What is Obesity? Causes,Symptoms,Prevention,Control [Complete Guide]

BMI: What is it?

The acronym stands for ‘Body Mass Index’. It is one of the two yardsticks generally used together to calculate the healthy weight of an average person taking the person’s height as the base. It is ideal to also differentiate an overweight person from an obese one.

Most adults should have a desirable BMI between 20 and 24. A patient is deemed overweight if the BMI is between 25 and 29.9. The BMI of an obese person will be 30 and above.

Factors Determining Weight

A person may weigh more or less depending on the bones besides the number of fats or muscles that are in the body. There are several other factors besides height that influence weight. Moreover, a person may have quite some weight, but that weight may not be due to fat. Let us take the instance of a couch potato and a bodybuilder. The former may be leading a sedentary lifestyle, but his BMI may within the desirable range, and yet she/he may have superfluous fat tissue. On the other hand, the bodybuilder will have heavyweight (BMI) which may not be an indicator of fat. The high BMI is due to the high percentage of muscle tissue in his body.

It is to be noted that the muscle tissue weighs more than fat. Excess muscles compared to fats may increase the weight of the body as muscle tissues weigh more than fats. But that person may not suffer from health complexities as she/he would have had there been an excess accumulation of fats: hence the need for excess muscles but limited fats

How to Tackle Obesity?

Obesity: KNOW IT TO TACKLE TOTALLY

Obesity is all about those stubborn fat collections at every possible place once they start accumulating far exceeding the level at which the natural metabolism rate expends fat.

The worst part of these saddlebags accumulation syndrome is that once they start showing up at a particular place, a person really cannot be the judge as to where he would have the flab collected. When the rate at which the fat accumulation exceeds the limit at which the body absorbs the required fats, obesity occurs.

Obesity & Bodyweight: The inter-relationship?

There is an interesting inter-relationship between obesity and the increase in body weight. It is only during the growing stage that the germ of obesity is implanted in our bodies. Statistically viewed, one gram of fat is stored in the adipose tissues for every excess energy intake of 9.3 calories.

The weight of the body increases when energy intake (mainly in the form of food items) outweighs the normally carried out expended or burnt process.

Once the imbalance takes place (termed the static stage of obesity), a person will remain obese when the energy output is equal to the energy output. This is natural corollary and the reason why an obese person finds it so problematic to lose bodyweight.

Bodyweight of such an obese person can be brought down only when the input is less than the output.

How to know the Ideal Body Weight?

The ideal body weight of a person is determined according to his/her age, food habits, height, bone structure, and general wellbeing among others. Therefore, the ideal body weight differs from person to person.

Obesity is generally defined as a 20 percent excess of the ideal body weight.

The National Centre for Health Statistics has set the Basic Metabolism Index (BMI) to be less than 25. It has been found that if the BMI exceeds the level of 25, the patient suffers the risk of contracting many diseases linked with overweight.

Obesity is linked to many ailments like diabetes, heart diseases, and other serious problems. Moreover, obesity directly leads to abnormal bodyweight. And, increasing body weight is connected with rising cholesterol levels of the blood, decreased levels of good cholesterol (HDL), and high blood pressure. Any or a combination of these factors leads to physical inactivity.

Obesity & Bodyweight: Where does the burnt energy go to?

The expended or burnt-out fat is the energy we use in different forms of muscular activities. More the muscular forms of activities, the more will be the fat expended. As much as one-third of daily used energy is thus spent. So, we have seen that there is an inverse ratio between the daily input (food taken) and the daily output (read muscular activity) processes. Obviously, if a couch potato and that too after the “static stage” keeps on gobbling all forms of fatty substances, then he/she is sure to suffer from acute obesity.

Obesity: How is it caused?

The main cause of obesity is the failure of the body to utilize the excessive quantity of carbohydrates or proteins that we consume in the form of various food items.

Obesity: why then should we take the extra fatty items?

The extra fatty substances that we consume are later utilized by the body to generate energy. The carbohydrates and proteins are first stored in the adipose tissues.

Obesity: What are adipose tissues?

Adipose tissues are connective tissues. Tissues are a combination of cells having the same origin, but may not be identical. Together they perform particular operations in our bodies. A cell is a basic unit that sustains a life form.

The fat in the adipose tissues is stored as triglycerides which play a pivotal role in metabolism (the chemical reactions within being that maintain life). The adipose tissues are sources of energy. They are also the conduit of fat, primarily dietary.

Among mammals, there are two different types of adipose tissues: brown and white. The majority of the adipose tissues are white in color. The distribution, presence, and amount of the adipose tissues vary in species. Mentionable, the storage and synthesis of fat from these adipose tissues occur normally.

Exercise To Check Obesity

Yes, exercise is the panacea for obesity and all other diseases associated with it. Contrary to popular belief as we gain in age, we should continue lifting weights but not as much as we did in our advanced stage. This helps to give elasticity to the joints and strength of the muscles.

In fact, the process of weight training must be a continuous process.

Weight training must be done according to a schedule. In fact, we lift weights of many kinds daily. But we do those jobs simply as routine work. Now, do some positive thinking and deliberately concentrate on building up your lean muscles while lifting up anything. Focus on one part of your body, and if it is a continuous job then keep on changing your focus points.

It is always better to precede the weight-lifting schedule with breathing schedules and other freehand warm-up exercises. This loosens the muscles, removes lethargy besides obviating any possibilities of injuries during the weight-lifting schedule.

TACKLING OBESITY: MAKE EXERCISE A HABIT

Exercise can be transformed into one of the most happening things in life. Actually, that is how exercise should be!

Always make exercise a part of your life! It should be carried on the ‘automatic pilot’ mode which simply means that it has to be done without any force, and just like one breathes. There should not be any type of force manifested in will power, choosing, deciding, or conscious thinking.

STRATEGIES TO MAKE EXERCISE A HABIT

Here are the tips:

• Select an ideal time slot;
• Set a deadline to make moderately carried physical exercises a habit.
• Feel the benefits to transform exercise into a lifestyle;
• Continuously fan your interest in the exercise. This motivation will surely develop the needed determination.

ONLY EXERCISE CAN NEUTRALIZE EXERCISE

Exercise is needed to accentuate and balance the dual processes of energy systematization (absorption) and energy-burning (metabolic momentum). Exercise gives the momentum or the required speed to the rate at which the body functions (metabolism).
There are several crucial factors determining metabolism. Nonetheless, physical exercise done on a consistent pace gives the required velocity or speed to the metabolism rate of our bodies.

HIGH INTENSITY & LOW-INTENSITY EXERCISES

There is a difference between heavy and moderate exercise. In fact, the latter is more beneficial to the body than the former.

Heavy exercise schedules may be tiring forcing the practitioner to take rest for at least a day after the burnt-up roster.

On the other hand, a moderate physical exercise routine coupled with meditation and breathing exercises leaves a boosting effect on the mind, spirit, and body of a person.

BENEFITS OF EXERCISE

Moderate but regular physical exercise rejuvenates the spirit, mind, and physique. Besides, it drastically cuts down the possibilities of the person of contracting life-debilitating ailments like diabetes, arthritis, and those of the heart (coronary diseases). Such exercises done on a regular basis creates a shield against the strikes of osteoporosis, some cancer types, and also stroke.

Moreover, moderately-carried out exercises do control blood pressure and weight gain. Above all, it lifts the levels of good cholesterol (HDL).
Exercise also controls tension and stress.

Obesity And Breathing Techniques

The process of breathing should be dovetailed or taught right from the childhood stage. Improper or incorrect breathing habits lead to complications later on.

BREATHING & COMMUNICATION: INTERLINKED

Breathing is also a part and parcel of the communication process. Since a vital part of communication is the use of sound or phoneme (that is produced by the disturbance of air (made of various gases and dust particles), we need to manipulate the air.

Languages (communication media having grammar) or dialects (those communication media that do not have grammar) are either phonetic (when the alphabets represent the sounds) or non-phonetic (when the alphabets do not represent the sounds on a one-to-one basis). For example, Modern

Indian Languages (MIL) are phonetic languages whereas English, French ” to mention just two” are non-phonetic.

The phonetic languages use both the ingressive as well as the egressive (the in-breath) air. The non-phonetic languages use only the egressive (the out-breath) air.

Proper knowledge of breathing aids the proper articulation of the phonemes (sounds) of a particular language.

WHAT IS BREATHING?

We have been breathing right from the embryonic stage. The breathing includes inhalation (ingressive air/in-breath) and exhalation (egressive air/out-breath).

Inhalation constitutes the process of breathing in oxygenated air into the lungs while exhalation refers to the process of pushing out the user or the deoxygenated air from within the lungs.

WHY DO WE NEED TO CONTROL BREATHING?

Let’s ask a simple question to ourselves.

Do we at all breathe consciously or do we resort to controlling breathing?

The answer is: NO!

Breathing has been degraded into an involuntary physical process. We rarely feel it.

However, breathing should be a conscious process.

WHAT ARE BREATHING EXERCISES?

Breathing exercises are deliberate attempts to control exhalation and inhalation. Carried on in a systematic manner and in a rhythmic process, breathing is the best way to not just rejuvenate the body but also to purge the body of the accumulated waste substances. This is particularly effective with reference to the lungs.

Breathing exercises have been in use in yogic centers, martial arts training schedules, and also in meditation classes.

The most wonderful part of the breathing exercises is that it does not cost any money. One can do breathing exercises with the help of one’s limbs.

Just the thumb and the first finger can be the means to do the breathing exercises. There is another set of breathing exercises called ‘kapal bhatti’ where one simply needs to breathe out very fast and in quick succession in a set of six-eight times once daily.

There have also been revelations in the Oriental treatises that breathing can also help in determining the sexes of the offsprings at the conception stage.

TRADITIONAL TOMES ON BREATHING

Traditional yogic tomes besides the practitioners of Oriental martial arts have demonstrated that breathing is a vital mechanism of our lives.

Breathing purges out the obnoxious materials accumulated within our bodies. It starts right from the lungs.

The lungs contain hundreds of sacs that store the oxygenated air to be transported into various cells and also the deoxygenated air that is purged out by the cells.

Remember our bodies are magnificent machines well oiled and programmed to resolve all issues and conflicts. All the body needs is a good supervisor.

That superintendent is your brain. Yes! It is your mind that matters!

THOUGHT MAKES YOU WHAT YOU ARE

If you think you are old, you are! If you believe that you are obese, you are!

And, if you firmly believe that you’re utilizing your excess fat repositories, say on your tummies, triceps, thighs, chins, cheeks and the sides of your bodies, you are definitely doing a service to yourself.

That’s absolutely correct.

The moment your mind thinks that you are old your body will follow suit. In other words, your body language, voice, and actions will reflect that aspect.

What if you are 60 years old but always think that you are as fit as a fiddle. Your personality will show those qualities.

So, what are talking of? It is called mind training.

Everything is in your mind.

So change your mindset.

Begin with the way you see yourself.

Weight Loss Diet Plan

Obesity Control: Check Out This Diet Plan

This diet plan has been designed to supply the body the required 1,200 calories daily.

A diet plan is a model designed to be adhered to strictly. Prior to adopting this five-meal diet plan, do consult your physician.

The diet plan starts with the wee-hour regimen followed by breakfast, lunch, early evening, or evening rosters to be finally topped up by supper.

Wee hours regimen: Commence the day with a glass of warm water tinged with a few drops of lemon juice.

Breakfast: One can go for either of the options or can also combine any two of the listed items. It can be a single slice of bread or a small fruit or two to three cucumbers or tomatoes.

Lunch: Start off with a cup of green leaf soup. But don’t use flour in the soup. The non-vegetarians can have a small piece of a large fish or two to three lean meat pieces.

The vegetarians should follow the soup with a small bowl of steamed mixed vegetables with two chappatis along with a bowl of cereals like moong.

Afternoon or early evening: You can go for one or at the most two of the listed items.

One egg,
or
One egg and small fruit,
or
Two or three small cucumbers or tomatoes,
or
One small fruit;

You can, of course, have milk but without white sugar. Use sweetener instead, if you must. Tea can also be taken, but it should be red tea.

Supper or Night-time meal: Begin with a clear vegetable soup minus flour.

Have a small bowl of rice or khichdi;

The non-vegetarians can go for some lean fish or meat (ones without fat).

The vegetarians can opt for parboiled rice with a small bowl of steamed vegetables. Those who cannot have steamed vegetables can go for fried ones, but the items must fried light in refined oil. Never deep fry and never use saturated fat to fry them.

You can also have a small bowl of moong or any other cereal that is already dipped in oil for at least eight hours.

Obesity Weight Loss Chart

OBESITY CONTROL: VITAMINS NEEDED DAILY

Here is a list of the vitamins that a normal person needs in a day.

(A) THE VITAMINS A NORMAL PERSON NEEDS DAILY

(Terms used: mg = miligrams; Mg = Micrograms; Iu = International units)

B) THE IDEAL HEIGHT: WEIGHT CHART
(FOR THE FAIRER SEX)

AGE GROUP: 22 TO 25 YEARS
FRAME: Small to Medium Built
UNIT: Kilograms

C) THE HEIGHT: WEIGHT CHART

(FOR EITHER SEX)

AGE GROUP: 22 TO 25 YEARS
FRAME: Small to Medium Built
UNIT: Kilograms

(D) THE JOB/ACTIVITY: BURNT CALORIE CHART

Along with a calorie chart and the list of the various activities burning various amounts of calories, you will be able to balance your calorie expenditure rate with that of calorie intake.

(FOR EITHER SEX)

HOBBIES

SPORTS & GAMES

(E) CALORIE CHART with PROTEIN, CARBOHYDRATE & FAT CONTENT OF FOOD

Along with a calorie chart and the list of the various activities burning various amounts of calories, you will be able to balance your calorie expenditure rate with that of calorie intake.