Health and Fitness, tackling Obesity

Obesity has sadly become one of the most serious medical problems of the western world. It causes over 9,000 deaths in England alone each year and due to its highly rapid growth two thirds of all adults in the UK are now medically classed as being obese.

Obesity is a continually growing problem, which has been focused upon frequently in the media across recent times. It is more than gaining a ‘few extra pounds.’ It is a danger to your life that could leave you with life threatening illness.

The medical condition of obesity occurs when a person is carrying too much body fat for their height and sex. A person will be considered obese if their Body Mass Index (BMI) is greater than 30. An average, healthy persons BMI lies in the region of 20 to 25. The way in which your BMI is calculated is your weight in kilograms is divided by your height in meters. Depending on factors such as your height, you will be able to find out for your local GP or district nurse whether your BMI is healthy.

In certain cases obesity can be caused by the medication that you are on but this is rare. The main cause of obesity surrounds your calorie intake. If you eat more calories than you burn off your body will store this excess energy as body fat. The amount of calories that you burn off depends primarily on how active you are and the rate of your metabolism. A labour worker will burn more calories than an office worker due to the fact a labour worker is constantly active. This means a labour worker might need 4,000 calories a day to keep their energy intake up where as an office worker may only need 1,500 to get through the day.

Obesity is not only affecting adults anymore, the condition has started to affect more and more children of all ages. We are seeing it everywhere we look, news reports about the affects of obesity on children; how lifestyles and unhealthy eating are affecting the next generation and more and more is being done to encourage and help parents change this fact as it has been said that 10% of six year olds are now suffering from obesity and 17% of 15 year olds are starting to fall into this medical nightmare. These figures have more than tripled in the last 120 years.

Obesity in itself might just appear to be an extra little bit of weight when in reality it is the cause of a list of health problems which include;

• Diabetes
• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Osteoarthritis
• High blood pressure
• Gallstones
• Infertility
• Depression
• Reduced life expectancy

Also when obesity is combined with a lack of exercise it can contribute to you suffering colon, breast, kidney and stomach cancers.

The only way to cure obesity is to control your calorie intake. The most effective way to go about doing this is by keeping a diet diary as a way of keeping track of your calorie intake. Your diet diary will list what you have ate each day so you can see when you have reached your calorie intake for the day.

Combined with your diet diary you should also start an exercise regime which enables you to do 30 minutes of exercise a day. You should choose exercises that you enjoy and that will help you in the best way.

The treatment of obesity is aimed at you losing weight to improve your general quality of life, both physically and psychologically.

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