Obesity, Problems it cause & How to lose weight

There was a time when big women are seen as beautiful & well fed. Gone are those days. Obesity actually increases your chances of developing a lot of problems in life such as Diabetes, hypertension and a number of other conditions.
This condition is fast rising in Nigeria, especially among our women & young ladies, & its becoming a cause for concern.
Its time you consider losing that weight. Continue reading for how.

Table of Content

What is Obesity?

Obesity simply means overweight. According to WHO, it refers to the abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health. In simple terms, it means that your body weight is too much for your height. Medically, obesity is defined as a Body Mass Index (BMI) >30.
It has a potential for disastrous consequences for our health.

An Obese Individual by the right.

Causes of Obesity

  • Genetics/Family: It runs in the blood. It can be transmitted from parents to their children.
  • Lifestyle: The increase in the number of obese persons can be attributed to the rise in the amount of sugary drinks and high-fat snacks, as well as time spent watching television, and inversely with hours spent on exercises & other physical activities.
  • Drugs: a number of medications can cause obesity. Example of these drugs are some antidepressants, antidiabetic, and β-blockers.

Complications of obesity (What Obesity can cause)

The list of things that can result in overweight are endless. They include:

  • Diabetes: reduction of body weight and increase in physical exercise reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes.
  • Hypertension: Obese individuals have a higher risk of developing hypertension than non-obese.
  • Liver disease: It increases the risk of developing liver diseases like Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis or Cirrhosis
  • Cancer: Obese individuals have a higher risk of developing certain cancers, example; Breast cancer, esophageal, endometrial, pancreatic, colorectal, kidney, thyroid, gallbladder and liver cancer.
  • Sleep disturbances
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Coronary Artery Disease
  • Aesthetic: Obese individuals are not usually appealing.

It has been known that Obesity can reduce your life expectancy by 13 years especially if you are a smoker in addition. So why wouldn’t you start loosing those weights?

What is BMI?

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a ratio of a persons Weight to the persons height. There are acceptable weights allowed for different heights, above which the person would become overweight.

How do i calculate my BMI?

The Body mass Index (BMI) has always been used as the standard measurement to describe obesity. The BMI is calculated as follows;
BMI = weight in kilograms divided by the height in metres squared (kg/m2
Interpretation.

  • Normal 18.5–25.
  • Overweight 25–30.
  • Obese >30.

Risk of complications rises steeply to very severe if BMI >40.

Management of Obesity (How to Lose weight).

The only solution to Obesity is to lose weight. Height is constant and cannot change in adults after puberty. The health risks of obesity are reversible if there can be an appropriate weight loss (e.g. loss of 10% of body weight). This can be done by;

Lifestyle modification: such as; Increase physical activity as part of your daily routine (e.g. its better you chose to walk to school/work instead of driving or entering cabs or shuttles. Its hard i know, but it is doable. Change your eating style, (including size of your food, avoid snacks)
Weight loss diets: Know that this does not mean starvation. There are diets that are recommended for weight loss. You would need to see a nutritionist/dietician for this.

Drugs: Drug are usually only meant for obese people with very high risk of complications. Know that people who continue to take anti-obesity drugs would regain weight with time. Orlistat is the only drug currently licensed for long-term use.
Surgery: If all methods above fail, ‘Bariatric’ surgery to reduce the size of the stomach is the most effective long-term treatment for obesity.

Remember that Obesity is no longer attractive, and its time for you to lose those weights now. Regular exercises of at least 30 minutes per day is the key.
You can find some good weight loss app on the google play store to help you in loosing these weight.

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