STOP with unhealty gaining weight!!!STOP the OBESITY!!

What is obesity?

The definition of obesity varies depending on what one reads. In general, overweight and obesity indicate a weight greater than what is considered healthy. Obesity is a chronic condition defined by an excess amount body fat. A certain amount of body fat is necessary for storing energy, heat insulation, shock absorption, and other functions.
Obesity is best defined by using the body mass index. The body mass index is calculated using a person's height and weight. The body mass index (BMI) equals a person's weight in kilograms (kg) divided by their height in meters (m) squared. Since BMI describes body weight relative to height, it is strongly correlated with total body fat content in adults. An adult who has a BMI of 25-29.9 is considered overweight, and an adult who has a BMI over 30 is considered obese.

  

Surprising Reasons You're Gaining Weight

  f you started taking in more calories than usual or cutting back on exercise, you wouldn't be surprised if the numbers on the scale crept higher. But what if you're doing everything the same as you always do and your weight still goes up? It's time to delve a little deeper into what else might be going on.

 

Lack of Sleep

There are two issues at work with sleep and weight gain. The first is intuitive: If you're up late, the odds are greater that you're doing some late-night snacking, which will increase your calorie intake. The other reason involves what's going on biochemically when you're sleep deprived. Changes in hormone levels increase hunger and appetite and also make you feel not as full after eating.

  

Stress

When life's demands get too intense, our bodies go into survival mode: Cortisol, the "stress hormone," is secreted, which causes an increase in appetite. And then of course, we may reach for high-calorie comfort foods in times of stress as well. This combination is a perfect breeding ground for weight gain.

 

  

Antidepressants

An unfortunate side effect from some antidepressants is weight gain, which may occur in up to 25% of people taking them long-term. Talk to your doctor about switching to another drug if you think your antidepressant is causing weight gain. But realize that some people experience weight gain after beginning drug treatment simply because they're feeling better, which leads to a better appetite. Also, depression itself can cause changes in weight.

 

 

Don't Blame Menopause

Don't blame menopause and the loss of estrogen for your midlife weight gain. These may occur around the same time, during your 40s or 50s, but changing hormone levels probably aren't the cause. Aging slows the metabolism, so you burn fewer calories, and changes in lifestyle (such as exercising less) play a role. But where you gain weight may be related to menopause, with fat accumulating

Quitting Smoking

On average, people who stop smoking gain less than 10 pounds. Why? Because without nicotine you may:

• Feel hungrier and eat more (this feeling should go away after several weeks)
• Experience a decrease in your metabolism, without reducing your calorie intake
• Find food tastes better, which may lead to overeating
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  If You Do Gain Weight ...

  Don't compare yourself to other people taking the same drug. Not all people experience the same side effects on the same drug. Even if one drug caused someone else to lose weight, the same might not be true for you. Consult your doctor
   
  

Obesity is a chronic condition. Too often it is viewed as a temporary problem that can be treated for a few months with a strenuous diet. However, as most overweight people know, weight control must be considered a lifelong effort. To be safe and effective, any weight-loss program must address the long-term approach or else the program is largely a waste of time, money, and energy.

Conclusion

Maintaining your ideal body weight is a balancing act between food consumption and calories needed by the body for energy. You are what you eat. The kinds and amounts of food you eat affect your ability to maintain your ideal weight and to lose weight.

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  What are other factors associated with obesity?

• Ethnicity. Ethnicity factors may influence the age of onset and the rapidity of weight gain. African-American women and Hispanic women tend to experience weight gain earlier in life than Caucasians and Asians, and age-adjusted obesity rates are higher in these groups. Non-Hispanic black men and Hispanic men have a higher obesity rate then non-Hispanic white men, but the difference in prevalence is significantly less than in women.
• Childhood weight. A person's weight during childhood, the teenage years, and early adulthood may also influence the development of adult obesity. For example,
  • being mildly overweight in the early 20s was linked to a substantial incidence of obesity by age 35;
  • being overweight during older childhood is highly predictive of adult obesity, especially if a parent is also obese;
  • being overweight during the teenage years is even a greater predictor of adult obesity.
• Hormones. Women tend to gain weight especially during certain events such as pregnancy, menopause, and in some cases, with the use of oral contraceptives. However, with the availability of the lower-dose estrogen pills, weight gain has not been as great a risk.

What can be done about obesity?

 We need to learn more about the causes of obesity, and then we need to change the ways we treat it. When obesity is accepted as a chronic disease, it will be treated like other chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. The treatment of obesity cannot be a short-term "fix" but has to be an ongoing lifelong process.

Obesity treatment must acknowledge that even modest weight loss can be beneficial. For example, a modest weight loss of 5%-10% of the initial weight, and long-term maintenance of that weight loss can bring significant health gains, including

• lowered blood pressure;
• reduced blood levels of cholesterol;
• reduced risk of type 2 (adult-onset) diabetes (In the Nurses Health Study, women who lost 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of weight reduced their risk of diabetes by 50% or more.);
• decreased chance of stroke;
• decreased complications of heart disease;
• decreased overall mortality.

It is not necessary to achieve an "ideal weight" to derive health benefits from obesity treatment. Instead, the goal of treatment should be to reach and hold to a "healthier weight." The emphasis of treatment should be to commit to the process of lifelong healthy living including eating more wisely and increasing physical activity.
In sum, the goal in dealing with obesity is to achieve and maintain a "healthier weight."