic you will be too! It simply means its slightly more likely that you'll get it. So that was one point.
But why, when we're basically all the same, do we all look so different?
Because we're not the same. Obviously. Our genetics are all different. Not only that, but our lifestyles are all different!
You could get two identical twins, that genetically are basically the same, give them the same diet for 6 months, but give one a step target of 10k and the other a step count of 15k and they will look completely different by the end of it.
Why is that? Because lifestyle is what really dictates energy balance, not genetics.
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