Overweight and Obesity – Symptoms, Causes and Associated Health Problems
Being overweight and obese are considered serious health problems, especially in the US, where more than half of the adult population falls into one category or another.
Obesity is now classified as a disease by the American Medical Association.
Worldwide, more than one billion adults are overweight or obese. Here you can learn about the symptoms, causes, and health problems associated with excess body fat.
Symptoms
Overweight and obesity are generally defined according to a person’s BMI, or “Body Mass Index.” The BMI is determined by taking your weight in kilograms and dividing it by your height in meters squared, in symbols kg/m2. A BMI of 25-30 is considered overweight. A BMI greater than 30 is considered obese.
BMI is more accurate than simply looking at your weight on a scale and comparing it to what is considered “normal.” However, the BMI is not accurate for bodybuilders and other very muscular people. Measuring body fat is the most accurate method.
Excess body fat is the main symptom, but there are a few others including:
Difficulty exercising
Getting fatigued quickly during exercise.
Lack of energy
Difficulty breathing when climbing stairs
Difficulty bending over
Causes
In most cases, the cause is a combination of excessive calorie intake combined with varying levels of physical inactivity. Other causes and contributing factors include:
Genetics
Insufficient or poor quality sleep.
Endocrine disruptors in the environment
Medication Side Effects
Alcoholism
Eating disorders (mainly binge eating)
Hormonal imbalances (mainly hypothyroidism)
Poor nutrient intake
metabolic disorders
· Stress
yo-yo diet
Yo-yo dieting refers to the practice of severely restricting caloric intake in order to lose weight quickly, usually for a specific reason, such as a wedding. Once the desired weight loss is achieved, the person returns to eating as they did before the diet. The result is weight gain, but the weight gained is just fat, while much of the weight lost is muscle.
Losing muscle reduces your resting metabolic rate (the number of calories burned at rest). This means that if the person eats the same number of calories as before the diet, the weight gain will be even greater. Numerous studies have shown that yo-yo dieting makes people more overweight than they originally were. It is obvious at this point that very low calorie diets are not the solution for people who are overweight or obese.
Associated health problems
Excessive body fat increases a person’s risk of various diseases. In particular, type II diabetes is strongly related to obesity. Other associated health problems include:
cardiovascular disease
Obstructive sleep apnea
Osteoarthritis
Asthma
· Cancer
Research has shown that chronic inflammation accompanies excess body fat. Fat cells within the body burst. This triggers the immune system response of inflammation. Excessive inflammation plays a definite role in cancer.
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