Over the years, Oprah and Wynonna have publicly shared their triumphs and tumbles about their weight.We applauded them on their skinny days and followed all the steps they took to be just as successful. However, when we failed, our excuses were that we did not have a private cook, a personal trainer, and certainly no means to liposuction.
Yet, what was Oprah’s reasoning when the pounds came back? Why did Wynonna outgrow her size 10?
Studies now show that 80% of our body weight is pre-programmed by genes. Weight is a characteristic like height, or hair color (David J. Linden, professor of neuroscience at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, author of The Compass of Pleasure).
Sure, the other 20% are brought on by environmental factors. However, why is it that some thin people eat as much as fat people, yet their buttons don’t jump off?
It is unfair. We don’t tell short people that they really should grow some more inches. Alternatively, we don’t whisper behind a blond person’s back that she should seriously do something about her hair. However, we are constantly telling fat people that they must lose weight. Then, if they don’t, we label them as lazy, and ugly slobs without any self-control.
Oprah is one of the richest women in the world. The last thing that she should have is a weight problem. But, she does. And so do countless others.
Nobody wants to be fat. Are heavy people then condemned to live a live of deprivation and never ending physical exercises? Research shows that it is nearly impossible to keep lost weight off for the long term. Our brains are programmed to satisfy the pleasure circuitry. This happens involuntarily, because the craving is stronger than any willpower.
Wynonna Judd has incredible musical talent. It’s an inherited gene. If she had a choice to give one up, would it be the music gene, or the weight gene?
Let’s hope that Wynonna and Oprah stay just the way they are, because, after all, that is how nature designed them to be. And for the rest of us, it is comforting to know that we are not failures when it comes to dieting. We are simply not as powerful as our genetic make-up.