Obesity is steadily growing to be major lifestyle problem for most Americans. In fact, studies have shown that with the influx of new fat-rich, fast food diets, Americans have begun to get larger and heavier. Also, in an alarming development, more and more people are getting overweight at a younger age.
Being overweight means that one has an excess amount of weight ? which does not limit itself to fat. There are ranges in weight that is acceptable for people of different age and height groups. If you weigh more than recommended for your height and age group, then you should seriously consider shedding off some pounds.
Health professionals use the Body Mass Index (BMI), to ascertain whether a person is overweight or not. This measurement seeks to find out how heavy a person is per amount of body space he or she has. The BMI is a handy tool in assessing whether a person is healthy or overweight.
Being able to know your BMI and watch your weight is essential to good health. While most people just think that being overweight is something that is painful to look at ? with repercussions to one?s overall self-esteem, there are other, graver reasons why one should be concerned about his or her weight.
The truth is that obesity is a major factor in many debilitating diseases that have gone up in frequency of late. Heart disease, Stroke, Diabetes, and other major diseases can be traced to obesity and ultimately to one?s diet and lifestyle.
Therefore, to be able to avoid these lifestyle diseases, it becomes imperative that one is able to keep from becoming obese. There are two major ways to do this ? a proper diet, and exercise (or a more active lifestyle). Because of the increase in daily conveniences in today?s world, people are becoming increasingly sedentary and fail to work their bodies into health.
The only way to regain this health is to return to a more active type of lifestyle coupled with a return to healthier, less-fatty foods.
Losing Calories is as Easy as Counting Them But how do people get fat? While genetics can be a big factor, the overriding principle here is that everything that you eat has varying amounts of calories that your body needs for energy. If you consume more than you need, your body ends up storing it for later use. This is when your calories become fat tissue. (more…)
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