Now there’s a question! 

Scientists have discovered a ‘fat gene’.  Briefly stated this means that if one of our parents was overweight or obese, we have a 40% chance of following suit, and if both parents were overweight or obese we have a 70% chance of developing the same problems.  Since God created us and we have no control whatsoever over our DNA it would be logical to conclude that for many of us, given our genetic background, God made us fat!

This was the conclusion I had arrived at after years of yo-yo dieting.  I had tried to lose weight so often and, being a Christian, had prayed that God would help me to stick to my diet and lose weight. Sometimes I had reasonable short-term success, but I always regained the weight and usually ended up heavier than I was before I dieted.  Sound familiar? Since I had done everything I could, the only logical conclusion was to blame God for the way He had made me.  My body shape (the British pear) was typically my mother, but the dimensions reflected my father’s side.  He was a rugby full-back and photos of his father (I never knew him) show a short, stocky man who, rumour has it, took up two seats on a bus!

Now, however, my weight is normal and has remained stable, without dieting, for nearly five years.  So what does that imply concerning my fat genes?  Well, I believe that the fat gene does exist and I still have it! Compared with individuals of a different body shape and genetic background, I am still far more susceptible to putting weight on than they would be.  But I have come to understand one very important fact…

PREDISPOSITION DOES NOT MEAN PREDETERMINATION

Just because I have a predisposition, due to my genetic make-up, of putting on weight, does not mean that being overweight or obese is inevitable.  It does mean that I have to be extra vigilant in this area; it does mean that I can’t abuse my body and get away with it, as others seem to do; it does mean that I have an inherent physical weakness which leaves me totally reliant on the grace of God to help me overcome. 

God told the apostle Paul, concerning his ‘thorn in the flesh’: “My grace is made perfect in your weakness.”  In other words, our need is a wonderful opportunity for God to demonstrate his power. As I have learnt to yield to the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to work in my life, I have come to recognise my body’s requirements for optimum health and am no longer enslaved to the negative effects of my genes, nor to the allurement of food which my body simply does not need.  In order to become overcomers there has to be something to overcome! Right?

We cannot change our basic body shape.  I tell people that if you were to put a St. Bernard dog on a diet it would never end up looking like a whippet!  But God has, I believe, fit us for purpose. He has given us, individually, just the right body shape to enable us to fulfil our specific calling in life. I would never have made a ballerina or an Olympic runner, but so what? 

We must learn not only to accept our body shape but also to love it. However, we should not give in to the thinking which says that being overweight is inevitable. This mind-set will only imprison you, as it imprisoned me.  I was 54 years old when I finally broke free from my prison of obesity and today, having lost over four stone, I have more energy than I had fifteen years ago.  It’s never too late to change.  Today is the first day of the rest of your life.  Determine even now that, in God’s strength, you can overcome your genetic weaknesses.  You are programmed to win!