It's genetic!

According to USA Today, I'm probably genetically pre-determined not to move around as much as someone else. The calories that are burned just by "puttering around" can account for the difference between two couch potatoes, one of average weight and one who's obese.

Here's my genetic theory, which I know you've been aching to know: I believe that the further we go in research, the more about us we're going to find out really is hard-wired. From my brown eyes to my handwriting to the way my voice resonates, all the way to my compulsion to crunch ice and the kinds of scent I prefer -- there's an actual genetic link for all these things. Environment can shape them or twist them, or even remove them. But the propensity toward certain things is just there.

My grandpa's couch had a dent in it where he sat every night to watch TV. He did not get up until it was time to go to bed. His son, my dad, also prefers a spot on the couch (even on the same side as my grandpa), and will remain stationary until there's a really good reason to move. I'm the same way in many respects. I have to move around a little more, just because I'm a mom with kids and I have to. But if left to my own devices, I can sit motionless for long periods of time. It's not that I actively resist moving, it's just that I don't think to do it.

My mom's always had just a wee streak of the oppositional rebel in her; as a teenager, she preferred the Beatles and hated Elvis mainly because her sister adored Elvis. I've got that same sort of response; when naming my children, I checked the Top 50 Name Lists to find the names that I would never EVER name my kids because I didn't want there to be any other kids in the church nursery with that name. I think that that kind of reaction is encoded into my DNA; you'd have to subject me to electroshock therapy over an extended period of time before I'd consider naming my daughter Brittany Nicole.

Even though I believe that a good portion, if not the vast majority, of who we are as people is genetically programmed, I do not believe that this gives us license to act on our propensities free from consequence. I can overcome my predisposition to sedentarism by consciously choosing otherwise, using external motivators such as alarm clocks, reminder notes, etc., because being sedentary is not healthy. Or I can understand and accept that my body shape has never been and will never be able to be like a supermodel's, and I can resolve not to have unrealistic expectations of myself. It's a balance, y'know. Do what's good, but don't go overboard.

We can choose to act on our impulses, or we can make a logical decision as to the benefits or risks of doing so. That's what separates us from animals, in my opinion.