Obesity Milton Keynes

Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems. The official body mass index (BMI), a measurement which compares weight and height, defines people as overweight (pre-obese) when their BMI is between 25  and 30 , and obese when it is greater than 30. 

Obesity increases the likelihood of various diseases, particularly heart disease, type 2 diabetes,breathing difficulties during sleep, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis^.  Obesity is most commonly caused by a combination of excessive dietary calories, lack of physical activity, and genetic susceptibility, although a few cases are caused primarily by genes, endocrine disorders,medications or psychiatric illness. Evidence to support the view that some obese people eat little yet gain weight due to a slow metabolism is limited; on average obese people have a greater energy expenditure than their thin counterparts due to the energy required to maintain an increased body mass

Overweight Milton Keynes

Being overweight isn’t just a cosmetic problem; it’s very much a health problem as well.

However, losing weight isn’t just about looking good, it is about feeling good; it’s about being healthy and living a productive and comfortable life. Above all, it is about avoiding the terrible health consequences of carrying around excessive weight.

The growing evidence shows that if you are overweight you are more likely to develop health problems, such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, certain types of cancer, gout (joint pain caused by excess uric acid), and gallbladder disease. Being overweight can also cause problems such as sleep apnoea (interrupted breathing during sleep) and osteoarthritis (wearing away of the joints); and the more overweight you are, the more likely you are to have these health problems.

In comparison, healthy and steady Weight Loss can help improve the harmful effects of being overweight. The latest studies show that by losing as little as 10 to 20 pounds you can dramatically improve your overall health status, whilst significantly diminishing your risk of disease.

Obesity prevention

Many things can affect your weight. But if you have a healthy diet and keep physically active then it’s much easier to stay a healthy weight.

A healthy diet is important for all the family, and following the advice below will help you stay a healthy weight.

Base your meals on starchy foods such as potatoes, bread, rice and pasta, choosing wholegrain where possible.

• Eat plenty of fibre-rich foods such as oats, beans, peas, lentils, grains, seeds, fruit and vegetables, as well as wholegrain bread, and brown rice and pasta.
• Eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day in place of foods higher in fat and calories.
• Choose low-fat foods.
• Avoid foods containing a lot of fat and sugar, such as fried food, sweetened drinks, sweets and chocolate. Some takeaways and ‘fast’ foods contain a lot of fat and sugar.
• Eat breakfast.
• Watch the portion sizes of meals and snacks, and how often you are eating.
• Avoid taking in too many calories in the form of alcohol.

Eating healthily goes hand in hand with keeping physically active?

Small everyday changes can make a difference. You don’t have to join a gym or sports club (although it can help).

• Try walking or cycling to the shops.
• Avoid sitting for too long in front of the television, at a computer or playing video games. You could try gradually reducing how long you sit down in front of a screen by setting some time limits.
• You could try to build physical activity into the working day. For example, you could take the stairs instead of the lift, or go for a walk at lunchtime.

Overweight and Obesity

In its simplest terms, being obese and overweight  usually results from an individual consuming more energy than they need; this is called positive energy balance. This is commonplace in today’s society, where there is an abundance of cheap, energy dense foods, and in which both our occupation and leisure times are becoming increasingly sedentary.

Despite some negative press around particular nutrients or foods, there is no single food or nutrient that causes obesity. Body weight is ultimately determined by the status of a person’s energy balance, which itself is the result of the balance between ‘energy in’ determined by the diet as a whole, and physical activity levels (‘energy out’).

Many people have suggested that this inability to maintain energy balance and sustain a healthy weight in the 21st century is due to the way in which the human body adapted to survive a hunter gatherer existence. During evolution, humans faced periods of intermittent food shortages, and had to actively hunt for food. In these times, individuals who were most likely to survive were those who deposited fat reserves during times when food was plenty, to act as an energy reserve when food was scarce. Therefore, humans evolved to be able to store energy as fat. In today’s society in Europe and North America, for example, it appears that such an adaptation is actually detrimental, as food is rarely, if ever, scarce and storing excess energy as fat leads to the development of obesity.

In addition to societal influences, such as food availability and sedentary living, genetics also has a role to play. For example, there are good correlations between the degree of fatness of parents and their offspring, and between siblings particularly twins. Also, studies of families into which children are adopted often show that adopted children are more likely to have a body composition more similar to that of their biological parents than their adoptive parents. However, it is difficult to disentangle the influence of genetics from the complex influences of the environment in which we live and the impact of early life experiences. Genetic influences on body size and shape should not be used as an excuse to disregard dietary and lifestyle advice designed to help maintain a healthy weight.