What is Obesity and What are the Treatment Methods?
Obesity is a chronic and complex disease that causes deterioration in overall health as a result of abnormal and excessive accumulation of body fat. The presence of fat in body components is not dangerous, but abnormally accumulated adipose tissue can create a risky situation. This picture can be progressive and dangerous and can lead to comorbidities. It can lead to complications such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea and joint pain.
Obesity and the side effects of obesity are largely preventable. Obesity treatment methods include supportive practices such as dietary modification, regular physical activity and behavioral therapies. Obesity treatment focuses on enabling individuals to adopt new habits and shaping their dietary choices. Individual recommendations against obesity can mainly include the following:
Avoiding processed foods high in energy, fat, salt and sugar,
Increase the consumption of legumes, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains in the diet,
In addition to weight control, obesity treatment has positive effects on cardiovascular health and biochemical markers. If you are looking for an answer to the question “What is obesity?” you can read the rest of the text
What is Obesity?
Obesity or overweight can be defined as a body weight that is higher than what is considered ideal for a given height. Obesity is the accumulation of excessive fatty tissue that can impair health. Obesity is divided into different classes and can be assessed according to BMI(Body Mass Index) values. BMI, which is the height-weight index:
If it is equal to or greater than 25, it is overweight,
Greater than or equal to 30 indicates obesity
BMI does not directly measure body fat, but it provides a reasonable estimate. Especially in people such as muscular athletes, BMI values may be high even though their body fat is not excessive.
Obesity can negatively affect the body in many ways. Excess weight can put pressure on bones and joints and cause pain. It can also lead to chemical changes that can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and stroke. In addition, obesity is a factor that can increase the risk of cancer. Even a small amount of weight loss can significantly improve the course of obesity-related diseases. Obesity treatment helps reduce the risk of co-morbidities
What Causes Obesity?
The main cause of obesity is a significant difference between the energy expended and the energy taken into the body. When the energy expended is less than the energy received, fat accumulates in the body. Obesity can be caused by many factors leading to energy imbalance:
Prepared and processed foods are high-calorie foods with high levels of fat and sugar. Ready-to-eat foods are low in nutritional value and provide the body with too many calories. In addition, consuming these foods means that too many chemicals enter the body due to their additives.
Increased physical inactivity reduces the expenditure of the energy taken into the body. With developing technology, factors such as daily life, work and home conditions, and transportation affect physical activity. An inactive lifestyle is one of the causes of obesity.
Psychological factors are directly related to eating behavior disorders. Anxiety, loneliness and depression can lead to overeating. In particular, they tend to consume more high-calorie foods.
Some medicines can cause weight gain. Medicines such as diabetes medicines, antidepressants, steroids are among the most common such medicines
In addition, insomnia, hormonal changes and genetic variations can also affect eating patterns and weight gain
What are the Symptoms of Obesity?
Obesity represents the excessive accumulation of fat in the body and can manifest itself with various symptoms. The main method commonly used in the diagnosis of obesity is BMI (Body Mass Index) measurement. BMI is calculated by dividing body weight (kg) by the square of height (m2). BMI values are evaluated as follows:
BMI <18.5 kg/m2 is underweight,
BMI 18.5-24.9 kg/m2 is normal weight,
BMI 25.0-29.9 kg/m2 is slightly overweight,
BMI >30.0 kg/m2 is obese
Another indicator for obesity is waist circumference measurement. A waist circumference measured at the thin part of the waist >of 88 cm in women and 102 cm in men >indicates obesity. In addition, a waist/hip circumference of >0.85 in women and >0.90 in men is considered obesity
During the assessment of obesity, some symptoms caused by excess body fat can be recognized. Symptoms such as rapid fatigue, excessive sweating, joint pain, sleep and breathing problems are among the complaints caused by obesity
