The
health risks of obesity are largely reversible. This is because research has
shown that as you lose weight, your chances of getting diseases associated with
obesity drops. For instance, lifestyle advice that lowers body weight and
increases physical exercise lowers the risk for type II diabetes.
Most
people seeking to lose weight are motivated to do so, but have attempted losing
weight previously without success (due to claims by most people to offer weight
loss weight exercise, etc). These people now feel they have an ‘incurable
disease’.
Some
individuals are more susceptible to obesity than others, they may therefore
find it difficult to lose weight and maintain weight loss. However, it is not
true that obese people have a ‘slow metabolism’; in fact their Basal Metabolic
Rate (BMR) is higher than that of lean people. It is mainly genetic. Twin
studies have proven that.
Some
reasons that cause an increase in obesity in our society today include:
Increasing
energy intake
·
Increasing the size of meals we eat.
·
Snacking and skipping regular meals.
·
Energy dense or fatty foods.
·
Wealth
Decreasing
energy expenditure
·
Car ownership.
·
We no longer walk to school as kids.
·
Increasing technology and decreasing
need for human effort.
·
Decreased sports in schools.
·
Increased time spent on computer games
and the internet/social media (like you may be doing).
I
described how to calculate your BMI (body mass index) in a previous post.
Obesity
is BMI >30.0.
The
only way to decrease your BMI is to decrease your weight (unless you want me to
cut your two legs, that way your height decreases).
So
how do you lose weight? That is the question on everybody’s mind.
There
are a number of medically proven ways to lose weight:
·
Lifestyle changes.
·
Weight loss diet.
·
Bariatric surgery.
·
Drugs - Orlistat
Drugs
and surgery are usually reserved for people with high risk of complications of
obesity with a BMI>35Kg/m2 or those with BMI greater than 40Kg/m2.
Some
people who continue to take anti-obesity drugs tend to regain weight with time;
this may partly reflect age-related weight gain.
Surgery
is by far the most effective long-term treatment for obesity, and the only
anti-obesity intervention that improves your chances of staying alive.
For
people who are not in the category described above, there are only two ways to
adequately and permanently lose weight; lifestyle changes and weight loss diet.
For
lifestyle changes, avoiding the reasons for obesity listed above is very
important (example walking rather than driving to work). Walking is a form of
exercise that is likely to be sustained since it is one of the exercises that
put money in your pocket (most take away). Regular eating patterns are advised.
Changes in eating behaviour include:
·
Food selection.
·
Portion size control.
·
Avoidance of snacks.
·
Eating regular meals to encourage
satiety ( after eating snacks, you will get hungry quicker than after eating
regular meals).
·
You can consult a dietician for more
advice.
The
lifestyle changes above are for ‘weight maintenance’. In very obese people, you
might want to consider a weight loss diet, to lose a significant amount of
weight before using the maintenance. A lot of weight loss diet have been
developed; choose wisely.
In
weight loss, there is NO PLACE FOR STARVATION DIETS, which may cause loss of
muscle mass and sudden death from cardiac arrest (heart attack).
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