Obesity

 

it’s not about how you look.

It’s about what’s going on inside of you.

 

 

 

What is fat?

 

Fat is the material your body uses to store food energy for later. This can be very good if there will be a time when food will not be available and throughout most of human history there were always times when food was not available.

 

However, in modern times food has become easily available everywhere and all the time for most people. This means that our bodies do not ever have to dip into the ‘saved’ food. In fact, we tend to accumulate more and more saved food, especially if we take in more food energy than what we use up.

 

Is there good and bad fat?

 

There’s nothing bad about fat in and out of itself. In fact, the body needs fat to make and repair parts of itself and keep itself going. The problem comes from too much fat. Too much fat is definitely bad for the body.

 

BMI is a measure of how much fat. It’s not prefect but the most important thing it does is make sure that the amount of fat is appropriate for the general size of the person. To calculate BMI, you need your weight and height.

 

Calculate your BMI here.  

 

How are weight and excess fat connected?

 

Every person has a weight range that’s determined by their genes. Our weight is a measure of all the things that make up our bodies. This includes our bones, muscles, organs and fat and all the other smaller stuff. About 50% of our body weights is water which is mixed with all of the other things. This amount can vary a little bit based on the amount of muscle which holds more water than fat tissue. This is a healthy and necessary water weight. 

 

There are diseases that cause people to retain extra salt and water. These diseases cause excess water weight. 

 

People can also make their muscles get bigger and this can increase their weight.

 

But for most people, increasing weight has to do with increasing amounts of fat stored in their body.

 

How does extra fat hurt the body?

 

There are 3 major ways that excessive fat harms the body:

 

The simple weight of the fat being carried around all the time starts affecting the structures of the body. Weight around the waist often strains the lower back and can cause chronic back pain. The excess weight also wears down the cartilage in hips and knees prematurely and can cause a lot of pain from arthritis. This can lead to troubles with mobility and even joint replacement surgery.

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The second way is related to the diseases that are linked to obesity and the damage that they cause:

 

• High blood pressure: overweight and obese people are at much higher risk of developing high blood pressure and requiring more medications to control their blood pressure. Losing weight is linked with a lowering in blood pressure. 

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• High cholesterol: obesity reduces good cholesterol , increases the levels of bad cholesterol and the fat that circulates in the blood stream. All of these clog up the arteries of the body and choke off the supply of oxygen to the organs. 

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• Diabetes: there's a big link with being overweight or obese and the body's ability to handle sugar. A lot of times, those with excess fat have trouble regulating their sugar levels and their cells start to become resistant to insulin even before they become diabetic. In fact, a large majority of diabetes can be linked with obesity. Weight loss can not only reduce the risk of diabetes but for those who have diabetes, it can also reduce the need for medication and can even put it in remission in some cases especially when done early.

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• Heart attacks: high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes are the biggest risk factors for developing heart attacks and heart failure. Obesity is also a risk factor on its own for clogging up of the arteries that bring oxygen to the heart.

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• Stroke: those who are obese are more likely to have strokes. Strokes can lead to disability and death. Losing weight is known to reduce the risk of stroke.

 

• Gout: those who have excess fat have a much higher risk of getting gout

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• Gallbladder disease: those who are overweight or obese get gallstones and need gallbladder surgery much more than those who have a normal weight. 

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• Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE): obesity increases the risk of getting DVT/PE and needing blood thinners. 

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• Fatty liver: Fatty liver disease is now the number one cause of liver disease. People with fatty liver also tend to get more heart disease even when they don't have any other risk factors. Weight loss is the most effective treatment for fatty liver disease. 

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• Sleep Apnea: obesity is a big contributor to sleep apnea. Weight loss often improves and can even resolve sleep apnea.

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• More infections: obese people are more susceptible to infections and do worse when they get certain infections.

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• Cancers: obesity increases the risk of multiple different cancers, including cancers that start in the kidney, esophagus, stomach, colon, pancreas, liver, rectum, breast, ovaries, and some blood cancers.

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• Dementia: those who are obese have a much higher risk of developing dementia compared to those who don't.

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Finally, when scientists have followed large groups of people over time, they have found that those who are overweight and obese tend to die younger than those who are not.  

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Obesity is now the number one cause of preventable disease and disability.

 

The simple scientific fact is that excessive fat destroys internal organs, causes misery through illness and kills people prematurely. 

 

Why do people get fat?

 

There are a number of reasons why we start accumulating fat. 

 

One set of reasons has to do between the differences between people. Each of us has a genetic makeup that determines how easily we accumulate fat, through both how we absorb our food and process it. Some people's bodies are more efficient in how they absorb and use food energy compared to others. 

 

The other set of reasons has to do with the changes that happen to each of us as we age. Our metabolism slows down. A lot of the time, our daily physical activity becomes less. Our hormones also change and this affects our weight. People can end up on medications that have weight gain as a side effect. 

 

Finally, the last set of reasons has to do with how we eat. Fat only accumulates if we take in more food energy than what we need based on what each of us needs and where we are in our life stages. That means that the amount of food energy that’s excessive is different for each person and at different times for the same person. To complicate things a bit more, our bodies handle different kinds of food differently as well.