Weight is a complex issue. Your body weight is a mix of genetics and lifestyle choices, and it can often tell you a lot about your overall health.
In the UK, an estimated 64% of people over the age of 18 are said to be overweight or living with obesity.
You might find that statistic alarming. The good news is that studies show that maintaining a healthy weight can reduce the risk of chronic diseases by as much as 80%.
Many people find losing weight challenging. However, long-term sustainable weight is possible with a balanced approach to diet and lifestyle.
There are three main ways to measure your weight.
They include:
BMI is probably the weight measurement you are most familiar with.
This measurement works out if you have a healthy weight by using your height and the amount you weigh.
There are four BMI ranges:
However, BMI isn’t considered the most accurate way to measure if you have a healthy weight – as it only measures your total body mass.
It doesn’t take into consideration fat, muscle, and bone.
Some people consider measuring your waist circumference to be a more accurate measure of excess weight and obesity.
Knowing your weight as well as your waist measurement is important as the accumulation of fat around the belly can be a risk predictor for certain illnesses, such as heart disease.
Studies show that a waist circumference of 40 inches or more in men, and of 35 inches or more in women, is associated with elevated cardiovascular risk.
Abdominal obesity also correlates with an increased risk of diabetes, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome.
The waist-to-hip ratio is another way of assessing abdominal obesity.
To measure your waist-hip ratio, measure both your waist and hip circumferences, then divide the waist measurement by the hip measurement.
A healthy waist-to-hip ratio in women is 0.8 or less. In men, it’s 1.0 or less.
You may have asked yourself if you can be genetically predisposed to weight gain.
Obesity can have a genetic component. Genetics can play a role in the development of obesity by influencing metabolic pathways, neural networks, and appetite control centres in the body.
There’s no single ‘obesity gene’. However, more than 500 obesity-related genes have been identified in humans, according to a study published in 2022.
While genetics can play a part, environmental factors matter too. Ultimately, you can become overweight or obese if you regularly consume more calories than you use, with or without the influence of genetics.
After struggling with chronic pain, fatigue, and low confidence, Lynne knew she needed a solution that went beyond the quick fixes.
Her goals? To improve her relationship with food and lose weight for the last time.
When she discovered Integral Wellness, Lynne got a tailored nutrition plan that allowed her to nourish her body and lose weight in a healthy and sustainable way.
And Lynne’s health and weight quickly started to improve. Within three months she lost two stone without calorie counting. She also stopped labelling foods as good or bad and knew what to eat to feel full and energised.
Ready to transform your relationship with food and lose weight without depriving yourself like Lynne?
Leptin, a hormone that regulates appetite and fat storage, plays an important role in weight gain and obesity.
Some people may have leptin resistance.
When working properly, leptin tells your brain how high your fat stores are. But when leptin has trouble crossing the “blood-brain barrier” (i.e. it has difficulty sending messages to the brain) you don’t get the message that you’re full.
This can result in increased appetite, as well as reduced motivation to exercise and decreased number of calories burned at rest: all of which can contribute to weight gain.
Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar and helps your body turn food into energy.
However, if your blood sugar levels remain high due to excessive calorie or carbohydrate intake, insulin encourages the body to store excess glucose as fat.
When you have chronically high blood sugar levels, you can develop insulin resistance. When this occurs, your cells become less responsive to insulin and fat storage increases.
Many of the factors that contribute to weight gain are preventable. That means you can make positive improvements to your health by making a few changes to your habits.
Some of the causes of weight gain and obesity include:
Ultra-processed foods are often calorie-dense and highly palatable, meaning you want to eat more of them.
Add to that, these foods can be high in added sugars, unhealthy fats, and artificial ingredients which can disrupt hormones that regulate hunger hormones.
A 2019 study found that when people ate a diet full of ultra-processed foods, they consumed more calories and gained more weight than when they ate a minimally processed diet.
Participants on an ultra-processed diet ate about 500 calories more per day than they did on the minimally processed diet.
These increased calories came from carbohydrates and fat. People also ate faster on the ultra-processed diet and gained 2 pounds on average.
Sugar is found in lots of foods, including some you might not expect. Sugar is high in calories and it doesn’t support satiety. That means you’ll likely be hungry again soon after eating it.
Studies also show that excess fructose consumption may cause insulin resistance and elevated insulin levels, which also contribute to weight gain
(In case you aren’t familiar, fructose is a type of sugar found in fruits, honey, cane sugar and some vegetables. For most people, consuming it as nature intended in whole fruit, packed with fibre and beneficial phytochemicals, will not cause an issue. However, it can also be added to foods as a sweetener.)
Sugary foods and drinks are also highly palatable. That means we tend to consume them in higher quantities.
Basically? They can lead to cravings for more sugary foods, increasing your overall calorie consumption.
If you have a sedentary lifestyle, you can easily take in more energy than you burn, which leads to weight gain.
Additionally, sitting for long periods of time is thought to slow the metabolism. In turn, this impacts your body’s ability to regulate blood sugar, blood pressure and break down body fat.
When you are stressed, the stress hormone cortisol is released. Cortisol can increase your appetite and cause cravings for unhealthy foods.
Another thing: stress can have a knock-on effect on our habits. For example, if you’re very stressed, you may be more likely to overconsume food and less likely to exercise.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when your blood sugar is higher than normal. If you are obese, you’re about six times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those at a healthy weight.
The positive news is that losing just 5 to 7 percent of body weight may prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.
Obesity significantly increases your risk of developing heart disease because, over time, fatty deposits may accumulate in the arteries that supply the heart with blood.
People with obesity also tend to have higher than normal blood pressure, which can contribute to heart disease.
Arteries that become narrow can lead to a heart attack, while blood clots in narrow arteries can result in a stroke.
Obesity can increase your risk for certain cancers, including breast, pancreatic, kidney, colon, gallbladder, and prostate cancer.
According to Cancer Research UK, being overweight or obese is the second biggest cause of cancer in the UK – causing more than 1 in 20 cancer cases.
Obstructive sleep apnea is a condition where you stop breathing for short periods of time while you sleep. Studies have shown that long-term health implications include increased risk of stroke, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and a shortened lifespan.
It happens when muscles in your throat, nose, and mouth relax, leading to a narrowing of your airways.
If you are overweight or obese, fat deposits can further restrict your airways.
A 2017 study found that a change in body weight was directly proportional to sleep-disordered breathing.
The less overweight the subjects were, the less likely they were to have sleep apnea or severe sleep apnea.
Your hypertension (high blood pressure) risk can also increase if you are overweight or obese.
When you carry excess fat in your body, your blood vessels will need to circulate more blood to supply the extra fat tissue.
This means your heart must work harder to pump blood around the body, resulting in high blood pressure.
Excess body weight and obesity can take a toll on your mental health too. In particular, some studies find there is a strong correlation between obesity and depression.
The good news is you can lose or manage weight by making sustainable changes to your lifestyle, including:
Manage stress A 2018 study found that taking steps to reduce stress was associated with a reduction in body mass index.
Lou saved his own life, came off medication, and got signed off by consultants by droppeding 44kg.
Lou had heard of me through his son and wasted no time booking a free call to determine if nutritional support was right for him. Having experienced multiple heart attacks and with seven stents, Lou knew things had to change – and he wanted them to – but life felt overwhelming.
Losing weight can be a lonely road, but long-term sustainable weight loss is easier with the right support.
When you ditch the fad diets and make yo-yo dieting a thing of the past, you can lose weight in a way that feels good.
Our approach at Integral Wellness is to make health and everyday wellbeing the spotlight. When we take the pressure off the scales, weight loss can become a natural part of positive healthful choices.
Ready to lose weight for the last time and do it in a way that feels empowering not punishing?
