What Makes Me the Weight I Am?
      There’s no easy answer to this question. Your genetic makeup, the physical traits that get passed down to you from your parents, plays a big part in determining your size and weight. _____(1)_____ But if your parents are smaller than average, you may want to rethink that professional basketball career!
      The same goes for your body type. Have you ever heard someone say a person is “big boned?” It’s a way of saying the person has a large frame, or skeleton. Big bones usually weight more than small bones. _____(2)_____
      Like your height or body type, your genes have a lot to say about what your weight will be. But that’s only part of the story. Being overweight can run in someone’s family, but it may not be because of their genes. _____(3)_____ And even though some kids gain weight more easily than others, when they eat right and exercise, most kids can be a healthy and happy weight that’s right for them. It’s true—the way you live can change the way you look.
      How much you weight is a balance between the calories you eat and the calories you use. _____(4)_____ If you spend your free time watching TV, your body won’t use as many calories as it would if you played basketball, skated, or went for a walk. If you are in balance, your weight will stay right for you as you grow. But if you eat more and exercise less, you may become overweight. _____(5)_____

A  That’s why it’s possible for two kids with the same height, but different weights, to both be the right weight.
B  If you eat more calories than your body needs to use, you will gain too much weight.
C  Poor eating and exercise habits also run in families and this may be the reason the members of a family are overweight.
D  However, many overweight people have difficulty reaching their healthy body weight.
E  On the other hand, if you eat less and exercise more, you may lose weight.
F  If both your parents are tall, there is a good chance you’ll be tall.
Why Do Peoples Shrink?
      Did you ever see the movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids? It’s about wacky dad (who’s also a scientist) who accidentally shrinks his kids with his homemade miniaturizing invention. Oops! _____(1)_____
      For older people, shrinking isn’t that dramatic or sudden at all. It takes place over years and may add up to only an inch or so off of their adult height(maybe a little more, maybe less). And this kind of shrinking can’t be magically reversed, although there are things that can be done to stop it or slow it sown. _____(2)_____
      There are a few reasons. As people get older, they generally lose some muscle and lat form their bodies as part of the natural aging process. Gravity (the force that keeps your feet on the ground) takes hold, and the bones in the spine, called vertebrae, may break down or degenerate, and start to collapse into one another. _____(3)_____ But perhaps the most common reason why some older people shrink is because of osteoporosis.
      Osteoporosis occurs when too much spongy bone tissue (which is found inside of most bones) is broken down and not enough new bone material is made. _____(4)_____ Bones become smaller and weaker and can easily break if someone with osteoporosis is injured. Older people—especially women, who generally have smaller and lighter bones to begin with—are more likely to develop osteoporosis. As years go by, a person with osteoporosis shrinks a little bit.
      Did you know that every day you do a shrinking act, too? You aren’t as tall at the end of the day as you are at the beginning. That’s because as the day goes on, water in the disks of the spine gets compressed (squeezed) due to gravity, making you just a tiny bit shorter. Don’t worry, though. _____(5)_____

A They end up pressing closer together, which makes a person lose a little high and become shorter.
B Once you get a good night’s rest, your body recovers, and the next morning, you’re standing tall again!
C Over time, bone is said to be lost because it’s not being replaced.
D Luckily, there are things that people can do to prevent shrinking.
E The kids spend the rest of the movie as tiny people who are barely visible while trying to get back to their normal size.
F But why does shrinking happen at all?