In general, what is fattening or thinning is the difference, positive or negative, respectively, between calories consumed and expended. In this sense, we accumulate fat is nothing more than an energy reserve. But personal differences are that the issue is not so simple. The first of these differences relates to the basal metabolism, which is the minimum amount of energy a person needs to live: breathing, heart activity to maintain the functioning of the kidneys, brain, etc.. It is, in short, the energy consumption in absolute rest, and varies from one person to another depending on a number of factors such as age, sex, height, weight, stress and others. Relatively small differences in basal metabolism of two individuals can be significant at the end because it believes that this metabolism is about 55 a “70% of total energy consumption, the remainder (30 a ” 45%) to physical exercise and heat production.
The other factor that differentiates people from one another is the thrifty genotype, or genetic predisposition to save energy and stored as fat. After eating lunch, which is the presence of glucose in the blood, there are organisms that feed on abundant cells in the body, such as muscle, which is not only energy to be stored as fat, on the contrary, others have developed the “ability” to feed these cells with frugality and store excess energy as fat. The thrifty genotype has been for thousands of years, a clear evolutionary advantage. Given the frequent periods of prolonged lack of food due to lack of hunting and gathering, individuals with thrifty genotype had more reserves (fat) to survive, while those without this genotype may die of hunger. But in our developed society, abundance of food appealing and inexpensive, this advantage has become, as you know, in inconvenience. Besides these two factors, there could be others still undiscovered more marked differences between some people and others. Either way, knowledge of these circumstances should soothe consciences and off guilt, but never relax efforts or lead to fatalism of those who are overweight: weight loss, and very convenient for them, is possible.