Tara Parker-Pope, who describes herself as fat, has written an excellent state-of-the-science summary on obesity in America. I've excerpted two references I particularly appreciated. The first one was discussed years ago among 'personalized medicine' conferences -- genomic information doesn't always work as expected (emphases mine) ...
The Fat Trap - Tara Parker-Pope - NYTimes.com
... In February, The New England Journal of Medicine published a report on how genetic testing for a variety of diseases affected a person’s mood and health habits. Over all, the researchers found no effect from disease-risk testing, but there was a suggestion, though it didn’t reach statistical significance, that after testing positive for fat-promoting genes, some people were more likely to eat fatty foods, presumably because they thought being fat was their genetic destiny and saw no sense in fighting it...
... The National Weight Control Registry tracks 10,000 people who have lost weight and have kept it off. ... Anyone who has lost 30 pounds and kept it off for at least a year is eligible to join the study, though the average member has lost 70 pounds and remained at that weight for six years...
... There is no consistent pattern to how people in the registry lost weight — some did it on Weight Watchers, others with Jenny Craig, some by cutting carbs on the Atkins diet and a very small number lost weight through surgery. But their eating and exercise habits appear to reflect what researchers find in the lab: to lose weight and keep it off, a person must eat fewer calories and exercise far more than a person who maintains the same weight naturally. Registry members exercise about an hour or more each day — the average weight-loser puts in the equivalent of a four-mile daily walk, seven days a week. They get on a scale every day in order to keep their weight within a narrow range. They eat breakfast regularly. Most watch less than half as much television as the overall population. They eat the same foods and in the same patterns consistently each day and don’t “cheat” on weekends or holidays. They also appear to eat less than most people, with estimates ranging from 50 to 300 fewer daily calories....Most of my friends think I have never had a weight problem -- but my mother is obese. I have no trouble gaining weight, it's the easiest thing in the world. I love good bread and good french pastry (fortunately near impossible to find outside of Quebec).
What I do to control my weight is a less disciplined version of what what the "one-in-a-thousand" people in the National Weight Loss Control registry do every day of their lives. I exercise more than my peers, I eat less than my peers, and I have to watch my weight constantly. Each year I age I have to eat less. (Though I think that may plateau after age 60 or so.) The only thing I have going for me there is that I love to exercise and my knees still work. [1]
Great holiday reading :-).
[1] Note to the young - human knees are a friggin' disaster. I thank my geekiness that I never played football or even soccer. Alpine skiing is nuts. It's surprisingly hard for an active person to have good knees by age 50.
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