What are some suggestions for losing weight?

Most experts recommend that someone attempting to lose a large amount of weight consult with a personal physician or health care professional before beginning a weight-loss program. The following are some general recommendations:

1) Aim for a healthy weight. People who need to lose weight should do so gradually,
at a rate of one-half to two pounds per week.

2) Be active. The safest and most effective way to lose weight is to reduce calories
and increase physical activity.

3) Eat well. Select sensible portion sizes and follow the Dietary Guidelines available in most hospitals or Health minitries in most countries.

Physical activity, along with a healthy diet, plays an important role in the prevention of overweight and obesity. In order to maintain a stable weight, a person needs to expend the same amount of calories as he or she consumes.

Although the body burns calories for everyday functions such as breathing, digestion, and routine daily activities, many people consume more calories than they need for these functions each day. A good way to burn off extra calories and prevent weight gain is to engage in regular physical activity beyond routine activities.

The Energy Balance is like a scale. To remain in balance, the calories consumed (from foods) must be balanced by the calories used (in physical activity).

If you eat 100 more food calories a day than you burn, you'll gain about 1 pound in a month. That's about 10 pounds in a year. The bottom line is that to lose weight, it's important to reduce calories and increase physical activity.

Overweight and Obesity: Health Consequences

Overweight and obese individuals are at increased risk for many diseases and health conditions, including the following:

* Hypertension
* Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of
triglycerides)
* Type 2 diabetes
* Coronary heart disease
* Stroke
* Gallbladder disease
* Osteoarthritis
* Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
* Some cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon)

American Obesity Association's concern

The AOA defends the rights of disabled persons with obesity, because obesity:

* is a disease.
* is the second leading cause of premature death.
* can cause many health conditions such as diabetes and coronary heart disease.
* is a source of stigmatization and discrimination.
* can lead to a poor quality of life and impaired mobility.
* can cause physical and emotional pain that can be disabling.

What causes Obesity?

When food energy intake exceeds energy expenditure, fat cells (and to a lesser extent muscle and liver cells) throughout the body take in the energy and store it as fat. In its simplest conception, therefore, obesity is only made possible when the lifetime energy intake exceeds lifetime energy expenditure by more than it does for individuals of "normal weight."

In all individuals, the excess energy utilized to generate fat reserves is minute relative to the total number of calories consumed. This means that very fine perturbations in the energy balance can lead to large fluctuations in weight over time. To illustrate, an obese 40 year old who carries 100 lb of adipose tissue has only consumed about 25 more calories per day than he has burned on average - or the equivalent of an apple every three days. In comparison a very lean 40-year-old who carries only 15 lb of body fat will have exceeded his daily energy expenditure by about four calories a day - the equivalent of an apple every 18 days.

Factors that have been suggested to contribute to the development of obesity include:

* Sedentary lifestyle
* Genetic factors
* A high glycemic diet (i.e. a diet that consists of meals that give high postprandial blood sugar)
* Weight cycling, caused by repeated attempts to lose weight by dieting
* Underlying illness (e.g. hypothyroidism)
* Genetic disorders (e.g. Prader-Willi syndrome)
* Eating disorders (such as binge eating disorder)
* Stressful mentality
* Insufficient sleep
* Psychotropic medications
* Smoking cessation

As with many medical conditions, the caloric imbalance that results in obesity often develops from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Polymorphisms in various genes controlling appetite, metabolism, and adipokine release predispose to obesity, but the condition requires availability of sufficient calories, and possibly other factors, to develop fully. Various genetic abnormalities that predispose to obesity have been identified (such as Prader-Willi syndrome and leptin receptor mutations), but known single-locus mutations have been found in only about 5% of obese individuals. While it is thought that a large proportion of the causative genes are still to be identified, much obesity is likely the result of interactions between multiple genes, and non-genetic factors are likely also important.

Some eating disorders are associated with obesity, especially binge eating disorder (BED). As the name indicates, patients with this disorder are prone to overeat, often in binges. A proposed mechanism is that the eating serves to reduce anxiety, and some parallels with substance abuse can be drawn. An important additional factor is that BED patients often lack the ability to recognize hunger and satiety, something that is normally learned in childhood. Learning theory suggests that early childhood conceptions may lead to an association between food and a calm mental state.

What is Obesity?

Obesity is a condition in which the natural energy reserve, stored in the fatty tissue of humans and mammals is increased to a point where it is thought to be a significant risk factor in certain health conditions, leading to increased mortality. Obesity is relatively rare among animals in the wild, but it is common in domestic animals (who may be overfed and underexercised), and increasingly in humans.

Excessive body weight has been shown to correlate with various important diseases, particularly cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus type 2, sleep apnea and osteoarthritis. It is also considered a risk factor for certain cancers. Interventions, such as diet and exercise as well as medication and weight-loss surgery (in severe cases) are frequently recommended to reduce the risk of developing disease.