Why Am I Obese And Just What Causes Obesity?

Most people will tell you that obesity in quite simply a case of eating too much food and not taking enough exercise. But can it really be as simple as that?

Well, there can be little doubt that much of the today's obesity is indeed the result of little more than our modern diet and lifestyle. Fast food, convenience foods, take-away and leisure time spent playing computer games or sitting in front of the television accounts for not much of the rise in adult obesity, as well as the dramatic rise in juvenile obesity. The body requires a certain amount of energy to function and it gets that energy from the food we consume.

Exactly how much energy the body needs varies from one individual to the next and depends on numerous factors including our level of activity. For example, a secretary who spends her day sitting behind a desk will need less energy than a bricklayer who spends his day running up and down ladders carrying bricks.

If we put more energy into the body than it needs then the 'extra' energy is simply stored as fat. Now this fact is well understood, but what is less well understood is just how rapidly fat can build up in the body.

Take for example a slightly overweight 40 year old, carrying about 15 pounds of extra fat, and an obese 40 year old carrying about 100 pounds on additional fat. In both cases they have gained weight gradually over many years. But just how much overeating could produce these results?

The slightly overweigh 40 year old could put on this sort of weight by overeating to the tune of just 4 calories a day. In other words by consuming one apple too many about every two and a half weeks. Our obese 40 year old could similarly have reached obesity with as little as 25 calories too much each day. In other words by eating one apple too many about every three days. Imagine what would happen when our apples are replaced by hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries and soda!

Now this is of course this is only one part of the picture and we shouldn't assume that adult and juvenile obesity results solely from a combination of overeating and taking too little exercise.

Nevertheless, although there are other causes, it would also be wrong to draw up a long list of alternative causes and to suggest that these are equally responsible for causing obesity. While other factors do play a role when it comes to obesity, there can be little doubt that bad eating habits and a lack of exercise are the main cause of obesity today.

More articles about obesity:

Are You Simply Overweight Or Clinically Obese? - We are all familiar with being a little bit overweight, or even quite a bit overweight, but at what point does being overweight turn into a case of being clinically obese?

Child Obesity Surveys - Child obesity surveys carried out over the past few years paint a very worrying picture of growth of childhood obesity not just in the West but across the entire globe.

Pure Fruit Juice Could Help To Lower Obesity In Children - It has long been felt that drinking pure fruit juice may result in children being overweight, or put them at risk of being overweight, but studies now show that this is not the case.

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