WEIGHT MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

Weight loss occurs when the calories consumed are less than the energy the body needs for physiological maintenance and activity.  This may sound overly simplified and certainly the $50 billion-a-year weight loss industry would like us to think it is much more complicated than this.

Weight loss followed by weight gain may be less healthy and certainly more frustrating than maintaining body weight, even at weight above the desirable levels.  When a diet or weight loss strategy fails, the person, not the diet, is blamed.  This causes people to jump to another weight loss method and then another, and a vicious cycle has begun.

ENERGY NEEDS OF THE BODY

What are our energy needs? How many calories should we consume (or burn) to achieve a healthy weight?  Although there are rough estimates for college-aged men (2500 to 3300 calories daily) and women (approximately 2500 calories daily), we all vary in our specific energy needs.  These needs are based on three factors: (1) basal metabolic rate (also referred to as resting energy expenditure, or FREE), (2) activity requirements, and (3) the thermic effect of food.

CALORIC BALANCE

Any calories consumed in excess of those that are used by the body are converted to fat.  We gain weight when our energy input is greater than our energy output.  On the other hand, we lose weight when our energy output is greater than our energy input.  Weight remains constant when caloric input and output are equal.  In such situations, our bodies are said to be in caloric balance.

THE RIGHT WAY TO REDUCE THICKNESS AND CAUL

Lifestyle, food and daily activities of man are some of the things that causes the vast majority of men and women have the weight or thickness excessively and sometimes have caul.

These problems have been encountered by people of both sexes and ease deprive many women who reach the point of use slimming belt to reduce stomach or hyperactivity through various means to reduce the issue to them.

Due to the growing problem, have caused many medications purported to be able to reduce the caul and overweight, but health experts warn that it is toxic.

Many scientific studies show that these drugs have largely chemicals such as phentermine, sibutramine, phenolphthalein, caffein, hydroxycitric acid (HCA) and senna which have serious consequences for human health.

CAUSES OF OBESITY

There is still an ongoing debate as to the causes of obesity.  Genetic, physiological, metabolic, environmental, psychological, and other factors may all play a part.  In the past decade, the overall prevalence of obesity has increased so that currently one-third of all Americans are obese.  Moreover, in the last twenty years, the number of obese children in the United States has doubled to one in five children.  Genetics, dietary practice, and activity level seem to all play a role in this dramatic increase.

DETERMINING WEIGHT AND BODY COMPOSITION

Some of the techniques used to determine overweight and obesity are common and routinely used by the general public.  Other are expensive and of limited availability.

Height-Weight Tables

Height and weight tables were originally developed in 1983 to assist people in determining the relationship between their weight and desirable standards.  Nearly over version of these tables has come under criticism for not considering variables such as gender, age, frame size, and body composition.  Some versions were thought to be too rigorous in establishing cutoff points for ideal or desirable weight, and others were deemed too generous.  Although still available, these tables are being gradually replaced by other assessment techniques.

OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY DEFINED

What’s the difference between overweight and obesity? Doctors usually define overweight as a condition in which a person’s weight is 1% - 19% higher than normal, as defined by a standard height/weight chart.  Obesity is usually defined as a condition in which a person’s weight is 20% or more above normal weight.  “morbid obesity” refers to being 50% to 100% above normal weight, more than 100 pounds over normal weight, or sufficiently overweight to interfere with health or normal functioning.

Some clinicians and laymen continue to use standard height-weight tables to determine when weight is excessive.  However, more precise techniques to determine body composition are currently available.

BODY IMAGE AND SELF-CONCEPT

Although physicians focus on obesity, in our image conscious society, being overweight is also a problem.  The media tell that being overweight is undesirable and that they should conform to certain ideal body images (such as being tall, thin, and “cut” with muscular definition).  For example, the average actress and model is thinner than 95% of the female population and weighs 23% less than the average woman.  The average American woman is 5’4”, 143 pounds, and wears a size 10-12.  The average model is 5’10” and 110 pounds.  Today’s lean but muscular version of perfection is a very demanding standard for both women and men to meet.

MAINTAINING A HEALTHY WEIGHT

Weight management has become obsession in American culture as well as a significant health problem.  In the United States, obesity has risen at an epidemic rate during the past 20 years.  One of the national health objectives for the year 2010 is to the prevalence of obesity among adults to less than 15%.  Research indicates that the situation is worsening rather than improving.  

According to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, an estimated 61% of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese.  In 2000 38.8 million American adults met the criteria for obesity.