Most people in my family are carrying a bit of weight, other than my dad and his mum. On my mum's side, both my grandparents have pretty much always been on the large side since I've known them, and judging by their wedding photos, my grandfather at least has been for longer than that too. Mum's an only child, and while she apparently got quite skinny in her 20s, she's put it all back on and then some as she's aged. I think she was "chunky" in her teens and early 20s, lost a fair amount, then put it on. She's never been able to exercise due to a heart problem that made her spend a load of time when she was in hospital as a kid, and her cooking was never dished out in modest portion sizes. BUT, she's lost 15 - 20lb over the past year or so by picking up on a couple of things I do and increasing the amount she walks, so she's heading in the right direction at least.
On my dad's side, his mother is tiny and his dad is huge - height wise as well as ever increasing girth. However, that's just how his dad is now, having been confined to a wheelchair for the past 30 years or so (polio) it's no wonder that the weight has been piling on as he goes through his 70s and 80s. Dad's mum was always pretty sporty, right up to her late 60s I remember her taking us to play tennis, and she was pleased as punch when I started running because that's something she used to do at university.
My dad and his brothers are all probably naturally all borderline normal/overweight, with their actual weights varying depending on their lifestyles. My dad is a scuba diving instructor, so keeps himself relatively slim compared to his brothers (particularly, not that I'm pandering to stereotypes here, the one who lives in the US).
My sister is again borderline overweight, but fairly muscular so she looks pretty good at that weight. She's a scuba diving instructor too (family business), but whereas my dad will go through the day eating little more than an apple, she has a far healthier appetite! Which is most noticeable in her boyfriend who has put on a fair bit of weight since they moved in with each other - I thought it was normally the other way round, but my sister's cooking seems to have had more of an effect on him than her!
Looking through my family, almost all of the weight or lack of it seems to be linked to lifestyle factors rather than genetics. Or at least, while some of them might be naturally at the heavier end of the "normal" scale and there's no-one stick thin, how far they deviate from that natural weight (which isn't overweight) depends on how they live their lives.
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