Information About Obesity To Give You Weight Loss Inspiration

The chances are that you are already well aware that obesity is a growing concern here in the United States where obesity across all age groups and ethnicities has been increasing steadily over the past few decades. Studies conducted between the years of 2003 and 2006 show that 16.3% of young people aged from 2 up to 19 years of age were obese.

There are many serious health problems that have been linked to obesity including:
- heart disease
- type 2 diabetes
- cancers including breast, colon and endometrial cancer
- high blood pressure
- high cholesterol and triglyceride levels
- increased risk of strokes
- sleep apnea
- respiratory problems
- osteoarthritis
- abnormal menstruation and infertility issues (in women).

If you are severely obese, it is a serious health condition which can lead to an early death. If you are more than 20% heavier than your ideal weight should be you are considered obese. If you are 100 pounds or more overweight then you are considered to be severely obese. There are various biochemical, physiologic, and genetic factors that can affect weight maintenance and these are often present in case of severe obesity.

What are the factors which contribute to obesity:

The contributing factors of obesity are quite diverse and include cultural, environmental, psychological and socioeconomic factors.
According to a report published in 2001 by the U.S. Surgeon General called the Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity, obesity is generally the result of an energy imbalance caused by eating too many calories that are not expended through physical activity. The call to action by the U.S. Surgeon General also states that your body weight is a combination of behavior, culture, genes, metabolism, and socioeconomic status.

Because behavior and environment play such a significant role in the problem, these are the areas you need to focus on most if you are desperate to do something about your obesity problem.

As mentioned above, genetics can play a role in obesity as in the case of disorders such as Bardet-Biedl syndrome and Prader-Willi syndrome. Genes alone do not determine obesity, but a combination of genetics and behavior can. Genetic make up is different for each person, and the sad truth is that this may result in an increased chance of developing obesity. This can be the case even if you are consuming the same amount of food and doing the same amount of physical activity as someone else in your family or other friends and colleagues.

Other factors that can contribute to obesity include certain diseases such as Cushings disease and polycystic ovary syndrome. Drugs can also contribute such as antidepressants that can cause weight gain.

Why you should be concerned:

Firstly, there are approximately 300,000 deaths each year in the United States that are the direct result of obesity. These staggering figures have put obesity only slightly behind tobacco smoking as one of the leading causes of death in the country. Things do not really get more serious than this.

You now know, if you did not already, that if you continue to be obese you are basically playing Russian roulette with your life. This should definitely be a cause of concern for you, so what are you waiting for? You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to do something about it today. Set out now on your journey towards lasting weight loss success.