Weight Loss.

“Losing weight is not hard, losing it in a healthy way is,” that’s my own quote though. There are many factors to consider when it comes to weight management, especially in weight loss and maintenance. However, to understand how to manage your weight, you need to understand how weight gain comes about. Knowing the facts will help you manage weight in an effective and healthy way. So how do we gain weight/what are some of the risk factors or behaviours associated with weight gain?

High-calorie intake

Consumption of large quantities of foods especially junky foods in a sedentary lifestyle will result in weight gain. Most of it will be converted in the body and stored as fats thus increasing weight. However of importance to note is the lifestyle someone has chosen. For instance, if my work involves moving around, carrying heavy stuff with lots of manual work, you expect me to eat more compared to someone who sits in the office from morning to evening but due to my physical activity I burn more energy, I may have gained weight but what I have gained is actually muscle weight and not fats compared to someone sedentary. This leads to my next point physical inactivity.

Physical inactivity

 To maintain a healthy weight you will need to balance energy intake with energy expenditure. In simple language, the amount of food you take in a day should be equal to the amount of energy you spend in a given day. Decreased physical activity will result in reduced body metabolism which in turn will have an effect on weight gain since excess calories will be converted into fats.

Pregnancy

 During pregnancy, women experience weight gain due to hormonal changes and fluid retention. If the excess weight is not managed especially after delivery, they will definitely end up with increased body weight. However, as you will discover this is a manageable condition.

Depression

 Researchers believe that during depression one is most likely to take more food than when not depressed. Most of this food is usually junk food. This is mostly true for people who find comfort in food rather than facing the challenges at hand. The amount of physical activity is reduced for depressed individuals, this means there is more input in terms of calories and less output in terms of energy expenditure. Anti-depressants (medication used in the management of depression) are also associated with the potential for weight gain.

Hormones

some individuals have excess production of growth hormone, the hormone responsible for our growth. Such individuals will exhibit huge bodies, massive and tall.

Thyroid gland dysfunction

 The thyroid gland regulates many activities in the body including metabolism. Hypothyroidism (decrease in the activity of the thyroid gland) will suddenly result in weight gain since there will be a decrease in the rate of metabolism.

Dehydration

How much water do you take in a day? Did you know that taking water will reduce the number of calories you are taking in a day since you will feel your belly is full? It’s time you take water.

Avoiding the scale

 When last did you weigh yourself? I guess what you don’t know doesn’t hurt you. However, this is absolutely wrong.  Weighing will help you identify when you are gaining weight and take the necessary steps to manage it. Gaining weight doesn’t necessarily mean your body surface area will increase hence the reason to weigh yourself. Take this for example, during the December holiday we tend to eat a lot, its festival season, minus weighing yourself, you might not only be dealing with will fee issues but also weight issues come the near year.

Staying up late

This is a norm if you are in university or college, on holiday after school for high school children and those doing online writing. Have you ever realized if you stayed up late you will suddenly feel hungry and want to eat more? To those of us who have stayed up late you definitely have walked to the kitchen at night to pick something to eat. As we mentioned, more energy intake in terms of calories, with reduced energy expenditure is equal to weight gain.

Salty foods

 I wish I could tag someone without getting myself in trouble. Increased salt intake, commonly known as sodium chloride result in body water retention. The so-called sodium-related weight gain. The good news, however, it’s the easiest to manage.

Medication/drugs

 The use of birth control pills especially hormonal-based and other medications that are known to either reduce metabolism or stimulate your appetite will result in weight gain.

Pain

 Sounds funny that pain may be the reason behind your weight gain. For example, if you have knee pain, foot pain or spine pain, as we can call them cumulatively, musculoskeletal conditions, your level of physical activity will be reduced and once it’s reduced you now understand what follows next.

Weight Loss

More articles will be coming on this but I have to mention a few tips in weight management.

Lifestyle change- start exercising if you haven’t been, however, you should note that exercises should be specific to a given goal. If you need an exercise program contact us. Change your food, start eating healthy, I mean more veggies and less junky, or should I say no junky foods at all. Get a meal plan if you want to start the journey of weight loss from a qualified nutritionist. The debate about how much is enough should not be a concern, just start and don’t stop.

Avoid the causes of weight gain and seek medical advice regularly. Why are you afraid of spending 1k to learn about your health when you know prevention is better than cure? Actually, you might have saved more money by just visiting a doctor and learning more about your health.