Obesity is a condition or call it a disorder in a person with excessive body fat which increases the risk of health problems. It is generally considered when an individual’s Body Mass Index (BMI) is above the normal range.
What can obesity or more body fat lead to?
Obesity is not just about having extra body fat. It is more much more than that. It can have severe impacts on our health in long term. Obesity can lead to many lifestyle diseases/disorders.
Some of the very common diseases caused by obesity are:
- High Blood Pressure
- Heart Attacks
- Cancer
- Diabetes
- Coronary Vascular Disease
- Coronary Artery Disease
- High Cholesterol.
What causes obesity?
- Eating too much with a sedentary lifestyle: When we consume high amounts of calories, particularly, fats and sugars, and do not burn off that energy through any kind of physical activity, much of the surplus energy gets stored as body fat.
- Emotional eating/Stress eating: The way of eating when someone uses food to make themselves feel better and satisfies not only his physical hunger but also his emotional needs. This way of eating mostly includes high calorie food consumption like junk food.
- Lack of awareness: There are many who are still not aware of health risks due to obesity. Therefore, they don’t end up focusing on what and how they eat and their physical activities. Moreover, lack of a healthcare plan also adds up to the problem. 4 of the top 10 leading causes of death are all related to obesity.
- Environment: It’s is common to see a person falling under obese category, if his/her family & friends are also obese because an individual follows the same diet, shares the same unhealthy routine and lifestyle as of those who they live and and spend time with.
- Other causes: Lack of sleep, less intake of water, poor digestion can often lead to weight gain as well.
How to lose fat?
There are a lot of approaches or to be precise, shortcuts, which have come up in the modern world to lose fat like consuming certain supplements, slim belts, remedies etc. However, the truth is, “old is gold”. Traditional ways to lose fat are having a control on diet and an active lifestyle, no matter what. Here are some tips mentioned to overcome obesity.
- Create a calorie deficit: The first way to lose fat through diet is by creating a calorie deficit when a person’s calorie intake should be lesser than the calorie expenditure by eating less and spending more calories.
- Protein intake: To lose fat, we need to increase our protein intake as it is a macro nutrient known to build and preserve our muscle mass along with having a high satiety level which helps us feel full for a long period of time as proteins do not get reserved in our body unlike carbohydrates and lipids and should be consumed on a daily basis but remember that over consumption of any nutrient is also bad.
- Balanced Sodium: Consumption of too much sodium in the diet tends to cause water retention, resulting into swollen appearance.
- Small Meals: Having 4-6 little meals instead of three large meals in a day can help us lose weight as it can stabilize our energy levels and prevent us from overeating. It can also make us aware of the portion size, timings and the number of calories consumed from each meal and also it can help us divide our meals in such a way so that every nutrient requirement is fulfilled in our body. A diet plan helps in this case to stick with it.
- Avoid processed food: Focus on natural sugars like fructose which have essential vitamins and minerals unlike refined sugars just having empty calories. Avoid other processed and packaged foods lacking dietary fibre, having high calories which affect our digestion and make us feel hungry faster. Another good reason to choose whole grains, fruits and veggies as carb sources.
- Stop eating fast: Chew your food properly and take longer time to finish your meals so that you don’t end up feeling bloated or heavy. Eating slowly improves digestion & helps you control on portion size.
- Drink More Water: Increase your water intake, stay hydrated. Drinking more water reduces false hunger and cravings.
- Sleep Enough: A lack of sleep leads to more stress hormones, which ends up leaving us with a lot of extra cravings for food. It is important to sleep well as much as focusing on diet.
- Exercise: Last but not the least, EXERCISE! Workout consistently, indulge in physical activities to keep yourself active and fit. Working out helps you burn calories, especially strength training which will help you burn even some extras while muscle recovery.
Stay fit, Stay Patient, Stay Consistent & Stay Healthy!
Photo by Janita Sumeiko on Unsplash