Understanding and Managing the Underlying Causes of Excess Weight

In this article, we'll look at what excess weight is, why it's a problem and what are the underlying causes of excess weight.

What is excess weight?

Excess body fat can be measured in kilograms or pounds. A healthy range for someone who is 5 feet 9 inches tall (175 cm) would be between 45 kg and 65 kg (100 lb). If your BMI is above 25 but below 30, you're considered overweight; if it's 30 or higher, then you're obese.

What is Excess Weight?

Excess weight is defined as a BMI (body mass index) of 25 or higher. A person with a BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight and one with a BMI of 30 or more is considered obese.

A variety of factors influence whether you will be at risk for excess weight, including your age, gender, ethnicity and genes. In addition to these factors there are also environmental factors that can affect how much you weigh such as what you eat and how much physical activity you get each day.

The Causes of Excess Weight

There are many factors that can contribute to excess weight. They include:

Genetics. Your genes may make you more likely to gain weight than others, but this doesn't mean you cannot control your weight. It's important to know that genetic factors account for only about 25% of your risk of being overweight or obese, so diet and lifestyle choices are still very important in preventing excess weight gain.

Lifestyle choices such as eating habits and physical activity levels can also play a role in determining whether or not someone will become overweight or obese over time. If these behaviors change over time (e.g., becoming less active), then so does their risk for gaining excess body fat over time--even if their genetic makeup hasn't changed!

Genetics and Excess Weight

The first step to understanding and managing your weight is to understand the underlying causes of excess weight. Genetics and metabolism the important factors that influence how much you weigh, but body composition is also important. In this section, we'll look at each of these factors in more detail.

Genetics: Your genes play an important role in determining how much you weigh and whether or not you will struggle with excess If your parents were overweight or obese as children, then there's a good chance that you will be too--even if both parents were thin as adults! The reason for this has to do with how our bodies process food: some people have genes that make them more likely than others (genetic predisposition)

Lifestyle and Excess Weight

Excess weight is a complex issue, with many factors contributing to it. To understand the underlying causes of excess weight, we need to look at lifestyle and emotional health.

Lifestyle factors are things you do every day that affect your health. These include:

Stress (including work stress)

Sleep patterns (too little sleep or too much sleep)

Physical activity levels (not enough exercise)

Environment and Excess Weight

The environment in which you live and work has a significant impact on your weight. Access to healthy food, pollution, and availability of physical activity options all play a role in how much you weigh.

Healthy Food: The availability of healthy foods can influence what you eat, how much you eat and how often you eat it. If there are no supermarkets nearby or they're too expensive for your budget, then it will be difficult for many people living in low-income neighborhoods to maintain a healthy diet.

Pollution: Exposure to air pollution has been linked with an increased risk for obesity as well as diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) among children and adolescents living near busy roads with high traffic volumes (BHR). This may be related specifically to particulate matter exposure since these particles have been shown

Nutrition and Excess Weight

The basic science behind nutrition and excess weight is simple. The more calories you eat, the more weight you will gain. However, the types of food that you eat have an important role in this process as well. Macronutrients are proteins, carbohydrates and fats that make up the majority of our diet (roughly 50% of total calories). Micronutrients include vitamins and minerals that are needed in small amounts to keep us healthy but are not produced by our bodies on their own (roughly 10% of total calories).

The combination of macronutrients determines whether or not someone will be able to maintain a healthy weight over time:

Physical Activity and Excess Weight

Physical activity is a key component of weight management, but it's not the only one. In fact, physical activity is just one part of an overall lifestyle that includes food choices, sleep habits and stress management.

Physical activity can be categorized into three types:

Sedentary (e.g., watching TV or sitting at work)

Light intensity (e.g., walking)

Vigorous intensity (e.g., jogging).

Managing Excess Weight

Weight loss strategies.

Goal setting.

Tracking progress.

Conclusion

You now have a better understanding of the underlying causes of excess weight, and how to manage them. You've learned that there are many factors that affect your body's ability to maintain a healthy weight. These include:

Genetics

Stress levels

Sleep quality and quantity

Exercise habits (or lack thereof)

If you're struggling with excess weight, it's important to acknowledge these factors and work on changing them. This can be done by making small changes in your life--such as eating healthier foods instead of junk food or getting more sleep at night--that will add up over time until they make an impact on your overall health.