Do you know obesity is an unavoidable medical condition that attracts chronic diseases and gradually leads to death? Well, if you’re not aware of this topic, it is the right place for you to have a glance. In this blog, we’ve discussed what obesity is, what causes obesity, and multiple related factors.What Is Obesity– Overview: Obesity is a disease involving excessive body fat accumulation that usually leads to deadly health issues. The term is commonly used as overweight. But, both of these conditions are inherited gradually due to environmental factors, unlimited eating habits, and other physical and biological changes in the human body.
Studies show that overweight individuals are more at risk to have a lasting disease than normal ones. Top of them are:
- Hypertension
- Type two diabetes
- Chronic heart diseases
- Several types of cancers
- Low-quality life
- Mental illness
You would be amazed to know that the latest research from WHO (World Health Organization) shows that in 2020, around 38 million children under the age of 5 were obese. Yet, this medical condition is common; at the same time, it is preventable.
Most people themselves don’t want to cure this issue, but, Obesity is curable with some simple habits, consistency, proper treatment, physical therapy, and minimal lifestyle. We understand losing weight is not as easy as gaining weight, but we believe that if there’s a will, there’s a way. How To Know If You’re Obese Or Not?” The most common and widely used method to check your weight is BMI (Body Mass Index) calculation. The procedure calculates the person’s body size by analyzing their height and weight. Various BMI checkers and applications available online can help you determine your BMI.
According to the CDC (Centers for Control Disease control), a BMI of 3.0 or above falls into the category of obesity for adults.
While some top BMI calculations for adults are:
- BMI 18-24 -Healthy weight.
- 25-29.9 -Overweight
- 30-39.9 -Obese.
- 40 and above falls into the severely obese categories.
ATTENTION: BMI is an excellent indication for people living a simple life and tends to know whether they are obese or not. However, it is not an appropriate way for people with more muscle mass build-up. They can better measure their waist size; look out to dietitians as BMI and waist measurement also differs when it comes to opposite genders, children and adults. What Is The Best Time To Visit Doctor?” Obesity is the major issue faced by adults at the time. If you think your lifestyle is unhealthy or your habits are a bit concerning, then today is the right time to visit your doctor. You can contact your dietitian; they will help you to calculate your BMI or their preferred method to determine if you’re obese or not.
Your consultant will evaluate your weight gain issues and provide a complete guideline for a dietary and physical lifestyle to prevent you from chronic health issues. What Are The Causes of Obesity: Our body is influenced by environmental changes, physical activities, genetics, hereditary, and most importantly, our lifestyle. In simple words, you can say that obesity is caused when a person intakes more calories than they burn during the day. This means our body does not regulate every calorie of the previous day and stores it as fat cells while increasing our body mass.
Most of the time, people with obesity have bad eating habits. They tend to eat high-calorie and less nutritious food that makes them feel hungry before their body can consume the calories from previous meals.
On the other hand, people might not eat that much caloric food. Still, they have lazy life choices like using escalators instead of stairs and shopping through the driveway instead of waiting in a queue. In short, our lifestyle is what makes us Obese.
Some of the significant Obesity causes are defined as: Lifestyle Choices: Lifestyle plays a vital role in gaining and losing weight. As the world is speeding up, humankind is getting more comfortable with the convenience of every step. The most common example is our diet.
People love munching on high-calorie snacks and fast foods that are dense in calories but lack nutrients. Instead of eating raw fruit, everyone loves consuming processed fruit juices with tons of sugar. These smart meals and liquid calories contribute more to making a person obese or overweight. On the other hand, physical inactivity is the root of gaining weight. Most of us spend half of our day in front of laptops and computer screens without letting our calories burn out. What do you think it will cause you? Underlying Health Conditions: Besides our lifestyle, a person’s current health condition also contributes to weight gain. Sometimes, underlying health conditions like
- Arthritis,
- PCOS,
- Joint pain,
- Cushing syndrome
These can cause physical inactivity, leading to obesity. The health issues and medication used during these medical conditions can also add up a small portion to weight gain. Therefore, consult your doctor before consuming antidepressants, anti- diabetics or other medicines. Inheritance and gene distribution is nature’s way of transferring good habits, diseases, looks, and several other things to new ones. Most of the time, inherited genes play a role in deciding how one’s body would look. Additionally, genetics also contributes to body metabolism. For instance, if obesity is running in your family from your ancestors, it might get you a tough time tackling it.
Moreover, genes or heredity is not enough to support the statement that obesity runs in the family as all the members share similar eating habits and lifestyles. If you’re influenced by the thing that you’re obese just because it’s your family thing, then we would ask you to analyze your habits again. Social And Economic Issues: We are connected to multiple environments, ally and economically, which also impact our way of living. If you’re spending time with a bunch of friends that love to dine out more than clean eating then it’s natural that their choice would influence you to eat high-calorie food.
Other than that, having an environment with no parks, gyms, or walking track might lead to the laziness of winking out hence usually results in being overweight. Age: Obesity has nothing to do with a particular age; it can even occur in childhood. In contrast to aging, our hormones regulate, usually decreasing muscle mass. Due to lifestyle and responsibilities, physical activity usually decreases in adults compared to children; therefore, adults are at more risk of gaining weight as they don’t have that active lifestyle to burn fat cells. Other factors like pregnancy can be the primary cause of weight gain. For most homemakers it’s nearly impossible to lose weight after giving birth. This excessive weight leads to obesity in adult women. In most cases, quitting smoking also contributes to obesity. Yes! We have a complete explanation to support this point. Most people adopt frequent eating habits to suppress their smoking cravings. This regular eating adds to weight gain, which in most cases leads to obesity in men and women. Healthy sleeping is one of the great solutions to keep your body healthy and maintain your metabolism. Therefore, disturbance in a sleeping pattern like getting excessive or not getting enough sleep can lead to various risk factors, including obesity.
So, these are some of the major causes that lead to weight gain and eventually make the person obese if not treated correctly. Other Health Problems Caused By Obesity: While various factors cause obesity, obesity is the root of many chronic health problems. It can lead to some fetal diseases like kidney failure, cancer, heart disease, etc.,
Here are some thoughts for you to have a look at: Overweight people are at significant risk of getting type 2 diabetes. It is a disease when human cells cannot intake glucose in the meal, leading to high blood sugar levels every time.
Surveys show that 8 out of 10 people with type 2 diabetes are either obese or overweight. If you or anyone in social gatherings is facing type two diabetes, then losing some portion of body weight could be helpful with proper medication. It is a collective term for various heart-related issues. A person suffering from heart disease might face heart failure or heart attack. The dirty eating habit usually results in accumulation of bad cholesterol in the body that highly affects the blood circulation, impacting heart health religiously.
However, an obese person is more at risk of heart disease than a normal one. Specialists recommend increased physical activity, which can help you shred weight easily to prevent such medical inconvenience at any stage of your life. thritis is a common name for joint disease; it leads to inactive, swollen, and painful joints, mostly at the older stage. Yet an overweight person can openly invite osteoarthritis by forcing their joints to carry more weight than they tend to. Any type of cancer is dangerous. According to studies, the risk of acquiring cancer increases as the person gains more weight. Cholesterol is the primary cause of obesity and contributes to most gallbladder diseases like gallstones. Gallstones are usually caused by the extra amount of cholesterol in bile. We can say that obesity is the center of disease. It can cause high blood sugar levels, which naturally grow to kidney issues like kidney damage, kidney stone malfunctioning, or even leads to failure if not treated at the right time. Hypertension is also known as high blood pressure in simple language. It is a common health condition among most overweight individuals. Hypertension is a chronic condition that invites several medical problems like heart attack, damaging blood veins, kidney failure, or even death.
So, these were some of the risky health issues related to Obesity. If you are looking forward to enjoying a healthy life, then keep tracking of your weight. What Are The Treatment Of Obesity? According to the WHO, obesity is preventable; however, awareness is necessary to cope with this issue equally. As a society, we can make a better environment for obese people by providing them healthy meals, respecting their body condition, and allowing them to feel happy in what they are doing. One can quickly lose weight with stress-free surroundings, regular physical activities, work, and a healthy diet rich in nutrients and fewer calories.
Moreover, if you find yourself surrounded by unaware people, guiding them about their weight can also help. Cutting sugar and fat would benefit you while losing weight personally. Yet, if you feel you want an authentic plan that can be followed consistently, we recommend visiting your dietician to precisely analyze your body weight.
Most importantly, track your daily habits and avoid those taking you to situations like overeating or no physical activity. Obesity is a significant concern for most of the population in the world. Yet it is preventable, but our lifestyle and eating habits are messing around. In this article, we’ve mentioned all about obesity, how it can be lethal, and what one can do to target it. We hope you learned more about the topic.
If you’re concerned about your health and looking forward to curing obesity or being overweight, turn to Health Consult for medical intervention. Obesity being our specialty, we have discovered the most effective obesity treatments and programmes, which had successfully worked with our clients. Schedule a meeting with one of our consultants today! A, C., Salhi Y, A., A, T., G, P., A, F., Nunzio C, D., G, B., S, M., & Al, P. (2018b, May 31). Obesity and kidney stone disease: a systematic review. Abstract – Europe PMC. https://europepmc.org/article/med/29856171
Lee H. (2014). Effects of Exercise Therapy on Blood Lipids of Obese Women. 2014 by the Society of Physical Therapy Science. https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jpts/26/11/26_jpts-2014-126/_article/-char/ja/
Managing Overweight and Obesity in Adults: Systematic Evidence Review from the Obesity Expert Panel. (2013, November 1). NHLBI, NIH. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/managing-overweight-obesity-in-adults
NHS website. (2022, July 1). Gallstones. Nhs.Uk. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/gallstones/