Thinking about Genes

So a couple days ago when I was writing about genes, I started thinking about what I like to call the "fat gene."  This is the gene so unfairly passed down to me by my parents, who received it from their grandparents, etc.  Unfortunately for me, I received two strains of this gene, one from my mother's side of the family, and one from my fathers.  This makes me twice as disadvantaged as people with only one fat parent and four times as disadvantaged as those lucky people with skinny parents.  I say lucky because that is exactly what it is.  I mean, seriously, we have 35,000 genes, and only some of us got the one that makes us fat?  That is simply not fair. 

As I wallowed in my own sorrow over the fact that I have somehow, unfortunately inherited this fat gene, I realized something:  It doesn't matter.  For years I have been blaming that stupid fat gene for all of my unhappiness, instead of blaming myself for all the bad food choices I have made.  Sure, I may have a propensity to gain more weight than others when we eat the same bad foods, but I have still made all of the choices.  As far as I know, the fat gene does not require me to stop at a fast food place to get a 700 calorie "snack."

Overcoming one's weight is a mental game, not just a physical one.  Just like overcoming anything else is a mental game.  Honestly, I bet there is a gene out there for every addiction we get ourselves into.  And the beauty of a gene is that it gives us the power to not have any power.  With a gene, there is no responsibility, only apathy.  I mean, what can we do?  We are stuck with it.

Well, I am not stuck with it anymore.  I want you all to know that I am purging the fat gene from my body and my vocabulary.  From now on, I am fat because I chose to be fat, or at least, I am fat because I chose to make poor choices every single day that caused me, over the course of many years, to gain an unhealthy amount of weight.  Now, I know that there really are people out there with genetic predispositions or physical illnesses that have caused substantial weight gain for no apparent reason.  For these people I have nothing but the utmost sympathy.  No one deserves a life shortened by the ravages of morbid obesity.  I know, because I have been there.  (Yes, a doctor has called me morbidly obese.  I mean, come on, even if you are morbidly obese, you don't call someone that.)  Nevertheless, I am not one of these people, and I am not going to let my genes run my life.  For the first time, I am going to take responsibility for who I am and what I have made of myself.