The seriousness of overweight and obesity problems

Have you thought about why over 95% of all those who lose weight regain it?????? There ARE SEVERAL regimes for weight loss all over the world. The statistics should tell you the effectiveness of these methods being used.

About 46% of men in England and 32% of women are overweight (a body mass index of 25-30) and an additional 17% of men and 21 5of women are obese (BMI of more that 30). It has been documented that since the mid-1980’s the percentage of obese adults have doubled.

Many myths and misconceptions about weight management abound deceiving the people who need help A lot of people with obesity problems are frustrated and think it is impossible to lose weight and keep it.

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Predictions for 2050

The report predicts that if current trends continue:

• 60% of men, 50% of women, and 26% of children and young people will be obese
• Cases of type 2 diabetes will rise by 70%
• Cases of stroke will rise by 30%
• Cases of coronary heart disease will rise by 20%

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What are the Causes of Obesity

• Over consumption (High Quantity): Excessive amount of food intake over and above what your body requires means extra energy which the body then stores as fat.
• Poor quality food intake (high fat, refined sugary foods): The lack of control of the total food intake results in the following:
• Getting used to the habit of increased total calorie intake as mentioned in point 1 above.
• Secondly the use of high fat foods results in direct storage of fats if it is over and above what the body requires. Additionally it causes excess release of the fat control hormone called leptin. This hormone is responsible for causing us to lose appetite and stop eating when the level of body fat reaches a certain level.
• Rapid increases in fat levels in the blood following high fatty meals results in the development of resistance to the fat hormone, which then makes the body set a new threshold to control appetite, hence excess food intake can then result in increased fat deposition and hence increasing weight gain.
• Additionally the use of refined sugary foods implies rapid rise in the level of glucose after a meal. Such sudden high rise in glucose levels leads to high levels of insulin (the hormone required to regulate the blood sugar levels). Due to the fact that insulin has other effects, the body develops resistance to the insulin in order to minimise its side effects. The onset of insulin resistance, is also associated with altered metabolism of sugar and fat leading to increased storage of fat.
• Reduced energy expenditure: Reduced physical activity status implies that after the body has catered for the energy for the maintenance of the basic and essential body needs for every individual cell, all the remaining energy has to be stored. Since it is more economical for the body to store excess energy as fat, specially designed cells known as adipose (fat) cells are formed, or existing adipose cells enlarge to accommodate extra fat. The more fat cells you have, the more likely they are to be filled hence the more likely you are to be fat. Secondly the larger the fat cells the more likely you are to be obese. In the end if the total energy expenditure of the body is less than the total food intake energy is stored in the form of fat. It is interesting to note that:
• Only 20% of population are frequent exercisers
• 1 in 5 children do extra curricular physical activity
• Inherited predisposition to obesity. Pure genetics is not a major cause of obesity, and at most may contribute to 30% of the incidence. What is well established is that people inherit the predisposition to obesity, but not directly inheriting genes that determine obesity. Thus a person with the family history of obesity, is likely to be obese if he follows the same lifestyle of his family. In other words in the right environment genetically susceptible individuals will gain weight and possibly lots of it. What this means is that even if you are born into a family of obese people, even though you have the propensity to become obese, your own lifestyle determines whether you will also be obese or not.

Other useful calculators:

• BMI
• Body Fat
• Lean Mass