RM> I also am convinced that there is a genetic component,
RM> that two people eating the same amount and living the same
RM> way, one may end up weighing quite a bit more than the
RM> other.

AA>Have not heard that. People in prisons/concentration camps
  >seemed to have the same results among them.

I try to never generalize or use extremes as examples. Starving is
starving and prisons tend to go high carb to fatten prisoners up
because heavy people usually cause less trouble, but there are
exceptions where they burn off the calories lifting weights and such..

For regular people I know there are some who eat less calories than
the average person would trying to lose weight, yet they stay heavy.

RM> Exercise is important to health under any circumstances

AA>I concur.  Actvity is an important element in overall health
  >too.  Sadly, some people reach a stage where is becomes too
  >hard to lug all that extra weight around. It becomes a
  >descending spiral of health.

Yes, that's a big part of the problem. The one time in my life when
I put on a little more weight, like up to almost 'normal', not fat,
it was because I was an office manager sitting behind a desk or driving
a car all day, and then you're too tired when you get home to exersize.

Once I saw what was happening I started doing things like taking long,
often 15 miles+, hikes on weekends or through local parks in the evening.
At that time I lived in a fair sized city, Brampton, Ontario CA.

RM> ..I'm 68 and have no issues with blood pressure or
RM> cholesterol or diabetes.  [...] In recent weeks, in my
RM> exercise routine, I've moved up from doing 100 to doing
RM> 110 push-ups in under 3 minutes.

AA>That's amazing. I'm just a handful of years younger. I've tried
  >sticking to a pushup routine (and increasing the numbers
  >gradually) ..but some days preclude the activity and the
  >routine gets out of wack.

I do that every 3rd, or at most, 4th day. If you are pushing yourself
you need time to let your muscles heal between times. I also may move
the day by 1 or 2 if I've been knocking myself out doing hard physical
labour, like shoveling a new 2 foot snowfall from the 60 or so feet of
sidewalk on the property here. Even if you try you usually can't do as
many pushups just due to muscle fatigue.

RM> BTW.. as for the 'genetics' idea, I am in far better
RM> health than either of my siblings, both overweight and the
RM> younger one severely diabetic, so you can take that for
RM> whatever it's worth..

AA>Then it can't be genetics. Your better health proves it.

AA>I have an older brother (by one year) who is quite large.  But
  >I've seen his high caloric intake.  He can barely walk now.

Well, it's obvious from physical differences that I mostly take
after my mother's father and my sister takes after my mother's
mother so the basic genetics will be different.
And my younger brother is, I feel, victim to his earlier lifestyle.
He'd come up to his cottage and just drink beer all weekend, not
having any solid food until the night before heading home, and then
he'd pig out and eat about 3 times a healthy amount. He got somewhat
'big' for a while, 5'8" and about 215 lbs, all things that seem to
increase the likelihood of devloping diabetes. He's not heavy anymore
but is in such poor health that he's unable to do much of anything
physical to stay in shape or to get in better shape since he can
barely walk due to diabetic nerve damage.

Yet, in general, our family is long lived, my father lived to 90 and
my mother's coming up on 91 and still able to live on her own in her
own house. I help her out a lot and she has a cleaning lady once every
two weeks to do the heavier cleaning around the house but it's nice to
still be able to take care of yourself at that age..

Final note on lifestyle though.. siblings of theirs who drank a lot
and didn't take care of themselves died 20 to 30 years younger.

---
 * SLMR Rob  * Beware of programmers carrying screwdrivers
 * Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (618:250/1)