Obesity is a complex disease involving having too much body fat. Obesity isn’t just a cosmetic concern. It’s a medical problem that increases the risk of many other diseases and health problems. These can include heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, liver disease, sleep apnea and certain cancers.
There are many reasons why some people have trouble losing weight. Often, obesity results from inherited, physiological and environmental factors, combined with diet, physical activity and exercise choices.
The good news is that even modest weight loss can improve or prevent the health problems associated with obesity. A healthier diet, increased physical activity and behavior changes can help you lose weight. Prescription medicines and weight-loss procedures are other options for treating obesity.
What is the main cause of obesity?
Obesity is generally caused by eating too much and moving too little. If you consume high amounts of energy, particularly fat and sugars, but don’t burn off the energy through exercise and physical activity, much of the surplus energy will be stored by the body as fat.
Symptoms of Obesity
- Difficulty in sleeping.
- Sleep apnea,
- Daytime drowsiness.
- Back and/or joint pains.
- Excessive sweating.
- Intolerance to heat.
- Infections in skin folds.
- Fatigue.
- Depression.
- Feeling of shortness of breath (dyspnea).
What raises the risk of overweight and obesity?
- Lack of physical activity.
- Unhealthy eating behaviors.
- Not getting enough good-quality sleep.
- High amounts of stress.
- Health conditions.
- Genetics.
- Medicines.
- Your environment.
How to confirm obesity?
Using Body Mass Index (BMI)
The most common way to determine if a person is affected by overweight or obesity is to calculate BMI Body Mass Index is a simple calculation using a person’s height and weight. The formula is BMI = kg/m2 where kg is a person’s weight in kilograms and m2 is their height in meters square.
The equations for calculating the BMI is as follows:
BMI = Weight (Kg) ÷ (Height (m)) 2
BMI Weight Status
| Below 18.5: | Underweight |
| 18.5–24.9: | Normal weight |
| 25–29.9: | Overweight |
| 30–35: | Obese |
| Over 35: | Morbid obesity |
Health Risks of Overweight & Obesity
- Type 2 diabetes
- High blood pressure
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Metabolic syndrome
- Fatty liver diseases
- Some cancers
- Breathing problems
- Osteoarthritis
- Gout
- Diseases of the gallbladder, kidney and pancreas
- Fertility & Pregnancy problems
- Sexual function problems
- Mental health problems Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Treatments for Obesity
Medications: There are a lot of prescription and nonprescription medications on the market for weight loss.
Diet: Making sure you are getting the proper nutrition is vital to keep your body running well. It helps you with weight loss as you probably eat differently than if you are trying to lose weight with Diet alone.
Exercise: Being active can help your body lose excess fat weight by burning calories and helps prevent muscle loss while dieting. Regular exercise helps keep the weight off.
Behavior Changes: Support groups and individual counseling can help some people lose weight. You may change behaviors linked to the way you eat and move, or identify ways to overcome other obstacles to weight loss.
Surgery: Several types of surgeries known as Bariatric Surgeries, such as gastric sleeve, gastric banding and gastric bypass, can help people who have obesity to lose weight.
Non-Surgical Devices: Intragastric Balloon Devices like Spatz3 are clinically proven to help lose weight. They are inserted and removed with the help of an Endoscope. They can be reduced or expanded in your stomach to help you adjust your weight loss. They are kept in the stomach for a period of a year. They are Clinically studied and FDA approved.