Fight Obesity With Diet and Exercise

As humans we are available to a mass assortment of foods that help us survive. These foods provide our bodies with nutrients to remain healthy and calories for energy. If we take in more calories than we burn off, the food then gets stored in our bodies as fat. If this happens regularly there is potential of becoming obese. Obesity means having excessive amounts of fat on the body. Obesity is the second leading cause, behind tobacco, of preventable deaths in the United States. More than half of Americans are overweight and almost one third are obese. There are abundant reasons people become obese including: emotions, genes, sex, age, and many others. There are also several ways to tell if a person is overweight or obese. Lastly there are multiple ways to lose weight and to keep it off.

Several factors cause people to become obese. One reason is that obesity is hereditary both by genes and shared diet and lifestyle habits. Emotions also contribute for people being overweight. We overeat because of anger, boredom, depression, loneliness, and several other emotional reasons. The people in our environment play an important role, inspiring our eating habits and activity level. Men tend to have more muscle mass than women, and because muscle burns more calories than other tissues, women seem to gain weight easier even at the same calorie intake. Age also contributes to obesity, we tend to lose muscle and gain fat the older we get. Our Metabolisms also slow with age. Both these factors require lower calorie consumption. Women tend to weigh 4-6 pounds heavier after a pregnancy. This initial weight gain could contribute to obesity in women. There are some medical conditions and medications that can assist obesity including: Hypothyro...

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...recommended only for morbidly obese people or if your BMI is greater than 40. There are two types of bariatric surgery, malabsorptive and restrictive. Malabsorptive surgery decreases intestinal absorption of food by skipping part of the digestive system. Restrictive surgery decreases the size of the stomach allowing less food a person can hold.

Obesity is a huge problem in the United States because food is everywhere and our lack of exercise does not help matters. Obesity raises your chances of many health problems that could relate to death. Emotions, genes, age, and environmental factors are just a few causes of obesity. Body mass index is the best way to decide if you are over weight. The best way to lose weight is by properly dieting and regularly exercising.

Works Cited

Galletta, Gayle M. “Obesity.” eMedicineHealth. N.p., 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.