The best way to control weight gain is to count the calories you eat everyday, especially when the scale starts showing excess weight gain. But more often than not, a few extra pounds are not taken as a warning and are often neglected, leading to a stage when you become overweight. In today’s world, where stress has become an integral part of life causing various related chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, you cannot simply add to the risk by putting on more weight. Keeping a tab on the causes of obesity can help you control your weight gain.
Understanding the Causes of Obesity The causes of obesity in a person can differ and mostly depend on the lifestyle of an individual. Let’s crosscheck some of the causes that can lead to being overweight:
Energy Imbalance The most common cause is an imbalance of your energy levels. This means that the amount of calories you consume is less than the amount of calories used for carrying out your daily activities (including digestion). In such cases, the best way is to reduce the intake of calories and increase their digestion by following a certain exercise regime such as walking, running, yoga, aerobics, resistance training, etc. These small changes are enough to stop further weight gain and promote health in other facets of your everyday life.
Environment Your environment is another factor that leads to obesity. (Remember: we’re products of it!) Various things factor into our environment such as the habit of eating meals in large portions, lack of good parks or walking/running tracks, local culture, highly inactive and sedentary work and home life, lack of knowledge regarding healthy foods, and so on.
Genetics Having a family history of obesity is one of the main reasons people get and stay overweight. Researchers have shown that the tendency of your body to store fat is greatly influenced by your genes and there are many siblings who, even after growing up in a different environment with totally different eating habits, still have a common problem of obesity. Parents should start monitoring the weight of their kids at a very early age and inculcate in them the habit of eating healthy food in small portions.
Health Conditions Health conditions such as hypothyroidism, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and Cushing’s syndrome are known to cause obesity.
Other causes of overweight are medicines, pregnancy, and lack of sleep, emotional stress and growing age.
