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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...